RFC 2028

The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards Process

📅 published October 1996, from ietf

RFC 2028: The Organizations Involved in the IETF Standards Process 🦋

okay bestie, let's start with the title block 💖 This is RFC 2028 from the Network Working Group, and it's a BCP 11, which means it's a Best Current Practice 🌸 It was written by R. Hovey of Digital Equipment Corporation and S. Bradner of Harvard University, and it's dated October 1996 ✨ The header doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates 🙈

Status of this Memo

so this doc is an Internet Best Current Practice for the Internet Community 🫶 It's asking people to discuss it and send in suggestions for making it better 💅 Distribution is unlimited, so share it with everyone 🌈

Abstract

the whole point of this doc is to explain who's who in the IETF 👑 It covers the IESG, the IETF Working Groups, and how the IETF and the Internet Society are connected 🧚

1. Documents controlling the process ✨

1.1 The IETF Standards Process

okay so the way the Internet community standardizes protocols and procedures is written up in [B] 📚 That doc is the one that lays out the stages of standardization, what you need to do to move a document from one stage to the next, and the types of documents you'll run into 💅 It also covers the intellectual property rights and copyright stuff that comes with the standards process, which is very important, not gonna lie 😭

2. Key individuals in the Process 🎀

2.1 The Request for Comments Editor

the RFC publication series [B] is run by an Editor 💖 In practice that could be one person or a few people, and they handle both the nuts and bolts of publishing RFCs and keeping the series at its famously high technical and editorial standards 🔥

the RFC Editor's functions are done by one or more individuals or organizations picked through the procedures in the RFC Editor charter [G] 🦋

2.2 The Working Group Chair

every IETF Working Group has a chair, or co-chairs, and they're the main boss of the group 👑 They direct what the group is doing, run the meetings, and make sure the group keeps its promises about its part in the Internet standards process 💅 The WG chair is also the formal point of contact between the WG and the IESG, going through the Area Director of the area the WG belongs to 🫶

if you want the details on how a WG chair gets selected and what they're responsible for, check out [A] 🌸

2.3 The Document Editor

most Working Groups focus their energy on a document, or a set of documents, that capture what the group has accomplished ✨ The WG usually picks a person or a few people to be the Editor for a specific document 🎀 The Document Editor makes sure the document actually reflects the decisions the working group has made 💜

here's the lowkey important part: the WG Chair and the Document Editor are supposed to be different people 💅 That helps make sure the documents match what the WG actually agreed on, and that all the processes got followed 😤

3. Key organizations in the Process 🌈

the following organizations and roles are all part of the Internet standards process 🧚 Contact info lives in Appendix A 📮

3.1 Internet Engineering Task Force

the IETF is an open, international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers 🌸 They care about how the Internet architecture evolves and keeps running smoothly 💖 It's the main body that develops new Internet Standard specifications, so yeah, it's a whole big deal ✨

3.2 IETF Working Groups

this is where the technical work actually happens 🔥 The IETF Working Groups are sorted by topic into several Areas, like routing, network management, security, and so on, and the Area Directors coordinate all of it 👑 Working Groups usually have a narrow focus, and they live only until their specific task is finished 🦋

for everything that matters to the Internet Standards development process, being part of the IETF or a Working Group happens solely and entirely through your own individual participation in IETF and WG activities 💅 It's about you as a technical contributor, not about being some company's representative 🫶

anyone with the time and interest is totally welcome, and honestly encouraged, to actively join one or more IETF Working Groups and come to IETF meetings, which happen three times a year 🎀 Most of the time you can take part in a WG just through email 📧 Internet video conferencing is also used so people can join remotely 💻

for a fair and open process, participants have to be able to disclose, and must disclose to the WG chairs, any relevant current or pending intellectual property rights they reasonably and personally know about, if they're talking about a specific technology 😭 Transparency is everything, bestie 🔒

New Working Groups get set up with an explicit charter ✨ The guidelines and procedures for forming and running IETF Working Groups are laid out in detail in [A] 📚

a Working Group is run by one or more WG chairs (see section 2.2) 👑 It can also have editors for the documents that record the group's work (see section 2.3) 💜 More details about how WGs operate are in [A] 🌸

IETF Working Groups show a real spirit of cooperation and a high level of technical maturity 🥹 IETF participants understand that the biggest benefit for the whole Internet community comes from working together to build technically superior protocols and services 🫶 teamwork makes the dream work 🌈

3.3 IETF Secretariat

the administrative side of the IETF is handled by a Secretariat, made up of the IETF Executive Director and their staff 💼 The Executive Director is the formal point of contact for anything about any and all aspects of the Internet standards process 📞 They're also responsible for keeping the formal public record of the process [B] 🗂️

3.4 Internet Society

the Internet Society (ISOC) is an international organization focused on how the worldwide Internet grows and evolves 🌍 It also cares about the social, political, and technical issues that come with using it 💖 ISOC has both individual and organizational members 🎀 It's managed by a Board of Trustees that the worldwide individual membership elects 🗳️

