| Internet-Draft | RESTful Provisioning Protocol | July 2025 |
| Wullink & Kowalik | Expires 3 January 2026 | [Page] |
This document describes the endpoints for the RESTful Provisioning Protocol, used for the provisioning and management of objects in a shared database.¶
This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.¶
Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.¶
Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."¶
This Internet-Draft will expire on 3 January 2026.¶
Copyright (c) 2025 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License.¶
This document describes an Application Programming Interface (API) API based on the HTTP protocol [RFC2616] and the principles of [REST]. Conforming to the REST constraints is generally referred to as being "RESTful". Hence the API is dubbed: "'RESTful Provisioning Protocol" or "RPP" for short.¶
RPP is data format agnostic, this document describes a framework describing protocol messages in any data format. the client uses server-driven content negotiation. Allowing the client to select from a set of representation media types supported by the server, such as JSON [RFC8259], XML or [YAML].¶
In this document the following terminology is used.¶
REST - Representational State Transfer ([REST]). An architectural style.¶
RESTful - A RESTful web service is a web service or API implemented using HTTP and the principles of [REST].¶
EPP RFCs - This is a reference to the EPP version 1.0 specifications [RFC5730], [RFC5731], [RFC5732] and [RFC5733].¶
RESTful Provisioning Protocol or RPP - The protocol described in this document.¶
URL - A Uniform Resource Locator as defined in [RFC3986].¶
Resource - An object having a type, data, and possible relationship to other resources, identified by a URL.¶
RPP client - An HTTP user agent performing an RPP request¶
RPP server - An HTTP server responsible for processing requests and returning results in any supported media type.¶
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT","SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].¶
In examples, lines starting with "C:" represent data sent by a RPP client and lines starting with "S:" represent data returned by a RPP server. Indentation and white space in examples are provided only to illustrate element relationships and are not REQUIRED features of the protocol.¶
All example requests assume a RPP server using HTTP version 2 is listening on the standard HTTPS port on host rppp.example.nl. An authorization token has been provided by an out of band process and MUST be used by the client to authenticate each request.¶
In contrast to EPP over TCP [RFC5734], a RPP request does not always require a request message body. The information conveyed by the HTTP method, URL, and request headers may be sufficient for the server to be able to successfully processes a request for most commands. However, the client MUST include the request message in the HTTP request body when the server requires additional attributes to be present in the request message. The RPP HTTP headers listed below use the "RPP-" prefix, following the recommendations in [RFC6648].¶
TODO: the non standard headers mentioned below are linked to EPP and may need to be removed or modified.¶
RPP-Cltrid: The client transaction identifier is the equivalent of the clTRID element defined in [RFC5730] and MUST be used accordingly, when the HTTP message body does not contain an EPP request that includes a cltrid.¶
RPP-AuthInfo: The client MAY use this header for sending basic token-based authorization information, as described in Section 2.6 of [RFC5731] and Section 2.8 of [RFC5733]. If the authorization is linked to a contact object then the client MUST also include the RPP-Roid header.¶
RPP-Roid: If the authorization info, is linked to a database object, the client MAY use this header for the Repository Object IDentifier (ROID), as described in Section 4.2 of [RFC5730].¶
Accept-Language: The server MUST support the use of HTTP Accept-Language header by clients. The client MAY issue a Hello request to discover the languages supported by the server. Multiple servers in a load-balanced environment SHOULD reply with consistent "lang" elements in the Greeting response. The value of the Accept-Language header MUST match 1 of the languages from the Greeting. When the server receives a request using an unsupported language, the server MUST respond using the default language configured for the server.¶
The server HTTP response contains a status code, headers, and MAY contain an RPP response message in the message body. HTTP headers are used to transmit additional data to the client and MAY be used to send RPP process related data to the client. HTTP headers used by RPP MUST use the "RPP-" prefix, the following response headers have been defined for RPP.¶
TODO: the non standard headers mentioned below are linked to EPP and may need to be removed.¶
RPP-Svtrid: This header is the equivalent of the "svTRID" element defined in [RFC5730] and MUST be used accordingly when the RPP response does not contain an EPP response in the HTTP message body. If an HTTP message body with the EPP XML equivalent "svTRID" exists, both values MUST be consistent.¶
RPP-Cltrid: This header is the equivalent of the "clTRID" element defined in [RFC5730] and MUST be used accordingly when the RPP response does not contain an EPP response in the HTTP message body. If the contents of the HTTP message body contains a "clTRID" value, then both values MUST be consistent.¶
RPP-code: This header is the equivalent of the EPP result code defined in [RFC5730] and MUST be used accordingly. This header MUST be added to all responses, except for the Greeting, and MAY be used by the client for easy access to the EPP result code, without having to parse the content of the HTTP response message body.¶
RPP-Check-Avail: An alternative for the "avail" attribute of the object:name element in an Object Check response and MUST be used accordingly. The server does not return a HTTP message body in response to a RPP Object Check request.¶
