the corporation for national research initiatives the handle system persistent, secure, reliable...

The Corporation for National Research Initiatives

The Handle System

Persistent, Secure, Reliable Identifier Resolution


CNRI Handle System

• Distributed, scalable, secure• Enforces unique names• Enables association of one or more typed values,

e.g., URL, with each name• Encourages persistence and transferability of IDs• Optimized for speed and reliability• Open, well-defined protocol and data model• Provides infrastructure for application domains,

e.g., digital libraries, electronic publishing ...


Handle System Adoption

• GRID (Globus Alliance)• Library of Congress• DTIC (Defense Technical Information Center)• IDF (International DOI Foundation)

• CrossRef (scholarly journal consortium)• Enpia (Korean content management technology firm)• CDI (U.S. content management technology firm)• LON (U.S. learning object technology firm)• CAL (Copyright Agency Ltd - Australia)• TSO (U.K. publisher & info mgmt service provider)• MEDRA (Multilingual European DOI Registration Agency)• Nielsen BookData (bibliographic data - ISBN)• R.R. Bowker (bibliographic data - ISBN)• Office of Publications of the European Community• German National Library of Science and Technology (applied)

• NTIS (National Technical Information Service)• DSpace (MIT + HP)• Coming up: NASA, ADL, NSDL, misc large corporations


URL 2 http://a-books.com/….

DLS 9 acme/repository

HS_ADMIN 100 acme.admin/jsmith

XYZ 100111001111012

Handle dataHandle Data typeIndex

10.123/456 URL 1 http://acme.com/….

Handles Resolve to Typed Data


each of which consists of one ormore replicated sites,

Site 1Site 1 Site 2Site 2

Site 1Site 1

Site 2Site 2

Site 3Site 3 …... Site nSite n

Client

is a collection ofhandle services,

The Handle System

LHS

LHS LHS

LHSGHR

123.456/abc URL 4 http://www.acme.com/

http://www.ideal.com/8URL

each of which mayhave one or moreservers.

#1#1 #2#2

#1#1 #2#2 #n#n#4#4#3#3 ...

Handle Resolution


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System

Web ClientHandle Administration

Client

ResolveHandle

HTTP Redirect

Proxy/Web Server

HTTP Get

Handle Data

http://hdl.handle.net/123.456/abc

Handle Clients


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System

ClientHandle Administration

Client

hdl:123.456/abc

ClientPlug-In

Resolve HandleRequest

Handle Data

Handle Clients


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System

WebHandle Administration

Client

Web Server

HTTP

Handle Admin API

Admin Forms

Handle Clients


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System

WebHandle Administration

Client

CustomClient

Handle Clients


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System

Handle Administrationembedded in another

process


processWeb

Handle Clients


LHS

LHS LHS LHS

LHS

LHS

LHS

LHSGHR

LHS

Handle System


process


process

Handle Resolutionembedded in another

process

Handle Resolutionembedded in another

process

Handle Clients


• Assigned Prefixes (Jun 05)• DOI - 1335• Other - 563

• Handles• DOI - 17.8 M• Other - Additional millions (total per prefix known

only to prefix manager)• Global

• Core: three service sites (added locations being considered)

• 10.6 M resolutions

Handle System Usage


• Specification

• RFC 3650: Overview

• RFC 3651: Namespace and Service Definition

• RFC 3652: Protocol

• URI schemes:

• info:doi - registered under info, info registration pending

• hdl: and doi: - preferred; indicates dereference-ability

• urn:hdl: - extra layer, but still possible

Management and Standards


URI Schemes - doi: hdl:

• Syntax Specification (done, pending internal review)

• Implementation (done)

• Wide Distribution (in progress, using basic syntax)

• Published Standard (in progress)

the corporation for national research initiatives the handle system persistent, secure, reliable...

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