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rfc:rfc1391

Network Working Group G. Malkin Request for Comments: 1391 Xylogics, Inc. FYI: 17 January 1993

                          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
 38% of the attendees are new to the IETF at each meeting.  About 33%
 of those go on to become regular attendees.  When the meetings were
 smaller, it wasn't very difficult for a newcomer to get to know
 people and get into the swing of things.  Today, however, a newcomer
 meets many more new people, some previously known only as the authors
 of Request For Comments (RFC) documents or thought provoking email
 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.

Acknowledgments

 The IETF Secretariat is made up of the following people: Steve Coya
 (Executive Director of the IETF), Cynthia Clark, Megan Davies, Debra
 Legare, and Greg Vaudreuil.  These are the people behind the
 Registration Table, and the success, of the IETF meetings.  I thank
 them for their hard work, and for their input and review of this
 document.  Thanks also to Vinton Cerf, Phillip Gross, and Craig
 Partridge for their review and comments.  And, as always, special
 thanks to April Marine and Skippy.
 I would also like to thank the management of Xylogics for their
 strong, continuing support of my IETF activities.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 1] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

Table of Contents

 Section 1 - The "Fun" Stuff
    What is the IETF? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  2
    Humble Beginnings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    The Hierarchy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  3
    IETF Mailing Lists  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    Registration  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
    Dress Code  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
    Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
    Terminal Room . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
    Social Event  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
    Agenda  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
    Other General Things  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  8
 Section 2 - The "You've got to know it" Stuff
    Registration Bullets  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  9
    Mailing Lists and Archives  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    Important Email Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
    IETF Proceedings  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
    Be Prepared . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
    RFCs and Internet-Drafts  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
    Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers)  . . . . . . . 13
    Pointers to Useful Documents and Files  . . . . . . . . . . . 14
 Section 3 - The "Reference" Stuff
    Tao . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
    IETF Area Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
    Acronyms  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17
    References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
    Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
    Author's Address  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

What is the IETF?

 The IETF is the protocol engineering, development, and
 standardization arm of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB).  Its
 mission includes:
 o  Identifying, and proposing solutions to, pressing operational and
    technical problems in the Internet;
 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 IAB regarding standardization of
    protocols and protocol usage in the Internet;

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 2] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 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 Plenary meeting is not a conference, although there are
 technical presentations.  The IETF is not a traditional standards
 organization, although many standards are produced.  The IETF is the
 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 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 first 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 (WG) 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), 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.  Those changes are
 visible in today's hierarchy.

The Hierarchy

 To completely understand the structure of the IETF, it is useful to
 understand the overall structure in which the IETF resides.  The
 Internet Society (ISOC), formed in January 1992, provides the
 official parent organization for the IETF.  The ISOC Board of
 Trustees appoints the members of the IAB.  The IETF and IRTF Chairs
 are also IAB members.  The IAB provides the final technical review of
 Internet standards.  They also provide leadership in the IETF, by
 virtue of their skills and years of experience.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 3] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 The IETF is divided into nine functional Areas.  They are:
 Applications, Internet Services, Network Management, Operational
 Requirements, OSI Integration, Routing, Security, Transport and
 Services, and User Services.  Each Area has at least one Area
 Director.  There is also an Area Director who oversees Standards
 Management.  The Area Directors, along with the IETF Chair, form the
 Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Phillip Gross has been
 the IETF Chair since the IETF's 7th meeting.  He founded the IESG and
 serves as its Chair as well.  The IESG provides the first technical
 review of Internet standards.  They are also responsible for the
 day-to-day "management" of the IETF.
 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 standard, 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's on that Working Group's mailing list.
 Anyone may attend a Working Group meeting (see the Be Prepared
 section below).
 Areas may also have Birds of a Feather (BOF) groups.  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
 announcements mailing list.  This is where all of the meeting
 information, new and revised Internet-Draft and RFC announcements,
 IESG Recommendations, and Last Calls are posted.  People who'd like
 to "get technical" may also join the IETF discussion list,
 "ietf@cnri.reston.va.us".  This was the only list before the
 announcement list was created and is where discussions of cosmic
 significance are held (most Working Groups have their own mailing
 lists for discussions relating to their work).  To join the IETF
 announcement list, send a request to:
      ietf-announce-request@cnri.reston.va.us
 To join the IETF discussion list, send a request to:
      ietf-request@cnri.reston.va.us

