RFC 1539
The Tao of 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, so this is RFC 1539, also filed as FYI 17 🎀. It's in the Informational category and was published in October 1993 by G. Malkin of Xylogics, Inc., for the Network Working Group. It obsoletes RFC 1391 ✨, so 1391 is out and this one is the newer version.
Status of this Memo 📜
This memo gives information to the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Abstract 💜
Over the last two years, IETF Plenary meetings have been absolutely blowing up 📈🔥. About 38% of the attendees are brand new to the IETF at each meeting, and about 33% of those newbies go on to become regulars. Back when meetings were smaller, it wasn't hard for a newcomer to get to know people and find their groove. Now a newcomer meets SO many new people, including folks they only knew as the authors of Request For Comments (RFC) documents or as those thought-provoking email messages 🤯.
This FYI (For Your Information) RFC is here to explain how the IETF works for newcomers 🧚. It's giving warm, fuzzy feelings, and it'll help everyone make the meeting more productive 🫶. It also covers the mundane-but-essential info that everyone attending an IETF meeting should know.
Acknowledgments 🌸
The IETF Secretariat is made up of Steve Coya (Executive Director of the IETF), Cynthia Clark, Lois Keiper, Debra Legare, John Stewart, and Megan Davies Walnut. These are 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, Christian Huitema, and Jon Postel for their review and comments. And, as always, special thanks to April Marine and Joyce Reynolds 💖.
Table of Contents 🗂️
Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff
What is the IETF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Humble Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
IETF Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Newcomers' Orientation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Dress Code . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Terminal Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Social Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
Agenda . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Other General Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
Section 2 - The "You've got to know it" Stuff
Registration Bullets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Mailing Lists and Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Important Email Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
IETF Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
InterNIC Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
Be Prepared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
RFCs and Internet-Drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers) . . . . . . . 16
Pointers to Useful Documents and Files . . . . . . . . . . . 17
Section 3 - The "Reference" Stuff
Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
IETF Area Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff ✨
What is the IETF? 🌈
The Internet Engineering Task Force is a loosely self-organized group of people who make technical and other contributions to the engineering and evolution of the Internet and its technologies. It's the principal body engaged in developing new Internet Standard specifications 🔥. Its mission includes:
- Identifying, and proposing solutions to, pressing operational and technical problems in the Internet;
- Specifying how protocols get developed or used, plus the near-term architecture needed to solve those technical problems for the Internet;
- Making recommendations to the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) about standardizing protocols and protocol usage on the Internet;
- Facilitating technology transfer from the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to the wider Internet community; and
- Providing a forum where vendors, users, researchers, agency contractors, and network managers can exchange information within the Internet community.
The IETF Plenary meeting is not a conference, although there are technical presentations 🎤. The IETF is not a traditional standards organization, although plenty of standards come out of it. Basically, the IETF is the volunteers who meet three times a year to get the IETF mission done 💅.
There's no membership in the IETF. Anyone can register for and attend any meeting 🦋. The closest thing to being an IETF member is being on the IETF or Working Group mailing lists (see the IETF Mailing Lists section). That's where the best info about current IETF activities and focus lives 📬.
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 where 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, and it was a major glow-up for the structure of the IETF universe ✨. The IAB (then Internet Activities Board, now Internet Architecture Board), which until that point oversaw many Task Forces, restructured itself 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 at that time too.
After the Internet Society (ISOC) formed in January 1992, the IAB proposed to ISOC that the IAB's activities should take place under the auspices of the Internet Society. During INET92 in Kobe, Japan, the ISOC Trustees approved a new charter for the IAB to reflect that relationship 🗾.
A recent first for the IETF was its first European meeting. In July, 1993, the IETF met in Amsterdam, The Netherlands 🌷. The U.S./non-U.S. attendee split was nearly 50/50, which is very iconic 🫶.
The Hierarchy 👑
To fully understand how the IETF is structured, it helps to understand the bigger structure it lives inside 🧩. There are four groups in that structure: the ISOC and its Board of Trustees (BOT), the IAB, the IESG, and the IETF itself.
Internet standardization is an organized activity of the ISOC. The ISOC is a professional society concerned with the growth and evolution of the worldwide Internet, with how the Internet is and can be used, and with the social, political, and technical issues that come up as a result 🌍. The BOT is responsible for approving appointments to the IAB from among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominating committee.
The IAB is a technical advisory group of the ISOC 🧠. It's chartered to oversee the architecture of the Internet and its protocols, and, within the Internet Standards process, to serve as the body where IESG decisions can be appealed. The IAB is responsible for approving appointments to the IESG from among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominations committee.
