The IETF Multimedia Communications RFC Series

The IETF has developed a significant number of RFCs that address the problem of Multimedia Communications on the Internet. Here is a listing of those documents which have issued as RFC so far. For a list of Internet Drafts not yet issued as RFCs, which I have authored, see here.

The core SIP specification

The original SIP specification is RFC 2543 , published in March of 1999. It has been obsoleted by:

RFC 3261, The Session Initiation Protocol

published in June of 2002. Archives of older Internet Draft versions of RFC3261 can be found here.

Standards Track SIP Extensions

Here are the following SIP standards track extensions that have reached RFC status:

  1. RFC 2976, The SIP INFO Method
  2. RFC 3262, Reliability of Provisional Responses in SIP
  3. RFC 3263, SIP: Locating SIP Servers
  4. RFC 3264, An Offer/Answer Model for SDP
  5. RFC 3265, SIP Specific Event Notification
  6. RFC 3311, The SIP UPDATE Method
  7. RFC 3312, Integration of Resource Management and SIP
  8. RFC 3323, A Privacy Mechanism for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  9. RFC 3326, The Reason Header Field for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  10. RFC 3327, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension Header Field for Registering Non-Adjacent Contacts
  11. RFC 3329, Security Mechanism Agreement for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  12. RFC 3420, Internet Media Type message/sipfrag
  13. RFC 3428, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension for Instant Messaging
  14. RFC 3486, Compressing the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  15. RFC 3515, The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) REFER Method
  16. RFC 3581, An Extension to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for Symmetric Response Routing
  17. RFC 3680, A Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Event Package for Registrations
  18. RFC 3840, Indicating User Agent Capabilities in the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  19. RFC 3841, Caller Preferences for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)

Private SIP Extensions

These extensions are considered "Private" and not meant for general use on the Internet, and are therefore informational documents:

  1. RFC 3313, Private Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extensions for Media Authorization
  2. RFC 3325, Private Extensions to the Session Initiation Protocol for Asserted Identity within Trusted Networks
  3. RFC 3455, Private Header (P-Header) Extensions to the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) for the 3rd-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP)

SIP for Instant Messaging Leveraging Extensions (SIMPLE)

These specifications include extensions to SIP, along with other documents which collectivity make up the SIMPLE protocol.

  1. RFC 3428, Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Extension for Instant Messaging
  2. RFC 3856, A Presence Event Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  3. RFC 3857, A Watcher Information Event Template Package for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  4. RFC 3858, An Extensible Markup Language (XML) Based Format for Watcher Information

Session Description Protocol and Extensions

The following standards track RFCs describe SDP and its extensions, used by SIP to describe sessions:

  1. RFC 2327, The Session Description Protocol (SDP)
  2. RFC 3266, Support for IPv6 in Session Description Protocol (SDP)
  3. RFC 3388, Grouping of Media Lines in the Session Description Protocol
  4. RFC 3407, Session Description Protocol (SDP) Simple Capability Declaration

Technologies Used by SIP Systems

The following standards track RFCs describe technologies used by SIP, or that use SIP, but are not SIP extensions themselves:

  1. RFC 3204, MIME Media Types for ISUP and QSIG Objects
  2. RFC 3310, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) Digest Authentication Using Authentication and Key Agreement (AKA)
  3. RFC 3361, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP-for-IPv4) Option for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Servers
  4. RFC 3319, Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP-for-IPv6) Options for Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Servers

Informational Documents on SIP

The following are informational documents about SIP or that use SIP:

  1. RFC 3050, The SIP Common Gateway Interface (SIP CGI)
  2. RFC 3087, Control of Service Context using Request-URI
  3. RFC 3324, Short Term Requirements for Network Asserted Identity
  4. RFC 3351, User Requirements for SIP in Support of Deaf, Hard of Hearing, and Speech Impaired Individuals
  5. RFC 3372, Session Initiation Protocol for Telephones (SIP-T): Context and Architectures
  6. RFC 3398, Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) User Part (ISUP) to Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) Mapping
  7. RFC 3427, Change Process for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  8. RFC 3487, Requirements for Resource Priority Mechanisms for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)
  9. RFC 3665, Basic SIP Call Flow Examples
  10. RFC 3666, PSTN SIP Call Flow Examples
  • RFC 3725, Best Current Practices for Third Party Call Control in SIP

    • Signaling Compression

    The following are the specifications for sigcomp, used to compress SIP for wireless networks:

    1. RFC 3320, Signaling Compression (SigComp)
    2. RFC 3321, Signaling Compression (SigComp) - Extended Operations
    3. RFC 3322, Signaling Compression (SigComp) Requirements and Assumptions
    4. The Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and Session Description Protocol (SDP) Static Dictionary for Signaling Compression (SigComp)

    Firewall and NAT Issues

    The following are the specifications from the midcom working group, which discusses techniques for traversal of NAT and firewalls:

    1. RFC 3303, Middlebox Communication Architecture and Framework
    2. RFC 3489, Simple Traversal of UDP Through NAT (STUN)
    Last modified: Wed Sep 08 16:38:48 Eastern Daylight Time 2004