IETF Overview

Overview of the IETF

The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a large open international community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the evolution of the Internet architecture and the smooth operation of the Internet. It is open to any interested individual.

IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group)

The IESG is responsible for technical management of IETF activities and the Internet standards process. It administers the process according to the rules and procedures that have been ratified by the ISOC Trustees. However, the IESG doesn't do much direct leadership , such as the kind you will find in many other standards organizations. As its name suggests, its role is to set directions rather than to give orders . The IESG ratifies or corrects the output from the IETF's Working Groups (WGs), gets WGs started and finished, and makes sure that non-WG drafts that are about to become RFCs are correct.

IESG Area Directors

The IESG consists of the Area Directors (ADs), who are selected by the Nominations Committee (which is usually called "the NomCom") and are appointed for two years.

General (GEN): Catch-all for WGs that don't fit in other areas (which is very few)

Operations and Management (OPS): Operational aspects, network monitoring, and configuration

Real-time Applications and Infrastructures : Delay-sensitive interpersonal communications

IETF Working Groups

More important, each WG has a charter that the WG is supposed to follow. The charter states the scope of discussion for the Working Group, as well as its goals

The WG Chair's responsibility

The WG activity

Any decision made at a face-to-face meeting must also gain consensus on the WG mailing list

There is no formal voting. The general rule on disputed topics is that the Working Group has to come to "rough consensus

BOFs (Birds of a Feather)

A Birds of a Feather (BOF) meeting has to be approved by the Area Director in the relevant area before it can be scheduled. If you think you really need a new WG , approach an AD informally with your proposal and see what he or she thinks. The next step is to request a meeting slot at the next face-to-face meeting.

Many BOFs don't turn into WGs for a variety of reasons. A common problem is that not enough people can agree on a focus for the work. Another typical reason is that the work wouldn't end up being a standard -- if, for example, the document authors don't really want to relinquish change control to a WG.