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 4] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 To join both of the lists, simply send a single message, to either
 "-request" address, and indicate that you'd like to join both mailing
 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 email addresses or leaving a list, send your
 request only to the "-request" address, not to the main list.  This
 means you!!
 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 a message 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.  Fortunately, there are three lines: the
 "preregistered and prepaid" line (which moves very quickly); the
 "preregistered and on-site payment" line (which moves a little more
 slowly); and the "registration and on-site payment" line (take a
 guess).
 Registration is open all week.  However, the Secretariat highly
 recommends that attendees arrive for early registration, beginning at
 6:00 P.M. (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 byte to eat.  If the
 registration lines are long, one can eat first and try again when the
 lines are shorter.  Newcomers are encouraged to attend the IETF
 Orientation on Sunday at 4:30 P.M.
 Registered attendees (and there isn't any other kind) receive a
 Registration Packet.  It contains a general orientation sheet, the

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 5] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 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/BOF room assignments and a map of room locations.  Attendees
 who prepaid will also find their receipt in their packet.

Dress Code

 Since attendees must wear their name tags, they must also wear shirts
 or blouses.  Pants or skirts are also highly recommended.  Seriously
 though, many newcomers are often embarrassed when they show up Monday
 morning in suits, to discover that everybody else is wearing T-
 shirts, jeans (shorts, if weather permits) and sandals.  There are
 those in the IETF who refuse to wear anything other than suits.
 Fortunately, they are well known (for other reasons) so they are
 forgiven this particular idiosyncrasy.
 The general rule is: "dress for the weather."

Seeing Spots Before Your Eyes

 Some of the people at the IETF will have a little colored dot on
 their name tags.  A few people have more than one.  These dots
 identify people who are silly enough to volunteer to do a lot of
 extra work.  The colors have the following meanings:
    red    - IAB member
    yellow - IESG member
    blue   - Working Group/BOF chair
    green  - Local host
 Local hosts are the people who can answer questions about the
 terminal room, and restaurants and points of interest in the area.
 It is important that newcomers to the IETF not be afraid to strike up
 conversations with people who wear these dots.  If the IAB and IESG
 members, and Working Group and BOF chairs, didn't want to talk to
 anybody, they wouldn't be wearing the dots in the first place.
 To make life simpler for the Secretariat, Registration Packets are
 also coded with little colored dots.  These are only for Secretariat
 use, so the nobody else needs to worry about them.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 6] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

Terminal Room

 One of the most important (depending on your point of view) things
 the local host does is provide Internet access to the meeting
 attendees.  In general, the connectivity is excellent.  This is
 entirely due to the Olympian efforts of the local hosts, and their
 ability to beg, borrow and steal.  The people and companies who
 donate their equipment, services, and time are to be heartily
 congratulated and thanked.
 While preparation far in advance of the meeting is encouraged, there
 may be some unavoidable "last minute" things which can be
 accomplished in the terminal room.  It may also be useful to people
 who need to make trip reports or status reports while things are
 still fresh in their minds.

Social Event

 Another of the most important things organized and managed by the
 local hosts is the IETF social event.  The social event has become
 something of a tradition at the IETF meetings.  It has been
 immortalized by Marshal Rose with his reference to "many fine lunches
 and dinners" [ROSE], and by Claudio and Julia Topolcic with their
 rendition of "Nerds in Paradise" on a pink T-shirt.
 Newcomers to the IETF are encouraged to attend the social event.
 Everyone is encouraged to wear their name tags.  The social event is
 designed to give people a chance to meet on a social, rather than
 technical, level.
 Sometimes, the social event is a computer or high-tech related event.
 At the Boston IETF, for example, the social was dinner at the
 Computer Museum.  Other times, the social might be a dinner cruise or
 a trip to an art gallery.

