Network Working Group H. Alvestrand
Internet-Draft Cisco Systems
Expires: June 6, 2003 December 6, 2002
An IESG charter
draft-iesg-charter-00
Status of this Memo
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2002). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This memo gives a charter for the Internet Engineering Steering Group
(IESG), a management function of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF).
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1. Introduction
The role of the IESG in the IETF management structure has been
largely constant since 1992, when the structure of the Internet
standards process was defined by RFC 1310 (which was later updated by
RFC 1602, RFC 1871 and RFC 2026).
Some of the functions were also defined in RFC 1603 (which was later
updated by RFC 2418).
As the community has grown, and the IESG has gathered experience, the
way in which the IESG approaches its tasks has varied considerably,
but the tasks have remained relatively constant.
This document describes the tasks assigned to the IESG.
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2. The composition of the IESG
The IESG has the following members:
o The IETF Chair, who is also the General AD
o The Area Directors for the IETF Areas
o Liaisons
The Chair and the Area Directors are selected by the IETF NomCom
according to the procedures of RFC 2282 (Nomcom procedures). The
Liaisons are selected as appropriate by the liaising bodies. At the
time of this writing, the liaisons present are:
The RFC Editor
The IANA
The IAB
In addition, members of the IETF Secretariat are subscribed to the
mailing list and present in the IESG meetings as needed in order to
serve as a support function.
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3. The IESG role in working group management
3.1 Working group creation
The formation of working groups is described in RFC 2418 section 2.
Each area director is responsible for ensuring that a working group
being chartered is relevant, has achievable goals and constitutes an
acceptable risk, has sufficient interest and so on. The charter is
the result of a negotiation between the AD and the prospective
chairs, with review by the IAB and approval by the IESG. Normally,
there will be communication with the community of interest for the
working group too.
The AD is also responsible for selecting chairs for the working group
that he thinks will be up to the task.
The BOF procedure described in RFC 2418 section 2.4 also requires
approval from the relevant AD. A BOF is not required to start a
working group, and a BOF may be held without the purpose being to
create a working group. BOFs are also often discussed with the IESG
and IAB.
If an AD determines that it is needed, he can take the initiative to
create a working group.
3.2 Working group management
The role of the Area Director in WG management is described in RFC
2418 section 6.7. The AD is responsible for making sure the working
groups stay focused on the charter tasks, make forward progress, are
coordinated with the rest of the area, and (with the IESG)
coordinated with the rest of the IETF.
In a well functioning working group, main responsibility for these
things rests with the chairs; the AD will normally be able to
concentrate on supporting the working group chairs' work.
When a WG finds that it is essential that work gets done which is not
on its charter, the AD is responsible for figuring out whether to add
it to their charter, add it to another group's charter, task someone
outside the WG to work on it, or initiate creation of another WG.
The Area Director is also responsible for picking and, when
necessary, replacing working group chairs. This is usually done in
consultation with the IESG.
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4. The IESG role in document review
4.1 Working group documents
This role is described in RFC 2418 section 7.5, and RFC 2026 section
6. The IESG role is one of review and approval.
4.2 Non-working group documents
4.2.1 Standards-track
This role is described in RFC 2026 section 6. Such documents are
submitted to the IESG, which will assign them to a relevant area
director. The IESG is responsible for determining:
o Whether or not the specification is appropriate for standards
track
o Whether or not the specification needs review by one or more
existing WGs
o Whether or not the quality of the specification is adequate
4.2.2 Informational and Experimental
These documents are usually submitted to the RFC Editor in accordance
with the procedures of RFC 2026 section 4.2.3 and RFC 2418 section 8.
The IESG is asked to review all documents submitted in this fashion
for conflicts with the IETF standards process or work done in the
IETF community; this is a modification of the RFC 2026 procedure, and
documented in RFC 2418 section 8.
4.3 IESG review procedures
The IESG review procedure is defined by the IESG.
At the time of this writing, the procedure consists of:
o An initial review by the responsible AD, assisted by whatever
reviewers the AD wants to bring to bear
o Once the responsible AD is satisfied that the document is worth
sponsoring, a review by the entire IESG
o If the IESG has questions or comments, the responsible AD takes
the token to resolve these with the authors or WG responsible
before taking the (possibly revised) document back to the IESG for
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re-review.
The IESG has web pages as part of the IETF web (www.ietf.org);
current details of procedures should be published there.
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5. The IESG role in area management
The IETF divides its work into a number of areas, each comprising
working groups that relate to that area's focus. (RFC 2418 section
1). The area structure is defined by the IESG, and may be changed by
the IESG. The IESG decides which areas groups belong to. When
reassigning areas, the IESG can move responsibility for areas between
IESG members, but the IESG can only add new members through the
nomcom process.
The primary task of area management is done by one or two area
directors per area. An area director may be advised by one or more
directorates, which is selected and chaired by the area director (RFC
2418 section 1). Directorates may be specific to an area, specific
to a technology, or chartered in some other fashion.
The ADs for an area are responsible for making sure the WGs in the
area are well coordinated, that there is coverage for the
technologies needed in the area, and that the challenges that are
most important to the Internet in that area are indeed being worked
on.
To that end, they may charter working groups, suggest modifications
to working group charters, encourage people to work on specific work
items within or outside working groups, or even shut down working
groups that are not performing an useful function.
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6. Other IESG roles
6.1 Staff supervision
The IESG is the main body responsible for supporting the IETF Chair
in supervising the work of the IETF Secretariat.
The supervision of the IANA and the RFC Editor is handled by the IAB.
6.2 Process management
The IESG is responsible for making sure the IETF process is
functional in all aspects. This includes taking responsibility for
initiating consideration of updates of the process when required, as
well as addressing obvious miscarriages of process even when it does
not fall into the categories described above.
6.3 External relations
The main responsibility for handling external relations rests with
the IAB. However, when technical cooperation is required, it is
essential that the work be coordinated with the relevant ADs. This
often means that ADs will function in a liaison role with other
organizations, but the same function may also be done by others when
that seems more appropriate.
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7. Security considerations
The security of the Internet depends on standards giving proper
thought to security. Apart from that, there seem to be no
considerations of security relevant to this memo.
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References
[1] Chapin, A., "The Internet Standards Process", RFC 1310, March
1992.
[2] Huitema, C. and P. Gross, "The Internet Standards Process --
Revision 2", RFC 1602, March 1994.
[3] Huizer, E. and D. Crocker, "IETF Working Group Guidelines and
Procedures", RFC 1603, March 1994.
[4] Postel, J., "Addendum to RFC 1602 -- Variance Procedure", BCP 2,
RFC 1871, November 1995.
[5] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision 3", BCP
9, RFC 2026, October 1996.
[6] Bradner, S., "IETF Working Group Guidelines and Procedures", BCP
25, RFC 2418, September 1998.
[7] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and Recall
Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall Committees", BCP
10, RFC 2282, February 1998.
Author's Address
Harald Tveit Alvestrand
Cisco Systems
Weidemanns vei 27
Trondheim 7043
NO
EMail: harald@alvestrand.no
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Acknowledgement
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
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