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Minutes interim-2021-iab-18 2021-05-26
minutes-interim-2021-iab-18-20210526-00

Meeting Minutes Internet Architecture Board (iab) IETF
Date and time 2021-05-26 14:00
Title Minutes interim-2021-iab-18 2021-05-26
State (None)
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Last updated 2023-06-13

minutes-interim-2021-iab-18-20210526-00

Minutes of the 2021-05-26 IAB Teleconference

1. Administrivia

1.1. Attendance

Present:
  • Jari Arkko
  • Deborah Brungard
  • Ben Campbell
  • Lars Eggert (IETF Chair)
  • Wes Hardaker
  • Cullen Jennings
  • Mirja Kühlewind (IAB Chair)
  • Zhenbin Li
  • Jared Mauch
  • Cindy Morgan (IAB Executive Administrative Manager)
  • Karen O’Donoghue (ISOC Liaison)
  • Colin Perkins (IRTF Chair)
  • David Schinazi
  • Amy Vezza (IETF Secretariat)
  • Martin Vigoureux (IESG Liaison)
  • Russ White
  • Jiankang Yao
Regrets:
  • Tommy Pauly
Observers:
  • Stuart Cheshire
  • Martina D’Onofrio
  • Daniel Migault
  • Greg Wood

1.2. Agenda bash and announcements

Several new items were added to the agenda.

1.3. New action items

  • 2021-05-26: Jari Arkko to send mail to the arch-discuss list on the

work ongoing in the ICANN root server system.
* • 2021-05-26: Jari Arkko to bring the tech trends topic from retreat to the IAB meeting on 2021-06-09.
* 2021-05-26: Cindy Morgan to follow up on the ICANN RZERC appointment.
* 2021-05-26: Mirja Kühlewind to send an email to the IETF Executive Director and RSOC about the RSOC recommendation on the RPC Contract, and ask for a clarification about the process.
* 2021-05-26: Russ White and Jared Mauch to review the IAB discussion on “The Internet of Three Protocols” and draft a problem statement to see if there is work that the IAB can do in this space.

2. Recommendation from RSOC on RPC Contract

The IAB discussed an email from the RSOC Chair recommending a one-year extension of the current RPC contract in order to more smoothly handle completion of the RFC Editor Future Development Program and related transitions at that time.

The IAB was unclear who has responsibility for the RSOC contract. RFC 8728 says the “IAB is responsible for the oversight of the RFC Series” and explicitly talks about RSOC and “recruitment and selection of the RSE,” but it does not mention the RPC contract.

Regardless of who has responsibility for the RPC contract, the IAB was in favor of extending the current contract by one year. Mirja Kühlewind will send an email to the IETF Executive Director and the RSOC to let them know that the IAB endorses the contract extension and ask for a clarification about the process.

3. ICANN Root Zone Evolution Review Committee Appointment

The IAB agreed to seek feedback on the incumbent for the ICANN Root Zone Evolution Review Committee appointment. Cindy Morgan will follow up accordingly.

4. RFC Editor Future Development Program

Wes Hardaker reported that the RFC Editor Future Development Program is likely to send a document to the IAB for adoption on the IAB stream within the next few weeks.

5. IAB Technical Discussion: The Internet of three protocols

In 2018, the IETF published a blog post, “Herding the DNS Camel,” that noted “the inexorable growth of DNS” page counts over time.

Russ White observed that the general trend for protocol development in the Internet seems to be converging everything towards HTTP, DNS, and BGP:

  • HTTP: voice, video, terminal, file transfer, email
  • DNS: name resolution, certificate distribution
  • BGP: inter domain routing, interior routing

Russ White asked if it is wise to keep adding things into the same protocols. Complexity is the enemy of security, and such behavior encourages the centralization of services because the more complex a protocol is, the more challenging it is for people to run on their own. Russ asked if the IAB should we figure out how to discourage mission creep for existing protocols.

Jared Mauch replied that it is a difficult conversation to have because people cannot even agree on what is meant by “protocol.”

Russ White added that in the IETF, there can sometimes be a tendency to want to add new use cases to something even when they are not relevant to the average end user, such as with HOMENET and TRILL.

Cullen Jennings pointed to Mark Handley’s paper on “Why the Internet only just works” as another take on this issue.

Russ White noted that there is a balance between wanting to minimize the number of protocols we deal with and wanting to minimize the complexity of those protocols.

Cullen Jennings agreed, adding that what may be locally optimal is not always globally optimal. If a network is using Protocol A, but Protocol B would be a better path, the barriers to adopting Protocol B might mean that the network stays on Protocol A.

Russ White asked whether it would be better to declare a protocol “done” or whether it is better to keep building on that protocol as long as it is done correctly.

Jared Mauch asked whether the IAB wants to try to come to a consensus on a problem statement to see if there is any work here for the IAB to do. Jared and Russ White agreed to look into this further.