Agenda

 The Agenda for the IETF meetings is a very fluid thing.  It is sent,
 in various forms, to the IETF announcement list three times prior to
 the meeting.  The final Agenda is included in the Registration
 Packets.  Of course, "final" in the IETF doesn't mean the same thing
 as it does elsewhere in the world.  The final Agenda is simply the
 version that went to the printers.
 The Secretariat will announce Agenda changes during the morning
 plenary sessions.  Changes will also be posted on the bulletin board

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 7] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 near the IETF Registration Table (not the hotel registration desk).
 Assignments for breakout rooms (that's where the Working Groups and
 BOFs meet) and a map showing the room locations make up the At-A-
 Glance sheet (included in the Registration Packets).  Room
 assignments are as flexible as the Agenda.  Some Working Groups meet
 multiple times during a meeting and every attempt is made to have a
 Working Group meet in the same room each session.  Room assignment
 changes are not necessarily permanent for the week.  Always check the
 At-A-Glance first, then the bulletin board.  When in doubt, check
 with a member of the Secretariat at the Registration Table.

Other General Things

 The opening Plenary on Monday morning is the most heavily attended
 session.  It is where important introductory remarks are made, so
 people are encouraged to attend.
 The guy wearing the suit is probably Vint Cerf, the President of the
 Internet Society and an IAB member.  If you see a guy doing a strip
 tease out of a suit, it's definitely Vint (but don't come just to see
 him do it again; he's only done it once in the Internet's 20 year
 history).
 The IETF Secretariat, and IETFers in general, are very approachable.
 Never be afraid to approach someone and introduce yourself.  Also,
 don't be afraid to ask questions, especially when it comes to jargon
 and acronyms!
 Hallway conversations are very important.  A lot of very good work
 gets done by people who talk together between meetings and over
 lunches and dinners.  Every minute of the IETF can be considered work
 time (much to some people's dismay).
 "Bar BOFs" are unofficial get-togethers, usually in the late evening,
 during which a lot of work gets done over drinks.
 It's unwise to get between a hungry IETFer (and there isn't any other
 kind) and coffee break brownies and cookies, no matter how
 interesting a hallway conversation is.
 IETFers are fiercely independent.  It's always safe to question an
 opinion and offer alternatives, but don't expect an IETFer to follow
 an order.
 The IETF, and the plenary sessions in particular, are not places for
 vendors to try to sell their wares.  People can certainly answer

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 8] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 questions about their company and its products, but bear in mind that
 the IETF is not a trade show.  This does not preclude people from
 recouping costs for IETF related T-shirts, buttons and pocket
 protectors.

Registration Bullets

 Registration is such an important topic, that it's in this RFC twice!
 This is the "very important registration bullets" section.
 o  To attend an IETF meeting: you have to register and you have to
    pay the registration fee.
 o  All you need to do to be registered is to send in a completed
    Registration Form.
 o  You may register by mail, email or fax.  Email and fax
    registration forms will be accepted until 1:00 P.M. ET on the
    Friday before the meeting.
 o  You may preregister and pay, preregister and pay later,
    preregister and pay on-site, or register and pay on-site.
 o  To get the lower registration fee, you must register by the early
    registration deadline (about one month before the meeting).  You
    can still pay later or on-site.
 o  If you don't register by the early registration deadline, a late
    fee is added.
 o  Everyone pays the same fees.  There are no education or group
    discounts.  There are no discounts for attending only part of the
    week.
 o  Register only ONE person per registration form.  Substitutions are
    NOT allowed.
 o  You may register then pay later, but you may not pay then register
    later.  Payment MUST be accompanied by a completed registration
    form.
 o  Purchase orders are NOT accepted.  DD Form 1556 IS accepted.
 o  Refunds are subject to a $20 service charge.  Late fees will not
    be refunded.
 o  The registration fee covers a copy of the meeting's Proceedings,

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 9] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

    Sunday evening reception (cash bar), a daily continental
    breakfast, and two daily coffee breaks.

