Redirects

An HTTP redirect is a type of response a client receives from a server when the server wishes the client to send the query elsewhere.


  
  
    
      
    
    
      
    
    
      
    
    
      
    
    
      
    
  
  
  
  Client
  
  Server
  GET /ip/101.100.49.1
  HTTP/1.1 301 MOVED PERMANENTLY
  location: https://rdap.apnic.net/ip/101.100.49.1

This is used widely among the RIRs to supplement the normal bootstrapping process to accommodate Internet number resources that have been transferred from on RIR to another (IANA does not record these transfers).

In the following example, a client uses bootstrapping to query LACNIC for 21.1.1.1, however that resource has been transferred to ARIN therefore LACNIC issues a redirect.

sequenceDiagram
    Client->>LACNIC: GET /ip/21.1.1.1
    LACNIC->>Client: HTTP/1.1 301 MOVED PERMANENTLY 
    Client->>ARIN: GET /ip/21.1.1.1
    ARIN->>Client: HTTP/1.1 200 OK

The following example is from Appendix C of RFC 7480. However, that example also shows a redirector (an RDAP server performing redirects for clients) and is more fully described as follows:

sequenceDiagram
    Client->>Redirector: GET /ip/21.1.1.1
    Redirector->>Client: HTTP/1.1 301 MOVED PERMANENTLY 
    Client->>LACNIC: GET /ip/21.1.1.1
    LACNIC->>Client: HTTP/1.1 301 MOVED PERMANENTLY 
    Client->>ARIN: GET /ip/21.1.1.1
    ARIN->>Client: HTTP/1.1 200 OK