Requesting a delegated namespace

The InCommon Community Architecture Committee for Trust and Identity (CACTI) administers a Uniform Resource Name (URN) namespace, supporting the assignment of unique, global, persistent names to resources of various kinds. The Namespace Identifier (NID) of the namespace is “urn:mace.” Use the form below to request a URN.

The use of URLs is strongly preferred (vs. a URN). If your goal is to craft globally unique values for eduPersonEntitlement or similar purposes, you should use URLs based on a registered domain you control.

• Legitimate URL values are globally unique if a suitable domain is used and a delegation model is in place for defining paths under that root domain. For example, if you own domain hsww.edu and wish to craft URL values for eduPersonEntitlement, register a subdomain with your HTTP domain authority. One choice might be iamtree.hsww.edu. No one else has the legal right to craft values under that subdomain, so assignments you make under that subdomain will be globally unique as long as they are locally unique.
• If the URLs actually resolve to web pages, it is possible to make the assigned values self-documenting by posting a definition of the value at that URL.

The informational RFC, RFC 3613, defines the “urn:mace” namespace and describes the procedures and policies governing its use. Representatives of organizations interested in registering a urn:mace namespace should first read RFC 3613, and consider the following:

• The URN registry supports the mission of promoting standardization and interoperability in middleware for research and education networking. Internet2 is pleased to consider requests consistent with that mission, and reserves the right to deny inappropriate requests.
• Stability is a key element of URN-based naming. Organizations operating urn:mace delegated namespaces agree to provide notifications of any changes, including changes in contact persons, etc.
• The primary contact should be in a decision-making role for the organization and authorized to act on behalf of the organization in this capacity. The primary contact must be involved in the communication with Internet2 regarding the registration. 
• URNs are delegated to the following classes of registrants:
  1. Universities and colleges, preferably with a request to register the top-level institutional domain, e.g. in the US, to register domain.edu.
  2. Corporations providing services to higher education and research, again preferably to the corp.com top-level domain for the corporation.
  3. Federations, projects, consortia, institutes and projects in the higher education and research space given the following conditions:
     • The organization has a registered domain name, and the registration request is for that domain name.
     • The organization is intended to be in existence for several years at minimum.
     • The primary registrant is a principal within the relevant organization and is also concurrently in the employ of a university, college or other institution of higher education.
  4. Non-institutional activities seeking URNs should try to get them via a delegation from one of their supporting institutions, rather than directly from Internet2. 
• Discoverability is another important element of URN-based naming. Organizations are strongly encouraged to maintain accurate information describing names they have registered in their delegated namespace. 
• Subspaces of delegated namespaces may be further delegated to other organizations. urn:mace delegates are encouraged to follow the same principles and procedures in managing its delegations.