Mailing Lists and Archives

 As previously mentioned, the IETF announcement and discussion mailing
 lists are the central mailing lists for IETF activities.  However,
 there are many other mailing lists related to IETF work.  For
 example, every Working Group has its own discussion list.  In
 addition, there are some long-term technical debates which have been
 moved off of the IETF list onto lists created specifically for those
 topics.  It is highly recommended that everybody follow the
 discussions on the mailing lists of the Working Groups which they
 wish to attend.  The more work that is done on the mailing lists, the
 less work that will need to be done at the meeting, leaving time for
 cross pollination (i.e., attending Working Groups outside one's
 primary area of interest in order to broaden one's perspective).
 The mailing lists also provide a forum for those who wish to follow,
 or contribute to, the Working Groups' efforts, but cannot attend the
 IETF meetings.
 All IETF discussion lists have a "-request" address which handles the
 administrative details of joining and leaving the list.  It is
 generally frowned upon when such administrivia appears on the
 discussion mailing list.
 Most IETF discussion lists are archived.  That is, all of the
 messages sent to the list are automatically stored on a host for
 anonymous FTP access.  To find out where a particular list is
 archived, send a message to the list's "-request" address, NOT to the
 list itself.

Important Email Addresses

 There are some important IETF email addresses with which everyone
 should be familiar.  They are all located at "cnri.reston.va.us"
 (e.g., "ietf-info@cnri.reston.va.us").  To personalize things, the
 names of the Secretariat staff who handle the lists are given.
 o  ietf-info        general queries about the IETF-
                     Greg Vaudreuil, Megan Davies and Cynthia Clark
 o  ietf-rsvp        queries about meeting locations and fees,
                     emailed Registration Forms-
                     Debra Legare

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 10] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 o  proceedings      queries about previous Proceedings availability,
                     orders for copies of the Proceedings-
                     Debra Legare
 o  ietf-announce-request
                     requests to join/leave IETF announcement list-
                     Cynthia Clark
 o  ietf-request     requests to join/leave IETF discussion list-
                     Cynthia Clark
 o  internet-drafts  Internet-Draft submissions-
                     Cynthia Clark
 o  iesg-secretary   Greg Vaudreuil

IETF Proceedings

 The IETF Proceedings are compiled in the two months following each
 IETF meeting.  The Proceedings usually start with a message from
 Phill Gross, the Chair of the IETF.  Each contains the final
 (hindsight) Agenda, an IETF overview, a report from the IESG, Area
 and Working Group reports, network status briefings, slides from the
 protocol and technical presentations, and the attendees list.  The
 attendees list includes an attendee's name, affiliation, work phone
 number, work fax number, and email address, as provided on the
 Registration Form.
 A copy of the Proceedings will be sent to everyone who registered for
 the IETF.  The cost is included in the registration fee.  The
 Proceedings are sent to the mailing addresses provided on the
 Registration Forms.
 For those who could not attend a meeting but would like a copy of the
 Proceedings send a check for $35 (made payable to CNRI) to:
    Corporation for National Research Initiatives
    Attn: Accounting Department - IETF Proceedings
    1895 Preston White Drive, Suite 100
    Reston, VA   22091
 Please indicate which meeting Proceedings you would like to receive
 by specifying the meeting date (e.g., July 1992) or meeting number
 and location (e.g., 24th meeting in Boston).  Availability of
 previous meeting Proceedings is limited, so check BEFORE sending
 payment.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 11] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

