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+
+Network Working Group G. Malkin
+Request for Comments: 1391 Xylogics, Inc.
+FYI: 17 January 1993
+
+
+ The Tao of IETF
+ A Guide for New Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force
+
+
+Status of this Memo
+
+ This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
+ not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
+ unlimited.
+
+
+Abstract
+
+ Over the last two years, the attendance at Internet Engineering Task
+ Force (IETF) Plenary meetings has grown phenomenally. Approximately
+ 38% of the attendees are new to the IETF at each meeting. About 33%
+ of those go on to become regular attendees. When the meetings were
+ smaller, it wasn't very difficult for a newcomer to get to know
+ people and get into the swing of things. Today, however, a newcomer
+ meets many more new people, some previously known only as the authors
+ of Request For Comments (RFC) documents or thought provoking email
+ messages.
+
+ The purpose of this For Your Information (FYI) RFC is to explain to
+ the newcomers how the IETF works. This will give them a warm, fuzzy
+ feeling and enable them to make the meeting more productive for
+ everyone. This FYI will also provide the mundane bits of information
+ which everyone who attends an IETF meeting should know.
+
+
+Acknowledgments
+
+ The IETF Secretariat is made up of the following people: Steve Coya
+ (Executive Director of the IETF), Cynthia Clark, Megan Davies, Debra
+ Legare, and Greg Vaudreuil. These are the people behind the
+ Registration Table, and the success, of the IETF meetings. I thank
+ them for their hard work, and for their input and review of this
+ document. Thanks also to Vinton Cerf, Phillip Gross, and Craig
+ Partridge for their review and comments. And, as always, special
+ thanks to April Marine and Skippy.
+
+ I would also like to thank the management of Xylogics for their
+ strong, continuing support of my IETF activities.
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 1]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+Table of Contents
+
+ Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff
+ What is the IETF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
+ Humble Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
+ The Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
+ IETF Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
+ Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
+ Dress Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
+ Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
+ Terminal Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
+ Social Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
+ Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
+ Other General Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
+
+ Section 2 - The "You've got to know it" Stuff
+ Registration Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
+ Mailing Lists and Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
+ Important Email Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
+ IETF Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
+ Be Prepared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
+ RFCs and Internet-Drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
+ Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers) . . . . . . . 13
+ Pointers to Useful Documents and Files . . . . . . . . . . . 14
+
+ Section 3 - The "Reference" Stuff
+ Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
+ IETF Area Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
+ Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
+ References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
+ Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
+ Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
+
+
+What is the IETF?
+
+ The IETF is the protocol engineering, development, and
+ standardization arm of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB). Its
+ mission includes:
+
+ o Identifying, and proposing solutions to, pressing operational and
+ technical problems in the Internet;
+
+ o Specifying the development or usage of protocols and the near-term
+ architecture to solve such technical problems for the Internet;
+
+ o Making recommendations to the IAB regarding standardization of
+ protocols and protocol usage in the Internet;
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 2]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ o Facilitating technology transfer from the Internet Research Task
+ Force (IRTF) to the wider Internet community; and
+
+ o Providing a forum for the exchange of information within the
+ Internet community between vendors, users, researchers, agency
+ contractors, and network managers.
+
+ The IETF Plenary meeting is not a conference, although there are
+ technical presentations. The IETF is not a traditional standards
+ organization, although many standards are produced. The IETF is the
+ volunteers who meet three times a year to fulfill the IETF mission.
+
+ There is no membership in the IETF. Anyone may register for and
+ attend any meeting. The closest thing there is to being an IETF
+ member is being on the IETF mailing lists (see the IETF Mailing Lists
+ section). This is where the best information about current IETF
+ activities and focus can be found.
+
+
+Humble Beginnings
+
+ The first IETF meeting was held in January, 1986 at Linkabit in San
+ Diego with 15 attendees. The 4th IETF, held at SRI in Menlo Park in
+ October, 1986, was the first at which non-government vendors
+ attended. The concept of Working Groups (WG) was introduced at the
+ 5th IETF meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center in California in
+ February, 1987. The 7th IETF, held at MITRE in McLean, Virginia in
+ July, 1987, was the first meeting with over 100 attendees.
+
+ The 14th IETF meeting was held at Stanford University in July, 1989.
