Applicability Statement for Reclassification of RFC 1643 to Historic Status
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Network Working Group                                           J. Flick
Request for Comments: 3638                       Hewlett-Packard Company
Obsoletes: 1643                                                 C. Heard
Category: Informational                                       Consultant
                                                          September 2003

            Applicability Statement for Reclassification of
                      RFC 1643 to Historic Status

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 (2003).  All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

   This memo recommends that RFC 1643 be reclassified as an Historic
   document and provides the supporting motivation for that
   recommendation.

1.  Details

   STD 50, RFC 1643 [RFC1643], "Definitions of Managed Objects for the
   Ethernet-like Interface Types", and its SMIv2 equivalent, RFC 1650
   [RFC1650], are applicable to half-duplex 10 Mb/s Ethernet interfaces
   only.  Subsequent to the 1994 publication of these documents, 100
   Mb/s, 1000 Mb/s, and 10 Gb/s Ethernet interface types have been
   developed, and full-duplex operation at 10 Mb/s has been
   standardized.  Updates to RFC 1650 have been produced to accommodate
   these new technologies [RFC2358] [RFC2665] [RFC2666] [RFC3635].
   These updates define new MIB objects to supplement those defined in
   RFC 1643 and RFC 1650 and in addition deprecate some of the objects
   in RFC 1643 and RFC 1650 that are no longer considered useful.  They
   also levy a requirement for implementations of the EtherLike-MIB to
   support the MAU-MIB [RFC2239] [RFC2668] [RFC3636] as well.

Flick & Heard                Informational                      [Page 1]
RFC 3638              RFC 1643 to Historic Status         September 2003

   RFC 1643 is an obsolete specification, overtaken by events.  Its
   SMIv2 equivalent, RFC 1650, was officially retired in 1998.  New
   implementations -- even those that support only half-duplex 10 Mb/s
   interfaces -- should comply with in the latest version of the
   specification, currently RFC 3635 [RFC3635] and RFC 2666 [RFC2666],
   instead of RFC 1643.  It is therefore recommended that RFC 1643 be
   reclassified as an Historic document.

2.  Effect on Other Standards Track Documents

   Reclassification of RFC 1643 will have no impact on the status of any
   standards track RFC because no standards track RFC cites it as a
   normative reference.  An RFC content search made with the tools
   available at http://www.rfc-editor.org reveals the following
   standards track documents that cite RFC 1643:

      Document               Title
      --------               -----

      RFC 2020         IEEE 802.12 Interface MIB

      RFC 2358         Definitions of Managed Objects for the
                       Ethernet-like Interface Types

      RFC 2665         Definitions of Managed Objects for the
                       Ethernet-like Interface Types

      RFC 2720         Traffic Flow Measurement: Meter MIB

      RFC 3635         Definitions of Managed Objects for the
                       Ethernet-like Interface Types

   RFC 2020 [RFC2020] contains DOT12-IF-MIB, which is the MIB module for
   managing IEEE 802.12 100VG-AnyLAN interfaces.  It refers to RFC 1643
   in the context of an admonition not to implement the EtherLike-MIB
   for any interface where the DOT12-IF-MIB is implemented.

   RFC 2358 [RFC2358], RFC 2665 [RFC2665], and RFC 3635 [RFC3635] all
   contain updated versions of the EtherLike-MIB.  They refer to RFC
   1643 in the context of explaining the history of the EtherLike-MIB,
   and the citation in RFC 3635 is explicitly listed as a non-normative
   reference.

   RFC 2720 [RFC2720] contains the FLOW-METER-MIB.  It refers to RFC
   1643 only in an ASN.1 comment in the MIB module.  Omission of that
   comment would not preclude correct implementation of the MIB module.

   Clearly, none of these citations are normative.

Flick & Heard                Informational                      [Page 2]
RFC 3638              RFC 1643 to Historic Status         September 2003

3.  Security Considerations

   Reclassification of RFC 1643 will not, in and of itself, have any
   effect on the security of the Internet.

4.  Normative References

   [RFC1643]   Kastenholz, F., "Definitions of Managed Objects for the
               Ethernet-like Interface Types", STD 50, RFC 1643, July
               1994.

   [RFC1650]   Kastenholz, F., "Definitions of Managed Objects for the
               Ethernet-like Interface Types using SMIv2", RFC 1650,
               August 1994.

   [RFC2020]   Flick, J., "IEEE 802.12 Interface MIB", RFC 2020, October
               1996.

   [RFC2239]   de Graaf, K., Romascanu, D., McMaster, D., McCloghrie, K.
               and S. Roberts, "Definitions of Managed Objects for IEEE