Be Prepared

 This topic cannot be stressed enough.  As the IETF grows, it becomes
 more and more important for attendees to arrive prepared for the
 Working Groups meetings they plan to attend.  This doesn't apply only
 to newcomers; everybody should come prepared.
 Being prepared means having read the documents which the Working
 Group or BOF Chair has distributed.  It means having followed the
 discussions on the Working Group's mailing list or having reviewed
 the archives.  For the Working Group/BOF Chairs, it means getting all
 of the documents out early enough (i.e., several weeks) to give
 everybody time to read them.  It also means announcing an agenda and
 sticking with it.
 At the Chair's discretion, some time may be devoted to bringing new
 Working Group attendees up to speed.  In fact, long lived Working
 Groups have occasionally held entire sessions which were introductory
 in nature.  As a rule, however, a Working Group is not the place to
 go for training.  Observers are always welcome, but they must realize
 that the work effort cannot be delayed for education.  Anyone wishing
 to attend a Working Group for the first time might seek out the Chair
 prior to the meeting and ask for some introduction.
 Another thing, for everybody, to consider is that Working Groups go
 through phases.  In the initial phase (say, the first two meetings),
 all ideas are welcome.  The idea is to gather all the possible
 solutions together for consideration.  In the development phase, a
 solution is chosen and developed.  Trying to reopen issues which were
 decided more than a couple of meetings back is considered bad form.
 The final phase (the last two meetings) is where the "spit and
 polish" are applied to the architected solution.  This is not the
 time to suggest architectural changes or open design issues already
 resolved.  It's a bad idea to wait until the last minute to speak out
 if a problem is discovered.  This is especially true for people whose
 excuse is that they hadn't read the documents until the day before a
 comments period ended.
 Time at the IETF meetings is a precious thing.  Working Groups are
 encouraged to meet between IETF meetings, either in person or by
 video or telephone conference.  Doing as much work as possible over
 the mailing lists would also reduce the amount of work which must be
 done at the meeting.

RFCs and Internet-Drafts

 Originally, RFCs were just what the name implies; they were requests
 for comments.  The early RFCs were messages between the ARPANET

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 12] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 architects about how to resolve certain problems.  Over the years,
 RFCs became more formal.  It reached the point that they were being
 cited as standards, even when they weren't.
 Internet Experiment Notes (IEN) were created to become a new informal
 document series about the early experimental work on TCP and IP.  It
 was thought that having "Notes" as part of the name would prevent
 them from being cited as standards.  As the work matured, the
 documentation was done as RFCs.
 RFCs continue to be the important documents about the Internet; there
 are now two special sub-series within the RFCs: FYIs and STDs.  The
 For Your Information RFC sub-series was created to document overviews
 and things which are introductory.  Frequently, FYIs are created by
 the IETF User Services Area.  The STD RFC sub-series is new.  It was
 created to identify those RFCs which do specify full Internet
 Standards.  RFCs of every type have an RFC number by which they are
 indexed and by which they can be retrieved.  FYIs and STDs have FYI
 numbers and STD numbers, respectively, in addition to RFC numbers.
 This makes it easier for a new Internet user, for example, to find
 all of the helpful, informational documents, by looking in the FYI
 index.  In addition, FYI and STD numbers never change across a
 document revision, while the RFC number does.
 Internet-Drafts (I-D) are working documents of the IETF.  Any group
 (e.g., Working Group, BOF) or individual may submit a document for
 distribution as an I-D.  An I-D is valid for six months.  Recent
 guidelines require that an expiration date appear on every page of an
 I-D.  An I-D may be updated, replaced or obsoleted at any time.  It
 is not appropriate to use I-Ds as reference material or to cite them,
 other than as a "working draft" or "work in progress".
 For additional information, read the following documents:
 o  Request for Comments on Request for Comments [RFC1111]
 o  F.Y.I. on F.Y.I: Introduction to the F.Y.I notes [RFC1150]
 o  Introduction to the STD Notes [RFC1311]
 o  Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts [GAID]
 o  The Internet Activities Board [RFC1160]
 o  The Internet Standards Process [RFC1310]
 o  IAB Official Protocol Standards [STD1]

Frequently Asked Questions (and Their Answers)

 Q: My Working Group moved this morning.  Where is it now?
 A: Not all room assignment changes are permanent.  Check the At-A-
    Glance sheet and the message board for announcements.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 13] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 Q: Where is Room A?
 A: Check the map on the At-A-Glance sheet.  An enlarged version is on
    the bulletin board.
 Q: Where can I get a copy of the Proceedings?
 A: The Proceedings are automatically sent to each attendee about two
    months after the meeting.
 Q: When is on-site registration?
 A: The IETF registration table is set up Sunday night from 6:00 p.m.
    - 8:00 p.m. and Monday - Thursday from about 8:30 a.m. - 6:00 p.m.
    Starting time in the mornings and Friday's hours may vary
    depending on the meeting schedule.
 Q: Where is lunch served?
 A: The meeting does not include lunch or dinner.  Ask a local host
    (somebody with a green dotted badge) for a recommendation.
 Q: Where are the receipts for the social event?
 A: The social is not managed by the IETF Secretariat.  Ask a local
    host.

Pointers to Useful Documents and Files

 This is a list of documents and files that provide useful information
 about the IETF meetings, Working Groups, and documentation.  These
 files reside in the "ietf" directory on the Anonymous FTP sites
 listed below.  Files with names beginning with "0" (zero) pertain to
 IETF meetings.  These may refer to a recently held meeting if the
 first announcement of the next meeting has not yet been sent to the
 IETF mailing list.  Files with names beginning with "1" (one) contain
 general IETF information.  This is only a partial list of the
 available files.
 o  0mtg-agenda.txt            Agenda for the meeting
 o  0mtg-at-a-glance.txt       Logistics information for the meeting
 o  0mtg-rsvp.txt              Meeting registration form
 o  0mtg-sites.txt             Future meeting sites and dates
 o  0mtg-traveldirections.txt  Directions to the meeting site
 o  1directories.txt           The IETF Shadow directory locations and
                               contents.
 o  1id-guidelines.txt         Guidelines to Authors of Internet-Drafts
                               Contains information on writing and
                               submitting I-Ds.
 o  1ietf-description.txt      Short description of the IETF and IESG,
                               including a list of Area Directors.

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 14] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 o  1nonwg-discuss.txt         A list of mailing lists created to
                               discuss specific IETF issues.
 o  1proceedings-request.txt   A Proceedings order form for the
                               current and previous meetings
 o  1wg-summary.txt            List of all Working Groups, by Area,
                               including the name and address of the
                               chairperson, and the mailing list
                               address.
 Additionally, the charters and minutes of the Working Groups and BOFs
 are archived in the "ietf" directory.
 All of these documents are available by anonymous FTP from the
 following sites:
 o  DDN NIC          Address:  nic.ddn.mil (192.112.36.5)
 o  East Coast (US)  Address:  nnsc.nsf.net (128.89.1.178)
 o  West Coast (US)  Address:  ftp.nisc.sri.com (192.33.33.22)
 o  Pacific Rim      Address:  munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21)
 o  Europe           Address:  nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)
 The files are also available via email from various mail servers.  To
 to get the agenda and meeting summary from the mail server at SRI
 International, for example, you would send the following message:
    To: mail-server@nisc.sri.com          Message header
    Subject: anything you want
    send 0mtg-agenda.txt                  Body of the message
    send 0mtg-at-a-glance.txt
 Residing on the same archive sites are the RFCs and Internet-Drafts.
 They are in the "rfc" and "internet-drafts" directories,
 respectively.  The file "rfc-index.txt" contains the latest
 information about the RFCs (e.g., which have been obsoleted by
 which).  In general, only the newest version of an Internet-Draft is
 available.
 Mail servers can also be used to retrieve RFCs and I-Ds.  To use
 SRI's mail server to get an RFC, simply include a "send command" in
 the body of the message for the desired RFC.  For example:
    send rfc1150
 or use a special RFC shorthand:
    rfc 1150

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 15] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 For Internet-Drafts, include the name (yes, they are very long) in a
 "send" command line.  For example:
    send draft-ietf-ripv2-mibext-03.txt
 RFCs may also be retrieved, using email, from ISI's RFC-Info server
 at "rfc-info@isi.edu".  To get a specific RFC, include the following
 in the body of the message:
    Retrieve: RFC
     Doc-ID: RFC0951
 This example would cause a copy of RFC 951 (the leading zero in the
 Doc-ID is required) to be emailed to the requestor.
 To get a list of available RFCs which match certain criteria, include
 the following in the body of the message:
    LIST: RFC
     Keywords: Gateway
 This example would email a list of all RFCs with "Gateway" in the
 title, or as an assigned keyword, to the requestor.
 To get a copy of the RFC-Info manual:
    HELP: Manual
 To get information on other ways to get RFCs:
    HELP: ways_to_get_rfcs

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 16] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

Tao

 Pronounced "Dow", Tao means "the Way."  It is the basic principle
 behind the teachings of Lao-tse, a Chinese master. Its familiar
 symbol is the black and white Yin-Yang circle.

