RFC 4152

RFC 4152: A Uniform Resource Name (URN) Namespace for the Common Language Equipment Identifier (CLEI) Code 💖

• Stream: Network Working Group 🎀
• Authors: K. Tesink and R. Fox, both from Telcordia Technologies
• Category: Informational (this is info for the community, not a standard) ✨
• Date: August 2005 📅
• Obsoletes / Updates: This one's a clean slate. The header doesn't list any RFC it obsoletes or updates 🫶

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Status of This Memo 📝

Okay so, this memo is informational, bestie. It's sharing info with the Internet community, but it is NOT a standard of any kind 🙈 Distribution is unlimited, so share it with everyone 💅

Copyright Notice ©️

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract 🌸

So this doc is all about a URN namespace (the naming system from RFC 3406) for the CLEI code 🧚. The CLEI code is used in messages standardized by ANSI, and the namespace is managed by Telcordia Technologies, Inc., acting as the maintenance agent for ANSI T1.213.

Here's the tea 🍓: a CLEI code is a globally unique, ten-character alphanumeric "intelligent code." Telcordia assigns it at the request of equipment suppliers, and it tells you what kind of communications equipment you're looking at by spelling out the product type and features. There's a one-to-one relationship between a CLEI code and the supplier's product ID, which is the manufacturer's name plus the part number and its version number. It's giving precision 👑

Table of Contents 🗂️

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Specification Template ..........................................2
   3. Examples ........................................................4
   4. Namespace and Community Considerations ..........................4
   5. Security Considerations .........................................5
   6. IANA Considerations .............................................5
   7. Acknowledgments .................................................5
   8. Normative References ............................................5

1. Introduction 🌈

Okay, so a ton of circuit cards in the global telecom network have a CLEI code assigned to them. You'll spot it on a label stuck to the front, as a bar code or a two-dimensional symbol. Service providers use the CLEI code to:

• Track inventory, both working and spare 📦
• Handle logistics (moving circuit cards around, along with the serial number) 🚚
• Provision equipment ⚙️
• Maintain asset records (accounting information) 💰

The whole point of the CLEI namespace is keeping the names of specific items stable and unique, because those names get passed around inside messages between equipment all over the global telecom network. Main character energy for identifiers 🦋

The maintenance agent, Telcordia Technologies, handles assigning certain equipment and other identifiers for the telecom industry, like location and manufacturer/supplier. Its assignment process spells out the structure and intelligence of the CLEI code so it can capture the circuit card's form, fit, functions, and features ✨ Here's the lowkey important bit: equipment can sit in lots of different physical locations and still have the exact same form, fit, functions, and features. In that case it gets the same CLEI code as long as its product ID matches 🫶

2. Specification Template 💅

Namespace ID:

"CLEI"

Registration information:

Version 1 Date: 2004-12-31

Declared registrant of the namespace:

Telcordia Technologies, Inc. Customer Support Center 8 Corporate Place Piscataway, NJ 08854 U.S.A. +1.732.699.5577 http://www.commonlanguage.com

Declaration of syntactic structures:

The Namespace Specific String is a flat space of 10 characters, as defined in [T1.213][T1.213a]. Flat and simple, iconic 🔥

Relevant ancillary documentation:

[T1.213] and [T1.213a].

Identifier uniqueness considerations:

Identifiers are assigned through Telcordia URN registration, which guarantees uniqueness for items with different form, fit, functions, and features 🔒 The way it works is simple: every new proposed name gets compared against the names already assigned in a database. If the name already exists, a new one gets created following the rules of the process. For assignment examples, check [T1.213][T1.213a] 📚

Identifiers persistence considerations:

The ANSI process and the CLEI maintenance agent make sure the binding between the name and its resource is permanent, and that names are never reassigned. Permanent is the only way to be 🧚

Process of identifiers assignment:

A CLEI code is an intelligent code made of 10 alphanumeric characters, split into 4 data elements. Here's how it breaks down, bestie:

• Data element 1 (the basic code): The first 2 characters indicate the technology or equipment type, and the third and fourth characters denote the functional sub-category.
• Data element 2 (features): Three characters that denote functional capabilities or changes.
• Data element 3: One character that references a manufacturer, system ID, specification, or drawing.
• Data element 4 (complementary data): Two characters. These provide a means of differentiating or providing uniqueness between the eight character CLEI codes by identifying the manufacturing vintage of the product 🍼

Names get assigned through the procedures defined in [GR485] 📖

Process for identifier resolution:

Telcordia URNs get resolved through Telcordia resolvers run under Telcordia responsibility. For more info, check www.commonlanguage.com 🔍

Rules for lexical equivalence:

Two CLEI URN namespace specific strings are lexically equivalent when they're an exact, case-insensitive string match. CLEI codes are assigned case-insensitively, so you'll never get two codes that differ only in case 🙌 For more, see [T1.213] and [T1.213a] 💜

Conformance with URN syntax:

No special consideration. Nothing extra to see here 🤷‍♀️

Validation mechanism:

None specified.

Scope:

Global 🌍

3. Examples 🎀

These three examples are based on the examples in [T1.213a]. They line up with three different sets of features from three different manufacturers (Nortel Networks, Lear, and Lucent Technologies), all producing "D4CE" equipment (a particular D4 channel bank type). The fourth example is a SONET power unit convertor from Alcatel ⚡

      URN:CLEI:D4CE18B7AA
      URN:CLEI:D4CE4248AA
      URN:CLEI:D4CE363PAB
      URN:CLEI:SNPWBBC7AA

4. Namespace and Community Considerations 🌐

CLEI codes have a long history of showing up in all kinds of communications equipment (see the examples above and [T1.213a]). Sometimes entities with CLEI codes need to be managed or exposed in a bigger context, like the general Internet. When that happens, using the CLEI URN namespace gives general interoperability benefits to the Internet at large, plus benefits to specific internets too. Big win, periodt 🫶

5. Security Considerations 🚨

Okay, this one's important, so read carefully 👀 There are no security considerations beyond the ones that normally come with using and resolving URNs in general.

However, attempting to resolve a Telcordia URN through a resolver other than the one Telcordia provides is NOT considered authoritative. Don't be the person using a random resolver and trusting what comes back 💀

6. IANA Considerations 🦄

The IANA has registered the formal URN namespace CLEI within the IANA registry of URN NIDs ✨

7. Acknowledgments 💖

Huge thanks to the Entity MIB Working Group members for their contributions 🙏 Special shoutout to Mike Heard, Juergen Schoenwaelder, Dave Perkins, and Dan Romascanu 👑

8. Normative References 📚

• [RFC3406] Daigle, L., van Gulik, D., Iannella, R., and P. Faltstrom, "Uniform Resource Names (URN) Namespace Definition Mechanisms", RFC 3406, October 2002.
• [T1.213] ATIS T1.213-2001, Coded Identification of Equipment Entities in the North American Telecommunications System for Information Exchange, 2001, www.ansi.org.
• [T1.213a] ATIS T1.213a, Supplement to T1.213-2001, Coded Identification of Equipment Entities in the North American Telecommunications System for Information Exchange, to correct the representation of the Basic Code in Figure B.1, 2001, www.ansi.org.
• [GR485] GR-485-CORE, COMMON LANGUAGE Equipment Codes (CLEI Codes), Generic Requirements for Processes And Guidelines, Issue 5, Telcordia Technologies, April 2004.

Authors' Addresses 🏠

Kaj Tesink One Telcordia Drive Piscataway, NJ 08854 USA

Phone: +1 732 699-6068 EMail: kaj@research.telcordia.com

Robert H. Fox 3545 S.Ocean Blvd, #417 Palm Beach, FL 33480-5715 USA

Phone: +1 732 699-8968 EMail: rfox@telcordia.com

Full Copyright Statement ⚖️

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

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Acknowledgement 💜

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