updated draft-ietf-msgtrk-trkstat & -smtpext

Eric Allman <[email protected]> Tue, 20 Mar 2001 14:37:56 -0800 (PST)
Newsgroups gmane.ietf.msgtrk
Message-ID <[email protected]>
I thought I would run these by the list before submitting them for
publication.  If there are any comments before Thursday, I'll incorporate
them, otherwise I'll submit them as is.

eric
draft-ietf-msgtrk-trkstat.txt (text/plain, 18.9 KB)



Internet Draft                                               E. Allman
draft-ietf-msgtrk-trkstat-00.txt                        Sendmail, Inc.
Valid for six months                                    March 20, 2001
Updates: RFC 1893




               The Message/Tracking-Status MIME Extension

                   <draft-ietf-msgtrk-trkstat-01.txt>

Status of This Memo

      This  document  is  an  Internet-Draft and is in full conformance
with all provisions of Section 10  of  RFC2026.   Internet-Drafts  are
working  documents  of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its
areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups may  also  dis-
tribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

      Internet-Drafts  are  draft  documents valid for a maximum of six
months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by  other  documents
at  any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

      The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at:

     http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at:

     http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html


      This document is a submission by the MSGTRK Working Group of  the
Internet  Engineering Task Force (IETF).  Comments should be submitted
to the [email protected] mailing list.  An archive of  the  mailing  list
may be found at

     http://www.ietf.org/archive/msgtrk


      Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

1.  Abstract

         Message  Tracking is expected to be used to determine the sta-
    tus of undelivered e-mail upon request.  Tracking is used  in  con-
    junction with Delivery Status Notifications [RFC-DSN-SMTP] and Mes-
    sage Disposition  Notifications  [RFC-MDN];  generally,  a  message
    tracking request will be issued only when a DSN or MDN has not been
    received within a reasonable timeout period.

         This memo defines a MIME [RFC-MIME] content-type  for  message
    tracking  status  in  the  same spirit as RFC 1894, ``An Extensible
    Message Format for Delivery Status Notifications''  [RFC-DSN-STAT].

Internet Draft          Message/Tracking-Status         March 20, 2001


    It  is to be issued upon a request as described in ``Message Track-
    ing Query Protocol'' [DRAFT-MTRK-MTQP].  This memo defines only the
    format of the status information.  An extension to SMTP [RFC-ESMTP]
    to label messages for further tracking and request tracking  status
    is defined in a separate memo [DRAFT-MTRK-SMTPEXT].

2.  Other Documents and Conformance

         The  model  used  for Message Tracking is described in [DRAFT-
    MTRK-MODEL].

         Message tracking is intended for use as a "last resort" mecha-
    nism.   Normally,  Delivery  Status  Notifications (DSNs) [RFC-DSN-
    SMTP] and Message Disposition Notifications (MDNs) [RFC-MDN]  would
    provide  the  primary  delivery  status.   Only if no response from
    either of these mechanisms would Message Tracking be used.

         This document is based on [RFC-DSN-STAT].  Sections 1.3  (Ter-
    minology),  2.1.1  (General  conventions  for  DSN  fields),  2.1.2
    ("*-type" subfields), and 2.1.3 (Lexical tokens imported  from  RFC
    822)  of  [RFC-DSN-STAT]  are included into this document by refer-
    ence.  Other sections are further incorporated as described herein.

         Syntax notation in this document conforms to [RFC-ABNF].

         The  following  lexical  tokens,  defined in [RFC-MSGFMT], are
    used in the ABNF grammar for MTSNs: atom, CHAR, comment, CR,  CRLF,
    DIGIT,  LF, linear-white-space, SPACE, text.  The date-time lexical
    token is defined in [RFC-HOSTREQ].

         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  RFC  2119
    [RFC-KEYWORDS].


3.  Format of a Message Tracking Status Notification

         A  Message  Tracking Status Notification (MTSN) is intended to
    be returned as the body of a Message Tracking request  [DRAFT-MTRK-
    MTQP].   The  actual body MUST be a multipart/related [RFC-RELATED]
    with type of "tracking-status"; each subpart  MUST  be  type  "mes-
    sage/tracking-status" as described herein.

    3.1.  The message/tracking-status content-type

            The message/tracking-status content-type is defined as fol-
       lows:

           MIME type name:           message
           MIME subtype name:        tracking-status
           Optional parameters:      none
           Encoding considerations:  "7bit" encoding is sufficient and
                                     MUST be used to maintain readability
                                     when viewed by non-MIME mail readers.
           Security considerations:  discussed in section 4 of this memo.


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            The body of  a  message/tracking-status  is  modeled  after
       [RFC-DSN-STAT].  That body consists of one or more "fields" for-
       matted to according to the ABNF of RFC 822 headers "fields" (see
       [RFC-MSGFMT]).  The per-message fields appear first, followed by
       a blank line.  Following the per-message fields are one or  more
       groups  of  per-recipient  fields.   Each group of per-recipient
       fields is preceded by a blank line.  Formally, the syntax of the
       message/tracking-status content is as follows:

           tracking-status-content =
                     per-message-fields 1*( CRLF per-recipient-fields )

       The  per-message  fields are described in section 3.2.  The per-
       recipient fields are described in section 3.3.

       3.1.1.  General conventions for MTSN fields

               Section 2.1.1 (General conventions for  DSN  fields)  of
          [RFC-DSN-STAT] is included herein by reference.  Notably, the
          definition of xtext is identical to that of that document.

       3.1.2.  *-type subfields

               Section 2.1.2 (*-type subfields)  of  [RFC-DSN-STAT]  is
          included  herein  by  reference.  Notably, the definitions of
          address-type, diagnostic-type, and MTA-name type are  identi-
          cal to that of RFC 1894.


    3.2.  Per-Message MTSN Fields

            Some  fields  of an MTSN apply to all of the addresses in a
       single envelope.  These fields may appear at most  once  in  any
       MTSN.   These  fields  are  used  to correlate the MTSN with the
       original message transaction and to provide additional  informa-
       tion which may be useful to gateways.

           per-message-fields =
                     original-envelope-id-field CRLF
                     reporting-mta-field CRLF
                     arrival-date CRLF
                     *( extension-field CRLF )


       3.2.1.  The Original-Envelope-Id field

               The optional Original-Envelope-Id field is defined as in
          section 2.2.1 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED.

       3.2.2.  The Reporting-MTA field

               The Reporting-MTA field is defined as in  section  2.2.2
          of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED.





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       3.2.3.  The Arrival-Date field

               The Arrival-Date field is defined as in section 2.2.5 of
          [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED.


    3.3.  Per-Recipient MTSN fields

            An MTSN contains information about attempts  to  deliver  a
       message to one or more recipients.  The delivery information for
       any particular recipient is contained in a group  of  contiguous
       per-recipient  fields.   Each  group  of per-recipient fields is
       preceded by a blank line.

            The syntax for the group of per-recipient fields is as fol-
       lows:

           per-recipient-fields =
                     original-recipient-field CRLF
                     final-recipient-field CRLF
                     action-field CRLF
                     status-field CRLF
                     [ remote-mta-field CRLF ]
                     [ last-attempt-date-field CRLF ]
                     [ will-retry-until-field CRLF ]
                     *( extension-field CRLF )


       3.3.1.  Original-Recipient field

               The  optional  Original-Recipient field is defined as in
          section 2.3.1 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED.

       3.3.2.  Final-Recipient field

               The required Final-Recipient field is defined as in sec-
          tion 2.3.2 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED.

       3.3.3.  Action field

               The required Action field indicates the action performed
          by the Reporting-MTA as a result of its  attempt  to  deliver
          the  message  to  this recipient address.  This field MUST be
          present for each recipient named in the MTSN.  The syntax  is
          as  defined  in  section  2.3.3  of  RFC 1894.  This field is
          REQUIRED.

               Valid actions are:

          failed       The message could not  be  delivered.   If  DSNs
                       have been enabled, a "failed" DSN should already
                       have been returned.

          delayed      The message is  currently  waiting  in  the  MTA
                       queue  for  future  delivery.  Essentially, this
                       action means "the message is located, and it  is


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                       here."

          delivered    The  message  has been successfully delivered to
                       the final recipient.  This  includes  "delivery"
                       to  a  mailing list exploder.  It does not indi-
                       cate that the message has been read.  No further
                       information  is  available;  in  particular, the
                       tracking agent SHOULD NOT attempt further "down-
                       stream" tracking requests.

          expanded     The  message  has been successfully delivered to
                       the  recipient  address  as  specified  by   the
                       sender,   and  forwarded  by  the  Reporting-MTA
                       beyond that destination to  multiple  additional
                       recipient  addresses.  However, these additional
                       addresses are not trackable,  and  the  tracking
                       agent  SHOULD  NOT  attempt further "downstream"
                       tracking requests.

          relayed      The message has been delivered into an  environ-
                       ment that does not support message tracking.  No
                       further information is available; in particular,
                       the  tracking  agent  SHOULD NOT attempt further
                       "downstream" tracking requests.

          transferred  The message  has  been  transferred  to  another
                       MTRK-compliant  MTA.   The tracking agent SHOULD
                       attempt further "downstream" tracking  requests.

          opaque       The  message  may  or  may not have been seen by
                       this system.  No further information  is  avail-
                       able or forthcoming.

       3.3.4.  Status field

               The  Status  field  is  defined  as  in RFC 1894 section
          2.3.4.   A  new  code  is  added  to  RFC  1893  [RFC-EMSSC],
          "Enhanced Mail System Status Codes",

              X.1.9   Message relayed to non-compliant mailer"

                  The mailbox address specified was valid, but the mes-
                  sage has been relayed to a system that does not speak
                  this  protocol;  no  further  information can be pro-
                  vided.
          A  2.1.9  Status  field  MUST  be  used  exclusively  with  a
          "relayed" Action field.  This field is REQUIRED.

       3.3.5.  Remote-MTA field

               The  Remote-MTA field is defined as in section Reference
          2.3.5 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field MUST NOT be included  if
          no  delivery  attempts  have been made or if the Action field
          has value "opaque".  If delivery to some agent other than  an
          MTA (for example, a Local Delivery Agent) then this field MAY
          be included, giving the name of the host on which that  agent


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Internet Draft          Message/Tracking-Status         March 20, 2001


          was contacted.

       3.3.6.  Last-Attempt-Date field

               The  Last-Attempt-Date  field  is  defined as in section
          Reference 2.3.7 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  This field is REQUIRED if
          any  delivery attempt has been made and the Action field does
          not have value "opaque", in which case it will  specify  when
          it  last  attempted to deliver this message to another MTA or
          other Delivery Agent.  This field MUST NOT be included if  no
          delivery attempts have been made.

       3.3.7.  Will-Retry-Until field

               The Will-Retry-Until field is defined as in section Ref-
          erence 2.3.8 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].  If the message is not in the
          local  queue or the Action field has the value ``opaque'' the
          Will-Retry-Until field MUST NOT be included; otherwise,  this
          field is REQUIRED.

    3.4.  Extension fields

            Future  extension  fields may be defined as defined in sec-
       tion 2.4 of [RFC-DSN-STAT].

    3.5.  Interaction Between MTAs and LDAs

            A message that has been delivered to  an  LDA  that  under-
       stands  message  tracking  (in  particular, an LDA speaking LMTP
       [RFC-LMTP] that supports the MTRK  extension)  SHOULD  pass  the
       tracking request to the LDA.  In this case, the Action field for
       the MTA->LDA exchange will look the same as a transfer to a com-
       pliant  MTA;  that  is,  a "transferred" tracking status will be
       issued.


4.  Security Issues

    4.1.  Forgery

            Malicious servers may attempt to subvert  message  tracking
       and return false information.  This could result in misdirection
       or misinterpretation of results.

    4.2.  Confidentiality

            Another dimension of security  is  confidentiality.   There
       may be cases in which a message recipient is autoforwarding mes-
       sages but does not wish to divulge the address to which the mes-
       sages  are  autoforwarded.   The desire for such confidentiality
       will probably be heightened as  "wireless  mailboxes",  such  as
       pagers, become more widely used as autoforward addresses.

