The Tao of IETF - A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force
RFC 3160
| Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(August 2001; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 4677
Obsoletes RFC 1718
Was draft-ietf-uswg-tao (uswg WG)
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|---|---|---|---|
| Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
| Stream | IETF | ||
| Formats | plain text pdf html bibtex | ||
| Stream | WG state | (None) | |
| Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
| IESG | IESG state | RFC 3160 (Informational) | |
| Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
| Telechat date | |||
| Responsible AD | (None) | ||
| Send notices to | (None) | ||
Network Working Group S. Harris
Request for Comments: 3160 Merit Network
FYI: 17 August 2001
Obsoletes: 1718
Category: Informational
The Tao of IETF - A Novice's Guide to the Internet Engineering
Task Force
Status of this Memo
This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this
memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
This document describes the inner workings of IETF meetings and
Working Groups, discusses organizations related to the IETF, and
introduces the standards process.
Table of Contents
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
Acknowledgements. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
1. What Is the IETF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1 Humble Beginnings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2 The Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.1 ISOC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1.2.2 IESG . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
1.2.3 IAB. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
1.2.4 IANA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.5 RFC Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
1.2.6 IETF Secretariat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
1.3 IETF Mailing Lists. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2. IETF Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
2.1 Registration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
2.2 Newcomers' Orientation. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.3 Dress Code. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
2.4 Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.5 Terminal Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
2.6 Meals and Other Delights. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.7 Social Event. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
Harris Informational [Page 1]
RFC 3160 The Tao of IETF August 2001
2.8 Agenda. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
2.9 Where Do I Fit In?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.9.1 IS Managers. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.9.2 Network Operators and ISPs . . . . . . . . . . . 15
2.9.3 Networking Hardware and Software Vendors . . . . 15
2.9.4 Academics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.9.5 Computer Trade Press . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.10 Proceedings. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
2.11 Other General Things . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
3. Working Groups. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.1 Working Group Chairs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .18
3.2 Getting Things Done in a Working Group. . . . . . . . . 19
3.3 Preparing for Working Group Meetings . . . . . . . . 19
3.4 Working Group Mailing Lists . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.5 Interim Working Group Meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
4. BOFs. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
5. New to the IETF? STOP HERE! (Temporarily). . . . . . . . . 22
6. RFCs and Internet Drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.1 Getting a Standard Published . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
6.2 Letting Go Gracefully . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.3 Internet Drafts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
6.3.1 Recommended Reading for Writers . . . . . . . . . 25
6.3.2 Filenames and Other Matters . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.4 Standards-Track RFCs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
6.4.1 Telling It Like It Is -- Using MUST and
SHOULD and MAY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
6.4.2 Normative References in Standards . . . . . . . . 28
6.4.3 IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.4.4 Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
6.4.5 Patents in IETF Standards . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
6.5 Informational and Experimental RFCs . . . . . . . . . . 31
7. How to Contribute to the IETF -- What You Can Do . . . . . . 31
7.1 What Your Company Can Do . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32
8. IETF and the Outside World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.1 IETF and Other Standards Groups . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
8.2 Press Coverage of the IETF. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 33
9. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 35
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