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Improving the Organizational Flexibility of the SIP Change Process.
draft-campbell-art-rfc5727-update-02

The information below is for an old version of the document.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 7957.
Authors Ben Campbell , Alissa Cooper , Barry Leiba
Last updated 2016-01-05 (Latest revision 2015-06-19)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
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Reviews
Stream WG state (None)
Document shepherd Mary Barnes
Shepherd write-up Show Last changed 2015-11-25
IESG IESG state Became RFC 7957 (Best Current Practice)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Spencer Dawkins
Send notices to (None)
IANA IANA review state IANA OK - No Actions Needed
draft-campbell-art-rfc5727-update-02
Internet Engineering Task Force                         B. Campbell, Ed.
Internet-Draft                                                    Oracle
Updates: 5727 (if approved)                                    A. Cooper
Intended status: Best Current Practice                             Cisco
Expires: December 21, 2015                                      B. Leiba
                                                                  Huawei
                                                           June 19, 2015

  Improving the Organizational Flexibility of the SIP Change Process.
                  draft-campbell-art-rfc5727-update-02

Abstract

   RFC 5727 defines several processes for the Real-time Applications and
   Infrastructure (RAI) area.  These processes include the evolution of
   the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and related protocols, as well
   as the operation of the DISPATCH and SIPCORE working groups.  This
   document updates RFC 5727 to allow flexibility for the area and
   working group structure, while preserving the SIP change processes.
   It also generalizes the DISPATCH working group processes so that they
   can be easily adopted by other working groups.

Status of This Memo

   This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the
   provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF).  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.  The list of current Internet-
   Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   This Internet-Draft will expire on December 21, 2015.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2015 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of

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   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   2
   2.  Dispatch-Style Working Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   3
   3.  Decoupling the SIP-Change Process from the RAI Area . . . . .   4
   4.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   5.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   4
   6.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   7.  References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.1.  Normative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
     7.2.  Informative Reverences  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5
   Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .   5

1.  Introduction

   [RFC5727] describes processes for evolving and maintaining the
   Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261] and related technologies
   in the former Real-time Application and Infrastructure (RAI) area.
   These processes are collectively known as the "SIP Change Process".
   While areas do not normally have "charters" per se, RFC 5727 has
   effectively served as a charter for RAI.  The language in RFC 5727 is
   tightly bound to the RAI area and to the the DISPATCH and SIPCORE
   working groups.

   At the time of this writing, the RAI area recently merged with the
   Applications (APP) area to form a new Applications and Real-Time
   (ART) area.  This document updates RFC 5727 to remove its dependency
   on RAI and its working group structure.

   RFC 5727 specifies that the DISPATCH working group assesses potential
   new work for the area, and determines where such work should occur.
   DISPATCH does not itself take on such new work.  The SIPCORE working
   group is responsible for maintenance of SIP.  Other RAI working
   groups develop extensions to SIP that do not change the core
   protocol, new applications of SIP, and other technologies for
   interactive communication among humans.  This document further
   generalizes the processes of the DISPATCH working group so that they
   can be applied to other areas, or to clusters of technologies within
   an area.

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   While the reorganization is expected to involve merging RAI with the
   Applications (APP) area and renaming the resulting area, the updates
   in this document do not depend on that.  Rather, the authors seek to
   future-proof the SIP Change Process against future reorganizations.

   This document does not change any other aspect of RFC 5727.  While
   areas and working groups may change over time, the rules and
   procedures for changing SIP and other RAI protocols remain the same,
   until such time that they are updated by future documents.

2.  Dispatch-Style Working Groups

   The DISPATCH working group has proven successful at managing new work
   for the RAI area.  Areas may choose to adopt DISPATCH-like
   procedures, either for an entire area, or for technology-clusters in
   an area or across areas.  A "Dispatch-Style" working group operates
   according to procedures similar to those used for DISPATCH.

   The "Dispatch Style" includes the following essential elements:

   o  The working group evaluates proposals for new work for an area, or
      for a well-defined technology cluster.  It acts as a filter for
      the area or cluster to determine whether a proposal is a
      reasonable use of or addition to associated technologies.  This
      determination may depend upon established criteria (for example,
      the SIP Change Process), the experience and expertise of the
      participants, or a combination of the two.

   o  The dispatch-style working group determines an appropriate venue
      for the work.  The venue could be an existing working group.  If
      no appropriate group exist, it may develop a charter for a BoF, a
      new working group, or an exploratory group [RFC5111].  The working
      group may also determine that a proposal should not be acted upon
      at the time.

   o  The dispatch-style working group does not complete the proposed
      work.  It may, however, adopt milestones needed to properly
      dispatch the work.  For example, it may produce charter text for a
      BoF or a new working group, an initial problem statement, or
      documentation about why certain work was not pursued.

   Nothing in this list prevents existing working groups from directly
   adopting new work that reasonably fits their charters.  For
   borderline cases, the decision whether new work should start in a
   dispatch-style group, or in an existing group is a judgement call
   among the responsible Area Directors and chairs.  Likewise, in cases
   where an area has multiple dispatch-style groups for different

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   purposes or technology clusters, the decision about which group will
   handle a particular proposal is a judgement call.

   The charter of a dispatch-style group should make that fact clear,
   either by referencing this document, or by directly describing
   similar procedures.

3.  Decoupling the SIP-Change Process from the RAI Area

   This document clarifies that the SIP Change Process is not bound to
   any particular area or working group structure.  All references to
   the RAI area in RFC 5727 should be interpreted as "the cluster of SIP
   and closely related application and infrastructure technologies, as
   well as other technologies designed primarily for interactive
   communication among humans."

   While the DISPATCH and SIPCORE working groups are expected to
   continue in their current capacities, nothing in the SIP Change
   Process prevents their responsibilities from being assigned to other
   working groups in the future.

   All other aspects of the SIP-Change process are to continue as
   described in RFC 5727.

4.  IANA Considerations

   This document makes no requests to IANA.

5.  Security Considerations

   This document discusses the roles and responsibilities of areas and
   working groups.  It does not create new security considerations in
   the conventional sense.

   However, organizational structures come with their own security
   considerations.  A dispatch-stye working group has the potential to
   concentrate the control of work for an area or cluster in the hands
   of a much smaller set of people than those in the whole area or
   cluster.  This could have the effect of a "Denial of Service Attack"
   against the area or cluster.  Likewise, such a concentration could
   reduce the quality of decisions about new work.  Care must be taken
   to avoid this risk.  The best mitigation is active participation in
   the group by as many people in the area or cluster as possible.

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6.  Acknowledgements

   The authors would like to thank all the previous authors of the SIP
   Change Process for their contributions.  Jon Peterson, Cullen
   Jennings, and Robert Sparks authored RFC 5727.  That RFC obsoleted
   [RFC3427], which was in turn written by Allison Mankin, Scott
   Bradner, Rohan Mahy, Dean Willis, Brian Rosen, and Joerg Ott.

   The authors additionally thank the present and past chairs of
   DISPATCH and SIPCORE, as well as all the participants in the RAI area
   since its inception.

7.  References

7.1.  Normative References

   [RFC5727]  Peterson, J., Jennings, C., and R. Sparks, "Change Process
              for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the Real-
              time Applications and Infrastructure Area", BCP 67, RFC
              5727, March 2010.

7.2.  Informative Reverences

   [RFC3261]  Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston,
              A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M., and E.
              Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261,
              June 2002.

   [RFC3427]  Mankin, A., Bradner, S., Mahy, R., Willis, D., Ott, J.,
              and B. Rosen, "Change Process for the Session Initiation
              Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3427, December 2002.

   [RFC5111]  Aboba, B. and L. Dondeti, "Experiment in Exploratory Group
              Formation within the Internet Engineering Task Force
              (IETF)", RFC 5111, January 2008.

Authors' Addresses

   Ben Campbell (editor)
   Oracle

   Email: ben@nostrum.com

   ALissa Cooper
   Cisco

   Email: alcoop@cisco.com

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   Barry Leiba
   Huawei

   Email: barryleiba@computer.org

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