RPP-Queue-Size: Return the number of unacknowledged messages in the client message queue. The server MAY include this header in all RPP responses.¶
Cache-Control: The client MUST never cache results, the server MUST always return the value "No-Store" for this header, as described in Section 5.2.1.5 of [RFC7234].¶
Content-Language: The server MUST include this header in every response that contains an EPP message in the message body.¶
Content-Encoding: The server MAY choose to compress the responses message body, using an algorithm selected from the list of algorithms provided by the client using the Accept-Encoding request header.¶
RPP does not always return an response in the HTTP message body. The Object Check request for example may return an empty HTTP response body. When the server does not return an EPP message, it MUST return at least the RPP-Svtrid, RPP-Cltrid and RPP-code headers.¶
subsequent sections provide details for each endpoint. URLs are assumed to be using the prefix: "/{context-root}/{version}/". Some RPP endpoints do not require a request and/or response message.¶
{c}: An abbreviation for {collection}: this MUST be substituted with "domains", "hosts", "entities" or any other collection of objects. {i}: An abbreviation for an object id, this MUST be substituted with the value of a domain name, hostname, contact-id or a message-id or any other defined object.¶
A RPP client MAY use the HTTP GET method for executing informational request only when no request data has to be added to the HTTP message body. Sending content using an HTTP GET request is discouraged in [RFC9110], there exists no generally defined semantics for content received in a GET request. When an RPP object requires additional information, the client MUST use the HTTP POST method and add the query command content to the HTTP message body.¶
The HTTP HEAD method MUST be used for object existence check. The response MUST contain the RPP-Check-Avail header. The value of the RPP-Check-Avail header MUST be false or true, depending on whether the object can be provisioned.¶
The Check endpoint MUST be limited to checking only a single object-id per request, to allow the server to effiently load balance requests.¶
Example request for a domain name:¶
HEAD /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Check-Avail: false RPP-result-code: 1000 Content-Length: 0¶
The Object Info request MUST use the HTTP GET method on a resource identifying an object instance. If the object has authorization information attached then the client MUST use an empty message body and include the RPP-AuthInfo HTTP header. If the authorization is linked to a database object the client MUST also include the RPP-Roid header. The client MAY also use a message body that includes the authorization information, the client MUST then not use the RPP-AuthInfo and RPP-Roid headers.¶
Example request for an object not using authorization information.¶
GET /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example request using RPP-AuthInfo and RPP-Roid headers for an object that has attached authorization information.¶
GET /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-AuthInfo: secret-token RPP-Roid: REG-XYZ-12345¶
Example Info response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 424 Content-Type: application/rpp+json Content-Language: en RPP-code: 1000 TODO: JSON message here¶
The messages endpoint is used for retrieving messages stored on the server for the client to process.¶
The client MUST use the HTTP GET method on the messages resource collection to request the message at the head of the queue.¶
Example request:¶
GET /rpp/v1/messages HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 312 Content-Type: application/rpp+json Content-Language: en RPP-code: 1301 TODO¶
The client MUST use the HTTP DELETE method to acknowledge receipt of a message from the queue. The "msgID" attribute of a received RPP Poll message MUST be included in the message resource URL, using the {id} path element. The server MUST use RPP headers to return the RPP result code and the number of messages left in the queue. The server MUST NOT add content to the HTTP message body of a successful response, the server may add content to the message body of an error response.¶
Example request:¶
DELETE /rpp/v1/messages/12345 HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Language: en RPP-code: 1000 RPP-Queue-Size: 0 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 Content-Length: 145 TODO¶
The client MUST use the HTTP POST method to create a new object resource. If the RPP request results in a newly created object, then the server MUST return HTTP status code 200 (OK). The server MUST add the "Location" header to the response, the value of this header MUST be the URL for the newly created resource.¶
Example Domain Create request:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Content-Type: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en Content-Length: 220 TODO¶
Example Domain Create response:¶
HTTP/2 200 Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Language: en Content-Length: 642 Content-Type: application/rpp+json Location: https://rpp.example.nl/rpp/v1/domains/example.nl RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
The client MUST the HTTP DELETE method and a resource identifying a unique object instance. The server MUST return HTTP status code 200 (OK) if the resource was deleted successfully.¶
Example Domain Delete request:¶
DELETE /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example Domain Delete response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 80 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
Not all EPP object types include support for the renew command. The current-date query parameter MAY be used for date on which the current validity period ends, as described in Section 3.2.3 of [RFC5731]. The new period MAY be added to the request using the unit and value request parameters. The response MUST include the Location header for the renewed object.¶
TODO:: current-date: can also be a HTTP header?¶
Example Domain Renew request:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/renewal?current-date=2024-01-01 HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Content-Type: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en Content-Length: 0¶
Example Domain Renew request, using 1 year period:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/renewal?current-date=2024-01-01?unit=y&value=1 HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Content-Type: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en Content-Length: 0¶
Example Renew response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Language: en Content-Length: 205 Location: https://rpp.example.nl/rpp/v1/domains/example.nl Content-Type: application/rpp+json RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
The Transfer command is mapped to a nested resource, named "transfer". The semantics of the HTTP DELETE method are determined by the role of the client executing the DELETE method. The DELETE method is defined as "reject transfer" for the current sponsoring client of the object. For the new sponsoring client the DELETE method is defined as "cancel transfer".¶
In order to initiate a new object transfer process, the client MUST use the HTTP POST method on a unique resource to create a new transfer resource object. Not all RPP objects support the Transfer command.¶
If the transfer request is successful, then the response MUST include the Location header for the object being transferred.¶
Example request not using object authorization:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 Content-Length: 0¶
Example request using object authorization:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-AuthInfo: secret-token Accept-Language: en Content-Length: 0¶
Example request using 1 year renewal period, using the unit and value query parameters:¶
POST /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer?unit=y&value=1 HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 Content-Length: 0¶
Example Transfer response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Language: en Content-Length: 328 Content-Type: application/rpp+json Location: https://rpp.example.nl/rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer RPP-code: 1001 TODO¶
A transfer object may not exist, when no transfer has been initiated for the specified object. The client MUST use the HTTP GET method and MUST NOT add content to the HTTP message body.¶
Example domain name Transfer Status request without authorization information required:¶
GET /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
If the requested transfer object has associated authorization information that is not linked to another database object, then the HTTP GET method MUST be used and the authorization information MUST be included using the RPP-AuthInfo header.¶
Example domain name Transfer Query request using RPP-AuthInfo header:¶
GET /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-AuthInfo: secret-token¶
If the requested object has associated authorization information linked to another database object, then the HTTP GET method MUST be used and both the RPP-AuthInfo and the RPP-Roid header MUST be included.¶
Example domain name Transfer Query request and authorization using RPP-AuthInfo and the RPP-Roid header:¶
GET /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-AuthInfo: secret-token RPP-Roid: REG-XYZ-12345 Content-Length: 0¶
Example Transfer Query response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 230 Content-Type: application/rpp+json Content-Language: en RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
The new sponsoring client MUST use the HTTP DELETE method to cancel a requested transfer.¶
Example request:¶
DELETE /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 80 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
The currently sponsoring client of the object MUST use the HTTP DELETE method to reject a started transfer process.¶
Example request:¶
DELETE /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfers/latest HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345¶
Example Reject response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 80 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
The currently sponsoring client MUST use the HTTP PUT method to approve a transfer requested by the new sponsoring client.¶
Example Approve request:¶
PUT /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl/transfer HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 Content-Length: 0¶
Example Approve response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 80 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
An object Update request MUST be performed using the HTTP PATCH method. The request message body MUST contain an Update message.¶
TODO: when using JSON, also allow for JSON patch so client can send partial update data only?¶
Example request:¶
PATCH /rpp/v1/domains/example.nl HTTP/2 Host: rpp.example.nl Authorization: Bearer <token> Accept: application/rpp+json Content-Type: application/rpp+json Accept-Language: en Content-Length: 252 TODO¶
Example response:¶
HTTP/2 200 OK Date: Wed, 24 Jan 2024 12:00:00 UTC Server: Example RPP server v1.0 Content-Length: 80 RPP-Svtrid: XYZ-12345 RPP-Cltrid: ABC-12345 RPP-code: 1000 TODO¶
TODO¶
TODO¶
RPP relies on the security of the underlying HTTP [RFC9110] transport, hence the best common practices for securing HTTP also apply to RPP. It is RECOMMENDED to follow them closely.¶
Data confidentiality and integrity MUST be enforced, all data transport between a client and server MUST be encrypted using TLS [RFC5246]. Section 9 describes the level of security that is REQUIRED for all RPP endpoints.¶
Due to the stateless nature of RPP, the client MUST include the authentication credentials in each HTTP request. This MAY be done by using JSON Web Tokens (JWT) [RFC7519] or Basic authentication [RFC7617].¶