RFC 902

RFC 902: ARPA-Internet Protocol Policy 🎀

Okay bestie, this one is from July 1984 and it's written by J. Postel and J. Reynolds of ISI 💖 The title block doesn't list a category, and it doesn't say it obsoletes or updates anything. The memo calls itself a policy statement. 🦋

Status of this Memo 🌈

This memo is a policy statement about how protocols become official standards for the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community. It's an official policy statement of the ICCB and the DARPA, and distribution is unlimited ✨

Introduction 🧚

So the purpose here is to explain how protocol standards get adopted for the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community. There are three big things to cover: the process, the authority, and the complicated relationship between the DARPA community and the DDN community. First we need some background and a few of the players 💅

DARPA = Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
DDN   = Defense Data Network

The DARPA World 🌸

The DARPA world is headed up by the DARPA office. DARPA funds research on lots of subjects through a bunch of contractors, and that group of contractors is called the "DARPA research community" 👑 DARPA usually organizes its research into "programs" that involve several contractors at once. One of those is the "Internet Program," which researches computer communications issues and builds experimental communication systems. When an experiment works, the results often get put to use to support more work in the Internet Program and other DARPA research programs. That's how DARPA developed the ARPANET, SATNET, Packet Radio Networks, and the Internet itself 🔥

In 1981, DARPA set up the Internet Configuration Control Board (ICCB) to help manage the DARPA Internet Program 💜

The ICCB 🦋

The ICCB's concerns fall into two categories, and honestly both are iconic:

• Short Term Issues:
  • Keeping the Internet running as an ongoing resource, which means dealing with problems that pop up because the system keeps growing and people keep using it more. Sometimes that suggests research on new procedures and algorithms, or changes to the existing protocols and procedures. Sometimes long range research finishes and bringing it into the current system becomes a short term concern.
• Long Term Issues:
  • The ICCB also thinks about communication problems related to the Internet in a more abstract way. It suggests possible research topics and experiments to DARPA, and it can act as a sounding board for ideas other people bring up 🌟

DARPA has delegated some of the management of the Internet Program, and the running of the (experimental) ARPA-Internet for the DARPA research community, to the ICCB 🫶

The ICCB members were picked to represent a range of interests and viewpoints. They come from different organizations, their backgrounds specialize in different operating systems, and their takes on computer communication issues are very diverse. It's giving variety 🌈

The chairman of the ICCB is also the "Internet Architect," and the assistant chairman is the "Deputy Internet Architect." The ICCB currently has 12 members. The Internet Architect is Dave Clark of MIT, and the Deputy Internet Architect is Jon Postel of ISI 👑

The DDN World 🍓

The DDN is a communication system for DoD operational use. It brings together lots of networks and communication systems that are already used or planned within the DoD. One part of the DDN is networks that are also part of the Internet, specifically MILNET and the networks connected to it 💻

The DDN is managed by the DDN Program Management Office (DDN-PMO). The DDN-PMO sets policy for how DDN facilities get used, and it enforces the protocol standards that have been established for the DDN networks 🔒

Within the DoD there are three protocol committees: the Protocol Standard Steering Group (PSSG), the Protocol Standard Technical Panel (PSTP), and the Protocol Configuration Control Board (PCCB). Their members represent most elements of the DoD. Generally, they develop and recommend guidelines for protocol standardization and usage to the DDN-PMO and to the whole DoD. The PSSG is the policy-setting committee for all of DoD on protocol standards matters 💅

The Relationship between the DARPA World and the DDN World 🫧

The DDN-PMO and DARPA cooperate about the Internet. A few people serve on both the DoD committees (PSSG, PSTP, or PCCB) and the DARPA committee (ICCB). The key people in the DARPA office and the DDN-PMO have good working relationships, and so do the technical people in both worlds at the lower levels 🤝

Here's an example. The ICCB may decide that a certain protocol should be used in the ARPA-Internet and then develop an implementation plan and schedule. The DDN-PMO would consider the issue separately. It might decide to require that protocol to be implemented in DDN on the same schedule. It might wait for results from the DARPA experiment with that protocol before committing to a schedule. Or it might decide that the protocol isn't required in the DDN at all 🙈

There are two documents that specify TCP. RFC-793 is the official specification of the DARPA research community. Military Standard 1778 is the official specification of the DDN community. Both documents specify the same protocol 💖

Organizations connected to the Internet through authority derived from DARPA follow the rules set by the ICCB and DARPA. Organizations connected to the Internet through authority derived from the DDN-PMO follow the rules set by the DDN-PMO 🎀

DARPA Official Protocol Designation 🧚‍♀️

Official protocols for the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community are specified in RFCs. That designation should be shown in the first few paragraphs of the RFC that defines the protocol. In other words, the RFC defining an official protocol should have a policy statement that says something like this, or pretty similar:

"This RFC specifies a standard for the DARPA community.  Hosts on
the ARPA-Internet are expected to adopt and implement this
standard.",

There's also a memo titled "Official Protocols." It's issued now and then as an RFC, and it describes all the official protocols of the ARPA-Internet. For each protocol it gives information like its status (experimental, required, etc.), its specification, additional comments, other references, dependencies, and the person to contact. The most recent issue is RFC-901 📚

RFCs are coordinated by the RFC Editor and distributed by the Network Information Center (NIC). The RFC documents are stored as online files on the NIC's computer, and announcements of new RFCs go out to a mailing list of interested people. The RFC Editor is Jon Postel 🦋

The Normal Development of an DARPA Protocol Standard 🌷

There probably has never been a "normal" case. In most instances, some exception or another has been made to the procedure below 🙃

The Typical Chain of Events 🔁

The development of a protocol starts with some discussion. Random people chat in messages and meetings about an idea for a new protocol and what form it ought to take ✨

Someone writes a draft and proposes it to a group of people who are interested in the problem. They suggest revisions and keep the discussion going. Eventually they might decide they have a reasonable definition of the new protocol, and then they pass that definition on to the RFC Editor 💌

Next, the RFC Editor sends the draft to other people who might also be interested in the problem. That group can be just a few people or part of a big mailing list. Depending on the results from this selected informal group, the draft can get revised and rewritten several times 🔄

When the process stabilizes, the protocol draft gets sent out as an RFC. It's identified as a draft proposal of a protocol that may become an official protocol, and it goes out to the whole ARPA-Internet world 📣

After a certain amount of time, if only a few comments come back, some people may try to implement the draft protocol 🛠️

Testing an implementation of a protocol is a tricky management issue. Experiments have to be done with a small number of participants, because it's hard to change lots of implementations at the same time if the protocol needs to change 😭

In cases where the ICCB deems it necessary, a set of test implementations will be done. A few participants are picked (typically 5 or fewer) for these experiments. This may lead to a revision of the protocol before more implementations are encouraged or before the protocol is made official.

If no problems come up, a new RFC is issued with the complete definition of the protocol, stating that the protocol is an official protocol of the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community 🏆

In general, lower level protocols get judged more critically than higher level protocols. For example, a protocol like TCP would get way more careful study than an application like the DAYTIME protocol 🔬

The Bottom Line 💜

For the ARPA-Internet and the DARPA research community, DARPA is in charge. DARPA delegates the authority for protocol standards to the ICCB, and the ICCB delegates the actual administration of protocol standards to the Deputy Internet Architect 👑

For the DoD in general, the PSSG is in charge. The PSSG delegates the authority for the day to day management of protocol standards in the DDN to the DDN-PMO 🫶