RFC 1818

Best Current Practices 🎀

• Network Working Group 💖
• Request for Comments: 1818 ✨
• BCP: 1 🧚
• Category: Best Current Practice 👑
• Authors: J. Postel (ISI), T. Li (cisco Systems), Y. Rekhter (cisco Systems) 🫶
• Date: August 1995 📅
• Obsoletes / Updates: its header doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates 🦋

Status of this Memo 📜

okay so this doc specifies an Internet Best Current Practice for the whole Internet Community 🌍, and it's literally asking for discussion and suggestions for improvements 💅. Distribution of this memo is unlimited 🌈.

Abstract ✨

this one describes a brand new series of docs that lay out best current practices for the Internet community 🦋. Docs in this series carry the endorsement of the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) 👑. It's giving official stamp of approval 💅.

Discussion 💬

so the current IETF process has two types of RFCs: standards track docs, and everything else (like informational, experimental, and FYIs) [1] 📚. The standards track vibe is super clear, and it culminates in an official Internet Standard [2,3] 🔥. Informational RFCs can get published on a more casual basis, as long as they follow the reasonable constraints of the RFC editor 🌸. Informational RFCs are not subject to peer review and carry no significance whatsoever within the IETF process [4] 💀.

the IETF currently has no other mechanism or means of publishing relevant technical info that it endorses 🥺. So this doc creates a new subseries of RFCs called Best Current Practices (BCPs) 🎀✨.

the BCP process is kinda similar to the one for proposed standards 💖. The BCP gets submitted to the IESG for review, and the existing review process applies, including a "last call" on the IETF announcement mailing list 📬. But once the IESG approves it, the process ends and the doc gets published 🎉. The result is viewed as having the technical approval of the IETF, but it is not, and cannot become, an official Internet Standard 🙈.

possible examples of technical info that BCPs could be applied to are "OSI NSAP Allocation" [5] and "OSPF Applicability Statement" [6] 🧚🌈.

References 📚

• [1] IAB, and IESG, "Internet Standards Process -- Revision 2", RFC 1602, IAB and IESG, March 1994. 🦋
• [2] Postel, J., Editor, "Internet Official Protocol Standards", STD 1, RFC 1800, IAB, July 1995. 👑
• [3] Hinden, R., "Internet Engineering Task Force Internet Routing Protocol Standardization Criteria", RFC 1264, BBN, October 1991. 🌸
• [4] Waitzman, D., "Standard for the Transmission of IP Datagrams on Avian Carriers", RFC 1149, BBN, April 1990. 🐦💀
• [5] Collela, R., Callon, R., Gardner, E., and Y. Rekhter, "Guidelines for OSI NSAP Allocation in the Internet", RFC 1629, NIST, Wellfleet, Mitre, IBM, May 1994. 🧚
• [6] Chapin, L., "Applicability Statement for OSPF", RFC 1370, IAB, October 1992. 💖

Security Considerations 🔒

okay bestie, security issues are not discussed in this memo 😭. No security tea here, so be extra careful and don't assume this doc has your back on this one 💀.

Authors' Addresses 🧚

   Jon Postel
   USC - ISI, Suite 1001
   4676 Admiralty Way
   Marina del Rey, CA  90292-6695

   Phone: 310-822-1511
   EMail: postel@isi.edu


   Yakov Rekhter
   cisco Systems, Inc.
   170 West Tasman Drive
   San Jose, CA 95134

   Phone: 914-528-0090
   EMail: yakov@cisco.com


   Tony Li
   cisco Systems, Inc.
   1525 O'Brien Drive
   Menlo Park, CA 94025

   EMail: tli@cisco.com