Internet standardization is an organized activity of ISOC 🔥 The Board of Trustees is responsible for ratifying the procedures and rules of the Internet standards process [B] 👑

how the ISOC Board of Trustees members get selected, plus other stuff about how the Internet Society runs, is described in the ISOC By Laws [C] 📜

3.5 Internet Engineering Steering Group

the IESG is the part of the Internet Society that manages the IETF's technical activities 🧚 It runs the Internet Standards process according to the rules and procedures in [B] 💅 The IESG handles everything about moving technical specifications along the "standards track," including approving new Working Groups at the start and approving specifications as Internet Standards at the end 🔥

the IESG is made up of the IETF Area Directors and the chair of the IETF, who also chairs the IESG 👑

the IESG members are picked by a nominations committee (the Nomcom) and then approved by the IAB 🗳️ See [E] for a detailed description of how the Nomcom works 📖 Other stuff about how the IESG is organized and run is described in the IESG charter [does not yet exist] 🙈

3.6 Internet Architecture Board

the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is chartered by the Internet Society Trustees to oversee the architecture of the Internet and its protocols 🏛️ It appoints the IETF chair and is responsible for approving the other IESG candidates put forward by the IETF nominating committee 💖 The IAB is also in charge of reviewing and approving the charters of new Working Groups proposed for the IETF 📜

the IAB oversees the process used to create Internet Standards, and it's also an appeal board for complaints about improper execution of the standards process [B] ⚖️ Generally, it acts as a source of advice to the IETF, the ISOC, and the ISOC Board of Trustees on technical, architectural, procedural, and policy matters about the Internet and the technologies that enable it 🧠

the IAB members are nominated by the Nomcom and approved by the ISOC board 🗳️ See [E] for a detailed description of the Nomcom procedures 📖 The IAB is made up of members picked through the Nomcom process, plus the IETF chair, who sits as an ex-officio member 🫶 Other stuff about how it's organized and run is in the IAB charter [D] 📜

3.7 Internet Assigned Numbers Authority

a lot of protocol specifications include numbers, keywords, and other parameters that have to be uniquely assigned 🔢 Examples are version numbers, protocol numbers, port numbers, and MIB numbers 🎀 The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for assigning the values of these protocol parameters for the Internet ✨ IANA publishes tables of all the currently assigned numbers and parameters in RFCs called "Assigned Numbers" [E] 📋 It also works as the "top of the pyramid" for DNS and Internet Address assignment, setting the policies for those functions 🏔️

the IANA's functions are performed by one or more individuals or organizations chosen through the procedures in the IANA charter [F] 🦋

3.8 Internet Research Task Force

the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is not directly involved in the Internet standards process 🔬 It looks into topics that are too uncertain, too advanced, or not well enough understood to be standardized yet 🧪 When an IRTF activity produces a specification that's stable enough to be considered for Internet standardization, that specification goes through the IETF using the rules in this document 🌸

the IRTF is made up of individual Working Groups, but it's way less formal in structure and operation than the IETF 💅 Part of the reason is that it doesn't take part directly in the Internet standards process 🫶 The IRTF's organization and program of work is overseen by the Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG), which is made up of the chairs of the IRTF Working Groups 👑 More details about how the IRTF and its Working Groups are organized and run can be found in [H] 📖

4. Security Considerations 🚨

😭 okay this section is short but it's serious: Security is not addressed in this memo. So don't go assuming this doc covers security stuff, because it doesn't 🙈

5. References ✨

Okay bestie, here's the reading list 📚🎀 Every source the spec leans on is right here.

  • [A] Huizer,E. and D. Crocker, "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", RFC 1603, March 1994.
  • [B] Bradner, S., Editor, "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", RFC 2026, October 1996.
  • [C] By - Laws for the Internet Society, as amended: gopher://info.isoc.org/00/isoc/basic_docs/bylaws.txt
  • [D] Huitema, C. and the IAB, "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)", RFC 1601, March 1994.
  • [E] Galvin, J (Ed.), "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", RFC 2027, October 1996.
  • [F] IANA Charter, Work in Progress.
  • [G] RFC Editor Charter, Work in Progress.
  • [H] IRTF Charter, RFC 2014, October 1996.

5. Authors' Addresses:

Meet the people who wrote it 🫶💖

Richard Hovey
Digital Equipment Corporation
1401 H Street NW
Washington DC 20005

Phone:  +1 202 383 5615
EMail:  hovey@wnpv01.enet.dec.com

Scott Bradner
Harvard University
1350 Mass Ave. Rm 813
Cambridge MA 02138

Phone: +1 617 495 3864
EMail: sob@harvard.edu

Appendix A - Contact Information 💌

Need to reach the crew? Here's where to find everyone 🧚✨

Periodt, that's the whole thing! 🌸💅

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