RFC 1391
The Tao of the IETF: A Guide for New Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force
The Tao of IETF 🦋
A Guide for New Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force 💖
Okay bestie, let's start with the basics ✨ This is RFC 1391, called The Tao of IETF, written by G. Malkin of Xylogics, Inc. It was posted in the Network Working Group in January 1993, and it's labelled FYI: 17, so it's an FYI document. The header doesn't say it obsoletes or updates anything, so nothing gets replaced or patched by it 🌈
Status of This Memo 🌸
The vibe check: this memo is here to provide information for the Internet community 💅 It does not specify an Internet standard, and distribution of this memo is unlimited 🫶
Abstract 💜
Over the last two years, IETF Plenary meetings have gotten absolutely huge 😭 About 38% of attendees are new to the IETF at each meeting, and around 33% of those newbies end up becoming 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. Now a newcomer meets way more new people, and some of them were previously only known as the authors of Request For Comments (RFC) documents or thought provoking email messages 🤯
So the purpose of this For Your Information (FYI) RFC is to explain to newcomers how the IETF works 🧚 It's meant to give them a warm, fuzzy feeling and help them make the meeting more productive for everyone. It also covers the mundane bits of information that everyone who attends an IETF meeting should know 📝
Acknowledgments 🫶
The IETF Secretariat is made up of Steve Coya (Executive Director of the IETF), Cynthia Clark, Megan Davies, Debra Legare, and Greg Vaudreuil. They're the people behind the Registration Table, and the success, of the IETF meetings 👑 The author thanks 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 🐾
The author would also like to thank the management of Xylogics for their strong, continuing support of their IETF activities 💖
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff 🎀
What is the IETF? 🌸
Okay so the IETF is the protocol engineering, development, and standardization arm of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) 💅 Its mission includes:
- Identifying, and proposing solutions to, pressing operational and technical problems in the Internet;
- Specifying the development or usage of protocols and the near-term architecture to solve such technical problems for the Internet;
- Making recommendations to the IAB regarding standardization of protocols and protocol usage in the Internet;
- Facilitating technology transfer from the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to the wider Internet community; and
- 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 also not a traditional standards organization, even though plenty of standards come out of it. The IETF is really the volunteers who meet three times a year to get the mission done 🫶
There is no membership in the IETF. Anyone may register for and attend any meeting 🦋 The closest thing to being an IETF member is being on the IETF mailing lists (see the IETF Mailing Lists section). That's where the best info 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 one that non-government vendors attended. Then 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, which was iconic 😭
The 14th IETF meeting was held at Stanford University in July, 1989, and 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 with considering the long-term research problems in the Internet. The IETF changed too, and those changes are visible in today's hierarchy 👑
The Hierarchy 👑
To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it helps to understand the bigger structure it lives in 💖 The Internet Society (ISOC), formed in January 1992, is 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, and they lead the IETF too, thanks to their skills and years of experience 🧠
The IETF is divided into nine functional Areas: 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's 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, and they're 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 might be creating an informational document, creating a protocol standard, or resolving problems in the Internet. Most Working Groups have a finite lifetime, so once a Working Group has achieved its goal, it disbands 🦋 Just like the IETF, there's 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 they have no charter and usually only meet once or twice 🐣 BOFs are often held to figure out if there's 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 get posted. People who'd like to "get technical" can also join the IETF discussion list, "ietf@cnri.reston.va.us" 🤓 That was the only list before the announcement list was created, and it's where discussions of cosmic significance happen (most Working Groups have their own mailing lists for discussions about their work) 🌌 To join the IETF announcement list, send a request to:
ietf-announce-request@cnri.reston.va.usTo join the IETF discussion list, send a request to:
ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.usTo join both lists, just send a single message to either "-request" address and say 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, which means anyone can express their opinions about issues affecting the Internet 🔥 However, it isn't 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, attending an IETF meeting does not automatically add you to either mailing list 🫶
Registration 📬
okay so, like I said before, every meeting announcement goes out to the IETF announcement list 💌. the announcement has a Registration Form and complete instructions for signing up, including, of course, the cost 💸. the Secretariat (the amazing people who keep everything running ✨) highly recommends that you preregister 💖. early registration ends about one month before the meeting and it costs less, so bestie, do it early 🤑. as the meetings got bigger, the registration lines got longer too 😭. luckily there are three lines: the "preregistered and prepaid" line (which moves SO fast 🏃♀️), the "preregistered and on-site payment" line (moves a little slower 🐢), and the "registration and on-site payment" line (take a guess 💀).