The IESG is responsible for the technical management of IETF activities and the Internet Standards process 💼. As part of the ISOC, it administers the process according to the rules and procedures ratified by the ISOC BOT. The IESG is directly responsible for the actions involved in entering and moving along the IETF "standards track", including final approval of specifications as Internet Standards 🏁.
The IETF is divided into nine functional Areas: Applications, Internet Services, Network Management, Operational Requirements, Routing, Security, Service Applications, Transport, and User Services 🦋. Each Area has at least one Area Director, and there's also an Area Director who oversees Standards Management. The Area Directors, along with the IETF Chair, form the 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 🫡.
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, meaning 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 on that Working Group's mailing list. Anyone can attend a Working Group meeting, though (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 whether there's enough interest to form a Working Group 💜.
IETF Mailing Lists 💌
bestie, if you're planning to go to an IETF meeting, you've gotta join the IETF announcements mailing list 📣. That's where all the meeting info lives, plus new and revised Internet-Draft and RFC announcements, IESG Recommendations, and Last Calls. If you wanna "get technical" 🤓, you can also join the IETF discussion list, ietf@cnri.reston.va.us. It was the only list before the announcement list existed, and it's where the discussions of cosmic significance happen. (Most Working Groups have their own lists for stuff about their own work, btw.) To join the announcement list, send a request to:
ietf-announce-request@cnri.reston.va.usTo join the discussion list, send a request to:
ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.usTo join both, just send one message to either "-request" address and say you want both 💖.
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 🗣️. That means anyone can share 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, attending an IETF meeting does not automatically add you to either mailing list. Just so you know 🫶.
Registration 🎟️
As I mentioned earlier, all meeting announcements go out to the IETF announcement list. Inside each 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 ends about one month before the meeting and comes with a lower fee 💸.
The lines at the registration desk have gotten longer as the meetings have grown 😭. Luckily, there are three lines:
- "preregistered and prepaid" (which moves very quickly ⚡)
- "preregistered and on-site payment" (which moves a little more slowly)
- "registration and on-site payment" (take a guess 💀)
Registration is open all week. But the Secretariat highly recommends that attendees arrive for early registration, starting at 6:00 P.M. (meeting local time) on the Sunday before the opening plenary. Not only will there be fewer people, there's also a reception where you can get a byte to eat 🍓. If the registration lines are long, you can eat first and try again when they're shorter.
Registered attendees (and there isn't any other kind) receive a Registration Packet 📦. It contains 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 super important reference and you'll use it all week. It has the Working Group/BOF room assignments and a map of the room locations. If you prepaid, your receipt will be in your packet too 🧾.
Newcomers' Orientation 🧚
Newcomers are encouraged to attend the IETF Newcomers' Orientation, and I'm literally begging you to go 🥹. As the name says, it's for first-time attendees. It's organized and run by the IETF Secretariat to give you useful intro info. The Secretariat tries to keep it informal, and they're usually successful at it ✨.
The orientation is typically 30-45 minutes long and covers a bunch of stuff: what's in the attendee packets, what all the dots on name tags mean, and how to read the At-A-Glance. There's also a chat about how the IETF is organized, including Working Groups and their Areas, and the IESG. There's plenty of time at the end for questions 🙋♀️. The Secretariat also hands out materials with the text from the IETF Overview and a list of important files maintained on the IETF Shadow directories.
The orientation is held on Sunday afternoon and ends about 30 minutes before the Registration Reception. However, attending the orientation does NOT mean you can go to the reception early! 🚫
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 feel super embarrassed when they show up Monday morning in suits and discover everybody else is wearing T-shirts, jeans (shorts, if the weather permits) and sandals. A few people in the IETF refuse to wear anything but suits. Fortunately, they're well known (for other reasons), so they get forgiven for this particular idiosyncrasy 👑. The general rule is "dress for the weather" (unless you plan to work so hard that you won't go outside, in which case "dress for comfort" is the rule!) 🌈.
Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes 🔴🟡🔵🟢
Some people at the IETF will have a little colored dot on their name tag, and a few have more than one. These dots identify people who are brave enough to volunteer for a lot of extra work 💪. 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, restaurants, and points of interest in the area 🗺️.
Some people have Gold Stars on their name tags ⭐. The stars mean those people chaired Working Groups or BOFs in an IETF Area that submitted all of its Working Group/BOF Minutes and Area Report from the previous meeting first. The stars are the Secretariat's way of saying "Thank You" for getting the info to them quickly 🙏.
It's important that newcomers not be afraid to strike up conversations with people who wear these dots 🫶. If the IAB and IESG members, and the 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 nobody else needs to worry about them. Please, don't peel them off your packet and put them on your name tag 🙅♀️.
Terminal Room 💻
One of the most important things (depending on your point of view) the local host does is provide Internet access to the meeting attendees. In general, the connectivity is excellent 🙌. This is 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 to be heartily congratulated and thanked 👏.
Preparing far 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 useful for people who need to write trip reports or status reports while things are still fresh in their minds 📝.
Social Event 🎉
Another of the most important things the local hosts organize and manage is the IETF social event. It's become something of a tradition at IETF meetings 🥳. It's 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 computer or high-tech related. At the Boston IETF, for example, the social was dinner at the Computer Museum 🖥️. Other times, it might be a dinner cruise or a trip to an art gallery 🎨.
Agenda 📅
The Agenda for IETF meetings is a very fluid thing 🌊. It's 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 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, which is 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's where the important introductory remarks happen, so people are encouraged to attend 🌅.
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 about 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 😩).
A "Bar BOF" is an unofficial get-together, 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 safe to question opinions and offer alternatives, but don't expect an IETFer to follow orders.
The IETF, and the plenary sessions in particular, are not places for vendors to try to sell their wares 🚫🛍️. People can certainly answer 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 ✨
okay bestie, registration is SO important 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 pay the registration fee 💸
- all you need to be registered is to send in a completed Registration Form 📝 literally that's it ✅
- you can register by mail, email, or fax 📬 email and fax forms are generally accepted until 1:00 P.M. ET on the Friday before the meeting
- you can 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 need to 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 gets added 💀
- everyone pays the same fees 🫶 there are no educational or group discounts, and 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. Invoices for payment cannot be 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 daily coffee breaks ☕🍓
Mailing Lists and Archives 📬
okay so the IETF announcement and discussion mailing lists are the central mailing lists for IETF activities 🦋 BUT there are tons of other lists too! for example, every Working Group has its own discussion list. there are also some long-term technical debates that got moved off the IETF list onto lists made 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, and honestly? this is the move 🔥 the more work that gets done on the mailing lists, the less work is left for the meeting, which leaves time for cross pollination (aka attending Working Groups outside your primary area of interest so you can broaden your perspective 🌸)
the mailing lists are also a forum for anyone who wants to follow or contribute to the Working Groups' efforts but can't make it to the IETF meetings 🫶
every IETF discussion list has a "-request" address that handles the admin details of joining and leaving the list. it is generally frowned upon when that administrivia shows up on the discussion list itself 🙅♀️ don't be that person 💀
most IETF discussion lists are archived. That means every message sent to the list gets 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 📧
these are some IETF email addresses everyone should be familiar with 💖 they're all located at cnri.reston.va.us (e.g., ietf-info@cnri.reston.va.us). To make things more personal, the names of the Secretariat staff who respond to each address are listed too 🧚
ietf-info general queries about the IETF -
Cynthia Clark, Debra Legare, John Stewart,
and Megan Davies Walnut
ietf-rsvp queries about meeting locations and fees,
emailed Registration Forms -
Debra Legare
proceedings queries about previous Proceedings availability,
orders for copies of the Proceedings -
Debra Legare
ietf-announce-request
requests to join/leave IETF announcement list -
Cynthia Clark
ietf-request requests to join/leave IETF discussion list -
Cynthia Clark
internet-drafts Internet-Draft submissions and queries -
Cynthia Clark
iesg-secretary John Stewart
ietf-secretariat Steve CoyaIETF Proceedings 📚
the IETF Proceedings get compiled in the two months after each IETF meeting 🗓️ they usually kick off with a message from Steve Coya, the Executive Director 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 has each attendee's name, affiliation, work phone number, work fax number, and email address, all as provided on the Registration Form 📝
a copy of the Proceedings gets sent to everyone who registered for the IETF 🎀 the cost is already included in the registration fee, and the Proceedings go to the mailing addresses given on the Registration Forms 📬
if you couldn't attend a meeting but still want 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 22091when you ask for them, say which meeting's Proceedings you want by giving the meeting date (e.g., July 1993) or the meeting number and location (e.g., 27th meeting in Amsterdam) 🦋 availability for older meetings is limited, so ask BEFORE sending payment 💸
InterNIC Archives 🗂️
there is a TREMENDOUS amount of material out there for people following the IETF's work 🤯 so to make it easier to know what to read before a meeting, the InterNIC set up a document archive 🫶 about one month before an IETF meeting, Working Group/BOF Chairs and Area Directors start putting documents relevant to the upcoming discussions into the archive. anyone planning to attend a Working Group/BOF session should check the archive for documents they need to read 📖 the documents stay in the archive for about two months after the meeting ends ✨
on the host ds.internic.net, documents live in the directory /pub/current-ietf-docs, under subdirectories named for each Area and then for each Working Group 🌸 for example, a document for the NISI Working Group (which is in the User Services Area) would be stored as current-ietf-docs/usv/nisi/nisi-doc1.txt 🧚 each Area also gets a subdirectory called bof, where documents for BOF sessions go, and a directory called plenary is created under /pub/current-ietf-docs for documents or viewgraphs related to a plenary session 💜 if any filenames clash, the archive administrator sorts it out with the submitter over email 📧
the InterNIC provides this service, but the documents are submitted by the people who work on them. The IETF Secretariat does NOT manage or monitor the archive service 🙅♀️
Access via anonymous FTP:
Anonymous FTP to ds.internic.net
Change directory to /pub/current-ietf-docs
Browse and get the document of interestAccess via GOPHER (from a Gopher client):
Point to gopher.internic.net
Select menu item 4, InterNIC Directory and Database Services ...
