OpenXCAP

Release date

First release is planned for 1-st of September 2007. The server will be released under BSD License.

[wiki:Download Download page]

Project description

[[Image(htdocs:SIPSIMPLE-concept.png, align=right, nolink)]]XCAP protocol allows a client to read, write, and modify application configuration data stored in XML format on a server. XCAP maps XML document sub-trees and element attributes to HTTP URIs, so that these components can be directly accessed by HTTP. An XCAP server is used by the XCAP clients to store data like Presence policy in combination with a SIP Presence server that supports PUBLISH/SUBSCRIBE/NOTIFY methods to provide a complete [http://www.tech-invite.com/Ti-sip-WGs.html#wg-simple SIP SIMPLE] server solution.

The XCAP server is used as a policy decision maker by the SIP Presence server to manage the subscriptions and notifications of presence information based on end-user controlled preferences. The XCAP server can also be used to publish to SIP devices information retrieved from external sources and using different APIs acting like a bridge between real-time communications based on SIP protocol and other web technologies like SOAP/XML.

OpenXCAP is an open source, easy extensible, fully featured XCAP server with TLS security and support for multiple realms. The server is written in Python programming language and is based on the following RFCs:

• The Extensible Markup Language (XML) Configuration Access Protocol (XCAP) [http://www.tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4825 RFC 4825]
• Formats for Representing Resource Lists [http://www.tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4826 RFC 4826]
• Usage for Manipulating Presence Document Contents [http://www.tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4827 RFC 4827]
• Presence Authorization Rules [http://tech-invite.com/SIPWGs/03-WG-SIMPLE/Drafts/draft-ietf-simple-presence-rules-10.txt draft-ietf-simple-presence-rules-10]

Features

Supported XCAP applications

• '''Resource lists (auid = resource-lists)'''. A resource lists application is any application that needs access to a list of resources, identified by a URI, to which operations, such as subscriptions, can be applied.
• '''RLS Services (auid = rls-services)'''. A Resource List Server (RLS) services application is Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) application whereby a server receives SIP SUBSCRIBE requests for resource, and generates subscriptions towards the resource list.
• '''PIDF Manipulation (auid = pidf-manipulation)'''. Pidf-manipulation application usage defines how XCAP is used to manipulate the contents of PIDF based presence documents.
• '''Presence Rules (auid = presence-rules)'''. A Presence Rules application is an application which uses authorization policies, also known as authorization rules, to specify what presence information can be given to which watchers, and when.

Data storage

OpenXCAP server supports multiple back-end storage systems and works out of the box with [http://openser.org OpenSER Proxy/Registrar/Presence] server.

XCAP clients

No server is useful without clients supporting their features. Here is list with XCAP clients known to be working with OpenXCAP:

• [http://openser.org OpenSER]
• simple-soap-proxy (under development). This client allows publication of arbitrary information and policy management using an easy to use SOAP/XML interface
• Eyebeam from [http://www.counterpath.com/eyebeam-overview.html Counterpath]

Support

OpenXCAP has been started as a graduating thesis by [http://www.linkedin.com/pub/4/b98/561 Mircea Amarascu] at the Polytechnic University of Bucharest in the spring of 2007, and is supported via this wiki collaboration system by [http://ag-projects.com AG Projects]. For OpenSER users and interactions beetween OpenXCAP and OpenSER please consult also the [http://openser.org/pipermail/users/ OpenSER users mailing list]