TOC 
SIP Audet
Internet-DraftNortel Networks
Updates: 3261 (if approved)August 17, 2006
Intended status: Standards Track 
Expires: February 18, 2007 


Guidelines for the use of the SIPS URI Scheme in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
draft-audet-sip-sips-guidelines-03

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Copyright Notice

Copyright © The Internet Society (2006).

Abstract

This document provides clarifications, guidelines and new requirements concerning the use of SIPS URI Scheme in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP).



Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  Terminology
3.  Meaning of SIPS
4.  Routing
5.  Registration
6.  SIPS in a Dialog
7.  Usage of tls and TLS parameters
8.  GRUU
9.  Complete Solution
10.  Call Flows
    10.1.  Alice Calls Bob's SIPS AOR
    10.2.  Alice Calls Bob's SIP AOR
11.  Security Considerations
12.  IANA Considerations
13.  IAB Considerations
14.  Acknowledgments
15.  References
    15.1.  Normative References
    15.2.  Informational References
Appendix A.  To-Be-Done
Appendix B.  Explicit Registration alternative
    B.1.  AOR is to be reachable only with a SIPS AOR
    B.2.  AOR is to be reachable with both a SIPS and SIP AOR
    B.3.  AOR is to be reachable only with a SIP AOR
Appendix C.  Background
§  Author's Address
§  Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements




 TOC 

1.  Introduction

The meaning and usage of the SIPS URI scheme and of TLS is at best underspecified in SIP [RFC3261] (Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. Schooler, “SIP: Session Initiation Protocol,” June 2002.) and has been the source of confusion for implementors.

This document provides clarifications, guidelines and new requirements concerning the use of the SIPS URI scheme. I



 TOC 

2.  Terminology

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] (Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” March 1997.).



 TOC 

3.  Meaning of SIPS

RFC 3261/19.1 describes a SIPS URI as follows:

A SIPS URI specifies that the resource be contacted securely. This means, in particular, that TLS is to be used between the UAC and the domain that owns the URI. From there, secure communications are used to reach the user, where the specific security mechanism depends on the policy of the domain.

Section 26.2.2 re-iterates it, with regards to Request-URIs:

When used as the Request-URI of a request, the SIPS scheme signifies that each hop over which the request is forwarded, until the request reaches the SIP entity responsible for the domain portion of the Request-URI, must be secured with TLS; once it reaches the domain in question it is handled in accordance with local security and routing policy, quite possibly using TLS for any last hop to a UAS. When used by the originator of a request (as would be the case if they employed a SIPS URI as the address-of-record of the target), SIPS dictates that the entire request path to the target domain be so secured.

Let's take the classic SIP trapezoid to explain the meaning of a sips:b@B URI.



   ..........................         ...........................
   .                        .         .                         .
   .              +-------+ .         . +-------+               .
   .              |       | .         . |       |               .
   .              | Proxy |-----TLS---- | Proxy |               .
   .              |   A   | .         . |  B    |               .
   .              |       | .         . |       |               .
   .            / +-------+ .         . +-------+ \             .
   .           /            .         .            \            .
   .          /             .         .             \           .
   .        TLS             .         .        Policy-based     .
   .        /               .         .               \         .
   .       /                .         .                \        .
   .      /                 .         .                 \       .
   .   +-------+            .         .              +-------+  .
   .   |       |            .         .              |       |  .
   .   | UA a  |            .         .              | UA b  |  .
   .   |       |            .         .              |       |  .
   .   +-------+            .         .              +-------+  .
   .             Domain A   .         .   Domain B              .
   ..........................         ...........................
 SIP trapezoid 

In this case, if a@A is sending a request to sips:b@B, the following will apply:

TLS MUST be used between UA a@A and Proxy A

TLS MUST be used between Proxy A and Proxy B

TLS MAY be used between Proxy B and UA b@B, depending on local policy.

One may then wonder why TLS is mandatory between UA a@A and Proxy A but not between Proxy A and UA b@B. The main reason is that RFC 3261 [RFC3261] (Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. Schooler, “SIP: Session Initiation Protocol,” June 2002.) was written before [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑outbound] (Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” June 2006.). At that time, it was recognized that in many practical deployments, Proxy B may not be able to establish a TLS connection with UA b because client-server TLS would be used, where UA b would be the client and Proxy B would be the server. Therefore, only client-initiated connections would be able to support TLS. The consequence is that an RFC 3261-compliant UAS b, while it may not need to support TLS for incoming requests, will nevertheless have to support TLS for outgoing requests as it takes the UAC role. Contrary to what many believe erroneously, the last-hop exception was not created to allow for using a SIPS URI to address a UAs that do not support TLS : the last-hop exception was an attempt to allow for incoming requests TLS when a SIPS URI is used, and does not apply to outgoing requests.

OPEN ISSUE:
There has been many people expressing the opinion that we should deprecate the "last-hop exception" rule, and nobody so far that objected to it (at least not since it became clear that the exception does not allow for supporting clients that don't support TLS). The author of this draft is one who favors deprecating the "last-hop exception" rule in this specification.

Furthemore, consider the problem of using SIPS inside a dialog. If a@A sends a request to b@B using a SIPS Request-URI, according to RFC 3261/8.1.1.8, then the contact MUST contain a SIPS URI as well. This means that b@B, upon sending a new Request (e.g., a BYE), will have to use a SIP URI (unless Record-Route is used). This implies that b@B must understand SIPS in the first place, and must also support TLS (again, unless Record-Route happens to be used).

The SIPS scheme implies transitive trust. Obviously, there is nothing that prevents a proxy to cheat and pretend that TLS was used when in fact is was not (see RFC 3261/26.4.4). While SIPS is useful to request that a resource be contacted securely, it is not useful as an indication that a resource was in fact contacted security. Therefore, it is not appropriate to infer that because an incoming request had a Request-URI (or To header) containing a SIPS URI, that it necessarily garantees that the request was in fact transmitted security hop-by-hop. Some have been tempted to believe that the SIPS scheme was equivalent to an HTTPS scheme in the sense that one could provide a visual indication to a user (e.g., a padlock icon) to the effect that the session is secured. This is obviously not the case, and one must therefore be careful not to oversell the meaning of a SIPS URI. There is currently no mechanism to provide an indication of end-to-end security for SIP. Other mechanisms may provide a more concrete indication of some level of security. For example, SIP Identity [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑identity] (Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, “Enhancements for Authenticated Identity Management in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” October 2005.) describes an integrity protection mechanism.



