IETF Standardisation Overview and integration of Internet standards

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IETF StandardisationOverview and integration of
Internet standards

• Speaker Frederic MEUNIER courtesy of TechnoMan
  Ingenierie
• Organisation SOFREAVIA
• Date and venue June 2006, Brussels

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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

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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
Architecture
Management
IAB Internet Advisory Board
IESG Internet Engineering Steering Group
Appeals board
Area Directors
Standards
IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
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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)

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ISOC organisation
IETF
Working Group
Working Group

Chair
Chair
Editor
Editor
Members
Members
"We reject kings, presidents and voting. We
believe in rough consensus and running code."
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ISOC organisation

• Relationship with other standardisation
  organisations
• no formal recognition
• no submission to traditional bodies
• Normalisation bodies cant pre-empt RFC
• Equal rights peers .

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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

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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

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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

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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 individual standards track
doc
Area Director
Submit
Concerns
IESG
RFC Editor
Published RFC
Last Call
Comments, suggestions
IETF Community Review
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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

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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

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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 -gt RFC3550
• Numerous additions to improve or extend the
  standard
• example-RFC.html

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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

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How to integrate RFC standards

• 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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How to integrate RFC standards

• Defined glossary of terms (RFC2119)
• "MUST", "MUST NOT",
• "REQUIRED",
• "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
• "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT",
• "RECOMMENDED",
• "MAY",
• "OPTIONAL"

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How to integrate RFC standards

• OSI Reference model and RFCs

APPLICATION
PRESENTATION
RFCs
SESSION
TRANSPORT
NETWORK
DATA LINK
Mainly ISO, IEEE, ITU, ETSI,
PHY
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How to integrate RFC standards

• 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

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IETF Standardization End