IETF Standardisation Overview and integration of Internet standards

European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation

IETF Standardisation

Overview and integration of Internet

standards

Speaker Frederic MEUNIER courtesy of TechnoMan

Ingenierie

Organisation SOFREAVIA

Date and venue June 2006, Brussels


IETF Standardization

Summary

ISOC organization : bodies and groups

Essence of IETF standards : RFCs

Lifecycle of an RFC

Revising / Improving standards

How to integrate RFC standards

3

ISOC organisation

Internet SOCiety (ISOC) :

International NGO founded 1992

Mission & Role : Develop Internet related standards

Influence Public Policies on Internet governance

Promote and support education

Annual budget US$ 3 143 000 (2004)

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ISOC organisation

20 000 individuals + 120 organizational members

Partners : Regional Internet Registries Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and

Numbers (ICANN) root server operators Governments and groups (incl. UN) ...

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ISOC organisation

ISOC

IETF

Internet Engineering Task Force

IAB

Internet Advisory Board

IESG

Internet Engineering Steering Group

IANA

Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

Area Directors

Appeals board

Standards

Architecture Management

6

ISOC organisation

IETF : Funding comes from ISOC and working group

members (meetings)

8 functional areas managed by Area Directors from IESG

Application area General area Internet area Operations and Management area Real-time Applications and Infrastructure area Routing area Security area Transport area

« a loosely self-organized group of people »

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ISOC organisation

Working groups (actual technical work) : A specific and reasonably achievable goal Limited lifetime (short-lived) Active participation makes you a Member :

You "join" the WG by subscribing to the mailing list

WG established at the initiative of an AD, an individual or a group of individuals :

Considered by AD and IESG Charter negotiated between AD an WG Approved by IESG (then IAB)

8

ISOC organisation

IETF

Chair

Working Group

Members

"We reject kings, presidents and voting.

We believe in rough consensus and running code."

Editor

Chair

Working Group

Members

Editor

[…]

9

ISOC organisation

Relationship with other standardisation organisations :

no formal recognition

no submission to “traditional” bodies

Normalisation bodies can’t pre-empt RFC

Equal rights peers .



Summary



Lifecycle of an RFC



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IETF Standards

RFC : Request For Comments

“above the wire and below the application”

Not all RFCs are standards

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IETF Standards

Types of RFC : Informational (FYI) / Experimental / Historical Best Current Practice (BCP) Proposed Standard :

deploying implementation of such standards into a disruption-sensitive environment is not recommended

Draft standard : at least two independent, interoperable

implementations and sufficient successful operational experience exists

mature and final form of specification Standard (STD) :

Numerous significant implementations and successful operational experiences



Summary



Lifecycle of an RFC



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Lifecycle of an RFC

Goals of the Internet Standards Process:

technical excellence

prior implementation and testing

clear, concise, and easily understandable documentation

openness and relevance

timeliness

To bring balance with today's rapid development of networking technology

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Lifecycle of an RFC

« Who does what ? » IESG : steering group

process management and RFC approval body

technical review & approves publication

Inter-WG technical coherence

IETF : technical work

RFC proposals

Seeking technical consensus

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Lifecycle of an RFC

The Internet Standards Process (RFC 2026) :

WG submits an Internet Draft

Technical reviewed by AD (against charter)

Reviewed by IESG board (eventually transmitted to IAB for advice)

RFC is then published

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Lifecycle of an RFC

Working group doc, or Working group doc, or individual standards track docindividual standards track doc

IESGIESG RFC EditorRFC Editor

SubmitSubmit ConcernsConcerns

Published RFCPublished RFC

IETF CommunityIETF CommunityReviewReview

““Last Call”Last Call” Comments, Comments, suggestionssuggestions

Area DirectorArea Director

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Lifecycle of an RFC

Finalisation of an RFC : No formal vote

does not require unanimity

disputes resolved by discussion in mailing list and face-to-face meetings

final decisions is recorded on mailing list

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Lifecycle of an RFC

Publication :

Through RFC Editor : www.rfc-editor.org

Freely and widely available / accessible (no fees)

Drafts are available through www.ietf.org

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Lifecycle of an RFC

Intellectual Property Rights A recurring concern

Some limited rights in all Contributions must be granted to the IETF and Internet Society

Defined in RFC 3978 et 3979



Summary



Lifecycle of an RFC



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Improving standards

Once published, an RFC is NEVER revised

If the standard it describes changes, the standard will be re-published in another RFC that "obsoletes" the first

Some RFC may extend existing work

Some corporations submit their own documentation to the RFC repository

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Improving standards

Example : RTP (Real-Time Transport Protocol)

RFC1889 -> RFC3550

Numerous additions to improve or extend the standard

example-RFC.html



Summary



Lifecycle of an RFC



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Some features may not be defined in RFC

Implement as you like !

External reference to an RFC is supposed to be whole.

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Defined glossary of terms (RFC2119) : "MUST", "MUST NOT",

"REQUIRED",

"SHALL", "SHALL NOT",

"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT",

"RECOMMENDED",

"MAY",

"OPTIONAL"

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OSI Reference model and RFCs :

PHY

DATA LINK

NETWORK

TRANSPORT

SESSION

PRESENTATION

APPLICATION

RFCs

Mainly ISO, IEEE, ITU, ETSI, …

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Use the latest RFC : Exclude obsolete documents

Updates and errata are supposed to be included Be sure to check for important changes

prior to referencing

Referencing through RFC number is enough

Include all needed related standards

example-IP.htm



End

Documents

IETF Standardisation Overview and integration of Internet standards