 TOC 

4.  Routing

This specification mandates that SIP and SIPS URIs that are identical except for the scheme itself (e.g., sip:alice@example.com and sips:alice@example.com) MUST refer to the same resource. This requirement is implicit in RFC 3261/19.1 which states that "Any resource described by a SIP URI can be "upgraded" to a SIPS URI by just changing the scheme, if it is desired to communicate with that resource securily". Note that this does not mean that the SIPS URI will necessarily be reachable, in particular, if the proxy can not establish a secure connection to a client or another proxy. Although not mandated specifically in RFC 3261, the implication is that a resource described by a SIPS URI can not be "downgraded" to a SIP URI by just changing the scheme. This specification mandates that a resource described by a SIPS URI MUST NOT be "downgraded" to a SIP URI by changing the scheme, or by sending the associated rquest over a non secure link.

For example, sip:bob@example.com and sips:bob@example.com AORs MUST refer to the same user "Bob": the first URI is the SIP version, and the second one is the SIPS version. From the point of view of routing, requests to either sip:bob@example.com and sips:bob@example.com are treated the same way. Location services are therefore free to map from SIP to SIPS URIs as appropriate (see 26.4.4/RFC 3261). When Bob registers, it therefore does not really matter if he is using a SIP or a SIPS AOR, since they both refer to the same user. It is the association of the AOR with the Contact in the REGISTER that will determine the reachability of the AOR. At first glance, section 19.1.4/RFC 3261 seems to contradict this idea by stating that a SIP and a SIPS URI are never equivalent. Specifically, it says they are never equivalent for the purpose of comparing bindings in Contact URIs in REGISTER requests. The key point is that this statement applies to the Contact bindings in a registration: it is the association of the Contact with the AoR that will determine if the user is reachable or not with a SIPS URI.

Consider this example. If Bob registers with a SIPS contact (e.g., sips:bob@bobphone.example.com), the registar and the location service then knows that Bob (bob@example.com) is reachable at sips:bob@bobphone.example.com. If a request is sent to sips:bob@bobphone.example.com, Bob's proxy will route it to Bob at sips:bob@bobphone.example.com. If a request is sent to sip:bob@bobphone.example.com, Bob's proxy will also route it to Bob at sips:bob@bobphone.example.com (because of the "upgrade" scenario described above). However, if Bob had registered instead with a SIP Contact (e.g., sip:bob@bobphone.example.com), then a request to sips:bob@example.com would not be routed to Bob, since there is no SIPS contact for Bob, and "downgrades" from SIPS to SIP are not allowed.

See Section 10 (Call Flows) for illustrative call flows.

Since upgrading from SIP to SIPS is allowed it other circumstances (e.g., a user "guessing" a SIPS AOR from a SIP AOR on a business card), it is quite possible that a request will be rejected with response code 416 (either because TLS or SIPS is not supported). When 416 is received, the request could be re-attempted with a SIP URI, but the user should be informed.

Although "downgrading" from SIPS to SIP is disallowed, it is possible that a redirect server or UAS sends a 3XX response to a request to a SIPS URI with a Contact containing a SIP URI. Section 8.1.3.4/RFC 3261 recommends that if the UAC decide to recurse to the SIP URI, it SHOULD inform the user. When a proxy is handling the 3XX, it can obviously not indicate anything to the user that it is being redirected from SIPS to SIP: therefore, it is RECOMMENDED that the proxy forwards the 3XX to the UAC instead of recursing, in order to allow for the UAC to take the appropriate action.

Section 16.6 and 16.7 of RFC 3261 explain that if Route or Request-URI contains a SIPS URI, then the corresponding inserted Record-Route MUST be a SIPS URI. It also explains that if the request is received over TLS without using a SIPS URI, then the Recored-Route MUST NOT be a SIPS URI.

The same rules apply to the Path Header [RFC3327] (Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts,” December 2002.) and Service-Route [RFC3608] (Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Service Route Discovery During Registration,” October 2003.).

The presence of a SIPS Request-URI does not necessarily indicate that the request was sent end-to-end securely. As described in 26.4.4/RFC 3261, a proxy may legitimaly retarget a request from SIP to SIPS. Therefore, a UAS MUST NOT assume on the basis of the Request-URI alone that SIPS was used for the entire request path. An example of a case where a proxy legitimally retargets from SIP to SIPS shown in Section 10 (Call Flows).

So how does a UAS know if the SIPS was used for the entire request path to secure the request end-to-end? Effectively, the UAS can not know for sure. However, 26.4.4/RFC 3261 recommends how a UAS may make some checks to validate the security. Here is a summary of a potential algorithm:

Again, it should be restated that all the checking may be circumvented by any proxy on the path that does not follow the rules and recommendations of this document and of RFC 3261: SIPS implies transitive trust.

Proxies MAY have their own policy regarding routing of requests to SIP or SIPS URIs. For example, a proxy in a critical environment may be configured to only route SIPS. Some proxies MAY be configured to detect uncompliancies and reject unsecure requests. For example, it could inspect Request-URIs, Path, Record-Route, To, From, Contacts and Via headers to enforce SIPS.

26.4.4/RFC 3261 also explains that S/MIME may also be used by the originating UAC to ensure that the original form of the To header field is carried end-to-end. While not specifically mentioned in 26.4.4/RFC 3261, this is meant to imply that [RFC3893] (Peterson, J., “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Authenticated Identity Body (AIB) Format,” September 2004.) would be used to "tunnel" important headers (such as To and From) in an encrypted and signed S/MIME body, replicating the information in the SIP message, and allowing the UAS to validate the content of those important headers. While this approach is certainly legal, another approach is to use the SIP Identity mechanism defined in [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑identity] (Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, “Enhancements for Authenticated Identity Management in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” October 2005.). SIP Identity creates a signed identity digest which includes, amongst other things, the AOR of the sender (from the From header) and the AOR of the original destination (from the To header). It is RECOMMENDED that a UAC use the mechanism in [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑identity] (Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, “Enhancements for Authenticated Identity Management in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” October 2005.) instead of the one defined in RFC 3893.



 TOC 

5.  Registration

This section describes the registration procedures of SIP versus SIP Contacts that follows from the discussion in Section 4 (Routing).

The USC registers either a SIPS or a SIP AOR. From a routing perspective, it does not matter which one is used for registration as they are routed to the same resource.

However, if an SIPS AOR is used, a SIPS Contact MUST also be used. If a SIP AOR is used, a SIP Contact MUST also be used. Those are mechanical rules with no influence on routing.

Furthermore, it is a matter of local policy for a UA to accept incoming requests addressed to a URI scheme that does not correspond to what it used for registration. For example, a UA with a policy of "always secure" MUST address the Registrar using a SIPS Request-URI, MUST use TLS, MUST register with a SIPS AOR and a SIPS Contact, and must NOT accept requests addressed to a SIP Request-URI. A UA with a policy of "best-effort security" MUST address the Registrar using a SIPS Request-URI, MUST use TLS, MUST register with a SIPS AOR and a SIPS Contact, and MUST accept requests addressed to either SIP or SIPS Request-URIs. A UA with a policy of "No security" MUST address the Registrar using a SIP Request-URI, MUST NOT use TLS, MUST register with a SIP AOR and SIP Contact, and MUST accept requests addressed only to a SIP Request-URI.

If proxies (such as outbound proxies) are present in the path between the UA and the registrar, they MUST insert the Path header [RFC3327] (Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts,” December 2002.).

A registrar MUST only accept a binding to a SIPS Contact if all the appropriate URIs are of the SIPS schem: i.e., the Request-URI, the AOR (i.e., To header), the From header, the Contacts and all the Path headers.

OPEN ISSUE:
What error code should be returned if not ? Should it be 403 "Forbidden"?

The usage of the "transport" URI parameter in Contacts in registration is of dubious usefulnes. The assumption is that a UAC may choose one transport for the registration itself, and a different transport for receiving requests. Using the transport URI parameters also results in some complex problems. For example, should all the transport be listed as separate contacts (e.g, udp, tcp, sctp, tls over tcp, tls over sctp)? If so, there is no way to signal tls over sctp defined yet. Furthermore, how should they be prioritized using a q-value? If so, it is possible that certain proxies will interpret this as a forking scenario and they might decide to send one incoming request per transport! Another issue is what happens if a UAC fetches bindings by sending an empty REGISTER message. Would the proxy respond with one or all the possible transport?

It is therefore RECOMMENDED that UACs do not use any transport URI parameters in Contacts in REGISTER.

For backward compatibility, a registrar MUST accept a REGISTER message with a transport URI parameter in the Contact. It is RECOMMENDED that a registrar ignores that parameter, i.e., that it will not influence routing.

A registrar MUST record the scheme of the Contact.



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6.  SIPS in a Dialog

There MUST be only one Contact in any request resulting in the establishment of a dialog (e.g., INVITE, SUBSCRIBE, REFER). As mandated by RFC 3261/8.1.1.8, t, if the Request-URI (or top Route header field) contains a SIPS URI, the Contact header MUST be a SIPS URI as well. This poses a very significant problem if Record-Route is not used in that if the remote end end does not support SIPS, it will not be able to send a mid-dialog request to the client.

In the response, the Contact field MUST also be a SIPS URI if the Request-URI contained a SIPS URI or if the topmost Record-Route header contained a SIPS URI or if the Contact header contained one and there was no Record-Route header.

If a UAS does not support SIPS, it MUST reject a request to a SIPS Request-URI with response code 416 "Unsupported URI scheme". Upon receiveing a 416 a UAC SHOULD NOT re-attempt the request with a SIP URI by automatically replacing the SIPS scheme with a SIP scheme. If the UAC does re-attempt the call with a SIP URI, it SHOULD inform to the user that the security level is downgraded.

If a UAS does not support SIP, it MUST reject a request to a SIP Request-URI with response code 416 "Unsupported URI scheme". Upon receiveing a 416 a UAC SHOULD re-attempt the request with a SIPS URI by automatically replacing the SIP scheme with a SIPS scheme.

If the Request-URI is a SIP URI, then the UAC needs to be careful about what to use in the Contact (in case Record-Route is not used end-to-end). If the Contact is a SIPS URI, it means that it will only accept mid-dialog requests that are over secure transport. Since the Request-URI is in this case a SIP URI, it is quite possible that the UA sending a request to that URI may not be able to send requests to SIPS URIs. It is therefore RECOMMENDED that in this case, the Contact be a SIP URI, even if the request is sent over a secure transport (e.g., the first hop could be re-using a TLS connection to the proxy as would be the case with [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑outbound] (Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” June 2006.)).

When a target refresh occurs within a dialog (e.g., re-INVITE, UPDATE), unless there is a need to change it, the UAC SHOULD include a Contact header with a SIPS URI if the original request used a SIPS Request-URI.

OPEN ISSUE:
Handling of annomalies are not very well defined in RFC 3261. What if a UAS receives a SIP Contact replacing a SIPS contact in a target refresh? Should the UAC tear down the dialog if it can not cope with the unexpected response?



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7.  Usage of tls and TLS parameters

RFC 3261/26.2.2 makes it clear that the use of the "transport=tls" URI transport parameter in SIPS or SIP URIs has been deprecated:

Note that in the SIPS URI scheme, transport is independent of TLS, and thus "sips:alice@atlanta.com;transport=tcp" and "sips:alice@atlanta.com;transport=sctp" are both valid (although note that UDP is not a valid transport for SIPS). The use of "transport=tls" has consequently been deprecated, partly because it was specific to a single hop of the request. This is a change since RFC 2543.

Users that distribute a SIPS URI as an address-of-record may elect to operate devices that refuse requests over insecure transports.

However, the "tls" parameter has not been eliminated from the ABNF in RFC 3261/25, and RFC 3261/26.2.1 has a vague reference to it. This has been a source of confusion. Those omissions are errors in RFC 3261.

NOTE:
This needs to be in corrected in RFC 3261.

This specification mandates that the "transport=tls" parameter MUST NOT be used.