IETF Area Abbreviations

 APP      Applications
 INT      Internet Services
 MGT      Network Management
 OPS      Operational Requirements
 OSI      OSI Integration
 RTG      Routing
 SEC      Security
 TSV      Transport and Services
 USV      User Services

Acronyms

 :-)      Smiley face
 ANSI     American National Standards Institute
 ARPANET  Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
 AS       Autonomous System
 ATM      Asynchronous Transfer Mode
 BGP      Border Gateway Protocol
 BOF      Birds Of a Feather
 BSD      Berkeley Software Distribution
 BTW      By The Way
 CCIRN    Coordinating Committee for Intercontinental Research Networks
 CCITT    International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Comittee
 CNI      Coalition for Networked Information
 CREN     The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
 DARPA    U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
 DDN      U.S. Defense Data Network
 DISA     U.S. Defense Information Systems Agency
 EGP      Exterior Gateway Protocol
 FAQ      Frequently Asked Question
 FARNET   Federation of American Research NETworks
 FIX      U.S. Federal Information Exchange
 FNC      U.S. Federal Networking Council
 FQDN     Fully Qualified Domain Name
 FYI      For Your Information (RFC)
 GOSIP    U.S. Government OSI Profile
 IAB      Internet Architecture Board
 IANA     Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
 I-D      Internet-Draft

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 17] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

 IEN      Internet Experiment Note
 IESG     Internet Engineering Steering Group
 IETF     Internet Engineering Task Force
 IGP      Interior Gateway Protocol
 IMHO     In My Humble Opinion
 IMR      Internet Monthly Report
 IR       Internet Registry
 IRSG     Internet Research Steering Group
 IRTF     Internet Research Task Force
 ISO      International Organization for Standardization
 ISOC     Internet Society
 ISODE    ISO Development Environment
 ITU      International Telecommunication Union
 MIB      Management Information Base
 MIME     Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions
 NIC      Network Information Center
 NIS      Network Information Services
 NIST     National Institute of Standards and Technology
 NOC      Network Operations Center
 NREN     National Research and Education Network
 NSF      National Science Foundation
 OSI      Open Systems Interconnection
 PEM      Privacy Enhanced Mail
 PTT      Postal, Telegraph and Telephone
 RARE     Reseaux Associes pour la Recherche Europeenne
 RFC      Request For Comments
 RIPE     Reseaux IP Europeenne
 SIG      Special Interest Group
 STD      Standard (RFC)
 TLA      Three Letter Acronym
 TTFN     Ta-Ta For Now
 UTC      Universal Time Coordinated
 WG       Working Group
 WRT      With Respect To
 WYSIWYG  What You See is What You Get

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 18] RFC 1391 The Tao of IETF January 1993

References

 GAID    "Guidelines to Authors of Internet Drafts",
         1id-guidelines.txt.
 ROSE    Rose, M., "The Open Book: A Practical Perspective on OSI",
         Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ, 1989.
 RFC1111 Postel, J., "Request for Comments on Request for Comments",
         RFC 1111, USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1989.
 RFC1150 Malkin, G., and J. Reynolds, "F.Y.I. on F.Y.I.", FYI 1, RFC
         1150, Proteon, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March
         1990.
 RFC1160 Cerf, V., "The Internet Activities Board", RFC 1160, NRI, May
         1990.
 RFC1310 Chapin, L., Chair, "The Internet Standards Process", RFC
         1310, Internet Activities Board, March 1992.
 RFC1311 Postel, J., Editor, "Introduction to the STD Notes", RFC
         1311, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1992.
 STD1    Postel, J., Editor, "IAB Official Protocol Standards", STD 1,
         RFC1360, Internet Architecture Board, September 1992.

Security Considerations

 Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

 Gary Scott Malkin
 Xylogics, Inc.
 53 Third Avenue
 Burlington, MA  01803
 Phone:  (617) 272-8140
 EMail:  gmalkin@Xylogics.COM

Internet Engineering Task Force [Page 19]

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