Then menu item named "Internet Documentation (RFC's FYI's, etc.)/"
Lastly menu item named "Current IETF Conference Documents (...)/"no Gopher client? no stress 😌 just use the InterNIC's public-access Gopher client. Simply telnet to gopher.internic.net and log in as gopher (no password required) 🦋
Be Prepared 🎒
this topic cannot be stressed enough, bestie 😭 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 isn't just for newcomers. everybody should come prepared ✨
being prepared means having read the documents the Working Group or BOF Chair distributed 📖 it means having followed the discussions on the Working Group's mailing list, or having reviewed the archives 🗂️ and for the Working Group/BOF Chairs, it means getting all of the documents out early (i.e., several weeks ahead) so everybody has time to read them, then announcing an agenda and sticking to it 👑
at the Chair's discretion, some time may be spent bringing new Working Group attendees up to speed 🧚 in fact, long-lived Working Groups have occasionally held entire sessions that were introductory in nature 🌈 as a rule, though, a Working Group is NOT the place to go for training. Observers are always welcome, but they need to realize that the work effort cannot be delayed for education 🙈 anyone wanting to attend a Working Group for the first time might seek out the Chair before the meeting and ask for an introduction 💖
now for the phases, because Working Groups go through them 🦋 in the initial phase (say, the first two meetings), all ideas are welcome. The idea is to gather all the possible solutions for consideration 🌸 in the development phase, a solution gets chosen and developed. Trying to reopen issues 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" gets applied to the architected solution 💅 this is NOT the time to suggest architectural changes or reopen design issues that were already resolved 🙅♀️ it's a bad idea to wait until the last minute to speak up if you find a problem 😭 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 IETF meetings is a precious thing ⏳ Working Groups are encouraged to meet between IETF meetings, either in person or by video or telephone conference 🎀 and doing as much work as possible over the mailing lists would also cut down on the work that has to happen at the meeting 💜
RFCs and Internet-Drafts ✨
okay so RFCs were literally just "requests for comments" 💖 The early ones were messages between the ARPANET architects figuring out how to fix certain problems. Over time they got way more formal, to the point where people were citing them as standards even when they weren't 😭
To clear up the confusion, there are now two special sub-series inside the RFCs: FYIs and STDs 🧚 The For Your Information sub-series (FYIs) covers overviews and introductory topics, and groups inside the IETF User Services Area often make them 🌸 The STD sub-series exists to identify the RFCs that actually specify Internet Standards 👑
Every RFC has an RFC number, and that includes FYIs and STDs. It's how they get indexed and retrieved. FYIs and STDs also get their own FYI or STD numbers on top of that 🎀 So a brand new Internet user can find all the helpful, informational stuff just by spotting the FYIs among all the RFCs. If an FYI or STD gets revised, its RFC number changes, but its FYI or STD number stays constant for easy reference 🦋
There's also an RTR subseries, which is RARE Technical Reports (Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne). These are technical reports developed in the RARE community, and they get published as RFCs so the wider Internet community can access them easily 🌈
Internet-Drafts (I-Ds) are working documents of the IETF. Any group (like a Working Group or BOF) or any individual can submit one for distribution as an I-D 💅 An I-D is valid for six months, and the guidelines require an expiration date on every page 💀 An I-D can be updated, replaced or obsoleted at any time, so it's not appropriate to use one as reference material or to cite it, unless it's as a "working draft" or "work in progress" 🙈
If you want more, go read these:
- Request for Comments on Request for Comments [RFC1111]
- F.Y.I. on F.Y.I: Introduction to the F.Y.I notes [FYI1]
- Introduction to the STD Notes [RFC1311]
- Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts [GAID]
- The Internet Activities Board [RFC1160]
- The Internet Standards Process [RFC1310]
- Internet Official Protocol Standards [STD1]
Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers) 🙋♀️
Q: My Working Group moved this morning. Where is it now? A: Room assignments don't always stick, so check the At-A-Glance sheet and the message board for announcements 📋
Q: Where is Room A? A: Look at the map on the At-A-Glance sheet. There's an enlarged version on the bulletin board 🗺️
Q: Where can I get a copy of the Proceedings? A: They get sent automatically 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 then Monday - Thursday from about 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m. 🕕 The morning start times and Friday's hours can vary depending on the meeting schedule, so keep an eye out 👀
Q: Where is lunch served? A: The meeting doesn't include lunch or dinner, so ask a local host (somebody with a green dotted badge) for a rec 🍝
Q: Where are the receipts for the social event? A: The social isn't managed by the IETF Secretariat, so ask a local host 🥂
Pointers to Useful Documents and Files 🗂️
okay this is the treasure map 🗺️✨ These documents and files have useful info about the IETF meetings, Working Groups and documentation. They all live in the "ietf" directory on the Anonymous FTP sites listed further down. Files starting with "0" (zero) are about IETF meetings, and they might be about a meeting that just happened if the first announcement for 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
0tao.txt This document
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.
1wg-summary-by-acronym Same as above, but sorted by the
Working Groups' acronyms.
1wg-charter.txt Abbreviated versions of all current
Working Group charters.
1wg-charters-by-acronym Same as above, but sorted by the
Working Groups' acronyms.Also, the full charters and minutes of the Working Groups and BOFs are archived in the "ietf" directory 📜
You can grab all of these by anonymous FTP from the primary sites below. There might be closer shadow sites too, so check with your network administrator 🌍
North America Address: ds.internic.net (198.49.45.10)
Pacific Rim Address: munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21)
Europe Address: nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)These files are also on the Internet Gopher at "ietf.cnri.reston.va.us" 🐿️
The RFCs and Internet-Drafts live on those same archive sites, in the "rfc" and "internet-drafts" directories respectively. The file "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 📚
All of these files, the RFCs and the Internet-Drafts, can also be fetched by email from various mail servers. For example, to get the IETF agenda, the Internet-Draft abstracts and RFC 1150 from the mail server at the InterNIC, you'd send this message 💌
To: mailserv@ds.internic.net Message header
Subject: anything you want
FILE /ietf/0mtg-agenda.txt Body of the message
FILE /internet-drafts/1id-abstracts.txt
FILE /rfc/rfc1150.txt
PATH jdoe@anywhere.usSo, FILE is the name of a file you want sent back, and PATH is the email address the files should be sent to 🫶
RFCs can also be requested by email from ISI's RFC-Info server at "rfc-info@isi.edu". To get one specific RFC, put this in the body of the message:
Retrieve: RFC
Doc-ID: RFC0951That example emails you a copy of RFC 951. The leading zero in the Doc-ID is required, so don't skip it 🙏 To get a list of RFCs that match certain criteria, put this in the body:
LIST: RFC
Keywords: GatewayThat one emails you a list of all RFCs with "Gateway" in the title, or as an assigned keyword 🔍 And if you want to learn about other ways to get RFCs, use this:
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 🏷️
APP Applications
INT Internet Services
MGT Network Management
OPS Operational Requirements
RTG Routing
SAP Service Applications
SEC Security
TSV Transport
USV User ServicesAcronyms 💅
the acronym list is giving alphabet soup 🍲 but every one of these is iconic, so here it is:
:-) Smiley face
ANSI American National Standards Institute
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency
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
CIDR Classless Inter-Domain Routing
CIX Commercial Information Exchange
CNI Coalition for Networked Information
CREN The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
DARPA U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (now ARPA)
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
InterNIC Internet Network Information Center
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 ✨
Okay bestie, here's the reading list 📚💅 Every source this memo points to, with all the details so you can go find them yourself 🔍
FYI1: Malkin, G., and J. Reynolds, "F.Y.I. on F.Y.I.", FYI 1, RFC 1150, Proteon, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1990.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.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, "Internet Official Protocol Standards", STD 1, RFC 1500, Internet Architecture Board, August 1993. 🌟
Security Considerations 🔒
Okay, plot twist 💀 this memo does not discuss security issues at all. Not one. So the official line is: "Security issues are not discussed in this memo." Keep that in mind, bestie 🫶
Author's Address 🖋️
Gary Scott Malkin wrote this one, and here's how to reach him 💌
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: rfc1539 1993-10
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms