Understanding the IETF

USTTI Workshop
October 2010

Presented by:
Steve Conte (conte@isoc.org)
The Internet Society
http://www.isoc.org
 The Internet Engineering Task
Force (IETF)
•  A loosely self-organized group of people
who contribute to the engineering and
evolution of Internet technologies
•  Focused on development of new Internet
standards specifications
•  No members, no corporation, no board of
directors, no dues

http://www.isoc.org
 Working Groups

•  Temporary: complete the work on the topic

and then disband
•  Has a chair or multiple co-chairs
•  Has a charter that describes what the
intention of the WG is and what it hopes to
accomplish
•  The majority of the work takes place via
email mailing list communications

http://www.isoc.org
 Areas
•  Working Groups are organized into Areas based on
subject matter
•  Current Areas are:

o  Applications o  Real-time Applications

o  General and Infrastructure
o  Internet o  Routing
o  Operations and o  Security
Management o  Transport

http://www.isoc.org
 Areas (con’t)

•  Each area has at least one Area Director

(AD)
•  AD’s are responsible for appointing WG
chairs
•  The IETF Chair serves as the Area
Director for the General Area
•  AD’s are a part of and participate in the
IESG

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 Internet Engineering Steering
Group (IESG)
•  The IESG is comprised of: The Area
Directors, the IETF Chair, the IANA Liaison
and the RFC Editor Liaison
•  The IESG is responsible for the day-to-day
management of the IETF
•  Provides final technical review of Internet
Standards
•  Receives appeals of the decisions of the
working group chairs
•  Decides when to progress Internet Drafts in
the standards track

http://www.isoc.org
 Other Organizations

•  ISOC is the organizational home of the

IETF
•  IAB has oversight of IETF including
relations with external organizations and
with the RFC Editor
•  Approved Internet Drafts are sent to the
RFC Editor for publication
•  Approved Internet Drafts are sent to IANA
for any unique identifiers to be recorded

http://www.isoc.org
 What the IETF Does

•  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

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 What the IETF Does (con’t)

•  Facilitating technology transfer from the

Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) to
the wider Internet community
•  Providing a forum for the exchange of
information within the Internet community
between vendors, users, researchers,
agency contractors, and network
managers

http://www.isoc.org
"Be conservative in what you send and
liberal in what you accept”
- Jon Postel

http://www.isoc.org
 Design through Consensus

•  Majority of the work happens via mailing lists

•  As a Working Group is formed and chartered,
the beginnings of an Internet Draft (ID) begin
•  WG works on the concept of the ID and
solidifies via consensus of the working group
•  WG’s may have more than one ID being
worked on at the same time

http://www.isoc.org
 Design through Consensus
(con’t)
•  When the WG considers the ID ready for
publication, it is submitted to the IESG for the
approval process
•  The WG's AD will review the document and, for
standards actions, put the document out for an
IETF-wide last call for comments and discussion
•  Depending on the IESG's review and comments
received in the last call, the IESG may approve the
document or send it back to the WG to address
areas of concern
•  When an ID is approved, it is sent to the RFC
Editor for publication

http://www.isoc.org
 Internet Drafts

•  Not all Internet Drafts are meant to become

Standards
•  Some are designed to be Best Common Practices
(BCPs) – recommendations on how to practice
Internet Standards
•  Some will be informational – can be anything from
April Fools jokes to For Your Information
documents such as RFC 1983 (the Internet User’s
Glossary)
•  Some will be experimental, proposing an formed
idea but wanting to have further testing and work
done before (or if) it’s to be worked on further

http://www.isoc.org
 IETF Meetings

•  Physical meeting happen three times per

year around the world
•  Opportunity for engineers to share
knowledge and expertise
•  Remote participation is becoming more
common and are available for all formal
meetings
–  Audio Streams
–  Instant Messaging Chat Rooms
•  Birds of a Feather (BoF) meetings where
informational discussions about a topic occur

http://www.isoc.org
 How to Participate

•  Have an interest in a protocol or practices

development
•  IETF is NOT about marketing, nor is it a
trade show
•  “Joining” a working group consists of
subscribing to their mailing list(s) and
deciding to become active in that topic
•  Read the Working Group Charter to
understand what the WG’s intention is

http://www.isoc.org
 How to Participate (con’t)

•  Anyone can propose new work to be done

(though plan on being part of those who are
doing it)
•  Anyone can propose and run a BoF
•  If you believe that there is a topic that needs
to be addressed, frame a potential charter for
a WG in terms of specific problem and its
relationship to existing IETF protocols, put it
out for discussion and demonstrate broad
interest in and support to carry out the work

http://www.isoc.org
 How to Participate (con’t)

•  Ask Questions!
•  Approach an IETFer – they don’t
(normally) bite and begin a conversation
with them
•  Read the Internet Drafts or RFCs of that
Working Group before attending any of
their meetings. Meetings are meant for
work and are not supposed to be an
introductory course
http://www.isoc.org
 IETF Fellowships

•  ISOC offers fellowship opportunities to

individuals in regions with emerging Internet
markets.
•  ISOC piloted the first IETF fellowship in June
2006
•  The fellowship pays for the fellow’s IETF
meeting registration and social event fees, a
round-trip economy class airfare to the
meeting, hotel accommodation, and a small
stipend to offset incidental expenses.

http://www.isoc.org
 IETF Fellowship (con’t)

The main purposes of the IETF Fellowship program are:

•  Raise global awareness about the IETF and its work
•  Foster greater understanding of and participation in
the work of the IETF by technologists from the
developing world
•  Provide an opportunity for networking with individuals
from around the world with similar technical interests
•  Identify and foster potential future leaders from
developing regions, and
•  Demonstrate the Internet community’s commitment to
fostering greater global participation in Internet
Forums such as the IETF.

http://www.isoc.org
 Finally

Read “The Tao of IETF”

http://www.ietf.org/tao.html

This is a great introduction to the IETF.

Much of what was said here today came
from that document

http://www.isoc.org
 Workshop Overview

09:30 – 10:30 The Organisations of the Internet

10:30 – 12:00 The IETF
12:00 – 13:00 Lunch
13:00 – 14:00 Internet Collaboration
14:00 – 15:00 DNSSEC
15:00 – 15:15 Break
15:15 – 16:15 IPv4, IPv6 and Address Allocation
16:15 – 17:30 Open Forum for Topical Discussions

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