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RFC 2543

SIP: Session Initiation Protocol

Pages: 151
Obsoleted by:  32613262326332643265
Part 3 of 6 – Pages 50 to 75
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6.14 Content-Encoding

Content-Encoding = ( "Content-Encoding" | "e" ) ":" 1#content-coding The Content-Encoding entity-header field is used as a modifier to the "media-type". When present, its value indicates what additional content codings have been applied to the entity-body, and thus what decoding mechanisms MUST be applied in order to obtain the media-type referenced by the Content-Type header field. Content-Encoding is primarily used to allow a body to be compressed without losing the identity of its underlying media type. If multiple encodings have been applied to an entity, the content codings MUST be listed in the order in which they were applied. All content-coding values are case-insensitive. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) acts as a registry for content-coding value tokens. See [3.5] for a definition of the syntax for content-coding. Clients MAY apply content encodings to the body in requests. If the server is not capable of decoding the body, or does not recognize any of the content-coding values, it MUST send a 415 "Unsupported Media Type" response, listing acceptable encodings in the Accept-Encoding
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   header. A server MAY apply content encodings to the bodies in
   responses. The server MUST only use encodings listed in the Accept-
   Encoding header in the request.

6.15 Content-Length

The Content-Length entity-header field indicates the size of the message-body, in decimal number of octets, sent to the recipient. Content-Length = ( "Content-Length" | "l" ) ":" 1*DIGIT An example is Content-Length: 3495 Applications SHOULD use this field to indicate the size of the message-body to be transferred, regardless of the media type of the entity. Any Content-Length greater than or equal to zero is a valid value. If no body is present in a message, then the Content-Length header field MUST be set to zero. If a server receives a UDP request without Content-Length, it MUST assume that the request encompasses the remainder of the packet. If a server receives a UDP request with a Content-Length, but the value is larger than the size of the body sent in the request, the client SHOULD generate a 400 class response. If there is additional data in the UDP packet after the last byte of the body has been read, the server MUST treat the remaining data as a separate message. This allows several messages to be placed in a single UDP packet. If a response does not contain a Content-Length, the client assumes that it encompasses the remainder of the UDP packet or the data until the TCP connection is closed, as applicable. Section 8 describes how to determine the length of the message body.

6.16 Content-Type

The Content-Type entity-header field indicates the media type of the message-body sent to the recipient. The "media-type" element is defined in [H3.7]. Content-Type = ( "Content-Type" | "c" ) ":" media-type
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   Examples of this header field are

     Content-Type: application/sdp
     Content-Type: text/html; charset=ISO-8859-4



6.17 CSeq

Clients MUST add the CSeq (command sequence) general-header field to every request. A CSeq header field in a request contains the request method and a single decimal sequence number chosen by the requesting client, unique within a single value of Call-ID. The sequence number MUST be expressible as a 32-bit unsigned integer. The initial value of the sequence number is arbitrary, but MUST be less than 2**31. Consecutive requests that differ in request method, headers or body, but have the same Call-ID MUST contain strictly monotonically increasing and contiguous sequence numbers; sequence numbers do not wrap around. Retransmissions of the same request carry the same sequence number, but an INVITE with a different message body or different header fields (a "re-invitation") acquires a new, higher sequence number. A server MUST echo the CSeq value from the request in its response. If the Method value is missing in the received CSeq header field, the server fills it in appropriately. The ACK and CANCEL requests MUST contain the same CSeq value as the INVITE request that it refers to, while a BYE request cancelling an invitation MUST have a higher sequence number. A BYE request with a CSeq that is not higher should cause a 400 response to be generated. A user agent server MUST remember the highest sequence number for any INVITE request with the same Call-ID value. The server MUST respond to, and then discard, any INVITE request with a lower sequence number. All requests spawned in a parallel search have the same CSeq value as the request triggering the parallel search. CSeq = "CSeq" ":" 1*DIGIT Method Strictly speaking, CSeq header fields are needed for any SIP request that can be cancelled by a BYE or CANCEL request or where a client can issue several requests for the same Call-ID in close succession. Without a sequence
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        number, the response to an INVITE could be mistaken for the
        response to the cancellation (BYE or CANCEL). Also, if the
        network duplicates packets or if an ACK is delayed until
        the server has sent an additional response, the client
        could interpret an old response as the response to a re-
        invitation issued shortly thereafter. Using CSeq also makes
        it easy for the server to distinguish different versions of
        an invitation, without comparing the message body.

   The Method value allows the client to distinguish the response to an
   INVITE request from that of a CANCEL response. CANCEL requests can be
   generated by proxies; if they were to increase the sequence number,
   it might conflict with a later request issued by the user agent for
   the same call.

   With a length of 32 bits, a server could generate, within a single
   call, one request a second for about 136 years before needing to wrap
   around.  The initial value of the sequence number is chosen so that
   subsequent requests within the same call will not wrap around. A
   non-zero initial value allows to use a time-based initial sequence
   number, if the client desires. A client could, for example, choose
   the 31 most significant bits of a 32-bit second clock as an initial
   sequence number.

   Forked requests MUST have the same CSeq as there would be ambiguity
   otherwise between these forked requests and later BYE issued by the
   client user agent.

   Example:


     CSeq: 4711 INVITE



6.18 Date

Date is a general-header field. Its syntax is: SIP-date = rfc1123-date See [H14.19] for a definition of rfc1123-date. Note that unlike HTTP/1.1, SIP only supports the most recent RFC1123 [29] formatting for dates.
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   The Date header field reflects the time when the request or response
   is first sent. Thus, retransmissions have the same Date header field
   value as the original.


        The Date header field can be used by simple end systems
        without a battery-backed clock to acquire a notion of
        current time.

6.19 Encryption

The Encryption general-header field specifies that the content has been encrypted. Section 13 describes the overall SIP security architecture and algorithms. This header field is intended for end- to-end encryption of requests and responses. Requests are encrypted based on the public key belonging to the entity named in the To header field. Responses are encrypted based on the public key conveyed in the Response-Key header field. Note that the public keys themselves may not be used for the encryption. This depends on the particular algorithms used. For any encrypted message, at least the message body and possibly other message header fields are encrypted. An application receiving a request or response containing an Encryption header field decrypts the body and then concatenates the plaintext to the request line and headers of the original message. Message headers in the decrypted part completely replace those with the same field name in the plaintext part. (Note: If only the body of the message is to be encrypted, the body has to be prefixed with CRLF to allow proper concatenation.) Note that the request method and Request-URI cannot be encrypted. Encryption only provides privacy; the recipient has no guarantee that the request or response came from the party listed in the From message header, only that the sender used the recipient's public key. However, proxies will not be able to modify the request or response. Encryption = "Encryption" ":" encryption-scheme 1*SP #encryption-params encryption-scheme = token encryption-params = token "=" ( token | quoted-string ) The token indicates the form of encryption used; it is described in section 13.
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   The example in Figure 10 shows a message encrypted with ASCII-armored
   PGP that was generated by applying "pgp -ea" to the payload to be
   encrypted.


   INVITE sip:watson@boston.bell-telephone.com SIP/2.0
   Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 169.130.12.5
   From: <sip:a.g.bell@bell-telephone.com>
   To: T. A. Watson <sip:watson@bell-telephone.com>
   Call-ID: 187602141351@worcester.bell-telephone.com
   Content-Length: 885
   Encryption: PGP version=2.6.2,encoding=ascii

   hQEMAxkp5GPd+j5xAQf/ZDIfGD/PDOM1wayvwdQAKgGgjmZWe+MTy9NEX8O25Red
   h0/pyrd/+DV5C2BYs7yzSOSXaj1C/tTK/4do6rtjhP8QA3vbDdVdaFciwEVAcuXs
   ODxlNAVqyDi1RqFC28BJIvQ5KfEkPuACKTK7WlRSBc7vNPEA3nyqZGBTwhxRSbIR
   RuFEsHSVojdCam4htcqxGnFwD9sksqs6LIyCFaiTAhWtwcCaN437G7mUYzy2KLcA
   zPVGq1VQg83b99zPzIxRdlZ+K7+bAnu8Rtu+ohOCMLV3TPXbyp+err1YiThCZHIu
   X9dOVj3CMjCP66RSHa/ea0wYTRRNYA/G+kdP8DSUcqYAAAE/hZPX6nFIqk7AVnf6
   IpWHUPTelNUJpzUp5Ou+q/5P7ZAsn+cSAuF2YWtVjCf+SQmBR13p2EYYWHoxlA2/
   GgKADYe4M3JSwOtqwU8zUJF3FIfk7vsxmSqtUQrRQaiIhqNyG7KxJt4YjWnEjF5E
   WUIPhvyGFMJaeQXIyGRYZAYvKKklyAJcm29zLACxU5alX4M25lHQd9FR9Zmq6Jed
   wbWvia6cAIfsvlZ9JGocmQYF7pcuz5pnczqP+/yvRqFJtDGD/v3s++G2R+ViVYJO
   z/lxGUZaM4IWBCf+4DUjNanZM0oxAE28NjaIZ0rrldDQmO8V9FtPKdHxkqA5iJP+
   6vGOFti1Ak4kmEz0vM/Nsv7kkubTFhRl05OiJIGr9S1UhenlZv9l6RuXsOY/EwH2
   z8X9N4MhMyXEVuC9rt8/AUhmVQ==
   =bOW+



   Figure 10: PGP Encryption Example



   Since proxies can base their forwarding decision on any combination
   of SIP header fields, there is no guarantee that an encrypted request
   "hiding" header fields will reach the same destination as an
   otherwise identical un-encrypted request.