            MTA  authors  are  encouraged  to provide a mechanism which
       enables the end user to preserve the confidentiality of  a  for-
       warding  address.   Depending  on  the degree of confidentiality


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       required, and the nature of the environment to which  a  message
       were  being forwarded, this might be accomplished by one or more
       of:

       (a)  respond with a "relayed" tracking status when a message  is
            forwarded  to  a  confidential forwarding address, and dis-
            abling further message tracking requests.

       (b)  declaring the message to be delivered,  issuing  a  "deliv-
            ered" tracking status, re-sending the message to the confi-
            dential forwarding address, and disabling  further  message
            tracking requests.

            The  tracking  algorithms  MUST  NOT allow tracking through
       list expansions.  When a message  is  delivered  to  a  list,  a
       tracking request MUST respond with an "expanded" tracking status
       and MUST NOT display the contents of the list.

5.  References

    [DRAFT-MTRK-MODEL]
         T.  Hansen,  ``Message  Tracking  Model  and   Requirements.''
         draft-ietf-msgtrk-model-03.txt.  November 2000.

    [DRAFT-MTRK-MTQP]
         T.  Hansen,  ``Message Tracking Query Protocol.''  draft-ietf-
         msgtrk-mtqp-01.txt.  November 2000.

    [DRAFT-MTRK-SMTPEXT]
         E. Allman, ``SMTP Service Extension  for  Message  Tracking.''
         draft-ietf-msgtrk-smtpext-00.txt.  December 2000.

    [RFC-ABNF]
         Crocker,  D., Editor, and P. Overell, ``Augmented BNF for Syn-
         tax Specifications: ABNF'', RFC 2234, November 1997.

    [RFC-DSN-REPT]
         G. Vaudreuil, ``The  Multipart/Report  Content  Type  for  the
         Reporting of Mail System Administrative Messages.''  RFC 1892.
         January 1996.

    [RFC-DSN-SMTP]
         K. Moore, ``SMTP Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifi-
         cations.''  RFC 1891.  January 1996.

    [RFC-DSN-STAT]
         K.  Moore and G. Vaudreuil, ``An Extensible Message Format for
         Delivery Status Notifications.''  RFC 1894.  January 1996.

    [RFC-EMSSC]
         G. Vaudreuil, ``Enhanced  Mail  System  Status  Codes.''   RFC
         1893.  January 1996.

    [RFC-ESMTP]
         Rose,  M.,  Stefferud,  E.,  Crocker,  D.,  Klensin, J. and N.
         Freed,  ``SMTP  Service  Extensions.''   STD  10,  RFC   1869.


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         November 1995.

    [RFC-HOSTREQ]
         R. Braden (ed.), ``Requirements for Internet Hosts -- Applica-
         tion and Support.''  STD 3, RFC 1123.  October 1989.

    [RFC-KEYWORDS]
         S. Bradner, ``Key words for use in RFCs to  Indicate  Require-
         ment Levels.''  RFC 2119.  March 1997.

    [RFC-LMTP]
         J.  Myers, ``Local Mail Transfer Protocol.''  RFC 2033.  Octo-
         ber 1996.

    [RFC-MDN]
         R. Fajman, ``An Extensible Message Format for Message Disposi-
         tion Notifications.''  RFC 2298.  March 1998.

    [RFC-MIME]
         N.  Freed  and  N.  Borenstein,  ``Multipurpose  Internet Mail
         Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of  Internet  Message  Bod-
         ies.''  RFC 2045.  November 1996.

    [RFC-MSGFMT]
         D.  Crocker,  ``Standard  for the Format of ARPA Internet Text
         Messages.''  RFC 822.  August 1982.

    [RFC-RELATED]
         E. Levinson, ``The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type.''  RFC
         2387.  August 1998.

6.  Author's Address

        Eric Allman
        Sendmail, Inc.
        6603 Shellmound
        Emeryville, CA  94608
        U.S.A.

        E-Mail: [email protected]
        Phone: +1 510 594 5501
        Fax: +1 510 594 5411
















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draft-ietf-msgtrk-smtpext.txt (text/plain, 13.9 KB)



Internet Draft                                               E. Allman
draft-ietf-msgtrk-smtpext-00.txt                        Sendmail, Inc.
Valid for six months                                         T. Hansen
Updates: RFC 1891                                    AT&T Laboratories
                                                         March 20, 2001




                         SMTP Service Extension
                          for Message Tracking

                   <draft-ietf-msgtrk-smtpext-01.txt>

Status of This Memo

      This  document  is  an  Internet-Draft and is in full conformance
with all provisions of Section 10  of  RFC2026.   Internet-Drafts  are
working  documents  of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its
areas, and its working groups.  Note that other groups may  also  dis-
tribute working documents as Internet-Drafts.

      Internet-Drafts  are  draft  documents valid for a maximum of six
months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by  other  documents
at  any time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

      The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at:

     http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt

The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at:

     http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html


      This document is a submission by the MSGTRK Working Group of  the
Internet  Engineering Task Force (IETF).  Comments should be submitted
to the [email protected] mailing list.  An archive of  the  mailing  list
may be found at

     http://www.ietf.org/archive/msgtrk


      Distribution of this memo is unlimited.


1.  Abstract

         This  memo  defines an extension to the SMTP service whereby a
    client may mark a message for future tracking.

Internet Draft     Message Tracking ESMTP Extension     March 20, 2001


2.  Other Documents and Conformance

         The model used for Message Tracking is  described  in  [DRAFT-
    MTRK-MODEL].

         Doing  a Message Tracking query is intended as a "last resort"
    mechanism.  Normally, Delivery Status  Notifications  (DSNs)  [RFC-
    DSN-SMTP]  and  Message  Disposition Notifications (MDNs) [RFC-MDN]
    would provide the primary delivery status.  Only if the message  is
    not  received,  or there is no response from either of these mecha-
    nisms should a Message Tracking query be issued.

         The definition of the base64 token is  imported  from  section
    6.8 of [RFC-MIME].

         Syntax notation in this document conforms to [RFC-ABNF].

         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 RFC 2119
    [RFC-KEYWORDS].


3.  SMTP Extension Overview

         The Message Tracking SMTP service extension uses the SMTP ser-
    vice  extension  mechanism described in [RFC-ESMTP].  The following
    service extension is hereby defined:

     (1)   The name of the SMTP service extension  is  "Message  Track-
           ing".

     (2)   The  EHLO  keyword  value  associated with this extension is
           "MTRK".

     (3)   No parameters are allowed  with  this  EHLO  keyword  value.
           Future documents may extend this specification by specifying
           options.

     (4)   One optional parameter using the keyword "MTRK" is added  to
           the  MAIL  FROM  command.   In addition, the ENVID and ORCPT
           parameters (as defined in RFC  1891  sections  5.4  and  5.2
           respectively)   MUST   be   supported,  with  extensions  as
           described below.

     (5)   The maximum length of a MAIL FROM command line is  increased
           by  40  characters by the possible addition of the MTRK key-
           word and value.  Note that a further extension of 614  char-
           acters  for  the  ORCPT  and ENVID parameters is required by
           RFC-DSN-EXT].

     (6)   No SMTP verbs are defined by this extension.






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4.  The Extended MAIL FROM Command

         The extended MAIL FROM command is issued  by  an  SMTP  client
    when  it  wishes  to  inform  an  SMTP server that message tracking
    information should be retained for future querying.   The  extended
    MAIL  FROM command is identical to the MAIL FROM command as defined
    in [RFC-SMTP], except that MTRK, ORCPT, and ENVID parameters appear
    after the address.

    4.1.  The MTRK parameter to the ESMTP MAIL command

            Any  sender  wishing to track a message must first tag that
       message as trackable by creating two values A and B:

           A = some-large-random-number
           B = SHA1(A)

       The large random number A  is  calculated  on  a  host-dependent
       basis.   See [RFC-RANDOM] for a discussion of choosing good ran-
       dom numbers.  This random number MUST be at least 128  bits  but
       MUST NOT be more than 1024 bits.

            The  128-bit  hash  B of A is then computed using the SHA-1
       algorithm as described in [NIST-SHA1].

            The sender then base64 encodes  value  B  and  passes  that
       value as the mtrk-certifier on the MAIL FROM command:

           mtrk-parameter  = "MTRK=" mtrk-certifier [ ":" mtrk-timeout ]
           mtrk-certifier  = base64  ; authenticator
           mtrk-timeout    = 1*9digit; seconds until timeout


            A  is stored in the originator's tracking database to vali-
       date future tracking requests as described in [DRAFT-MTRK-MTQP].
       B is stored in tracking tracking databases of compliant MTAs and
       used to authenticate future tracking requests.

            The mtrk-timeout field indicates the number of seconds that
       the  client  requests that this tracking information be retained
       on intermediate servers, as measured from the initial receipt of
       the message at that server.  Servers MAY ignore this value if it
       violates local policy.   In  particular,  servers  MAY  silently
       enforce  an  upper  limit  to how long they will retain tracking
       data; this limit MUST be at least one day.

            If no mtrk-timeout  field  is  specified  then  the  server
       should  use  a  local default.  This default SHOULD be 8-10 days
       and MUST be at least one day.  Notwithstanding this clause,  the
       information MUST NOT be expired while the message remains in the
       queue for this server: that is, an MTQP  server  MUST  NOT  deny
       knowledge  of  a message while that same message sits in the MTA
       queue.

            If the message is relayed to another compliant SMTP server,
       the  MTA  acting as the client SHOULD pass an mtrk-timeout field


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       equal to the remaining life of that  message  tracking  informa-
       tion.   Specifically, the tracking timeout is decremented by the
       number of seconds the message has lingered at this MTA and  then
       passed  to the next MTA.  If the decremented tracking timeout is
       less than or equal to zero, the entire MTRK parameter  MUST  NOT
       be passed to the next MTA; essentially, the entire tracking path
       is considered to be lost at that point.

            See [RFC-DELIVERYBY] section 4 for an explanation of why  a
       timeout is used instead of an absolute time.

    4.2.  Use of ENVID

            To  function  properly, Message Tracking requires that each
       message have a unique identifier that is  never  reused  by  any
       other  message.   For  that  purpose,  if  the MTRK parameter is
       given, an ENVID parameter MUST be included, and  the  syntax  of
       ENVID from RFC 1891 section 5.4 is extended as follows:

           envid-parameter = "ENVID=" unique-envid
           unique-envid    = local-envid "@" fqhn
           local-envid     = xtext
           fqhn            = xtext

       The  unique-envid  MUST  be  chosen  in such a way that the same
       ENVID will never be used by any other  message  sent  from  this
       system  or  any other system.  In most cases, this means setting
       fqhn to be the fully qualified host name of the system  generat-
       ing  this  ENVID, and local-envid to an identifier that is never
       re-used by that host.

            Any retransmissions of  this  message  MUST  assign  a  new
       ENVID.  In this context, "retransmission" includes forwarding or
       resending a message.

    4.3.  Forwarding Tracking Certifiers

            MTAs SHOULD forward unexpired tracking certifiers  to  com-
       pliant mailers as the mail is transferred during regular hop-to-
       hop transfers.  If the "downstream" MTA is  not  MTRK-compliant,
       then the MTRK= parameter MUST be deleted.  If the downstream MTA
       is DSN-compliant, then the ENVID and ORCPT parameters  MUST  NOT
       be deleted.

            If  aliasing,  forwarding, or other redirection of messages
       to a single recipient occurs, then the MTA SHOULD treat this  as
       an  ordinary  hop-to-hop transfer and forward the MTRK=, ENVID=,
       and ORCPT= values; these values MUST NOT be modified.

            MTAs MUST NOT copy MTRK certifiers when relaying a  message
       to multiple recipients.  An MTA MAY designate one recipient in a
       multi-recipient alias as the "primary" recipient to which track-
       ing  requests  shall  be  forwarded;  other  addresses SHALL NOT
       receive tracking certifiers.  MTAs MUST NOT forward MTRK  certi-
       fiers when doing mailing list expansion.



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5.  Security Issues

    5.1.  Denial of service

            An attacker could attempt to flood the database of a server
       by submitting large numbers of small, tracked messages.  In this
       case,  a  site  may  elect to lower its maximum retention period
       retroactively.

    5.2.  Confidentiality

            The mtrk-authenticator value (``A'') must be hard  to  pre-
       dict and not reused.

            The  originating client must take reasonable precautions to
       protect the secret.  For example, if the secret is stored  in  a
       message store (e.g., a "Sent" folder), the client must make sure
       the secret isn't accessible  by  attackers,  particularly  on  a
       shared store.

            MTAs  SHOULD  take precautions to make certain that message
       tracking cannot be used to explore internal topologies  of  net-
       works.

6.  References

    [DRAFT-MTRK-MODEL]
         T.   Hansen,  ``Message  Tracking  Model  and  Requirements.''
         draft-ietf-msgtrk-model-03.txt.  November 2000.

    [DRAFT-MTRK-MTQP]
         T. Hansen, ``Message Tracking Query  Protocol.''   draft-ietf-
         msgtrk-mtqp-01.txt.  November 2000.

    [RFC-ABNF]
         Crocker,  D., Editor, and P. Overell, ``Augmented BNF for Syn-
         tax Specifications: ABNF'', RFC 2234, November 1997.

    [RFC-DELIVERYBY]
         D. Newman, ``Deliver By SMTP Service Extension.''   RFC  2852.
         June 2000.

    [RFC-DSN-REPT]
         G.  Vaudreuil,  ``The  Multipart/Report  Content  Type for the
         Reporting of Mail System Administrative Messages.''  RFC 1892.
         January 1996.

    [RFC-DSN-SMTP]
         K. Moore, ``SMTP Service Extension for Delivery Status Notifi-
         cations.''  RFC 1891.  January 1996.

    [RFC-DSN-STAT]
         K. Moore and G. Vaudreuil, ``An Extensible Message Format  for
         Delivery Status Notifications.''  RFC 1894.  January 1996.




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    [RFC-EMSSC]
         G.  Vaudreuil,  ``Enhanced  Mail  System  Status Codes.''  RFC
         1893.  January 1996.

    [RFC-ESMTP]
         Rose, M., Stefferud, E.,  Crocker,  D.,  Klensin,  J.  and  N.
         Freed, ``SMTP Service Extensions.''  STD 10, RFC 1869.  Novem-
         ber 1995.

    [RFC-KEYWORDS]
         S. Bradner, ``Key words for use in RFCs to  Indicate  Require-
         ment Levels.''  RFC 2119.  March 1997.

    [RFC-MDN]
         R. Fajman, ``An Extensible Message Format for Message Disposi-
         tion Notifications.''  RFC 2298.  March 1998.

    [RFC-MIME]
         N. Freed  and  N.  Borenstein,  ``Multipurpose  Internet  Mail
         Extensions  (MIME)  Part  One: Format of Internet Message Bod-
         ies.''  RFC 2045.  November 1996.

    [RFC-MSGFMT]
         D. Crocker, ``Standard for the Format of  ARPA  Internet  Text
         Messages.''  RFC 822.  August 1982.

    [RFC-RANDOM]

    [RFC-RELATED]
         E. Levinson, ``The MIME Multipart/Related Content-type.''  RFC
         2387.  August 1998.

    [NIST-SHA1]
         NIST FIPS  PUB  180-1,  ``Secure  Hash  Standard.''   National
         Institute of Standards and Technology, U.S. Department of Com-
         merce.  May 1994.  DRAFT.

    [RFC-SMTP]
         J. Postel,  ``Simple  Mail  Transport  Protocol.''   RFC  821.
         August 1982.

7.  Authors' Addresses

        Eric Allman
        Sendmail, Inc.
        6603 Shellmound
        Emeryville, CA  94608
        U.S.A.

        E-Mail: [email protected]
        Phone: +1 510 594 5501
        Fax: +1 510 594 5411






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        Tony Hansen
        AT&T Laboratories
        Lincroft, NJ 07738
        U.S.A.

        Phone: +1 732 576 3207
        E-Mail: [email protected]



















































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