+ It marked a major change in the structure of the IETF universe. The
+ IAB (then, Internet Activities Board), which until that time oversaw
+ many Task Forces, changed its structure to leave only two: the IETF
+ and the IRTF. The IRTF is tasked to consider the long-term research
+ problems in the Internet. The IETF also changed. Those changes are
+ visible in today's hierarchy.
+
+
+The Hierarchy
+
+ To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it is useful to
+ understand the overall structure in which the IETF resides. The
+ Internet Society (ISOC), formed in January 1992, provides the
+ official parent organization for the IETF. The ISOC Board of
+ Trustees appoints the members of the IAB. The IETF and IRTF Chairs
+ are also IAB members. The IAB provides the final technical review of
+ Internet standards. They also provide leadership in the IETF, by
+ virtue of their skills and years of experience.
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 3]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ The IETF is divided into nine functional Areas. They are:
+ Applications, Internet Services, Network Management, Operational
+ Requirements, OSI Integration, Routing, Security, Transport and
+ Services, and User Services. Each Area has at least one Area
+ Director. There is also an Area Director who oversees Standards
+ Management. The Area Directors, along with the IETF Chair, form the
+ Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Phillip Gross has been
+ the IETF Chair since the IETF's 7th meeting. He founded the IESG and
+ serves as its Chair as well. The IESG provides the first technical
+ review of Internet standards. They are also responsible for the
+ day-to-day "management" of the IETF.
+
+ Each Area has several Working Groups. A Working Group is a group of
+ people who work under a charter to achieve a certain goal. That goal
+ may be the creation of an informational document, the creation of a
+ protocol standard, or the resolution of problems in the Internet.
+ Most Working Groups have a finite lifetime. That is, once a Working
+ Group has achieved its goal, it disbands. As in the IETF, there is
+ no official membership for a Working Group. Unofficially, a Working
+ Group member is somebody who's on that Working Group's mailing list.
+ Anyone may attend a Working Group meeting (see the Be Prepared
+ section below).
+
+ Areas may also have Birds of a Feather (BOF) groups. They generally
+ have the same goals as Working Groups, except that they have no
+ charter and usually only meet once or twice. BOFs are often held to
+ determine if there is enough interest to form a Working Group.
+
+
+IETF Mailing Lists
+
+ Anyone who plans to attend an IETF meeting should join the IETF
+ announcements mailing list. This is where all of the meeting
+ information, new and revised Internet-Draft and RFC announcements,
+ IESG Recommendations, and Last Calls are posted. People who'd like
+ to "get technical" may also join the IETF discussion list,
+ "ietf@cnri.reston.va.us". This was the only list before the
+ announcement list was created and is where discussions of cosmic
+ significance are held (most Working Groups have their own mailing
+ lists for discussions relating to their work). To join the IETF
+ announcement list, send a request to:
+
+ ietf-announce-request@cnri.reston.va.us
+
+ To join the IETF discussion list, send a request to:
+
+ ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.us
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 4]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ To join both of the lists, simply send a single message, to either
+ "-request" address, and indicate that you'd like to join both mailing
+ lists.
+
+ Do not, ever, under any circumstances, for any reason, send a request
+ to join a list to the list itself! The thousands of people on the
+ list don't need, or want, to know when a new person joins.
+ Similarly, when changing email addresses or leaving a list, send your
+ request only to the "-request" address, not to the main list. This
+ means you!!
+
+ The IETF discussion list is unmoderated. This means that anyone can
+ express their opinions about issues affecting the Internet. However,
+ it is not a place for companies or individuals to solicit or
+ advertise. Only the Secretariat can send a message to the
+ announcement list.
+
+ Even though the IETF mailing lists "represent" the IETF membership at
+ large, it is important to note that attending an IETF meeting does
+ not automatically include addition to either mailing list.
+
+
+Registration
+
+ As previously mentioned, all meeting announcements are sent to the
+ IETF announcement list. Within the IETF meeting announcement is a
+ Registration Form and complete instructions for registering,
+ including, of course, the cost. The Secretariat highly recommends
+ that attendees preregister. Early registration, which ends about one
+ month before the meeting, carries a lower registration fee. As the
+ size of the meetings has grown, so has the length of the lines at the
+ registration desk. Fortunately, there are three lines: the
+ "preregistered and prepaid" line (which moves very quickly); the
+ "preregistered and on-site payment" line (which moves a little more
+ slowly); and the "registration and on-site payment" line (take a
+ guess).
+
+ Registration is open all week. However, the Secretariat highly
+ recommends that attendees arrive for early registration, beginning at
+ 6:00 P.M. (meeting local time), on the Sunday before the opening
+ plenary. Not only will there be fewer people, but there will also be
+ a reception at which people can get a byte to eat. If the
+ registration lines are long, one can eat first and try again when the
+ lines are shorter. Newcomers are encouraged to attend the IETF
+ Orientation on Sunday at 4:30 P.M.
+
+ Registered attendees (and there isn't any other kind) receive a
+ Registration Packet. It contains a general orientation sheet, the
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 5]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ At-A-Glance sheet, a list of Working Group acronyms, the most recent
+ Agenda, and a name tag. The At-A-Glance is a very important
+ reference and is used throughout the week. It contains Working
+ Group/BOF room assignments and a map of room locations. Attendees
+ who prepaid will also find their receipt in their packet.
+
+
+Dress Code
+
+ Since attendees must wear their name tags, they must also wear shirts
+ or blouses. Pants or skirts are also highly recommended. Seriously
+ though, many newcomers are often embarrassed when they show up Monday
+ morning in suits, to discover that everybody else is wearing T-
+ shirts, jeans (shorts, if weather permits) and sandals. There are
+ those in the IETF who refuse to wear anything other than suits.
+ Fortunately, they are well known (for other reasons) so they are
+ forgiven this particular idiosyncrasy.
+
+ The general rule is: "dress for the weather."
+
+
+Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes
+
+ Some of the people at the IETF will have a little colored dot on
+ their name tags. A few people have more than one. These dots
+ identify people who are silly enough to volunteer to do a lot of
+ extra work. The colors have the following meanings:
+
+ red - IAB member
+ yellow - IESG member
+ blue - Working Group/BOF chair
+ green - Local host
+
+ Local hosts are the people who can answer questions about the
+ terminal room, and restaurants and points of interest in the area.
+
+ It is important that newcomers to the IETF not be afraid to strike up
+ conversations with people who wear these dots. If the IAB and IESG
+ members, and Working Group and BOF chairs, didn't want to talk to
+ anybody, they wouldn't be wearing the dots in the first place.
+
+ To make life simpler for the Secretariat, Registration Packets are
+ also coded with little colored dots. These are only for Secretariat
+ use, so the nobody else needs to worry about them.
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 6]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+Terminal Room
+
+ One of the most important (depending on your point of view) things
+ the local host does is provide Internet access to the meeting
+ attendees. In general, the connectivity is excellent. This is
+ entirely due to the Olympian efforts of the local hosts, and their
+ ability to beg, borrow and steal. The people and companies who
+ donate their equipment, services, and time are to be heartily
+ congratulated and thanked.
+
+ While preparation far in advance of the meeting is encouraged, there
+ may be some unavoidable "last minute" things which can be
+ accomplished in the terminal room. It may also be useful to people
+ who need to make trip reports or status reports while things are
+ still fresh in their minds.
+
+
+Social Event
+
+ Another of the most important things organized and managed by the
+ local hosts is the IETF social event. The social event has become
+ something of a tradition at the IETF meetings. It has been
+ immortalized by Marshal Rose with his reference to "many fine lunches
+ and dinners" [ROSE], and by Claudio and Julia Topolcic with their
+ rendition of "Nerds in Paradise" on a pink T-shirt.
+
+ Newcomers to the IETF are encouraged to attend the social event.
+ Everyone is encouraged to wear their name tags. The social event is
+ designed to give people a chance to meet on a social, rather than
+ technical, level.
+
+ Sometimes, the social event is a computer or high-tech related event.
+ At the Boston IETF, for example, the social was dinner at the
+ Computer Museum. Other times, the social might be a dinner cruise or
+ a trip to an art gallery.
+
+
+Agenda
+
+ The Agenda for the IETF meetings is a very fluid thing. It is sent,
+ in various forms, to the IETF announcement list three times prior to
+ the meeting. The final Agenda is included in the Registration
+ Packets. Of course, "final" in the IETF doesn't mean the same thing
+ as it does elsewhere in the world. The final Agenda is simply the
+ version that went to the printers.