6.20 Expires

The Expires entity-header field gives the date and time after which the message content expires. This header field is currently defined only for the REGISTER and INVITE methods. For REGISTER, it is a request and response-header field. In a REGISTER request, the client indicates how long it wishes the registration to be valid. In the response, the server indicates
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   the earliest expiration time of all registrations. The server MAY
   choose a shorter time interval than that requested by the client, but
   SHOULD NOT choose a longer one.

   For INVITE requests, it is a request and response-header field. In a
   request, the caller can limit the validity of an invitation, for
   example, if a client wants to limit the time duration of a search or
   a conference invitation. A user interface MAY take this as a hint to
   leave the invitation window on the screen even if the user is not
   currently at the workstation. This also limits the duration of a
   search. If the request expires before the search completes, the proxy
   returns a 408 (Request Timeout) status. In a 302 (Moved Temporarily)
   response, a server can advise the client of the maximal duration of
   the redirection.

   The value of this field can be either a SIP-date or an integer number
   of seconds (in decimal), measured from the receipt of the request.
   The latter approach is preferable for short durations, as it does not
   depend on clients and servers sharing a synchronized clock.
   Implementations MAY treat values larger than 2**32-1 (4294967295 or
   136 years) as equivalent to 2**32-1.



        Expires  =  "Expires" ":" ( SIP-date | delta-seconds )


   Two examples of its use are

     Expires: Thu, 01 Dec 1994 16:00:00 GMT
     Expires: 5



6.21 From

Requests and responses MUST contain a From general-header field, indicating the initiator of the request. The From field MAY contain the "tag" parameter. The server copies the From header field from the request to the response. The optional "display-name" is meant to be rendered by a human-user interface. A system SHOULD use the display name "Anonymous" if the identity of the client is to remain hidden. The SIP-URL MUST NOT contain the "transport-param", "maddr-param", "ttl-param", or "headers" elements. A server that receives a SIP-URL with these elements removes them before further processing.
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   Even if the "display-name" is empty, the "name-addr" form MUST be
   used if the "addr-spec" contains a comma, question mark, or
   semicolon.



        From         =  ( "From" | "f" ) ":" ( name-addr | addr-spec )
                        *( ";" addr-params )
        addr-params  =  tag-param
        tag-param    =  "tag=" UUID
        UUID         =  1*( hex | "-" )


   Examples:


     From: "A. G. Bell" <sip:agb@bell-telephone.com>
     From: sip:+12125551212@server.phone2net.com
     From: Anonymous <sip:c8oqz84zk7z@privacy.org>



   The "tag" MAY appear in the From field of a request. It MUST be
   present when it is possible that two instances of a user sharing a
   SIP address can make call invitations with the same Call-ID.

   The "tag" value MUST be globally unique and cryptographically random
   with at least 32 bits of randomness. A single user maintains the same
   tag throughout the call identified by the Call-ID.


        Call-ID, To and From are needed to identify a call leg.
        The distinction between call and call leg matters in calls
        with multiple responses to a forked request. The format is
        similar to the equivalent RFC 822 [24] header, but with a
        URI instead of just an email address.

6.22 Hide

A client uses the Hide request header field to indicate that it wants the path comprised of the Via header fields (Section 6.40) to be hidden from subsequent proxies and user agents. It can take two forms: Hide: route and Hide: hop. Hide header fields are typically added by the client user agent, but MAY be added by any proxy along the path.
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   If a request contains the "Hide: route" header field, all following
   proxies SHOULD hide their previous hop. If a request contains the
   "Hide: hop" header field, only the next proxy SHOULD hide the
   previous hop and then remove the Hide option unless it also wants to
   remain anonymous.

   A server hides the previous hop by encrypting the "host" and "port"
   parts of the top-most Via header field with an algorithm of its
   choice. Servers SHOULD add additional "salt" to the "host" and "port"
   information prior to encryption to prevent malicious downstream
   proxies from guessing earlier parts of the path based on seeing
   identical encrypted Via headers. Hidden Via fields are marked with
   the "hidden" Via option, as described in Section 6.40.

   A server that is capable of hiding Via headers MUST attempt to
   decrypt all Via headers marked as "hidden" to perform loop detection.
   Servers that are not capable of hiding can ignore hidden Via fields
   in their loop detection algorithm.


        If hidden headers were not marked, a proxy would have to
        decrypt all headers to detect loops, just in case one was
        encrypted, as the Hide: Hop option may have been removed
        along the way.

   A host MUST NOT add such a "Hide: hop" header field unless it can
   guarantee it will only send a request for this destination to the
   same next hop. The reason for this is that it is possible that the
   request will loop back through this same hop from a downstream proxy.
   The loop will be detected by the next hop if the choice of next hop
   is fixed, but could loop an arbitrary number of times otherwise.

   A client requesting "Hide: route" can only rely on keeping the
   request path private if it sends the request to a trusted proxy.
   Hiding the route of a SIP request is of limited value if the request
   results in data packets being exchanged directly between the calling
   and called user agent.

   The use of Hide header fields is discouraged unless path privacy is
   truly needed; Hide fields impose extra processing costs and
   restrictions for proxies and can cause requests to generate 482 (Loop
   Detected) responses that could otherwise be avoided.

   The encryption of Via header fields is described in more detail in
   Section 13.

   The Hide header field has the following syntax:
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        Hide  =  "Hide" ":" ( "route" | "hop" )


6.23 Max-Forwards

The Max-Forwards request-header field may be used with any SIP method to limit the number of proxies or gateways that can forward the request to the next downstream server. This can also be useful when the client is attempting to trace a request chain which appears to be failing or looping in mid-chain. Max-Forwards = "Max-Forwards" ":" 1*DIGIT The Max-Forwards value is a decimal integer indicating the remaining number of times this request message is allowed to be forwarded. Each proxy or gateway recipient of a request containing a Max- Forwards header field MUST check and update its value prior to forwarding the request. If the received value is zero (0), the recipient MUST NOT forward the request. Instead, for the OPTIONS and REGISTER methods, it MUST respond as the final recipient. For all other methods, the server returns 483 (Too many hops). If the received Max-Forwards value is greater than zero, then the forwarded message MUST contain an updated Max-Forwards field with a value decremented by one (1). Example: Max-Forwards: 6

6.24 Organization

The Organization general-header field conveys the name of the organization to which the entity issuing the request or response belongs. It MAY also be inserted by proxies at the boundary of an organization. The field MAY be used by client software to filter calls.
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        Organization  =  "Organization" ":" *TEXT-UTF8


6.25 Priority

The Priority request-header field indicates the urgency of the request as perceived by the client. Priority = "Priority" ":" priority-value priority-value = "emergency" | "urgent" | "normal" | "non-urgent" It is RECOMMENDED that the value of "emergency" only be used when life, limb or property are in imminent danger. Examples: Subject: A tornado is heading our way! Priority: emergency Subject: Weekend plans Priority: non-urgent These are the values of RFC 2076 [30], with the addition of "emergency".

6.26 Proxy-Authenticate

The Proxy-Authenticate response-header field MUST be included as part of a 407 (Proxy Authentication Required) response. The field value consists of a challenge that indicates the authentication scheme and parameters applicable to the proxy for this Request-URI. Unlike its usage within HTTP, the Proxy-Authenticate header MUST be passed upstream in the response to the UAC. In SIP, only UAC's can authenticate themselves to proxies. The syntax for this header is defined in [H14.33]. See 14 for further details on its usage.
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   A client SHOULD cache the credentials used for a particular proxy
   server and realm for the next request to that server. Credentials
   are, in general, valid for a specific value of the Request-URI at a
   particular proxy server. If a client contacts a proxy server that has
   required authentication in the past, but the client does not have
   credentials for the particular Request-URI, it MAY attempt to use the
   most-recently used credential. The server responds with 401
   (Unauthorized) if the client guessed wrong.


        This suggested caching behavior is motivated by proxies
        restricting phone calls to authenticated users. It seems
        likely that in most cases, all destinations require the
        same password. Note that end-to-end authentication is
        likely to be destination-specific.

6.27 Proxy-Authorization

The Proxy-Authorization request-header field allows the client to identify itself (or its user) to a proxy which requires authentication. The Proxy-Authorization field value consists of credentials containing the authentication information of the user agent for the proxy and/or realm of the resource being requested. Unlike Authorization, the Proxy-Authorization header field applies only to the next outbound proxy that demanded authentication using the Proxy- Authenticate field. When multiple proxies are used in a chain, the Proxy-Authorization header field is consumed by the first outbound proxy that was expecting to receive credentials. A proxy MAY relay the credentials from the client request to the next proxy if that is the mechanism by which the proxies cooperatively authenticate a given request. See [H14.34] for a definition of the syntax, and section 14 for a discussion of its usage.

6.28 Proxy-Require

The Proxy-Require header field is used to indicate proxy-sensitive features that MUST be supported by the proxy. Any Proxy-Require header field features that are not supported by the proxy MUST be negatively acknowledged by the proxy to the client if not supported. Proxy servers treat this field identically to the Require field. See Section 6.30 for more details on the mechanics of this message and a usage example.
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6.29 Record-Route

The Record-Route request and response header field is added to a request by any proxy that insists on being in the path of subsequent requests for the same call leg. It contains a globally reachable Request-URI that identifies the proxy server. Each proxy server adds its Request-URI to the beginning of the list. The server copies the Record-Route header field unchanged into the response. (Record-Route is only relevant for 2xx responses.) The calling user agent client copies the Record-Route header into a Route header field of subsequent requests within the same call leg, reversing the order of requests, so that the first entry is closest to the user agent client. If the response contained a Contact header field, the calling user agent adds its content as the last Route header. Unless this would cause a loop, any client MUST send any subsequent requests for this call leg to the first Request-URI in the Route request header field and remove that entry. The calling user agent MUST NOT use the Record-Route header field in requests that contain Route header fields. Some proxies, such as those controlling firewalls or in an automatic call distribution (ACD) system, need to maintain call state and thus need to receive any BYE and ACK packets for the call. The Record-Route header field has the following syntax: Record-Route = "Record-Route" ":" 1# name-addr Proxy servers SHOULD use the "maddr" URL parameter containing their address to ensure that subsequent requests are guaranteed to reach exactly the same server. Example for a request that has traversed the hosts ieee.org and bell-telephone.com , in that order: Record-Route: <sip:a.g.bell@bell-telephone.com>, <sip:a.bell@ieee.org>
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6.30 Require

The Require request-header field is used by clients to tell user agent servers about options that the client expects the server to support in order to properly process the request. If a server does not understand the option, it MUST respond by returning status code 420 (Bad Extension) and list those options it does not understand in the Unsupported header. Require = "Require" ":" 1#option-tag Example: C->S: INVITE sip:watson@bell-telephone.com SIP/2.0 Require: com.example.billing Payment: sheep_skins, conch_shells S->C: SIP/2.0 420 Bad Extension Unsupported: com.example.billing This is to make sure that the client-server interaction will proceed without delay when all options are understood by both sides, and only slow down if options are not understood (as in the example above). For a well-matched client-server pair, the interaction proceeds quickly, saving a round-trip often required by negotiation mechanisms. In addition, it also removes ambiguity when the client requires features that the server does not understand. Some features, such as call handling fields, are only of interest to end systems. Proxy and redirect servers MUST ignore features that are not understood. If a particular extension requires that intermediate devices support it, the extension MUST be tagged in the Proxy-Require field as well (see Section 6.28).

6.31 Response-Key

The Response-Key request-header field can be used by a client to request the key that the called user agent SHOULD use to encrypt the response with. The syntax is:
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        Response-Key  =  "Response-Key" ":" key-scheme 1*SP #key-param
        key-scheme    =  token
        key-param     =  token "=" ( token | quoted-string )


   The "key-scheme" gives the type of encryption to be used for the
   response. Section 13 describes security schemes.

   If the client insists that the server return an encrypted response,
   it includes a

                  Require: org.ietf.sip.encrypt-response

   header field in its request. If the server cannot encrypt for
   whatever reason, it MUST follow normal Require header field
   procedures and return a 420 (Bad Extension) response. If this Require
   header field is not present, a server SHOULD still encrypt if it can.

6.32 Retry-After

The Retry-After general-header field can be used with a 503 (Service Unavailable) response to indicate how long the service is expected to be unavailable to the requesting client and with a 404 (Not Found), 600 (Busy), or 603 (Decline) response to indicate when the called party anticipates being available again. The value of this field can be either an SIP-date or an integer number of seconds (in decimal) after the time of the response. A REGISTER request MAY include this header field when deleting registrations with "Contact: * ;expires: 0". The Retry-After value then indicates when the user might again be reachable. The registrar MAY then include this information in responses to future calls. An optional comment can be used to indicate additional information about the time of callback. An optional "duration" parameter indicates how long the called party will be reachable starting at the initial time of availability. If no duration parameter is given, the service is assumed to be available indefinitely. Retry-After = "Retry-After" ":" ( SIP-date | delta-seconds ) [ comment ] [ ";" "duration" "=" delta-seconds ] Examples of its use are Retry-After: Mon, 21 Jul 1997 18:48:34 GMT (I'm in a meeting)
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     Retry-After: Mon, 01 Jan 9999 00:00:00 GMT
       (Dear John: Don't call me back, ever)
     Retry-After: Fri, 26 Sep 1997 21:00:00 GMT;duration=3600
     Retry-After: 120



   In the third example, the callee is reachable for one hour starting
   at 21:00 GMT. In the last example, the delay is 2 minutes.

6.33 Route

The Route request-header field determines the route taken by a request. Each host removes the first entry and then proxies the request to the host listed in that entry, also using it as the Request-URI. The operation is further described in Section 6.29. The Route header field has the following syntax: Route = "Route" ":" 1# name-addr

6.34 Server

The Server response-header field contains information about the software used by the user agent server to handle the request. The syntax for this field is defined in [H14.39].

6.35 Subject

This is intended to provide a summary, or to indicate the nature, of the call, allowing call filtering without having to parse the session description. (Also, the session description does not have to use the same subject indication as the invitation.) Subject = ( "Subject" | "s" ) ":" *TEXT-UTF8 Example: Subject: Tune in - they are talking about your work!
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6.36 Timestamp

The timestamp general-header field describes when the client sent the request to the server. The value of the timestamp is of significance only to the client and it MAY use any timescale. The server MUST echo the exact same value and MAY, if it has accurate information about this, add a floating point number indicating the number of seconds that have elapsed since it has received the request. The timestamp is used by the client to compute the round-trip time to the server so that it can adjust the timeout value for retransmissions. Timestamp = "Timestamp" ":" *(DIGIT) [ "." *(DIGIT) ] [ delay ] delay = *(DIGIT) [ "." *(DIGIT) ] Note that there MUST NOT be any LWS between a DIGIT and the decimal point.

6.37 To

The To general-header field specifies recipient of the request, with the same SIP URL syntax as the From field. To = ( "To" | "t" ) ":" ( name-addr | addr-spec ) *( ";" addr-params ) Requests and responses MUST contain a To general-header field, indicating the desired recipient of the request. The optional "display-name" is meant to be rendered by a human-user interface. The UAS or redirect server copies the To header field into its response, and MUST add a "tag" parameter if the request contained more than one Via header field. If there was more than one Via header field, the request was handled by at least one proxy server. Since the receiver cannot know whether any of the proxy servers forked the request, it is safest to assume that they might have. The SIP-URL MUST NOT contain the "transport-param", "maddr-param", "ttl-param", or "headers" elements. A server that receives a SIP-URL with these elements removes them before further processing.
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   The "tag" parameter serves as a general mechanism to distinguish
   multiple instances of a user identified by a single SIP URL. As
   proxies can fork requests, the same request can reach multiple
   instances of a user (mobile and home phones, for example). As each
   can respond, there needs to be a means to distinguish the responses
   from each at the caller. The situation also arises with multicast
   requests. The tag in the To header field serves to distinguish
   responses at the UAC. It MUST be placed in the To field of the
   response by each instance when there is a possibility that the
   request was forked at an intermediate proxy. The "tag" MUST be added
   by UAS, registrars and redirect servers, but MUST NOT be inserted
   into responses forwarded upstream by proxies. The "tag" is added for
   all definitive responses for all methods, and MAY be added for
   informational responses from a UAS or redirect server. All subsequent
   transactions between two entities MUST include the "tag" parameter,
   as described in Section 11.

   See Section 6.21 for details of the "tag" parameter.

   The "tag" parameter in To headers is ignored when matching responses
   to requests that did not contain a "tag" in their To header.

   A SIP server returns a 400 (Bad Request) response if it receives a
   request with a To header field containing a URI with a scheme it does
   not recognize.

   Even if the "display-name" is empty, the "name-addr" form MUST be
   used if the "addr-spec" contains a comma, question mark, or
   semicolon.

   The following are examples of valid To headers:

     To: The Operator <sip:operator@cs.columbia.edu>;tag=287447
     To: sip:+12125551212@server.phone2net.com




        Call-ID, To and From are needed to identify a call leg.
        The distinction between call and call leg matters in calls
        with multiple responses from a forked request. The "tag" is
        added to the To header field in the response to allow
        forking of future requests for the same call by proxies,
        while addressing only one of the possibly several
        responding user agent servers. It also allows several
        instances of the callee to send requests that can be
        distinguished.
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6.38 Unsupported

The Unsupported response-header field lists the features not supported by the server. See Section 6.30 for a usage example and motivation. Syntax: Unsupported = "Unsupported" ":" 1#option-tag

6.39 User-Agent

The User-Agent general-header field contains information about the client user agent originating the request. The syntax and semantics are defined in [H14.42].

6.40 Via

The Via field indicates the path taken by the request so far. This prevents request looping and ensures replies take the same path as the requests, which assists in firewall traversal and other unusual routing situations.

6.40.1 Requests

The client originating the request MUST insert into the request a Via field containing its host name or network address and, if not the default port number, the port number at which it wishes to receive responses. (Note that this port number can differ from the UDP source port number of the request.) A fully-qualified domain name is RECOMMENDED. Each subsequent proxy server that sends the request onwards MUST add its own additional Via field before any existing Via fields. A proxy that receives a redirection (3xx) response and then searches recursively, MUST use the same Via headers as on the original proxied request. A proxy SHOULD check the top-most Via header field to ensure that it contains the sender's correct network address, as seen from that proxy. If the sender's address is incorrect, the proxy MUST add an additional "received" attribute, as described 6.40.2. A host behind a network address translator (NAT) or firewall may not be able to insert a network address into the Via header that can be reached by the next hop beyond
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        the NAT. Use of the received attribute allows SIP requests
        to traverse NAT's which only modify the source IP address.
        NAT's which modify port numbers, called Network Address
        Port Translator's (NAPT) will not properly pass SIP when
        transported on UDP, in which case an application layer
        gateway is required. When run over TCP, SIP stands a better
        chance of traversing NAT's, since its behavior is similar
        to HTTP in this case (but of course on different ports).

   A proxy sending a request to a multicast address MUST add the "maddr"
   parameter to its Via header field, and SHOULD add the "ttl"
   parameter. If a server receives a request which contained an "maddr"
   parameter in the topmost Via field, it SHOULD send the response to
   the multicast address listed in the "maddr" parameter.

   If a proxy server receives a request which contains its own address
   in the Via header value, it MUST respond with a 482 (Loop Detected)
   status code.

   A proxy server MUST NOT forward a request to a multicast group which
   already appears in any of the Via headers.


        This prevents a malfunctioning proxy server from causing
        loops. Also, it cannot be guaranteed that a proxy server
        can always detect that the address returned by a location
        service refers to a host listed in the Via list, as a
        single host may have aliases or several network interfaces.

6.40.2 Receiver-tagged Via Header Fields

Normally, every host that sends or forwards a SIP message adds a Via field indicating the path traversed. However, it is possible that Network Address Translators (NATs) changes the source address and port of the request (e.g., from net-10 to a globally routable address), in which case the Via header field cannot be relied on to route replies. To prevent this, a proxy SHOULD check the top-most Via header field to ensure that it contains the sender's correct network address, as seen from that proxy. If the sender's address is incorrect, the proxy MUST add a "received" parameter to the Via header field inserted by the previous hop. Such a modified Via header field is known as a receiver-tagged Via header field. An example is: Via: SIP/2.0/UDP erlang.bell-telephone.com:5060 Via: SIP/2.0/UDP 10.0.0.1:5060 ;received=199.172.136.3
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   In this example, the message originated from 10.0.0.1 and traversed a
   NAT with the external address border.ieee.org (199.172.136.3) to
   reach erlang.bell-telephone.com.  The latter noticed the mismatch,
   and added a parameter to the previous hop's Via header field,
   containing the address that the packet actually came from. (Note that
   the NAT border.ieee.org is not a SIP server.)

6.40.3 Responses

Via header fields in responses are processed by a proxy or UAC according to the following rules: 1. The first Via header field should indicate the proxy or client processing this response. If it does not, discard the message. Otherwise, remove this Via field. 2. If there is no second Via header field, this response is destined for this client. Otherwise, the processing depends on whether the Via field contains a "maddr" parameter or is a receiver-tagged field: - If the second Via header field contains a "maddr" parameter, send the response to the multicast address listed there, using the port indicated in "sent-by", or port 5060 if none is present. The response SHOULD be sent using the TTL indicated in the "ttl" parameter, or with a TTL of 1 if that parameter is not present. For robustness, responses MUST be sent to the address indicated in the "maddr" parameter even if it is not a multicast address. - If the second Via header field does not contain a "maddr" parameter and is a receiver-tagged field (Section 6.40.2), send the message to the address in the "received" parameter, using the port indicated in the "sent-by" value, or using port 5060 if none is present. - If neither of the previous cases apply, send the message to the address indicated by the "sent-by" value in the second Via header field.

6.40.4 User Agent and Redirect Servers

A UAS or redirect server sends a response based on one of the following rules: o If the first Via header field in the request contains a "maddr" parameter, send the response to the multicast address
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          listed there, using the port indicated in "sent-by", or port
          5060 if none is present. The response SHOULD be sent using the
          TTL indicated in the "ttl" parameter, or with a TTL of 1 if
          that parameter is not present. For robustness, responses MUST
          be sent to the address indicated in the "maddr" parameter even
          if it is not a multicast address.

        o  If the address in the "sent-by" value of the first Via field
          differs from the source address of the packet, send the
          response to the actual packet source address, similar to the
          treatment for receiver-tagged Via header fields (Section
          6.40.2).

        o  If neither of these conditions is true, send the response to
          the address contained in the "sent-by" value. If the request
          was sent using TCP, use the existing TCP connection if
          available.

6.40.5 Syntax

The format for a Via header field is shown in Fig. 11. The defaults for "protocol-name" and "transport" are "SIP" and "UDP", respectively. The "maddr" parameter, designating the multicast address, and the "ttl" parameter, designating the time-to-live (TTL) value, are included only if the request was sent via multicast. The "received" parameter is added only for receiver-added Via fields (Section 6.40.2). For reasons of privacy, a client or proxy may wish to hide its Via information by encrypting it (see Section 6.22). The "hidden" parameter is included if this header field was hidden by the upstream proxy (see 6.22). Note that privacy of the proxy relies on the cooperation of the next hop, as the next-hop proxy will, by necessity, know the IP address and port number of the source host. The "branch" parameter is included by every forking proxy. The token MUST be unique for each distinct request generated when a proxy forks. CANCEL requests MUST have the same branch value as the corresponding forked request. When a response arrives at the proxy it can use the branch value to figure out which branch the response corresponds to. A proxy which generates a single request (non- forking) MAY also insert the "branch" parameter. The identifier has to be unique only within a set of isomorphic requests. Via: SIP/2.0/UDP first.example.com:4000;ttl=16 ;maddr=224.2.0.1 ;branch=a7c6a8dlze (Example) Via: SIP/2.0/UDP adk8
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  Via              = ( "Via" | "v") ":" 1#( sent-protocol sent-by
                     *( ";" via-params ) [ comment ] )
  via-params       = via-hidden | via-ttl | via-maddr 
                   | via-received | via-branch
  via-hidden       = "hidden"
  via-ttl          = "ttl" "=" ttl
  via-maddr        = "maddr" "=" maddr
  via-received     = "received" "=" host
  via-branch       = "branch" "=" token
  sent-protocol    = protocol-name "/" protocol-version "/" transport
  protocol-name    = "SIP" | token
  protocol-version = token
  transport        = "UDP" | "TCP" | token
  sent-by          = ( host [ ":" port ] ) | ( concealed-host )
  concealed-host   = token
  ttl              = 1*3DIGIT     ; 0 to 255


   Figure 11: Syntax of Via header field


6.41 Warning

The Warning response-header field is used to carry additional information about the status of a response. Warning headers are sent with responses and have the following format: Warning = "Warning" ":" 1#warning-value warning-value = warn-code SP warn-agent SP warn-text warn-code = 3DIGIT warn-agent = ( host [ ":" port ] ) | pseudonym ; the name or pseudonym of the server adding ; the Warning header, for use in debugging warn-text = quoted-string A response MAY carry more than one Warning header. The "warn-text" should be in a natural language that is most likely to be intelligible to the human user receiving the response. This decision can be based on any available knowledge, such as the location of the cache or user, the Accept-Language field in a request, or the Content-Language field in a response. The default language is i-default [31].
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   Any server MAY add Warning headers to a response. Proxy servers MUST
   place additional Warning headers before any Authorization headers.
   Within that constraint, Warning headers MUST be added after any
   existing Warning headers not covered by a signature. A proxy server
   MUST NOT delete any Warning header field that it received with a
   response.

   When multiple Warning headers are attached to a response, the user
   agent SHOULD display as many of them as possible, in the order that
   they appear in the response. If it is not possible to display all of
   the warnings, the user agent first displays warnings that appear
   early in the response.

   The warn-code consists of three digits. A first digit of "3"
   indicates warnings specific to SIP.

   This is a list of the currently-defined "warn-code"s, each with a
   recommended warn-text in English, and a description of its meaning.
   Note that these warnings describe failures induced by the session
   description.

   Warnings 300 through 329 are reserved for indicating problems with
   keywords in the session description, 330 through 339 are warnings
   related to basic network services requested in the session
   description, 370 through 379 are warnings related to quantitative QoS
   parameters requested in the session description, and 390 through 399
   are miscellaneous warnings that do not fall into one of the above
   categories.

   300 Incompatible network protocol: One or more network protocols
        contained in the session description are not available.

   301 Incompatible network address formats: One or more network address
        formats contained in the session description are not available.

   302 Incompatible transport protocol: One or more transport protocols
        described in the session description are not available.

   303 Incompatible bandwidth units: One or more bandwidth measurement
        units contained in the session description were not understood.

   304 Media type not available: One or more media types contained in
        the session description are not available.

   305 Incompatible media format: One or more media formats contained in
        the session description are not available.
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   306 Attribute not understood: One or more of the media attributes in
        the session description are not supported.

   307 Session description parameter not understood: A parameter other
        than those listed above was not understood.

   330 Multicast not available: The site where the user is located does
        not support multicast.

   331 Unicast not available: The site where the user is located does
        not support unicast communication (usually due to the presence
        of a firewall).

   370 Insufficient bandwidth: The bandwidth specified in the session
        description or defined by the media exceeds that known to be
        available.

   399 Miscellaneous warning: The warning text can include arbitrary
        information to be presented to a human user, or logged. A system
        receiving this warning MUST NOT take any automated action.


        1xx and 2xx have been taken by HTTP/1.1.

   Additional "warn-code"s, as in the example below, can be defined
   through IANA.

   Examples:


     Warning: 307 isi.edu "Session parameter 'foo' not understood"
     Warning: 301 isi.edu "Incompatible network address type 'E.164'"



6.42 WWW-Authenticate

The WWW-Authenticate response-header field MUST be included in 401 (Unauthorized) response messages. The field value consists of at least one challenge that indicates the authentication scheme(s) and parameters applicable to the Request-URI. See [H14.46] for a definition of the syntax, and section 14 for an overview of usage. The content of the "realm" parameter SHOULD be displayed to the user. A user agent SHOULD cache the authorization credentials for a given value of the destination (To header) and "realm" and attempt to re- use these values on the next request for that destination.
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   In addition to the "basic" and "digest" authentication schemes
   defined in the specifications cited above, SIP defines a new scheme,
   PGP (RFC 2015, [32]), Section 15. Other schemes, such as S/MIME, are
   for further study.



(page 75 continued on part 4)

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