Registration is open all week 🗓️. BUT the Secretariat highly recommends that you come for early registration starting at 6:00 P.M. (meeting local time) on the Sunday before the opening plenary 🌙. there are fewer people, and there's a reception where you can get a byte to eat 🍕 (a byte, lol, we're nerds 🤓). if the lines are long, eat first and try again when they're 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 💅) get a Registration Packet 🎁. it has a general orientation sheet, the 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 you'll be using it all week 👑. it has the Working Group/BOF room assignments and a map of the room locations 🗺️. if you prepaid, your receipt is in your packet too 🧾.
Dress Code 👗
since attendees must wear their name tags, they must also wear shirts or blouses 👚. pants or skirts are also highly recommended. but seriously tho 😭, lots of newcomers show up Monday morning in suits and then realize everyone else is in T-shirts, jeans (shorts, if the weather permits ☀️) and sandals. there are people at the IETF who refuse to wear anything but suits, but they're well known (for other reasons 🙈), so they get a pass on this one. the general rule is: "dress for the weather." 🌤️
Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes 🔴🟡🔵🟢
some people at the IETF have a little colored dot on their name tag, and a few have more than one 🎯. these dots go to the people silly enough to volunteer for a ton of extra work 😤✨. here's what the colors mean:
red - IAB member
yellow - IESG member
blue - Working Group/BOF chair
green - Local hostLocal hosts are the people who can answer questions about the terminal room, and about restaurants and points of interest in the area 📍.
newcomers, please don't be shy about striking up conversations with people wearing these dots 🫶. if the IAB and IESG members, plus the Working Group and BOF chairs, didn't want to talk to anybody, they wouldn't be wearing the dots in the first place 💅.
Registration Packets also have little colored dots, but those are just for the Secretariat's use 🎨. nobody else needs to worry about them 🙅♀️.
Terminal Room 💻
one of the most important things (depending on your point of view 👀) the local host does is give meeting attendees Internet access 🌐. overall the connectivity is excellent, and that's entirely thanks 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 deserve a huge round of applause and thanks 👏💖.
getting ready way in advance of the meeting is encouraged 📚, but there may be some unavoidable "last minute" things you can finish in the terminal room 🖥️. it's also handy for writing trip reports or status reports while everything's still fresh in your mind 🧠.
Social Event 🥳
another super important thing the local hosts organize and manage is the IETF social event 🎉. it's kind of a tradition at this point. Marshal Rose immortalized it with his reference to "many fine lunches and dinners" [ROSE], and Claudio and Julia Topolcic immortalized it with their rendition of "Nerds in Paradise" on a pink T-shirt 👚💗.
newcomers are encouraged to attend the social event 🙋♀️, and everyone is encouraged to wear their name tags 🏷️. it's designed to give people a chance to meet on a social, rather than technical, level 🫶.
sometimes the social is computer or high-tech themed 🤖. at the Boston IETF, for example, it was dinner at the Computer Museum 🏛️. other times it might be a dinner cruise or a trip to an art gallery 🎨⛵.
