rfc1718.txt

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Network Working Group                                   IETF Secretariat
Request for Comments: 1718                                          CNRI
Obsoletes: 1539, 1391                                          G. Malkin
FYI: 17                                                   Xylogics, Inc.
Category: Informational                                    November 1994


                            The Tao of IETF
    A Guide for New Attendees of the Internet Engineering Task Force


Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  It does
   not specify an Internet standard.  Distribution of this memo is
   unlimited.


Abstract

   Over the last two years, the attendance at Internet Engineering Task
   Force (IETF) plenary meetings has grown phenomenally.  Approximately
   one third of the attendees are new to the IETF at each meeting, and
   many of those go on to become regular attendees.  When the meetings
   were smaller, it wasn't very difficult for a newcomer to get into the
   swing of things.  Today, however, a newcomer meets many more new
   people, some previously known only as the authors of documents or
   thought provoking e-mail messages.

   The purpose of this For Your Information (FYI) RFC is to explain to
   the newcomers how the IETF works.  This will give them a warm, fuzzy
   feeling and enable them to make the meeting more productive for
   everyone.  This FYI will also provide the mundane bits of information
   which everyone who attends an IETF meeting should know.


On-line Availability

   Due to the nature of this document, it can become outdated quite
   quickly.  To overcome this problem, a WorldWide Web version has been
   created that is constantly maintained (the URL is listed below).  If
   you have a WWW client (such as Mosaic), it is suggested that you view
   the on-line version in lieu of this document.  This document will be
   republished as an FYI RFC every year to year-and-a-half to help those
   who do not have access to the WorldWide Web.

   URL for this document: <http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/tao.html>.
   URL for IETF: <http://www.ietf.cnri.reston.va.us/home.html>.



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Table of Contents

   Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff
      What is the IETF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
      Humble Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
      The Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
      IETF Mailing Lists  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
      Registration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      Newcomers' Orientation  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      Dress Code  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
      Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
      Terminal Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
      Social Event  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
      Agenda  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
      Other General Things  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9

   Section 2 - The "You've got to know it" Stuff
      Registration Bullets  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
      Mailing Lists and Archives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
      Important E-mail Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
      IETF Proceedings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      InterNIC Archives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      Be Prepared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      RFCs and Internet-Drafts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
      Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers)  . . . . . . . 17
      Pointers to Useful Documents and Files  . . . . . . . . . . . 18

   Section 3 - The "Reference" Stuff
      Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
      IETF Area Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
      Acronyms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
      Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
      References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
      Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
      Authors' Addresses  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23


What is the IETF?

   The Internet Engineering Task Force is a loosely self-organized group
   of people who make technical and other contributions to the
   engineering and evolution of the Internet and its technologies.  It
   is the principal body engaged in the development of new Internet
   standard specifications.  Its mission includes:

   o  Identifying, and proposing solutions to, pressing operational and
      technical problems in the Internet;




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   o  Specifying the development or usage of protocols and the near-term
      architecture to solve such technical problems for the Internet;

   o  Making recommendations to the Internet Engineering Steering Group
      (IESG) regarding the standardization of protocols and protocol
      usage in the Internet;

   o  Facilitating technology transfer from the Internet Research Task
      Force (IRTF) to the wider Internet community; and

   o  Providing a forum for the exchange of information within the
      Internet community between vendors, users, researchers, agency
      contractors and network managers.

   The IETF meeting is not a conference, although there are technical
   presentations.  The IETF is not a traditional standards organization,
   although many specifications are produced that become standards.  The
   IETF is made up of volunteers who meet three times a year to fulfill
   the IETF mission.

   There is no membership in the IETF.  Anyone may register for and
   attend any meeting.  The closest thing there is to being an IETF
   member is being on the IETF or working group mailing lists (see the
   IETF Mailing Lists section).  This is where the best information
   about current IETF activities and focus can be found.


Humble Beginnings

   The 1st IETF meeting was held in January, 1986 at Linkabit in San
   Diego with 15 attendees.  The 4th IETF, held at SRI in Menlo Park in
   October, 1986, was the first at which non-government vendors
   attended.  The concept of working groups was introduced at the 5th
   IETF meeting at the NASA Ames Research Center in California in
   February, 1987.  The 7th IETF, held at MITRE in McLean, Virginia in
   July, 1987, was the first meeting with over 100 attendees.

   The 14th IETF meeting was held at Stanford University in July, 1989.
   It marked a major change in the structure of the IETF universe.  The
   IAB (then Internet Activities Board, now Internet Architecture
   Board), which until that time oversaw many "task forces," changed its
   structure to leave only two: the IETF and the IRTF.  The IRTF is
   tasked to consider the long-term research problems in the Internet.
   The IETF also changed at that time.







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   After the Internet Society (ISOC) was formed in January, 1992, the
   IAB proposed to ISOC that the IAB's activities should take place
   under the auspices of the Internet Society.  During INET92 in Kobe,
   Japan, the ISOC Trustees approved a new charter for the IAB to
   reflect the proposed relationship.

   The IETF met in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, in July, 1993. This was
   the the first IETF meeting held in Europe, and the US/non-US attendee
   split was nearly 50/50.  A second European meeting is scheduled for
   July 1995 in Stockholm, Sweden.


The Hierarchy

   To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it is useful to
   understand the overall structure in which the IETF resides.  There
   are four groups in the structure: the ISOC and its Board of Trustees,
   the IAB, the IESG and the IETF itself.

   The Internet Society is a professional society that is concerned with
   the growth and evolution of the worldwide Internet, with the way in
   which the Internet is and can be used, and with the social,
   political, and technical issues which arise as a result.  The ISOC
   Trustees are responsible for approving appointments to the IAB from
   among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominating committee.

   The IAB is a technical advisory group of the ISOC.  It is chartered
   to provide oversight of the architecture of the Internet and its
   protocols, and to serve, in the context of the Internet standards
   process, as a body to which the decisions of the IESG may be
   appealed.  The IAB is responsible for approving appointments to the
   IESG from among the nominees submitted by the IETF nominations
   committee.

   The IESG is responsible for technical management of IETF activities
   and the Internet standards process.  As part of the ISOC, it
   administers the process according to the rules and procedures which
   have been ratified by the ISOC Trustees.  The IESG is directly
   responsible for the actions associated with entry into and movement
   along the Internet "standards track," including final approval of
   specifications as Internet Standards.

   The IETF is divided into eight functional areas.  They are:
   Applications, Internet, Network Management, Operational Requirements,
   Routing, Security, Transport and User Services.  Each area has one or
   two area directors.  The area directors, along with the IETF/IESG
   Chair, form the IESG.  Paul Mockepetris is the current IETF/IESG
   Chair.



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   Each area has several working groups.  A working group is a group of
   people who work under a charter to achieve a certain goal.  That goal
   may be the creation of an Informational document, the creation of a
   protocol specification, or the resolution of problems in the
   Internet.  Most working groups have a finite lifetime.  That is, once
   a working group has achieved its goal, it disbands.  As in the IETF,
   there is no official membership for a working group.  Unofficially, a
   working group member is somebody who is on that working group's
   mailing list; however, anyone may attend a working group meeting (see
   the Be Prepared section below).

   Areas may also have Birds of a Feather (BOF) sessions.  They
   generally have the same goals as working groups, except that they
   have no charter and usually only meet once or twice.  BOFs are often
   held to determine if there is enough interest to form a working
   group.


IETF Mailing Lists

   Anyone who plans to attend an IETF meeting should join the IETF
   announcement mailing list.  This is where all of the meeting
   information, Internet-Draft and RFC announcements, and IESG Protocol
   Actions and Last Calls are posted.  People who would like to "get
   technical" may also join the IETF discussion list,
   "[e-mail]".  This is where discussions of cosmic
   significance are held (most working groups have their own mailing
   lists for discussions related to their work).  To join the IETF
   announcement list, send a request to:

        [e-mail]

   To join the IETF discussion list, send a request to:

        [e-mail]

   To join both of the lists, simply send a single message, to either
   "-request" address, and indicate that you'd like to join both lists.

   Do not, ever, under any circumstances, for any reason, send a request
   to join a list to the list itself!  The thousands of people on the
   list don't need, or want, to know when a new person joins.
   Similarly, when changing e-mail addresses or leaving a list, send
   your request only to the "-request" address, not to the main list.
   This means you!!






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   The IETF discussion list is unmoderated.  This means that anyone can
   express their opinions about issues affecting the Internet.  However,
   it is not a place for companies or individuals to solicit or
   advertise.  Only the Secretariat can send messages to the
   announcement list.

   Even though the IETF mailing lists "represent" the IETF membership at
   large, it is important to note that attending an IETF meeting does
   not automatically include addition to either mailing list.


Registration

   As previously mentioned, all meeting announcements are sent to the
   IETF announcement list.  Within the IETF meeting announcement is a
   registration form and complete instructions for registering,
   including, of course, the cost.  The Secretariat highly recommends
   that attendees preregister.  Early registration, which ends about one
   month before the meeting, carries a lower registration fee.  As the
   size of the meetings has grown, so has the length of the lines at the
   registration desk.  There are two lines: "paid" (which moves very
   quickly), and "not paid" (which moves slowly).

   Registration is open all week.  However, the Secretariat highly
   recommends that attendees arrive for early registration, beginning at
   18:00 (meeting local time), on the Sunday before the opening plenary.
   Not only will there be fewer people, but there will also be a
   reception at which people can get a bite to eat.  If the registration
   lines are long, one can eat first and try again when the lines are
   shorter.

   Registered attendees (and there isn't any other kind) receive a
   registration packet.  It contains a general orientation sheet, the
   at-a-glance sheet, a list of working group acronyms, the most recent
   agenda and a name tag.  The at-a-glance is a very important reference
   and is used throughout the week.  It contains working group and BOF
   room assignments and a map of room locations.  Attendees who prepaid