RFC 1718
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 🎀
- Request for Comments: 1718 📜
- Series: FYI 17 ✨
- Working group: Network Working Group 🌸
- Authors: IETF Secretariat, CNRI 🫶 and G. Malkin, Xylogics, Inc. 💅
- Category: Informational 🦋
- Date: November 1994 🍓
- Obsoletes: 1539, 1391 (this one replaces them, bestie) 🙈
Okay so this is the one for anyone walking into their very first IETF meeting. Let's get you ready! 💖
Status of this Memo ✨
This memo gives information to the Internet community 🌐. It is not an Internet standard, so don't go looking for one here 🙅♀️. Distribution of this memo is unlimited, so share it with everyone 🫶.
Abstract 🌈
Okay so over the last two years, IETF plenary meetings have been blowing up 📈. Like, phenomenally. About a third of the attendees are brand new at each meeting, and a lot of them become regulars 😭. When the meetings were smaller, a newcomer could totally get into the swing of things without any drama 💃. Today? A newcomer meets SO many new people, and some of them they only knew as the authors of documents or as those thought-provoking emails 🧠✨.
This is an FYI RFC (For Your Information), and its whole job is to explain to newcomers how the IETF works 📖. It'll give them a warm, fuzzy feeling 🥰 and help them make the meeting more productive for everyone. It also covers the mundane bits that everyone who attends an IETF meeting should know 💅.
On-line Availability 🌸
Real talk: this doc can go out of date pretty fast 💀. So there's a WorldWide Web version that gets constantly maintained (URL below) 🕸️. If you've got a WWW client like Mosaic, it's suggested that you check out the on-line version instead of this one 👑. This document gets republished as an FYI RFC every year to year-and-a-half for folks who don't have WorldWide Web access 🧚.
URL for this document: <http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/tao.html>. URL for IETF: <http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html>.
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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
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 E-mail Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
IETF Proceedings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
InterNIC Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Be Prepared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
RFCs and Internet-Drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers) . . . . . . . 17
Pointers to Useful Documents and Files . . . . . . . . . . . 18
Section 3 - The "Reference" Stuff
Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
IETF Area Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23Section 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 main body doing the development of new Internet standard specifications. 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 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) regarding the 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 meeting is not a conference, even though there are technical presentations 🎤. The IETF also isn't a traditional standards organization, though lots of the specifications it produces end up becoming standards 📑. It's made up of volunteers who meet three times a year to fulfill the IETF mission 🙌.
There's no membership in the IETF. Anyone may register for and attend any meeting 🎟️. The closest thing to being a 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 can be found 📬.
Humble Beginnings 🍼
The 1st 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 💼. The concept of working groups 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 marked a major change in the structure of the IETF universe 🌌. The IAB (then Internet Activities Board, now Internet Architecture 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 also changed at that time 🦋.
After the Internet Society (ISOC) was 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 the proposed relationship 📝.
The IETF met in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in July, 1993. This was the first IETF meeting held in Europe, and the US/non-US attendee split was nearly 50/50 🇳🇱. A second European meeting is scheduled for July 1995 in Stockholm, Sweden 🇸🇪.
The Hierarchy 🏛️
To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it's useful to understand the overall structure it lives in 🧩. There are four groups in that structure: the ISOC and its Board of Trustees, the IAB, the IESG and the IETF itself.
The Internet Society is a professional society concerned with the growth and evolution of the worldwide Internet, with the way in which the Internet is and can be used, and with the social, political, and technical issues which arise as a result 🌍. The ISOC Trustees are 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 provide oversight of the architecture of the Internet and its protocols, and to serve, in the context of the Internet standards process, as a body to which the decisions of the IESG may 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 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 which have been ratified by the ISOC Trustees. The IESG is directly responsible for the actions associated with entry into and movement along the Internet "standards track," including final approval of specifications as Internet Standards 🏁.
The IETF is divided into eight functional areas. They are: Applications, Internet, Network Management, Operational Requirements, Routing, Security, Transport and User Services 🗂️. Each area has one or two area directors. The area directors, along with the IETF/IESG Chair, form the IESG. Paul Mockepetris is the current IETF/IESG Chair 🌟.