Agenda 📅
the Agenda is a very fluid thing 🌊. it gets sent, in various forms, to the IETF announcement list three times before the meeting 📨. the final Agenda is included in the Registration Packets. but "final" at the IETF doesn't mean the same thing it does everywhere else 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 also get posted on the bulletin board 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 in your Registration Packet 🗺️. room assignments are just 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 aren't 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's where important introductory remarks are made, so people are encouraged to show up 🙌.
the guy wearing the suit is probably Vint Cerf, 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, because he's only done it once in the Internet's 20 year history 🙈).
the IETF Secretariat, and IETFers in general, are super 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 a huge deal 🚶♀️. so much good work gets done by people who chat 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, where 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 the 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 absolutely answer questions about their company and its products, but remember the IETF is not a trade show 🎪. this doesn't stop 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 📌.
- To attend an IETF meeting: you have to register and you have to pay the registration fee.
- All you need to do to be registered is send in a completed Registration Form.
- 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.
- You may preregister and pay, preregister and pay later, preregister and pay on-site, or register and pay on-site.
- 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.
- If you don't register by the early registration deadline, a late fee is added.
- Everyone pays the same fees. There are no education or group discounts. There are no discounts for attending only part of the week.
- Register only ONE person per registration form. Substitutions are not allowed.
- You may register then pay later, but you may not pay then register later. Payment MUST be accompanied by a completed registration form.
- Purchase orders are not accepted. DD Form 1556 IS accepted.
- Refunds are subject to a $20 service charge. Late fees will not be refunded.
- The registration fee covers a copy of the meeting's Proceedings, the Sunday evening reception (cash bar), a daily continental breakfast, and two daily coffee breaks.
Mailing Lists and Archives 📚
as mentioned before, the IETF announcement and discussion mailing lists are the central lists for IETF activities 🌟. but there are tons of other lists too! for example, every Working Group has its own discussion list 🗣️. some long-running technical debates have also been moved off the IETF list onto lists created just for those topics ⚔️. it is highly recommended that everybody follow the discussions on the mailing lists of the Working Groups they wish to attend 🙏. the more work that gets done on the mailing lists, the less work needs to happen at the meeting, leaving time for cross pollination (aka attending Working Groups outside your main area of interest so you can broaden your perspective) 🌈.
the mailing lists are also a forum for people who want to follow, or contribute to, the Working Groups' efforts, but can't make it to the IETF meetings 💜.
All IETF discussion lists have a "-request" address which handles the administrative details of joining and leaving the list 📝. it's generally frowned upon when that admin stuff shows up on the discussion list itself 🙅♀️.
most IETF discussion lists are archived 🗄️. that means all 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 ✨
okay bestie, these are the IETF email addresses you need to know by heart 💅 They all live at cnri.reston.va.us, so it's like ietf-info@cnri.reston.va.us 💌 The Secretariat staff who run each list are named so you know who's behind the inbox 🫶
ietf-info: general queries about the IETF 🌸 Greg Vaudreuil, Megan Davies and Cynthia Clarkietf-rsvp: queries about meeting locations and fees, emailed Registration Forms 📝 Debra Legareproceedings: queries about previous Proceedings availability, orders for copies of the Proceedings 📚 Debra Legareietf-announce-request: requests to join/leave IETF announcement list 📣 Cynthia Clarkietf-request: requests to join/leave IETF discussion list 💬 Cynthia Clarkinternet-drafts: Internet-Draft submissions 📄 Cynthia Clarkiesg-secretary: Greg Vaudreuil 👑
IETF Proceedings 📚
The IETF Proceedings get compiled in the two months following each IETF meeting 🗓️ They usually kick off with a message from Phill Gross, the Chair of the IETF 👑 Each one has 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 🎀
Everyone who registered for the IETF gets a copy of the Proceedings, and the cost is already covered by the registration fee 🥳 They get mailed to the addresses on the Registration Forms 📬
For those who couldn't make it but still want a copy, 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 22091Tell them which meeting you want 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 🙈
Be Prepared 🎯
This topic cannot be stressed enough 📣 As the IETF grows, it gets more and more important for attendees to show up prepared for the Working Group meetings they plan to attend. This doesn't only apply 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) so everybody has 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 architects about how to resolve certain problems. Over the years, RFCs became more formal. It reached the point where 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 stop them from being cited as standards 🙃 As the work matured, the documentation was done as RFCs 🦋
RFCs are still the important documents about the Internet, and there are now two special sub-series within them: 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:
- Request for Comments on Request for Comments [RFC1111]
- F.Y.I. on F.Y.I: Introduction to the F.Y.I notes [RFC1150]
- Introduction to the STD Notes [RFC1311]
- Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts [GAID]
- The Internet Activities Board [RFC1160]
- The Internet Standards Process [RFC1310]
- 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 📌
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 🗺️
Okay bestie, this is your treasure map! 💖 Here's a list of docs and files that give you the tea on IETF meetings, Working Groups, and documentation. The files live in the "ietf" directory on the Anonymous FTP sites listed further down. Files starting with "0" (zero) are about IETF meetings, and they may cover a meeting that just happened if the first announcement of the next one hasn't gone out to the IETF mailing list yet. Files starting with "1" (one) have general IETF info. This is only a partial list, so there's more out there ✨
0mtg-agenda.txt Agenda for the meeting
0mtg-at-a-glance.txt Logistics information for the meeting
0mtg-rsvp.txt Meeting registration form
0mtg-sites.txt Future meeting sites and dates
0mtg-traveldirections.txt Directions to the meeting site
1directories.txt The IETF Shadow directory locations and
contents.
1id-guidelines.txt Guidelines to Authors of Internet-Drafts
Contains information on writing and
submitting I-Ds.
1ietf-description.txt Short description of the IETF and IESG,
including a list of Area Directors.
1nonwg-discuss.txt A list of mailing lists created to
discuss specific IETF issues.
1proceedings-request.txt A Proceedings order form for the
current and previous meetings
1wg-summary.txt List of all Working Groups, by Area,
including the name and address of the
chairperson, and the mailing list
address.Also, the charters and minutes of the Working Groups and BOFs are archived in the "ietf" directory 🎀
All of these docs can be grabbed by anonymous FTP from these sites:
DDN NIC Address: nic.ddn.mil (192.112.36.5)
East Coast (US) Address: nnsc.nsf.net (128.89.1.178)
West Coast (US) Address: ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.22)
Pacific Rim Address: munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21)
Europe Address: nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)You can also get the files by email from various mail servers. Say you want the agenda and meeting summary from the mail server at SRI International. You'd send this 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.txtLiving on those same archive sites are the RFCs and Internet-Drafts, in the "rfc" and "internet-drafts" directories. rfc-index.txt has the latest info on the RFCs, like which ones have been obsoleted by which. Generally, only the newest version of an Internet-Draft is available 💅
Mail servers can also be used to retrieve RFCs and I-Ds. To get an RFC from SRI's mail server, put a "send" command in the body of the message for the RFC you want, like this:
send rfc1150Or use the special RFC shorthand:
rfc 1150For Internet-Drafts, put the name on a "send" command line. Yes, the names are very long 🙈
send draft-ietf-ripv2-mibext-03.txtRFCs can also be retrieved by email from ISI's RFC-Info server at "rfc-info@isi.edu". To get a specific RFC, put the following in the body of the message:
Retrieve: RFC
Doc-ID: RFC0951This would email a copy of RFC 951 to the requestor. The leading zero in the Doc-ID is required.
To get a list of available RFCs that match certain criteria, put the following in the body of the message:
LIST: RFC
Keywords: GatewayThis 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: ManualTo get info on other ways to get RFCs:
HELP: ways_to_get_rfcsTao 🦋
Pronounced "Dow", Tao means "the Way." It's 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 🧚
Here are the areas you'll hear people throw around in meetings:
APP Applications
INT Internet Services
MGT Network Management
OPS Operational Requirements
OSI OSI Integration
RTG Routing
SEC Security
TSV Transport and Services
USV User ServicesAcronyms 💜
Your glossary for slaying every networking convo 🔥
:-) 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
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 GetReferences 📚
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 🔒
Heads up, bestie: 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📦 where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc1391 1993-01
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms