RFC and internet standards presentation

This presentation covers:
How any Internet standard is defined ?
What is RFC?
Historical review of RFC
RFC Editor
RFC Process
What is an Internet Standard ?
Internet Standardization Goals
Internet Standard Development Process

1. RFC & Process of developing Internet Standards Presentation by : Chetan Sharma Naveen Jakhar ITS - 2014 Batch 1

2. Topics covered in this presentation: What is RFC? Historical review of RFC RFC Editor RFC Process What is an Internet Standard ? Internet Standardization Goals Internet Standard Development Process 2

3. RFC- an Introduction Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) &  Internet Society  (ISOC) - the principal technical development and standards-setting bodies for the  Internet RFC stands for Request for Comments RFC is a type of publication from IETF and ISOC RFC is authored by engineers and computer scientists in the form of a  memorandum  describing methods, behaviours, research, or innovations applicable to the working of the Internet and Internet-connected systems 3

4. RFC- an Introduction …… RFC is submitted either for peer review or simply to convey new concepts and information The IETF adopts some of the proposals published as RFCs as  Internet Standards The official source for RFCs on the World Wide Web is the  RFC Editor Any published RFC can be retrieved via a  URL  of the form http://www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc5000.txt, shown for  RFC 5000 4

5. History of RFC – How RFC came into existence ? RFC documents were invented by Steve Crocker  in 1969  to help record unofficial notes on the development of  ARPANET ARPANET -  Advanced Research Projects Agency Network was an early packet switching network and the first network to implement the protocol suite TCP/IP. Both technologies became the technical foundation of the  Internet RFCs have since become official documents of Internet specifications, communications protocols, procedures and events Today’s RFC is the official publication channel for the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF ) & the  Internet Architecture Board  (IAB) 5

6. RFC Editor The authors submit their documents on RFC Editor Portal RFC Editor is an online portal https://www.rfc-editor.org / The RFC Editor assigns each RFC a serial number Once assigned a number and published, an RFC is never modified; if the document requires amendments, the authors publish a revised document 6 Original RFC C hanges Obsolete version Revised version

7. RFC Process RFC process is documented in  RFC 2026  ( The Internet Standards Process, Revision 3 ) There are four streams of RFCs: ( 1)  IETF – Internet Engineering Task Force (2 )  IRTF – Internet Research Task Force (3 )  IAB – Internet Architecture Board under ISOC (4)  Independent submission 7

8. IETF Sub- series RFC series contains three sub-series for IETF  RFCs : (1) BCP, (2) FYI & (3) STD BCP - Best Current Practice FYI - For Your Information; informational RFCs promoted by the IETF STD - Standard ; the third and highest maturity level of the IETF standards track Only the IETF creates BCPs and RFCs on standards track IRTF and  independent  RFCs contain relevant information or experiments for the Internet at large not in conflict with IETF work 8

9. RFC Process ……… continued An  independent submission  is checked by the  IESG ( Internet Engineering Steering Group)  for conflicts with IETF work; the quality is assessed by an  independent submission editorial board Each RFC is assigned a designation with regard to status within the Internet standardization process This status is one of the following : Informational ,  Experimental ,  Best Current Practice ,  Standards Track or  Historic Each RFC is static; if the document is changed, it is submitted again and assigned a new RFC number 9

10. Standard Track Only the IETF, represented by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), can approve standards-track  RFCs 10

11. Standard Track If an RFC becomes an Internet Standard (STD), it is assigned an STD number but retains its RFC number also The definitive list of Internet Standards is itself an Internet Standard, STD 1:  Internet Official Protocol Standards When an Internet Standard is updated, its STD number stays the same, now referring to a new RFC or set of RFCs 11

12. Best Current Practice The Best Current Practice  sub-series collects administrative documents and other texts which are considered as official rules and not only  informational The BCP series also covers technical recommendations for how to practice Internet standards Best Current Practices work in a similar fashion as Standard Track; BCP  n  refers to a certain RFC or set of RFCs 12

13. Informational and Experimental Usually Informational RFCs form FYI sub-series An  informational  RFC can be nearly anything from  humorous jokes  to widely recognized essential RFCs An  experimental  RFC can be an IETF document or an individual submission to the 'RFC Editor‘ A draft is designated experimental if it is unclear the proposal will work as intended or otherwise I f the proposal will be widely adopted Experimental RFCs may be promoted to standards track if it becomes popular and works well 13

14. Historic and Unknown An   historic  RFC is one that the technology defined by the RFC is no longer recommended for use, which differs from "Obsoletes" header in a replacement RFC For example : Internet Explorer – historic and windows2000 OS- obsolete Status  unknown  is used for some very old RFCs, where it is unclear which status the document would get if it were published today 14

15. Internet Standard An  Internet Standard is a specification that is stable and well-understood, is technically competent, has multiple, independent , and interoperable implementations with operational experience , enjoys significant public support, and is recognizably useful in some or all parts of the Internet Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF ) Engineering contributions to the IETF start as an Internet Draft, may be promoted to a Request for Comments, and may eventually become an Internet Standard 15

16. Internet Standardization Goals 16 High Quality Prior Implementation and testing Openness and Fairness Timeliness Specifications that are destined to become Internet Standards evolve through a set of maturity levels known as the " standards track "

17. Internet Standard development Process 17

18. References 18 https:// tools.ietf.org/html/rfc1310#section-2.1 https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_Standard https:// en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Request_for_Comments https:// www.rfc-editor.org/rfc/rfc1602.txt https://www.rfc-editor.org /

19. Thank You “ Language is the principal tool with which we communicate; but when words are used carelessly or mistakenly, what was intended to advance mutual understanding may in fact hinder it; our instrument becomes our burden” 19