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 specification, 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 is on that working group's mailing list; however, anyone may attend a working group meeting (see the Be Prepared section below) 👀.
Areas may also have Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions 🐦. 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 ✨
okay bestie, if you're going to an IETF meeting you NEED to join the IETF announcement mailing list 📣. this is where ALL the meeting info lives, plus Internet-Draft and RFC announcements and IESG Protocol Actions and Last Calls 💅. if you wanna "get technical," there's also the IETF discussion list, ietf@cnri.reston.va.us. this is where the cosmic-level discussions happen 🌌 (most working groups have their own lists for their own work too, fr). 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.uswanna 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 that list don't need or want to know when someone new joins. same goes for changing your email address or leaving a list: send it ONLY to the "-request" address, not the main list. yes, this means you!!
the IETF discussion list is unmoderated 🗣️ which means anyone can share their opinions about issues affecting the Internet. BUT it is NOT a place for companies or individuals to solicit or advertise 🙅. only the Secretariat can send messages to the announcement list.
even though the mailing lists "represent" the IETF membership at large, attending an IETF meeting does NOT automatically get you added to either list 📭
Registration 🎟️
okay so, like I said earlier, every meeting announcement goes out on the IETF announcement list. inside each one is a registration form and full instructions for signing up, including the cost 💸 the Secretariat highly recommends that attendees preregister. early registration ends about one month before the meeting and it comes with a lower fee, so yes, it's giving budget-friendly 🌸
the lines at the registration desk have gotten LONG as the meetings have grown 😩 there are two of them: "paid" (which moves super fast) and "not paid" (which moves slowly). the vibe is clear.
registration is open all week, but the Secretariat highly recommends that you arrive for early registration starting at 18:00 (meeting local time) on the Sunday before the opening plenary 🌙 fewer people, AND there's a reception with food! if the lines are long, you can eat first and try again when they're shorter 🍓
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 SUPER important and you'll be using it all week 👑 it shows working group and BOF room assignments plus a map of the room locations. if you prepaid, your receipt is in the packet too.
Newcomers' Orientation 🧚
newcomers, you are encouraged to go to the IETF Newcomers' Orientation! it's literally for first-timers, so no one is judging you 🫶 the Secretariat runs it and it's designed to give you useful intro info. the Secretariat is made up of Cynthia Clark, Steve Coya, Debra Legare, John Stewart and Megan Walnut 💜
the orientation is usually about an hour and covers a bunch of stuff: what's in the packets, what all the dots on the name tags mean, and how to read the at-a-glance 👀 they also talk about how the IETF is structured and how the Internet standards process works. there's plenty of time for questions at the end. the Secretariat also hands out an overview of the IETF, a list of important files you can find online, and paper copies of the slides from the "structure and standards" presentation 📄
the orientation is on Sunday afternoon, before the registration reception. however, going to the orientation does NOT mean you can go to the reception early!! 🙈
Dress Code 👗
since attendees have to wear their name tags, they also have to wear shirts or blouses 😂 pants or skirts are also highly recommended. okay, seriously though, lots of newcomers show up Monday morning in suits, only to find everyone wearing t-shirts, jeans (or shorts, if the weather's nice) and sandals 💀 there are a few people in 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" (unless you're planning to work so hard you won't leave the room, in which case it's "dress for comfort" 🛋️).
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 are the people who were brave (or silly) enough to volunteer for a LOT of extra work. the colors mean:
blue - working group/BOF chair
green - local Host
red - IAB member
yellow - IESG memberlocal hosts are the ones who can answer your questions about the terminal room, restaurants, and points of interest in the area 🗺️
some people also have gold stars on their name tags ⭐ those stars mean they chaired working groups or BOFs in an IETF area that turned in 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 in quickly 🫶
as a newcomer, please don't be scared to talk to people wearing 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 💖
also, members of the Secretariat wear blue-tinted name badges so you can spot them from across the room 💙
and to make life easier for the Secretariat, the registration packets are coded with little colored dots too 🎨 these are ONLY for Secretariat use, so nobody else needs to worry about them. please, don't peel them off your packet and stick them on your name tag 🙏
Terminal Room 💻
one of the most important things (depending on your point of view) that the local host does is provide Internet access to the meeting attendees 🛜 in general, 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 congrats and thank you 🫶
planning ahead is encouraged, but there may be some unavoidable "last minute" stuff you can take care of in the terminal room 🏃♀️ it's also handy for writing trip reports or status reports while everything is 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 T. Rose immortalized it with his reference to "many fine lunches and dinners" [ROSE], and Claudio and Julia Topolcic did their own version with "Nerds in Paradise" on a pink T-shirt 🩷
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 🎨
newcomers are encouraged to go to the social event, and everyone is encouraged to wear their name tags 🏷️ the whole point is to meet people on a social level instead of a technical one. ily all, come hang out 🦋
Agenda 📅
the agenda is a very fluid thing, bestie 🌊 it goes out to the IETF announcement list, in various forms, three times before the meeting. the final agenda is included in the registration packets. BUT "final" in the IETF doesn't mean what it means everywhere else in the world 😭 the final agenda is simply the version that went to the printers.
the Secretariat announces agenda changes during the morning plenary sessions 📢 changes also get posted on the bulletin board near the IETF registration desk (NOT the hotel registration desk!! 🏨).
room assignments for the breakout rooms (where the working groups and BOFs meet) and a map of the room locations are on the at-a-glance sheet in your registration packet 🗺️ room assignments are just as flexible as the agenda. some working groups meet several times during a meeting, and every effort is made to keep a working group in the same room each session, but room changes aren't necessarily permanent for the whole week 😤 always check the at-a-glance first, then the bulletin board. if you're still confused, ask a member of the Secretariat at the registration desk 💁♀️
Other General Things 🌸
the opening plenary on Monday morning is the most heavily attended session 🌅 important introductory remarks happen there, so please come!!
the IETF Secretariat, and IETFers in general, are very approachable 🫶 never be scared to walk up to someone and introduce yourself. and don't be shy about asking questions, especially about jargon and acronyms!! there are SO many of them 😵💫
hallway conversations are a big deal. tons of excellent work gets done by people who talk between meetings and over lunches and dinners 🍝 honestly, every minute of the IETF counts as 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 come between a hungry IETFer (and there isn't any other kind) and the coffee break brownies and cookies 🍪 no matter how interesting that hallway conversation is!!
IETFers are fiercely independent 💪 it's totally fine to question opinions and offer alternatives, but don't expect an IETFer to follow orders 🙃
the IETF, and especially the plenary sessions, are NOT places for vendors to sell their stuff 🛍️ 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 🤓
there's always a "materials distribution table" near the registration desk 📚 it's used to share appropriate information with attendees (for example, copies of something discussed in a working group session, or a description of online IETF-related information). please check with the Secretariat before putting anything on the desk, because the Secretariat has the right to remove material it doesn't think is appropriate 🙏
Registration Bullets ✨
Registration is such a big deal 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 to send in a completed registration form. 🎀
- You may register by mail, e-mail or fax. Generally, e-mail and fax registration forms will be accepted until 13:00 US/Eastern on the Thursday before the meeting. 📬
- You may preregister and pay, preregister and pay later, preregister and pay on-site, or register and pay on-site. 🦋 So many options, iykyk.
- 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 educational 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. Invoice for payment cannot be accepted. 🧾
- Refunds are subject to a US$20 service charge. Late fees will not be refunded. 😭
- The registration fee covers Sunday evening reception (cash bar), a daily continental breakfast and daily coffee breaks. ☕
Mailing Lists and Archives
Like we already talked about, the IETF announcement and discussion mailing lists are the central lists for IETF activities 📣. But there are so many other mailing lists tied to IETF work! For example, every working group has its own discussion list. Some long-running technical debates also got moved off the IETF list onto lists made specifically 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, which leaves 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 give a forum to 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 that handles the admin stuff of joining and leaving the list. It is generally frowned upon when administrivia shows up on the discussion list 🙅.
Most IETF discussion lists are archived. That means 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.
Bestie, don't mix up the "-request" address and the list itself 💀
Important E-mail Addresses
There are some important IETF e-mail 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 personal, the names of the Secretariat staff who currently respond to each address are listed too 🥹
o ietf-info general queries about the IETF - Cynthia Clark,
Debra Legare, John Stewart, and Megan Walnut
o ietf-rsvp queries about meeting locations and fees,
e-mailed registration forms - Debra Legare
o proceedings queries about ordering hard copies of previous
proceedings, and general questions about on-line
proceedings - Debra Legare and John Stewart
o ietf-request requests to join/leave IETF lists - Cynthia Clark
o internet-drafts Internet-Draft submissions and queries - Cynthia
Clark and John Stewart
o iesg-secretary John Stewart
o ietf-secretariat Steve CoyaIETF Proceedings
The IETF proceedings are compiled in the two months following 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 includes names, affiliations, work and fax phone numbers and e-mail addresses as provided on the registration form.
Folks who register and pay to attend the IETF are eligible to receive a hard copy of the proceedings 📚. They must indicate so on the line provided on the registration form. The proceedings get sent to the mailing addresses on the registration forms. Please notify the Secretariat immediately if your address changes after the meeting ends, so you can be assured of getting your copy 📬
For those who couldn't attend a meeting but still want a copy, send a check for US$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
USAPlease indicate which meeting proceedings you'd like by giving the meeting date (e.g., July 1993) or the meeting number and location (e.g., 27th meeting in Amsterdam). Availability of previous meetings' proceedings is limited, so ask BEFORE sending payment 🙏
The proceedings are also available on-line via:
- Gopher:
<gopher@ietf.cnri.reston.va.us> - WorldWide Web:
<http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html> - Anonymous FTP:
<ftp.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us>in/ietf-online-proceedings
People are encouraged to use the on-line version of the proceedings to save paper and money, as well as to have the Internet community use its own technology 🌍✨
InterNIC Archives
There's a tremendous amount of material for people who follow the IETF's work 😵💫 To make it easier to know what to read before a meeting, the InterNIC has set up a document archive 🗂️. Starting about one month before an IETF meeting, working group/BOF chairs and area directors put documents relevant to the upcoming discussions into the archives. People planning to attend a working group/BOF session should check the archives for documents they need to read. The documents stay in the archives for about two months after the end of the IETF meeting.
On the host ds.internic.net, documents are stored 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 will also have a subdirectory called bof, where documents to be discussed in BOF sessions get placed. A directory called plenary will also be created under /pub/current-ietf-docs to hold documents or viewgraphs related to a plenary session. Any filename conflicts will be sorted out by the archive administrator working with the document's submitter over e-mail 💌
Important! The InterNIC runs the service, and the people who work on the documents are the ones who submit 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 the "InterNIC Directory and Database Services ..." item
Then menu item named "Internet Documentation (RFCs FYIs, etc.)/"
Lastly menu item named "Current IETF Conference Documents (...)/"If you don't have a Gopher client, 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 😤 As the IETF grows, it becomes more and more important for attendees to arrive prepared for the working group meetings they plan to attend. And this doesn't apply only to newcomers. Everybody should come prepared 🎀
Being prepared means having read the documents 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 (i.e., several weeks ahead) so everybody has time to read them, and announcing an agenda and sticking to 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 that 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 before 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 that 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" gets 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 that must be done at the meeting 🫶
RFCs and Internet-Drafts ✨
okay so originally, RFCs were literally just what the name says: requests for comments 💌 The early ones were notes between the ARPANET architects about how to fix certain problems. Over time they got more formal, and eventually people were citing them as standards even when they weren't. iconic chaos, honestly 💀
To clear up the confusion, there are now two special sub-series inside the RFCs: FYIs and STDs. The For Your Information sub-series was made to document overviews and introductory topics 🌸 FYIs are often created by groups within the IETF User Services Area. The STD sub-series was made to identify the RFCs that actually specify Internet standards 👑
Every RFC, FYIs and STDs included, has an RFC number that it's indexed and retrieved by. FYIs and STDs also get FYI numbers and STD numbers, on top of their RFC numbers 🧚 This makes life easier for a new Internet user, for example, who wants to find all the helpful informational docs by looking for the FYIs in the pile of RFCs. And if an FYI or STD gets revised, its RFC number changes, but its FYI or STD number stays the same for ease of reference. main character energy for the reference numbers 🦋
There's also an RTR sub-series for Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne (RARE) Technical Reports. These are technical reports developed in the RARE community and published as RFCs so the general Internet community can access them easily 🍓
Internet-Drafts are the IETF's working documents ✨ Any group or individual can submit one to be distributed as an Internet-Draft. They're valid for six months, and they can be updated, replaced or obsoleted at any time. The guidelines say every page of an Internet-Draft has to show an expiration date 🙈 It's not appropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them, unless you're citing them as "working drafts" or "works in progress." so don't be that person 💅
For additional information, read the following documents:
- Request for Comments on Request for Comments [RFC 1111]
- F.Y.I. on F.Y.I: Introduction to the F.Y.I notes [FYI1]
- Introduction to the STD Notes [RFC 1311]
- Guidelines to Authors of Internet-Drafts [GAID]
- The Internet Activities Board [RFC 1160]
- The Internet Standards Process [RFC 1602]
- Internet Official Protocol Standards [STD1]
Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers) 🎀
Q: My working group moved this morning. Where is it now?
A: Check the at-a-glance sheet and the message board for announcements. 📋
Q: Where is room 'foo'?
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: If you have registered and paid to attend an IETF meeting, simply indicate you wish to receive a hardcopy of the proceedings and it will be mailed to you. For on-line retrieval, refer to the "IETF Proceedings" section, which appears on page thirteen of this RFC. Both the hardcopy and on-line version of the proceedings are generally available two months after the meeting. 📚
Q: When is on-site registration?
A: On-site registration is first possible from 18:00 to 20:00 on the Sunday night before the meeting starts. The IETF registration desk will be set up in the same room in which the reception is held. On-site registration on Monday begins at 8:00, Tuesday through Friday at 8:30, and is open until 18:00 every day but Friday. the schedule is giving very organised energy 🕗
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 this part is basically a treasure map 🗺️ It's a list of documents and files with useful info about IETF meetings, working groups and documentation. These files live in the "ietf" directory on the anonymous FTP sites listed below. File names starting with "0" (zero) are about IETF meetings. Those might cover a recently held meeting if the first announcement of the next one hasn't gone out to the IETF mailing list yet. File names starting with "1" (one) have general IETF information. This is only a partial list of the available files ✨ (The 'yymm' below refers to the year and month.)
0mtg-agenda.txt: Agenda for the meeting0mtg-at-a-glance-yymm.txt: Logistics information for the meeting0mtg-rsvp.txt: Meeting registration form0mtg-sites.txt: Future meeting sites and dates0mtg-multicast-guide-yymm.txt: Schedule for MBone-multicast sessions0mtg-traveldirections-yymm.txt: Directions to the meeting site0tao.txt: This document1directories.txt: IETF shadow directory locations and contents1id-guidelines.txt: Guidelines to authors of Internet-Drafts1ietf-description.txt: Short description of the IETF and IESG, including a list of area directors1nonwg-discuss.txt: A list of mailing lists relevant to the IETF, but not associated with working groups1proceedings-request.txt: A proceedings order form1wg-summary.txt: List of all working groups, by area, including the chair(s) and mailing list1wg-summary-by-acronym.txt: Same as above, but sorted by acronym1wg-charter.txt: Abbreviated versions of all current working group charters1wg-charters-by-acronym.txt: Same as above, but sorted by acronym
Additionally, the full charters and minutes of the working groups and BOFs are archived under the "ietf" directory (see 1directories.txt for a complete explanation). 🗃️
All of these documents are available by anonymous FTP from the following primary sites. There may be closer shadow sites, so check with your network administrator 🫶
- Europe:
nic.nordu.net(192.36.148.17) - Pacific Rim:
munnari.oz.au(128.250.1.21) - US/East Coast:
ds.internic.net(198.49.45.10) - US/West Coast:
ftp.isi.edu(128.9.0.32)
These files are also available through the Internet Gopher on host "gopher.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us" and the WorldWide Web server at URL <http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html>.
Residing on the same archive sites are the RFCs and Internet-Drafts. They're in the "rfc" and "internet-drafts" directories, respectively. The file "1rfc_index.txt" has the latest info about the RFCs (for example, which ones have been obsoleted by which). In general, only the newest version of an Internet-Draft is available 🌈
All of the files, RFCs and Internet-Drafts are also available by e-mail from various mail servers. To get the IETF agenda, Internet-Draft abstracts and RFC 1150 from the mail server at the InterNIC, for example, you'd send the following 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.eduWhere FILE specifies the name of a file to be returned, and PATH is an optional command that specifies the e-mail address the file(s) should be sent to. The file(s) can be returned in one or more MIME messages by adding the command "ENCODING mime" to the top of the message 💌
RFCs can also be retrieved by e-mail 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: RFC0951This example would cause a copy of RFC 951 to be e-mailed to the requestor. the leading zero in the Doc-ID is required, so don't skip it! 🙅 To get a list of available RFCs that match certain criteria, include the following in the body of the message:
LIST: RFC
Keywords: gatewayThis example would e-mail a list of all RFCs with "gateway" in the title or as an assigned keyword. To get information 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's the cheat sheet for the area codes, bestie 💖
APP Applications
INT Internet Services
IPNG IP: Next Generation
MGT Network Management
OPS Operational Requirements
RTG Routing
SEC Security
TSV Transport
USV User ServicesAcronyms ✨
okay bestie, this is the glossary. every acronym the doc uses lives here so nobody gets lost 🧚 💅
:-) 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 Committee
CIDR Classless Inter-Domain Routing
CIX Commercial Information Exchange
CNI Coalition for Networked Information
CREN The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
DARPA US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (now ARPA)
DDN US Defense Data Network
DISA US Defense Information Systems Agency
EGP Exterior Gateway Protocol
FAQ Frequently Asked Question
FARNET Federation of American Research NETworks
FIX US Federal Information Exchange
FNC US Federal Networking Council
FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name
FYI For Your Information (RFC)
GOSIP US 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
IPng IP: Next Generation
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 GetAcknowledgments 🫶
the IETF Secretariat wants to give a huge shoutout to Gary Malkin 👑 he wrote the first version of this doc (RFC 1391) and then coordinated all the changes in the first revision (RFC 1539). ngl, without him this doc might still be "in progress" 😭
References 📚
FYI1Malkin, 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.ROSERose, M., "The Open Book: A Practical Perspective on OSI", Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.RFC1543Postel, J., "Request for Comments on Request for Comments", RFC 1543, USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1989.RFC1160Cerf, V., "The Internet Activities Board", RFC 1160, NRI, May 1990.RFC1602Chapin, L., Chair, "The Internet Standards Process", RFC 1602, Internet Activities Board, March 1992.RFC1311Postel, J., Editor, "Introduction to the STD Notes", RFC 1311, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1992.STD1Postel, J., Editor, "Internet Official Protocol Standards", STD 1, RFC 1720, Internet Architecture Board, November 1994.
Security Considerations 🔐
okay, this one is short but it's a whole plot twist: the memo says "Security issues are not discussed in this memo." 💀 so plz don't go assuming this doc covers security, because it literally doesn't 🙈
Authors' Addresses 🦋
and last but not least, the people and places you can reach out to 💌
The IETF Secretariat
c/o Corporation for National Research Initiatives
1895 Preston White Drive
Suite 100
Reston, VA 22091
Phone: +1 703 620 8990
Fax: +1 703 620 0913
EMail: ietf-info@cnri.reston.va.us
Gary Scott Malkin
Xylogics, Inc.
53 Third Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803
Phone: +1 617 272 8140
EMail: gmalkin@Xylogics.COMthat's the whole doc, bestie 🌈💖 you did amazing sticking with me!
📦 where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc1718 1994-11
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms