IETF News

IETF Ornithology: Recent Sightings – July 2017

By: Mat Ford

Date: July 5, 2017

line break image

Getting new work started in the IETF usually requires a birds-of-a-feather (BoF) meeting to discuss goals for the work, the suitability of the IETF as a venue for pursuing the work, and the level of interest in and support for the work. In this article, we’ll review the BoFs that took place during IETF 98, including their intentions and outcomes. If you are inspired to arrange a BoF meeting, please be sure to read RFC 5434, “Considerations for Having a Successful Birds-of-a-Feather (BoF) Session”.

Coordinated Address Space Management (casm)

Description: Organizations use IP address space management (IPAM) tools to manage their IP address space, often with proprietary databases and interfaces. This proposed work is intended to evolve IPAM into standardized interfaces for coordinated management of IP addresses, including software-defined networks and other forms of virtualization. Use cases include dynamic allocation and release of IP addresses and prefixes based on usage and/or user intent. The purpose of the BoF was to gather a common set of requirements from a larger set of operators and to better understand use cases.

Proceedings: Slides, documents, and audio and video recordings are available online (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/98/proceedings, search for “casm”).

Outcome: There was discussion of IPAM services and use cases. The meeting concluded with discussion of whether the IETF should take on this work in the future. There was agreement that there was a problem for the IETF to solve and interest from diverse stakeholders in working on a solution. Further work to refine the problem and scope will take place on the mailing list (https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/casm).

WGs Using GitHub (wugh)

Description: GitHub is being used by more IETF Working Groups for proposing and tracking changes to WG Internet-Drafts. Using GitHub for normal WG processes requires some training, and edge cases in its usage abound. There are also questions of how to capture information that is created in GitHub into WG mailing lists so it can be both seen by all participants and properly archived. This BoF was also used to discuss the creation of IETF-wide documentation about how to use GitHub effectively in WG processes.

Proceedings: Minutes are available at https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/98/minutes/minutes-98-wugh-00.txt.

Slides, documents, and audio and video recordings are available online (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/98/proceedings, search for “wugh”).

Outcome: A good discussion of the ways in which GitHub is being used by various IETF Working Groups and IRTF Research Groups. Several issues were identified and more work will be required to document best practices and better integrate use of GitHub with IETF processes. The discussion will continue on the mailing list (https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ietf-and-github).

A Protocol for Dynamic Trusted Execution Environment Enablement (teep)

Description: The goal of this group is to standardize a protocol for dynamic trusted execution environment enablement. The industry has been working on an application layer security protocol that allows configuration of security credentials and software running in a Trusted Execution Environment (TEE). Today, TEEs are found in home routers, set-top boxes, smart phones, tablets, wearable devices, and so forth. To date, mostly proprietary protocols are used in these environments. This BoF was an attempt to start work on standardizing such a protocol. A straw man proposal has been published at ​https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-pei-opentrustprotocol-03

Proceedings: Minutes are available at https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/98/minutes/minutes-98-teep-00.txt.

Slides, audio and video recordings are available online (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/98/proceedings, search for “teep”).

Outcome: There was an overview presentation on TEEs, presentations from ARM and Intel about their product offerings and presentations on use-cases and possible architectures. The meeting concluded by identifying a number of people willing to volunteer to continue participating in the work to better define the problem and proposed work items. Discussion will continue on the mailing list (https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/teep).

IASA 2.0 (iasa20)

Description: The IETF community has identified a need to review and possibly rework the administrative arrangements at the IETF, dubbed the IASA 2.0 project (https://www.ietf.org/blog/2016/11/proposed-project-ietf-administrative-support-2-0/). A series of virtual workshops were offered related to this effort. This BoF provided an opportunity to talk about the feedback that was received from the workshops and to solicit further feedback.

Proceedings: Minutes are available at https://www.ietf.org/proceedings/98/minutes/minutes-98-iasa20-00.txt.

Slides, documents, audio and video recordings are available online (https://datatracker.ietf.org/meeting/98/proceedings, search for “iasa20”).

Outcome: A robust discussion about the challenges facing the current administrative structure and arrangements, and an opportunity for those present to express their views and concerns vis-à-vis some of the alternative approaches to reform. Discussion will continue on the mailing list (https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/iasa20).