+
+ The Secretariat will announce Agenda changes during the morning
+ plenary sessions. Changes will also be posted on the bulletin board
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 7]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ near the IETF Registration Table (not the hotel registration desk).
+
+ Assignments for breakout rooms (that's where the Working Groups and
+ BOFs meet) and a map showing the room locations make up the At-A-
+ Glance sheet (included in the Registration Packets). Room
+ assignments are as flexible as the Agenda. Some Working Groups meet
+ multiple times during a meeting and every attempt is made to have a
+ Working Group meet in the same room each session. Room assignment
+ changes are not necessarily permanent for the week. Always check the
+ At-A-Glance first, then the bulletin board. When in doubt, check
+ with a member of the Secretariat at the Registration Table.
+
+
+Other General Things
+
+ The opening Plenary on Monday morning is the most heavily attended
+ session. It is where important introductory remarks are made, so
+ people are encouraged to attend.
+
+ The guy wearing the suit is probably Vint Cerf, the President of the
+ Internet Society and an IAB member. If you see a guy doing a strip
+ tease out of a suit, it's definitely Vint (but don't come just to see
+ him do it again; he's only done it once in the Internet's 20 year
+ history).
+
+ The IETF Secretariat, and IETFers in general, are very approachable.
+ Never be afraid to approach someone and introduce yourself. Also,
+ don't be afraid to ask questions, especially when it comes to jargon
+ and acronyms!
+
+ Hallway conversations are very important. A lot of very good work
+ gets done by people who talk together between meetings and over
+ lunches and dinners. Every minute of the IETF can be considered work
+ time (much to some people's dismay).
+
+ "Bar BOFs" are unofficial get-togethers, usually in the late evening,
+ during which a lot of work gets done over drinks.
+
+ It's unwise to get between a hungry IETFer (and there isn't any other
+ kind) and coffee break brownies and cookies, no matter how
+ interesting a hallway conversation is.
+
+ IETFers are fiercely independent. It's always safe to question an
+ opinion and offer alternatives, but don't expect an IETFer to follow
+ an order.
+
+ The IETF, and the plenary sessions in particular, are not places for
+ vendors to try to sell their wares. People can certainly answer
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 8]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ questions about their company and its products, but bear in mind that
+ the IETF is not a trade show. This does not preclude people from
+ recouping costs for IETF related T-shirts, buttons and pocket
+ protectors.
+
+
+Registration Bullets
+
+ Registration is such an important topic, that it's in this RFC twice!
+ This is the "very important registration bullets" section.
+
+ o To attend an IETF meeting: you have to register and you have to
+ pay the registration fee.
+
+ o All you need to do to be registered is to send in a completed
+ Registration Form.
+
+ o You may register by mail, email or fax. Email and fax
+ registration forms will be accepted until 1:00 P.M. ET on the
+ Friday before the meeting.
+
+ o You may preregister and pay, preregister and pay later,
+ preregister and pay on-site, or register and pay on-site.
+
+ o To get the lower registration fee, you must register by the early
+ registration deadline (about one month before the meeting). You
+ can still pay later or on-site.
+
+ o If you don't register by the early registration deadline, a late
+ fee is added.
+
+ o Everyone pays the same fees. There are no education or group
+ discounts. There are no discounts for attending only part of the
+ week.
+
+ o Register only ONE person per registration form. Substitutions are
+ NOT allowed.
+
+ o You may register then pay later, but you may not pay then register
+ later. Payment MUST be accompanied by a completed registration
+ form.
+
+ o Purchase orders are NOT accepted. DD Form 1556 IS accepted.
+
+ o Refunds are subject to a $20 service charge. Late fees will not
+ be refunded.
+
+ o The registration fee covers a copy of the meeting's Proceedings,
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 9]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ Sunday evening reception (cash bar), a daily continental
+ breakfast, and two daily coffee breaks.
+
+
+Mailing Lists and Archives
+
+ As previously mentioned, the IETF announcement and discussion mailing
+ lists are the central mailing lists for IETF activities. However,
+ there are many other mailing lists related to IETF work. For
+ example, every Working Group has its own discussion list. In
+ addition, there are some long-term technical debates which have been
+ moved off of the IETF list onto lists created specifically for those
+ topics. It is highly recommended that everybody follow the
+ discussions on the mailing lists of the Working Groups which they
+ wish to attend. The more work that is done on the mailing lists, the
+ less work that will need to be done at the meeting, leaving time for
+ cross pollination (i.e., attending Working Groups outside one's
+ primary area of interest in order to broaden one's perspective).
+
+ The mailing lists also provide a forum for those who wish to follow,
+ or contribute to, the Working Groups' efforts, but cannot attend the
+ IETF meetings.
+
+ All IETF discussion lists have a "-request" address which handles the
+ administrative details of joining and leaving the list. It is
+ generally frowned upon when such administrivia appears on the
+ discussion mailing list.
+
+ Most IETF discussion lists are archived. That is, all of the
+ messages sent to the list are automatically stored on a host for
+ anonymous FTP access. To find out where a particular list is
+ archived, send a message to the list's "-request" address, NOT to the
+ list itself.
+
+
+Important Email Addresses
+
+ There are some important IETF email addresses with which everyone
+ should be familiar. They are all located at "cnri.reston.va.us"
+ (e.g., "ietf-info@cnri.reston.va.us"). To personalize things, the
+ names of the Secretariat staff who handle the lists are given.
+
+ o ietf-info general queries about the IETF-
+ Greg Vaudreuil, Megan Davies and Cynthia Clark
+
+ o ietf-rsvp queries about meeting locations and fees,
+ emailed Registration Forms-
+ Debra Legare
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 10]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ o proceedings queries about previous Proceedings availability,
+ orders for copies of the Proceedings-
+ Debra Legare
+
+ o ietf-announce-request
+ requests to join/leave IETF announcement list-
+ Cynthia Clark
+
+ o ietf-request requests to join/leave IETF discussion list-
+ Cynthia Clark
+
+ o internet-drafts Internet-Draft submissions-
+ Cynthia Clark
+
+ o iesg-secretary Greg Vaudreuil
+
+
+IETF Proceedings
+
+ The IETF Proceedings are compiled in the two months following each
+ IETF meeting. The Proceedings usually start with a message from
+ Phill Gross, the Chair of the IETF. Each contains the final
+ (hindsight) Agenda, an IETF overview, a report from the IESG, Area
+ and Working Group reports, network status briefings, slides from the
+ protocol and technical presentations, and the attendees list. The
+ attendees list includes an attendee's name, affiliation, work phone
+ number, work fax number, and email address, as provided on the
+ Registration Form.
+
+ A copy of the Proceedings will be sent to everyone who registered for
+ the IETF. The cost is included in the registration fee. The
+ Proceedings are sent to the mailing addresses provided on the
+ Registration Forms.
+
+ For those who could not attend a meeting but would like a copy of the
+ Proceedings send a check for $35 (made payable to CNRI) to:
+
+ Corporation for National Research Initiatives
+ Attn: Accounting Department - IETF Proceedings
+ 1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100
+ Reston, VA 22091
+
+ Please indicate which meeting Proceedings you would like to receive
+ by specifying the meeting date (e.g., July 1992) or meeting number
+ and location (e.g., 24th meeting in Boston). Availability of
+ previous meeting Proceedings is limited, so check BEFORE sending
+ payment.
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 11]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+Be Prepared
+
+ This topic cannot be stressed enough. As the IETF grows, it becomes
+ more and more important for attendees to arrive prepared for the
+ Working Groups meetings they plan to attend. This doesn't apply only
+ to newcomers; everybody should come prepared.
+
+ Being prepared means having read the documents which the Working
+ Group or BOF Chair has distributed. It means having followed the
+ discussions on the Working Group's mailing list or having reviewed
+ the archives. For the Working Group/BOF Chairs, it means getting all
+ of the documents out early enough (i.e., several weeks) to give
+ everybody time to read them. It also means announcing an agenda and
+ sticking with it.
+
+ At the Chair's discretion, some time may be devoted to bringing new
+ Working Group attendees up to speed. In fact, long lived Working
+ Groups have occasionally held entire sessions which were introductory
+ in nature. As a rule, however, a Working Group is not the place to
+ go for training. Observers are always welcome, but they must realize
+ that the work effort cannot be delayed for education. Anyone wishing
+ to attend a Working Group for the first time might seek out the Chair
+ prior to the meeting and ask for some introduction.
+
+ Another thing, for everybody, to consider is that Working Groups go
+ through phases. In the initial phase (say, the first two meetings),
+ all ideas are welcome. The idea is to gather all the possible
+ solutions together for consideration. In the development phase, a
+ solution is chosen and developed. Trying to reopen issues which were
+ decided more than a couple of meetings back is considered bad form.
+ The final phase (the last two meetings) is where the "spit and
+ polish" are applied to the architected solution. This is not the
+ time to suggest architectural changes or open design issues already
+ resolved. It's a bad idea to wait until the last minute to speak out
+ if a problem is discovered. This is especially true for people whose
+ excuse is that they hadn't read the documents until the day before a
+ comments period ended.
+
+ Time at the IETF meetings is a precious thing. Working Groups are
+ encouraged to meet between IETF meetings, either in person or by
+ video or telephone conference. Doing as much work as possible over
+ the mailing lists would also reduce the amount of work which must be
+ done at the meeting.
+
+RFCs and Internet-Drafts
+
+ Originally, RFCs were just what the name implies; they were requests
+ for comments. The early RFCs were messages between the ARPANET
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 12]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ architects about how to resolve certain problems. Over the years,
+ RFCs became more formal. It reached the point that they were being
+ cited as standards, even when they weren't.
+
+ Internet Experiment Notes (IEN) were created to become a new informal
+ document series about the early experimental work on TCP and IP. It
+ was thought that having "Notes" as part of the name would prevent
+ them from being cited as standards. As the work matured, the
+ documentation was done as RFCs.
+
+ RFCs continue to be the important documents about the Internet; there
+ are now two special sub-series within the RFCs: FYIs and STDs. The
+ For Your Information RFC sub-series was created to document overviews
+ and things which are introductory. Frequently, FYIs are created by
+ the IETF User Services Area. The STD RFC sub-series is new. It was
+ created to identify those RFCs which do specify full Internet
+ Standards. RFCs of every type have an RFC number by which they are
+ indexed and by which they can be retrieved. FYIs and STDs have FYI
+ numbers and STD numbers, respectively, in addition to RFC numbers.
+ This makes it easier for a new Internet user, for example, to find
+ all of the helpful, informational documents, by looking in the FYI
+ index. In addition, FYI and STD numbers never change across a
+ document revision, while the RFC number does.
+
+ Internet-Drafts (I-D) are working documents of the IETF. Any group
+ (e.g., Working Group, BOF) or individual may submit a document for
+ distribution as an I-D. An I-D is valid for six months. Recent
+ guidelines require that an expiration date appear on every page of an
+ I-D. An I-D may be updated, replaced or obsoleted at any time. It
+ is not appropriate to use I-Ds as reference material or to cite them,
+ other than as a "working draft" or "work in progress".
+
+ For additional information, read the following documents:
+
+ o Request for Comments on Request for Comments [RFC1111]
+ o F.Y.I. on F.Y.I: Introduction to the F.Y.I notes [RFC1150]
+ o Introduction to the STD Notes [RFC1311]
+ o Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts [GAID]
+ o The Internet Activities Board [RFC1160]
+ o The Internet Standards Process [RFC1310]
+ o IAB Official Protocol Standards [STD1]
+
+
+Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers)
+
+ Q: My Working Group moved this morning. Where is it now?
+ A: Not all room assignment changes are permanent. Check the At-A-
+ Glance sheet and the message board for announcements.
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 13]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ Q: Where is Room A?
+ A: Check the map on the At-A-Glance sheet. An enlarged version is on
+ the bulletin board.
+
+ Q: Where can I get a copy of the Proceedings?
+ A: The Proceedings are automatically sent to each attendee about two
+ months after the meeting.
+
+ Q: When is on-site registration?
+ A: The IETF registration table is set up Sunday night from 6:00 p.m.
+ - 8:00 p.m. and Monday - Thursday from about 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
+ Starting time in the mornings and Friday's hours may vary
+ depending on the meeting schedule.
+
+ Q: Where is lunch served?
+ A: The meeting does not include lunch or dinner. Ask a local host
+ (somebody with a green dotted badge) for a recommendation.
+
+ Q: Where are the receipts for the social event?
+ A: The social is not managed by the IETF Secretariat. Ask a local
+ host.
+
+
+Pointers to Useful Documents and Files
+
+ This is a list of documents and files that provide useful information
+ about the IETF meetings, Working Groups, and documentation. These
+ files reside in the "ietf" directory on the Anonymous FTP sites
+ listed below. Files with names beginning with "0" (zero) pertain to
+ IETF meetings. These may refer to a recently held meeting if the
+ first announcement of the next meeting has not yet been sent to the
+ IETF mailing list. Files with names beginning with "1" (one) contain
+ general IETF information. This is only a partial list of the
+ available files.
+
+ o 0mtg-agenda.txt Agenda for the meeting
+ o 0mtg-at-a-glance.txt Logistics information for the meeting
+ o 0mtg-rsvp.txt Meeting registration form
+ o 0mtg-sites.txt Future meeting sites and dates
+ o 0mtg-traveldirections.txt Directions to the meeting site
+
+ o 1directories.txt The IETF Shadow directory locations and
+ contents.
+ o 1id-guidelines.txt Guidelines to Authors of Internet-Drafts
+ Contains information on writing and
+ submitting I-Ds.
+ o 1ietf-description.txt Short description of the IETF and IESG,
+ including a list of Area Directors.
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 14]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ o 1nonwg-discuss.txt A list of mailing lists created to
+ discuss specific IETF issues.
+ o 1proceedings-request.txt A Proceedings order form for the
+ current and previous meetings
+ o 1wg-summary.txt List of all Working Groups, by Area,
+ including the name and address of the
+ chairperson, and the mailing list
+ address.
+
+ Additionally, the charters and minutes of the Working Groups and BOFs
+ are archived in the "ietf" directory.
+
+ All of these documents are available by anonymous FTP from the
+ following sites:
+
+ o DDN NIC Address: nic.ddn.mil (192.112.36.5)
+ o East Coast (US) Address: nnsc.nsf.net (128.89.1.178)
+ o West Coast (US) Address: ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.22)
+ o Pacific Rim Address: munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21)
+ o Europe Address: nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)
+
+ The files are also available via email from various mail servers. To
+ to get the agenda and meeting summary from the mail server at SRI
+ International, for example, you would send the following message:
+
+ To: mail-server@nisc.sri.com Message header
+ Subject: anything you want
+
+ send 0mtg-agenda.txt Body of the message
+ send 0mtg-at-a-glance.txt
+
+ Residing on the same archive sites are the RFCs and Internet-Drafts.
+ They are in the "rfc" and "internet-drafts" directories,
+ respectively. The file "rfc-index.txt" contains the latest
+ information about the RFCs (e.g., which have been obsoleted by
+ which). In general, only the newest version of an Internet-Draft is
+ available.
+
+ Mail servers can also be used to retrieve RFCs and I-Ds. To use
+ SRI's mail server to get an RFC, simply include a "send command" in
+ the body of the message for the desired RFC. For example:
+
+ send rfc1150
+
+ or use a special RFC shorthand:
+
+ rfc 1150
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 15]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ For Internet-Drafts, include the name (yes, they are very long) in a
+ "send" command line. For example:
+
+ send draft-ietf-ripv2-mibext-03.txt
+
+ RFCs may also be retrieved, using email, from ISI's RFC-Info server
+ at "rfc-info@isi.edu". To get a specific RFC, include the following
+ in the body of the message:
+
+ Retrieve: RFC
+ Doc-ID: RFC0951
+
+ This example would cause a copy of RFC 951 (the leading zero in the
+ Doc-ID is required) to be emailed to the requestor.
+
+ To get a list of available RFCs which match certain criteria, include
+ the following in the body of the message:
+
+ LIST: RFC
+ Keywords: Gateway
+
+ This example would email a list of all RFCs with "Gateway" in the
+ title, or as an assigned keyword, to the requestor.
+
+ To get a copy of the RFC-Info manual:
+
+ HELP: Manual
+
+ To get information on other ways to get RFCs:
+
+ HELP: ways_to_get_rfcs
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 16]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+Tao
+
+ Pronounced "Dow", Tao means "the Way." It is the basic principle
+ behind the teachings of Lao-tse, a Chinese master. Its familiar
+ symbol is the black and white Yin-Yang circle.
+
+IETF Area Abbreviations
+
+ APP Applications
+ INT Internet Services
+ MGT Network Management
+ OPS Operational Requirements
+ OSI OSI Integration
+ RTG Routing
+ SEC Security
+ TSV Transport and Services
+ USV User Services
+
+
+Acronyms
+
+ :-) Smiley face
+ ANSI American National Standards Institute
+ ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
+ AS Autonomous System
+ ATM Asynchronous Transfer Mode
+ BGP Border Gateway Protocol
+ BOF Birds Of a Feather
+ BSD Berkeley Software Distribution
+ BTW By The Way
+ CCIRN Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Networks
+ CCITT International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Comittee
+ CNI Coalition for Networked Information
+ CREN The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
+ DARPA U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
+ DDN U.S. Defense Data Network
+ DISA U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency
+ EGP Exterior Gateway Protocol
+ FAQ Frequently Asked Question
+ FARNET Federation of American Research NETworks
+ FIX U.S. Federal Information Exchange
+ FNC U.S. Federal Networking Council
+ FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name
+ FYI For Your Information (RFC)
+ GOSIP U.S. Government OSI Profile
+ IAB Internet Architecture Board
+ IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
+ I-D Internet-Draft
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 17]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+ IEN Internet Experiment Note
+ IESG Internet Engineering Steering Group
+ IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
+ IGP Interior Gateway Protocol
+ IMHO In My Humble Opinion
+ IMR Internet Monthly Report
+ IR Internet Registry
+ IRSG Internet Research Steering Group
+ IRTF Internet Research Task Force
+ ISO International Organization for Standardization
+ ISOC Internet Society
+ ISODE ISO Development Environment
+ ITU International Telecommunication Union
+ MIB Management Information Base
+ MIME Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
+ NIC Network Information Center
+ NIS Network Information Services
+ NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
+ NOC Network Operations Center
+ NREN National Research and Education Network
+ NSF National Science Foundation
+ OSI Open Systems Interconnection
+ PEM Privacy Enhanced Mail
+ PTT Postal, Telegraph and Telephone
+ RARE Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne
+ RFC Request For Comments
+ RIPE Reseaux IP Europeenne
+ SIG Special Interest Group
+ STD Standard (RFC)
+ TLA Three Letter Acronym
+ TTFN Ta-Ta For Now
+ UTC Universal Time Coordinated
+ WG Working Group
+ WRT With Respect To
+ WYSIWYG What You See is What You Get
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 18]
+
+RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993
+
+
+References
+
+ GAID "Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts",
+ 1id-guidelines.txt.
+
+ ROSE Rose, M., "The Open Book: A Practical Perspective on OSI",
+ Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.
+
+ RFC1111 Postel, J., "Request for Comments on Request for Comments",
+ RFC 1111, USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1989.
+
+ RFC1150 Malkin, G., and J. Reynolds, "F.Y.I. on F.Y.I.", FYI 1, RFC
+ 1150, Proteon, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March
+ 1990.
+
+ RFC1160 Cerf, V., "The Internet Activities Board", RFC 1160, NRI, May
+ 1990.
+
+ RFC1310 Chapin, L., Chair, "The Internet Standards Process", RFC
+ 1310, Internet Activities Board, March 1992.
+
+ RFC1311 Postel, J., Editor, "Introduction to the STD Notes", RFC
+ 1311, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1992.
+
+ STD1 Postel, J., Editor, "IAB Official Protocol Standards", STD 1,
+ RFC1360, Internet Architecture Board, September 1992.
+
+
+Security Considerations
+
+ Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
+
+
+Author's Address
+
+ Gary Scott Malkin
+ Xylogics, Inc.
+ 53 Third Avenue
+ Burlington, MA 01803
+
+ Phone: (617) 272-8140
+ EMail: gmalkin@Xylogics.COM
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 19]
+ \ No newline at end of file