However, for backward compatibility, if a "transport=tls" parameter is received, it SHOULD be interpreted as per the following guidelines:

For Via headers, the following transport "UDP", "TCP", "TLS", "SCTP", and "TLS-SCTP" [RFC4168] (Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., and G. Camarillo, “The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) as a Transport for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” October 2005.) are supported.



 TOC 

8.  GRUU

GRUU [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑gruu] (Rosenberg, J., “Obtaining and Using Globally Routable User Agent (UA) URIs (GRUU) in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” August 2006.) specifies that when a GRUU is assigned to an instance ID/AOR pair, both SIP and SIPS GRUUs will be assigned. It also specificies that when a GRUU is obtained through registration, if the To header in the REGISTER request contains a SIP URI, the SIP version of the GRUU is returned. If the To header filed in the REGISTER request contains a SIPS URI, the SIPS version of the GRUU is returned. GRUU therefore follows the same logic as the one described in Section 5 (Registration).

OPEN ISSUE
How should the UAC react if the returned GRUU is SIP but the To was SIPS?
OPEN ISSUE
How should the UAC react if the returned GRUU is SIPS but the To was SIP?



 TOC 

9.  Complete Solution

The restrictions described in this document have consequences on the applicability of the SIPS URI scheme.

First and foremost, it makes it very clear that the SIPS scheme is only usable when TLS is available end-to-end for the resource to be accessed, even the last hop despite the last-hop exception rule, since the last hop becomes the first hop for requests in the reverse direction.

Another consequence, is that when a client-server TLS model is used, it is impossible for the server to establish a TLS connection with the client. The last-hop exception rule provides a not very elegant way around this. However, the RECOMMENDED approach is to use Client Initiated Connections in SIP [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑outbound] (Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” June 2006.), as greatly facilitates the use of TLS in general with SIP, and SIPS in particular.

Client Initiated Connections in SIP allows for the use of the Client/Server TLS model, where only the UA can initiate a TLS connection with its proxy, since the TLS connection between the UA and it's proxy is kept alive and available all the time, without some of the restrictions mentioned earlier.

Yet another consequence is that if Record-Route is not used (or Path header for REGISTER), the SIPS URI in the Contact in a request must be reachable. This implies that a client-server TLS model can not be used, and that rather, a mutual TLS model has to be used. It further implies that to be usable, the certificate of the entity corresponding to the SIPS URI resource must be known to the initiator of the request (e.g., either through a Global PKI, a known root certificate, etc.). This restricts the applicability of a deployment scenario without Record-Route to closed systems (e.g., a small enterprise).

A scalable system using the SIPS URI sheme would typically require the use of [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑outbound] (Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” June 2006.) between UAs and their respective servers, as well as Record-route being used end-to-end, and Path header [RFC3327] (Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts,” December 2002.) for registration .



 TOC 

10.  Call Flows

In the following examples, Bob has two clients, one is a SIP PC client running on his computer, and the other one is a SIP Phone. The PC client does not support SIPS (and does not support TLS either) and consequently only registers with a SIP address. The SIP phone however does support SIPS and TLS, and consequently registers with a SIPS address. Both of Bob's devices are going through Outbound Proxy B, and consequently, they include a Route header indicating Proxy B. Proxy B removes the Route header corresponding to itself, and adds itself in a Path header.

After registration, there are 2 contact bindings associated with Bob's AOR of bob@example.com: sips:bob@bobphone.example.com and sip:bob@bobpc.example.com.

Alice then calls Bob through her own Oubound Proxy A, including a Route header for Proxy A. Proxy A locates Bob's domain example.com. In this example, that domain is co-located with Bob's outbound proxy, but it could easily have been a separate proxy. Outbound Proxy A removes the Route header corresponding to itself, and inserts itself in the Record-Route and forwards the request to Proxy B.

The following subsections illustrates two examples. In the first one, Alice calls Bob using Bob's SIPS URI, and in the second one, Alice calls Bob's SIP AOR.



 TOC 

10.1.  Alice Calls Bob's SIPS AOR

In this first example, Alice calls Bob's SIPS address (sips:bob@example.com). Proxy B consults the binding in the registration database, and finds the 2 Contact bindings. Alice had addressed Bob with a SIPS Request-URI (sips:bob@example.com), so Proxy B determines that the calls needs to be routed only to a SIPS Contact, and therefore the request is only sent to sips:bob@bobphone.example.com. Proxy B inserts itself in the Record-Route. Bob answers.



                 Outbound                  Outbound
Bob@bobpc        Proxy B     Registrar     Proxy A     Alice
 |                 |            |            |            |
 |   REGISTER F1   |            |            |            |
 |---------------->|REGISTER F2 |            |            |
 |                 |----------->|            |            |
 |                 |   200 F3   |            |            |
 |     200 F4      |<-----------|            |            |
 |---------------->|            |            |            |
 |                 |            |            |            |
 |   Bob@phone     |            |            |            |
 |    |            |            |            |            |
 |    |REGISTER F5 |            |            |            |
 |    |----------->|REGISTER F6 |            |            |
 |    |            |----------->|            |            |
 |    |            |   200 F7   |            |            |
 |    |   200 F8   |<-----------|            |            |
 |    |----------->|            |            |            |
 |    |            |                         |  INVITE F9 |
 |    |            |        INVITE F11       |<-----------|
 |    | INVITE F13 |<------------------------|   100 F10  |
 |    |<-----------|         100 F12         |----------->|
 |    |   100 F14  |------------------------>|            |
 |    |----------->|                         |            |
 |    |   200 F15  |                         |            |
 |    |----------->|         200 F16         |            |
 |    |            |------------------------>|   200 F17  |
 |    |            |                         |----------->|
 |    |            |                         |   ACK F18  |
 |    |            |         ACK F19         |<-----------|
 |    |  ACK F20   |<------------------------|            |
 |    |<-----------|                         |            |

 Alice Calls Bob's SIPS AOR 

Message details

  F1 REGISTER Bob's PC Client -> Proxy B

  REGISTER sip:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobspc.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Supported: path
  Route: <sip:proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobpc.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:0C67446E-F1A1-11D9-94D3-000A95A0E128>"
     ;reg-id=1
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

  F2 REGISTER Proxy B -> Registrar

  REGISTER sip:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK87asdks7
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobspc.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Supported: path
  Path: <sip:laksdyjanseg237+fsdf@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobpc.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:0C67446E-F1A1-11D9-94D3-000A95A0E128>"
     ;reg-id=1
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

  F3 200 (REGISTER) Registrar -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bK87asdks7
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobspc.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=2493K59K9
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Supported: outbound
  Path: <sip:laksdyjanseg237+fsdf@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:0C67446E-F1A1-11D9-94D3-000A95A0E128>"
     ;reg-id=1
     ;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:12 GMT
  Content-Length: 0

  F4 200 (REGISTER) Proxy B -> Bob's PC Client

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobspc.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=2493K59K9
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Supported: outbound
  Path: <sip:laksdyjanseg237+fsdf@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:0C67446E-F1A1-11D9-94D3-000A95A0E128>"
     ;reg-id=1
     ;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:12 GMT
  Content-Length: 0

  F5 REGISTER Bob's Phone -> Proxy B

  REGISTER sips:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK9555
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=90210
  Call-ID: faif9a@qwefnwdclk
  CSeq: 12 REGISTER
  Supported: path
  Route: <sips:proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:6F85D4E3-E8AA-46AA-B768-BF39D5912143>"
     ;reg-id=1
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

  F6 REGISTER Proxy B -> Registrar

  REGISTER sips:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK876354
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK9555
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=90210
  Call-ID: faif9a@qwefnwdclk
  CSeq: 12 REGISTER
  Supported: path
  Path: <sips:psodkfsj+34+kkls@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:6F85D4E3-E8AA-46AA-B768-BF39D5912143>"
     ;reg-id=1
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

  F7 200 (REGISTER) Registrar -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK876354
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK9555
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5150
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=90210
  Call-ID: faif9a@qwefnwdclk
  CSeq: 12 REGISTER
  Supported: outbound
  Path: <sips:psodkfsj+34+kkls@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:6F85D4E3-E8AA-46AA-B768-BF39D5912143>"
     ;reg-id=1
     ;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:50 GMT
  Content-Length: 0

  F8 200 (REGISTER) Proxy B -> Bob's Phone

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK9555
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5150
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=90210
  Call-ID: faif9a@qwefnwdclk
  CSeq: 12 REGISTER
  Supported: outbound
  Path: <sips:psodkfsj+34+kkls@proxyb.example.com;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
     ;+sip.instance="<urn:uuid:6F85D4E3-E8AA-46AA-B768-BF39D5912143>"
     ;reg-id=1
     ;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:50 GMT
  Content-Length: 0

  F9 INVITE Alice -> Proxy A

  INVITE sips:bob@example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Route: <sips:proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F10 100 (INVITE) Proxy A -> Alice

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F11 INVITE Proxy A -> Proxy B

  INVITE sips:bob@example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F12 100 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Proxy A

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F13 INVITE Proxy B -> Bob's Phone

  INVITE sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 68
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sips:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F14 100 (INVITE) Bob's Phone -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F15 200 (INVITE) Bob's Phone -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sips:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F16 200 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Proxy A

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sips:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F17 200 (INVITE) Proxy A -> Alice

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sips:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F18 ACK Alice -> Proxy A

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKksdjf
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Route: <sips:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
         <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F19 ACK Proxy A -> Proxy B

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKplo7hy
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKksdjf
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Route: <sips:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F20 ACK Proxy B -> Bob's Phone

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bK8msdu2
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxya.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKplo7hy
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS alice-1.example.net:5061;branch=z9hG4bKksdjf
  Max-Forwards: 68
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Content-Lenght: 0



 TOC 

10.2.  Alice Calls Bob's SIP AOR

In the second example, Alice calls Bob's SIP address instead (sip:bob@example.com). Proxy B consults the binding in the registration database, and finds the 2 Contact bindings. Alice had addressed Bob with a SIP Request-URI (sip:bob@example.com), so Proxy B determines that the calls needs to be routed both to the SIP Contact and the SIPS Contact, and therefore the request is forked sent to sip:bob@boppc.example.com and sips:bob@bobphone.example.com. Proxy B inserts itself in the Record-Route. Bob's phone's policy is to accept calls to SIP and SIPS (i.e., "best effort") so both his PC Client and his SIP Phone ring simultaneously. Bob answers on his SIP phone, and the forked call leg to the PC client is canceled.




                Outbound                  Outbound
Bob@bobpc        Proxy B     Registrar     Proxy A     Alice
 |                 |            |            |            |
 |   REGISTER F1   |            |            |            |
 |---------------->|REGISTER F2 |            |            |
 |                 |----------->|            |            |
 |                 |   200 F3   |            |            |
 |     200 F4      |<-----------|            |            |
 |---------------->|            |            |            |
 |                 |            |            |            |
 |   Bob@phone     |            |            |            |
 |    |            |            |            |            |
 |    |REGISTER F5 |            |            |            |
 |    |----------->|REGISTER F6 |            |            |
 |    |            |----------->|            |            |
 |    |            |   200 F7   |            |            |
 |    |   200 F8   |<-----------|            |            |
 |    |----------->|            |            |            |
 |                 |                         |  INVITE F9 |
 |                 |        INVITE F11       |<-----------|
 |   INVITE F13'   |<------------------------|   100 F10  |
 |<----------------|         100 F12         |----------->|
 |    100 F14'     |------------------------>|            |
 |---------------->|                         |            |
 |    180 F15'     |                         |            |
 |---------------->|         180 F16'        |            |
 |                 |------------------------>|   180 F17' |
 |    | INVITE F13 |                         |----------->|
 |    |<-----------|                         |            |
 |    |  100 F14   |                         |            |
 |    |----------->|                         |            |
 |    |   200 F15  |                         |            |
 |    |----------->|         200 F16         |            |
 |    |            |------------------------>|   200 F17  |
 |    |            |                         |----------->|
 |    |            |                         |   ACK F18  |
 |    |            |         ACK F19         |<-----------|
 |    |  ACK F20   |<------------------------|            |
 |    |<-----------|                         |            |
 |                 |                         |            |
 |   CANCEL F20'   |                         |            |
 |<----------------|                         |            |
 |    200 F21'     |                         |            |
 |---------------->|                         |            |
 |    487 F22'     |                         |            |
 |---------------->|                         |            |

 Alice Calls Bob's SIP AOR 

Messages F1-F8 are identical to the ones in Section 10.1 (Alice Calls Bob's SIPS AOR). The other messages are as follows.

  F9 INVITE Alice -> Proxy A

  INVITE sip:bob@example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Route: <sip:proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F10 100 (INVITE) Proxy A -> Alice

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F11 INVITE Proxy A -> Proxy B

  INVITE sip:bob@example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F12 100 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Proxy A

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F13' INVITE Proxy B -> Bob's PC Client

  INVITE sip:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 68
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F14' 100 (INVITE) Bob's PC Client -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F15' 180 (INVITE) Bob's PC Client -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=963258
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobpc.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F16' 180 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Proxy A

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=963258
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobpc.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F17' 180 (INVITE) Proxy A -> Alice

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=963258
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobpc.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F13 INVITE Proxy B -> Bob's Phone

  INVITE sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.1
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 68
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sip:alice@alice-1.example.net>
  Content-Type: application/sdp
  Content-Length: {as per SDP}
  {SDP not shown}

  F14 100 (INVITE) Bob's Phone -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 100 Trying
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.1
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0

  F15 200 (INVITE) Bob's Phone -> Proxy B

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.1
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F16 200 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Proxy A

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F17 200 (INVITE) Proxy A -> Alice

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Record-Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
                <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com>
  Content-Length: 0

  F18 ACK Alice -> Proxy A

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sips:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Route: <sip:UJH-hUdvb65@proxyb.example.com;lr>,
         <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F19 ACK Proxy A -> Proxy B

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 69
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Route: <sip:KFndf+47KsFH@proxya.example.net;lr>
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F20 ACK Proxy B -> Bob's Phone

  ACK sips:bob@bobphone.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS proxyb.example.com:5061;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.1
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  Max-Forwards: 68
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 ACK
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F20' CANCEL Proxy B -> Bob's PC Client

  CANCEL sip:bob@bobpc.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 CANCEL
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F21' 200 (CANCEL) Proxy B -> Bob's PC Client

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=5551212
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 CANCEL
  Content-Lenght: 0

  F22' 487 (INVITE) Proxy B -> Bob's PC Client

  SIP 2.0 487 Request Terrminated
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxyb.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKbalouba.2
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP proxya.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKpouet
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP alice-1.example.net:5060;branch=z9hG4bKprout
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Alice <sip:alice@example.net>;tag=8675309
  Call-ID: lzksjf8723k@sodk6587
  CSeq: 1 INVITE
  Content-Length: 0



 TOC 

11.  Security Considerations

Most of this document can be considered to be security considerations since it applies to the usage of the SIPS URI.



 TOC 

12.  IANA Considerations

There are no IANA considerations.



 TOC 

13.  IAB Considerations

There are no IAB considerations.



 TOC 

14.  Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Jon Peterson, Cullen Jennings, John Elwell, Jonathan Rosenberg, Paul Kyzivat, Eric Rescorla, Rifaat Shekh-Yusef and Peter Reissner for their valuable input.



 TOC 

15.  References



 TOC 

15.1. Normative References

[RFC2119] Bradner, S., “Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels,” BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997 (TXT, HTML, XML).
[RFC3261] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. Schooler, “SIP: Session Initiation Protocol,” RFC 3261, June 2002.
[RFC3327] Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts,” RFC 3327, December 2002.


 TOC 

15.2. Informational References

[RFC3263] Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): Locating SIP Servers,” RFC 3263, June 2002.
[RFC3515] Sparks, R., “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer Method,” RFC 3515, April 2003.
[RFC3608] Willis, D. and B. Hoeneisen, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Service Route Discovery During Registration,” RFC 3608, October 2003.
[RFC3725] Rosenberg, J., Peterson, J., Schulzrinne, H., and G. Camarillo, “Best Current Practices for Third Party Call Control (3pcc) in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” BCP 85, RFC 3725, April 2004.
[RFC3891] Mahy, R., Biggs, B., and R. Dean, “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) "Replaces" Header,” RFC 3891, September 2004.
[RFC3892] Sparks, R., “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Referred-By Mechanism,” RFC 3892, September 2004.
[RFC3893] Peterson, J., “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Authenticated Identity Body (AIB) Format,” RFC 3893, September 2004.
[RFC3911] Mahy, R. and D. Petrie, “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) "Join" Header,” RFC 3911, October 2004.
[RFC4168] Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., and G. Camarillo, “The Stream Control Transmission Protocol (SCTP) as a Transport for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” RFC 4168, October 2005.
[RFC4346] Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, “The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.1,” RFC 4346, April 2006.
[I-D.ietf-sip-outbound] Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” draft-ietf-sip-outbound-04 (work in progress), June 2006.
[I-D.ietf-sip-gruu] Rosenberg, J., “Obtaining and Using Globally Routable User Agent (UA) URIs (GRUU) in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” draft-ietf-sip-gruu-10 (work in progress), August 2006.
[I-D.ietf-sip-identity] Peterson, J. and C. Jennings, “Enhancements for Authenticated Identity Management in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” draft-ietf-sip-identity-06 (work in progress), October 2005.


 TOC 

Appendix A.  To-Be-Done

TBD: Need to look at Replaces [RFC3891] (Mahy, R., Biggs, B., and R. Dean, “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) "Replaces" Header,” September 2004.), Join [RFC3911] (Mahy, R. and D. Petrie, “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) "Join" Header,” October 2004.) and Target-Dialog. For example, what if this header field is received in a request to a SIPS URI but the dialog to which it relates has a SIP local target, or vice-versa?

TBD: Third-party call control [RFC3725] (Rosenberg, J., Peterson, J., Schulzrinne, H., and G. Camarillo, “Best Current Practices for Third Party Call Control (3pcc) in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” April 2004.) may also have its own set of issues to investigate.

REFER [RFC3515] (Sparks, R., “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Refer Method,” April 2003.) and also [RFC3892] (Sparks, R., “The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Referred-By Mechanism,” September 2004.) introduces its own set of issues with sips:

OPEN ISSUE:
What if a UA with not support for TLS receives a SIPS URI in a Refer-to header in a REFER request? Does it reject the REFER, or accept REFER and send back a 416 in a NOTIFY?
OPEN ISSUE
How should the UAC sending a REFER react if it receives a 416 in response to the REFER?
OPEN ISSUE
What if a UA with TLS support receives a SIP URI in a Refer-to header? Is it allowed to "upgrade" to a SIPS URI? It is probably a bad idea in most scenarios, unless it already knows that the other ends supports TLS (and has a SIPS URI).



 TOC 

Appendix B.  Explicit Registration alternative

This section describes an alternative to using implicit registrations as per the main document. It is included in this draft only to demonstrate what would be the logical conclusion of pursuing an explicit registration mechanism. This appendix is intented to be removed in a later revision to this draft.

This approach allows the UA to explicitly tell it's registrar how it can be contacted, i.e., it allows the UA to decide what security can be used for reachability of its AOR.

This section provides examples on how the various SIP and SIPS URIs used in different headers should be used for providing these policies. This section makes use of the capability to use multiple contacts in a REGISTER to bind various addresses (with their respective allowable transport, such as UDP, TCP or TLS/TCP) in each of these contacts. It uses the q-value to indicate which address/transport are preferable.

If the REGISTER request is sent over secure transport to the registrar, the Request-URI MUST be a sips URI. This means that the Register transaction itself is secure.

The To header indicates the AOR. If the To header is a SIPS URI, it means that the UA is only reachable using a SIPS AOR. If the To header is a SIP URI, it means that the UA is possibly reachable with both a SIP and possibly a SIPS URI.

The meaning of the Contact header in REGISTER is different than in other methods. The Contacts in the REGISTER associates the Contacts with the AOR (in the To header).

When the UAC registers, it MUST include all the Contact values in the REGISTER corresponding to each transport it supports, using a q-value as appropriate to prioritize the transports. The Registrar MUST NOT infer any Contact URI (e.g., infer a SIPS Contact from a SIP Contact). However the Registrar MUST infer a SIPS AOR from a SIP AOR in the To header, if there is a SIPS Contact listed. If there is no SIPS Contact listed, the Registrar MUST NOT infer a SIPS AOR from a SIP AOR in the To header unless the last hop is secured using some other means than TLS (e.g., IPsec). The Registrar MUST respond to the REGISTER with a 200 OK listing all the successfully registered contacts. Note that the Registrar may decide to accept one or many of the listed contacts.



 TOC 

B.1.  AOR is to be reachable only with a SIPS AOR

If an AOR is to be reachable only with a SIPS AOR, the Contacts and the Request-URI MUST be SIPS URIs. TLS transport MUST be used to perform the registration, and the Via header MUST indicate TLS.

  REGISTER sips:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

The registrar responds with a 200 OK as follows:

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds;
       received=192.0.2.4
  To: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=2493K59K9
  From: Bob <sips:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:12 GMT
  Content-Length: 0

The registrar MUST respond to the REGISTER using the same TLS connection.



 TOC 

B.2.  AOR is to be reachable with both a SIPS and SIP AOR

In many practical network deployment, one may want to use a SIPS AOR when possible, but still allow for a SIP AOR when it is not possible.

In that situation, the UAC MUST use a SIP URI as an AOR, and not a SIPS URI. The UAC MUST provide both a SIP URI contact and a SIPS URI contact, appropriately prioritized with a q-value.

The transport used for performing the registration itself MUST be TLS. The Request-URI MUST be a SIPS URI, and the Via must indicate TLS. The REGISTER message will be as follows:

  REGISTER sips:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;q=0.7,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;q=0.5,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=udp>;q=0.1
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

In this example, the registrar responds with a 200 OK as follows, and list all the registered Contacts.

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TLS bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds;
       received=192.0.2.4
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=2493K59K9
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sips:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;expires=7200,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;expires=7200,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=udp>;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:12 GMT
  Content-Length: 0


 TOC 

B.3.  AOR is to be reachable only with a SIP AOR

In some cases, disabling a SIPS AOR completely and only use a SIP AOR may be desireable (although it is strongly discourage). This may apply for example when the equipment does not support TLS.

The Contacts MUST also be SIP URIs.

The REGISTER message will be as follows:

  REGISTER sip:registrar.example.com SIP/2.0
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds
  Max-Forwards: 70
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;q=0.5,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=udp>;q=0.2
  Expires: 7200
  Content-Length: 0

The registrar responds with a 200 OK as follows, and lists all the registered Contacts:

  SIP 2.0 200 OK
  Via: SIP/2.0/TCP bobphone.example.com:5060;branch=z9hG4bKnashds;
       received=192.0.2.4
  To: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=2493K59K9
  From: Bob <sip:bob@example.com>;tag=456248
  Call-ID: 843817637684230@998sdasdh09
  CSeq: 1826 REGISTER
  Contact: <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=tcp>;expires=7200,
           <sip:bob@bobphone.example.com;transport=udp>;expires=7200
  Date: Mon, 12 Jun 2006 16:43:12 GMT
  Content-Length: 0



 TOC 

Appendix C.  Background

This section is included for reference purposes. It is intended that this appendix will be removed in a further revision of this draft.

The use of the SIPS URI scheme in SIP is scattered throughout the following sections of [RFC3261] (Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E. Schooler, “SIP: Session Initiation Protocol,” June 2002.).

8.1.1.8 describes the use of the Contact header field. Of particular importance are the following statements:

The Contact header field MUST be present and contain exactly one SIP or SIPS URI in any request that can result in the establishment of a dialog.

If the Request-URI or top Route header field value contains a SIPS URI, the Contact header field MUST contain a SIPS URI as well.

8.1.3.4 describes processing of 3XX responses. Of particular importance is the following statement:

If the original request had a SIPS URI in the Request-URI, the client MAY choose to recurse to a non-SIPS URI, but SHOULD inform the user of the redirection to an insecure URI.

8.1.3.5 and 8.2.2.1 implies that if a SIPS is not supported by UAS, it can reject it with a 416, and the UAC SHOULD retry the request with a SIP URI. However, although not discussed in RFC 3261, the user should be informed.

10.2.1 describes address binding of SIPS AOR during registration:

If the address-of-record in the To header field of a REGISTER request is a SIPS URI, then any Contact header field values in the request SHOULD also be SIPS URIs. Clients should only register non-SIPS URIs under a SIPS address-of-record when the security of the resource represented by the contact address is guaranteed by other means. This may be applicable to URIs that invoke protocols other than SIP, or SIP devices secured by protocols other than TLS.

12.1.1 describes the UAS behavior when creating a dialog with a SIPS Request-URI or a top Record-Route header:

If the request that initiated the dialog contained a SIPS URI in the Request-URI or in the top Record-Route header field value, if there was any, or the Contact header field if there was no Record-Route header field, the Contact header field in the response MUST be a SIPS URI.

12.1.2 describes the UAC behavior when creating a dialog with a SIPS Request-URI or a top Recored-Route header. Of particular importance are the following statements:

If the request has a Request-URI or a topmost Route header field value with a SIPS URI, the Contact header field MUST contain a SIPS URI.

If the request was sent over TLS, and the Request-URI contained a SIPS URI, the "secure" flag is set to TRUE.

12.2.1.1 expands on what this secure flag means when doing any target refresh requests within that dialog:

A UAC SHOULD include a Contact header field in any target refresh requests within a dialog, and unless there is a need to change it, the URI SHOULD be the same as used in previous requests within the dialog. If the "secure" flag is true, that URI MUST be a SIPS URI.

16.6 bullet 4 describes Record Route processing for SIPS URIs by proxies:

If the Request-URI contains a SIPS URI, or the topmost Route header field value [...] contains a SIPS URI, the URI placed into the Record-Route header field MUST be a SIPS URI. Furthermore, if the request was not received over TLS, the proxy MUST insert a Record-Route header field. In a similar fashion, a proxy that receives a request over TLS, but generates a request without a SIPS URI in the Request-URI or topmost Route header field value [...], MUST insert a Record-Route header field that is not a SIPS URI.

16.7 describes proxy response forwarding with Record-Route:

If the proxy received the request over TLS, and sent it outover a non-TLS connection, the proxy MUST rewrite the URI in the Record-Route header field to be a SIPS URI. If the proxy received the request over a non-TLS connection, and sent it outover TLS, the proxy MUST rewrite the URI in the Record-Route header field to be a SIP URI.

19.1 describes the SIP and SIPS URI in general. Of particular importance is the following statement:

A SIPS URI specifies that the resource be contacted securely. This means, in particular, that TLS is to be used between the UAC and the domain that owns the URI. From there, secure communications are used to reach the user, where the specific security mechanism depends on the policy of the domain. Any resource described by a SIP URI can be "upgraded" to a SIPS URI by just changing the scheme, if it is desired to communicate with that resource securely.

19.1.4 describes rules for URI comparisons. Of particular importance is the following statement:

Some operations in this specification require determining whether two SIP or SIPS URIs are equivalent. In this specification, registrars need to compare bindings in Contact URIs in REGISTER requests (see Section 10.3.). SIP and SIPS URIs are compared for equality according to the following rules:

o A SIP and SIPS URI are never equivalent.

20.42 describes indicating TLS transport in Via headers:

A Via header field value contains the transport protocol used to send the message, [...] Transport protocols defined here are "UDP", "TCP", "TLS", and "SCTP". "TLS" means TLS over TCP. When a request is sent to a SIPS URI, the protocol still indicates "SIP", and the transport protocol is TLS.

26.2.1 describes Transport Layer Security [RFC4346] (Dierks, T. and E. Rescorla, “The Transport Layer Security (TLS) Protocol Version 1.1,” April 2006.). Of particular importance is the following statement:

"tls" (signifying TLS over TCP) can be specified as the desired transport protocol within a Via header field value or a SIP-URI.

26.2.2 is very important and describes the SIPS URI scheme. Of particular importance is the following statements:

When used as the Request-URI of a request, the SIPS scheme signifies that each hop over which the request is forwarded, until the request reaches the SIP entity responsible for the domain portion of the Request-URI, must be secured with TLS; once it reaches the domain in question it is handled in accordance with local security and routing policy, quite possibly using TLS for any last hop to a UAS. When used by the originator of a request (as would be the case if they employed a SIPS URI as the address-of-record of the target), SIPS dictates that the entire request path to the target domain be so secured.

[...]

Note that in the SIPS URI scheme, transport is independent of TLS, and thus "sips:alice@atlanta.com;transport=tcp" and "sips:alice@atlanta.com;transport=sctp" are both valid (although note that UDP is not a valid transport for SIPS). The use of "transport=tls" has consequently been deprecated, partly because it was specific to a single hop of the request. This is a change since RFC 2543.

Users that distribute a SIPS URI as an address-of-record may elect to operate devices that refuse requests over insecure transports.

26.4.4 describes the limitations in what to infer from using SIPS URIs. Of particular importance are the the following important statement:

Location services are not required to provide a SIPS binding for a SIPS Request-URI. Although location services are commonly populated by user registrations (as described in Section 10.2.1), various other protocols and interfaces could conceivably supply contact addresses for an AOR, and these tools are free to map SIPS URIs to SIP URIs as appropriate. When queried for bindings, a location service returns its contact addresses without regard for whether it received a request with a SIPS Request-URI. If a redirect server is accessing the location service, it is up to the entity that processes the Contact header field of a redirection to determine the propriety of the contact addresses.

Actually using TLS on every segment of a request path entails that the terminating UAS must be reachable over TLS (perhaps registering with a SIPS URI as a contact address). This is the preferred use of SIPS. Many valid architectures, however, use TLS to secure part of the request path, but rely on some other mechanism for the final hop to a UAS, for example. Thus SIPS cannot guarantee that TLS usage will be truly end-to-end. [...]

The reader should also be familiar with [RFC3263] (Rosenberg, J. and H. Schulzrinne, “Session Initiation Protocol (SIP): Locating SIP Servers,” June 2002.) which describes the use of DNS with SIPS schemes.

Finally, because in practical implementations TLS will often be implemented using client-initiated connections, the reader should be familar with [I‑D.ietf‑sip‑outbound] (Jennings, C. and R. Mahy, “Managing Client Initiated Connections in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP),” June 2006.).



 TOC 

Author's Address

  Francois Audet
  Nortel Networks
  4655 Great America Parkway
  Santa Clara, CA 95054
  US
Phone:  +1 408 495 3756
Email:  audet@nortel.com


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