    Network Working Group                                        K. Zeilenga
    Request for Comments: 3352                           OpenLDAP Foundation
    Obsoletes: 1798                                               March 2003
    Category: Informational

         Connection-less Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (CLDAP)
                               to Historic Status

    Status of this Memo

       This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
       not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of this
       memo is unlimited.

    Copyright Notice

       Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

    Abstract

       The Connection-less Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (CLDAP)
       technical specification, RFC 1798, was published in 1995 as a
       Proposed Standard.  This document discusses the reasons why the CLDAP
       technical specification has not been furthered on the Standard Track.
       This document recommends that RFC 1798 be moved to Historic status.

    1. Background

       Connection-less Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (CLDAP)
       [RFC1798] was published in 1995 as a Proposed Standard.  The protocol
       was targeted at applications which require lookup of small amounts of
       information held in the directory.  The protocol avoids the overhead
       of establishing (and closing) a connection and the session bind and
       unbind operations needed in connection-oriented directory access
       protocols.  The CLDAP was designed to complement version 2 of the
       Lightweight Directory Access Protocol (LDAPv2) [RFC1777], now
       Historic [HISTORIC].

       In the seven years since its publication, CLDAP has not become widely
       deployed on the Internet.  There are a number of probable reasons for
       this:

       - Limited functionality:
            + anonymous only,
            + read only,
            + small result sizes only, and

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    RFC 3352                CLDAP to Historic Status              March 2003

       - Insufficient security capabilities:
            + no integrity protection,
            + no confidentiality protection
       - Inadequate internationalization support;
       - Insufficient extensibility; and
       - Lack of multiple independently developed implementations.

       The CLDAP technical specification has normative references to
       multiple obsolete technical specifications including X.501(88),
       X.511(88), RFC 1487 (the predecessor to RFC 1777, the now Historic
       LDAPv2 technical specification).  Unless the technical specification
       were to be updated, CLDAP cannot remain on the standards track
       because of the Normative reference to a Historic RFC.

       The community recognized in the mid-1990s that CLDAP needed to be
       updated.  In response to this, the IETF chartered the LDAP Extensions
       Working Group (LDAPext WG) in 1997 to undertake this update.  The
       LDAPext WG is concluding without producing an update to CLDAP.
       Currently, there is no standardization effort to update CLDAP.

       It should be noted that the community still has interest in
       developing a "connection-less" directory access protocol.  However,
       based on operational experience, has determined that further
       experimentation is necessary to address outstanding technical issues.
       In particular, security considerations associated with
       "connection-less" services need to be addressed.

    2. Recommendation

       As there is no viable standardization effort to update CLDAP as
       necessary to keep it on the standards track and the community
       currently considers this an area requiring further experimentation,
       RFC 1798 must be moved to Historic status.

       It is recommended that those interested in connection-less access to
       X.500-based directory services experiment with [LDAPUDP] and other
       alternatives which might become available.

    3. Security Considerations

       The security of the Internet will not be impacted by the retirement
       of CLDAP.

    4. Acknowledgment

       The author would like to thank the designers of CLDAP for their
       contribution to the Internet community.

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    RFC 3352                CLDAP to Historic Status              March 2003

    5. Normative References

       [HISTORIC] Zeilenga, K., "Lightweight Directory Access Protocol
                  version 2 (LDAPv2) to Historic Status", RFC 3494, February
                  2003.

       [CLDAP]    Young, A. "Connection-less Lightweight Directory Access
                  Protocol," RFC 1798, June 1995.

    6. Informative References

       [LDAPUDP]  Johansson, L. and R. Hedberg, "Lightweight Directory
                  Access Protocol over UDP/IP," Work in Progress.

       [RFC1777]  Yeong, W., Howes, T. and S. Kille, "Lightweight Directory
                  Access Protocol", RFC 1777, March 1995.

       [RFC3377]  Hodges, J. and R. Morgan, "Lightweight Directory Access
                  Protocol (v3): Technical Specification", RFC 3377,
                  September 2002.

       [X501]     The Directory: Models.  CCITT Recommendation X.501 ISO/IEC
                  JTC 1/SC21; International Standard 9594-2, 1988.

       [X511]     The Directory: Abstract Service Definition.  CCITT
                  Recommendation X.511, ISO/IEC JTC 1/SC21; International
                  Standard 9594-3, 1988.

    7. Author's Address

       Kurt D. Zeilenga
       OpenLDAP Foundation

       EMail: Kurt@OpenLDAP.org

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    RFC 3352                CLDAP to Historic Status              March 2003

    8.  Full Copyright Statement

       Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

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       The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be
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    Acknowledgement

       Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
       Internet Society.

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