research-article

Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment

Authors:

Stephen McQuistin,

Prashant Khare,

Matthew Purver,

Patrick Healey,

Ignacio CastroAuthors Info & Claims

IMC '21: Proceedings of the 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference

Pages 137 - 149

https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487821

Published: 02 November 2021 Publication History

Abstract

Protocol standards, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are crucial to the successful operation of the Internet. This paper presents a large-scale empirical study of IETF activities, with a focus on understanding collaborative activities, and how these underpin the publication of standards documents (RFCs). Using a unique dataset of 2.4 million emails, 8,711 RFCs and 4,512 authors, we examine the shifts and trends within the standards development process, showing how protocol complexity and time to produce standards has increased. With these observations in mind, we develop statistical models to understand the factors that lead to successful uptake and deployment of protocols, deriving insights to improve the standardisation process.

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Jari Arkko and Ted Hardie. 2021. Report from the IAB Workshop on Design Expectations vs. Deployment Reality in Protocol Development. RFC Editor. RFC 8980.

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Scott Bradner. 1996. The Internet Standards Process - Revision 3. RFC Editor. RFC 2026.

Digital Library

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Scott Bradner. 1997. Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels. RFC Editor. RFC 2119.

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Heather Flanagan. 2019. Fifty Years of RFCs. RFC Editor. RFC 8700.

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Christian Huitema. 2021. Evaluation of a Sample of RFCs Produced in 2018. RFC Editor. RFC 8963.

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IAB and Leslie Daigle. 2007. The RFC Series and RFC Editor. RFC Editor. RFC 4844.

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Cited By

Healey PKhare PCastro ITyson GKaran MShekhar RMcQuistin SPerkins CPurver M(2024)Power and vulnerability: managing sensitive language in organizational communicationFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2023.126642514Online publication date: 23-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1266425
Huang RChattopadhyay SChua TNgo CKumar RLauw HKa-Wei Lee R(2024)A Tale of Two Communities: Exploring Academic References on Stack OverflowCompanion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 202410.1145/3589335.3651464(855-858)Online publication date: 13-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3589335.3651464
Caviglione LMazurczyk W(2024)You Can’t Do That on Protocols Anymore: Analysis of Covert Channels in IETF StandardsIEEE Network10.1109/MNET.2024.335241138:5(255-263)Online publication date: Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MNET.2024.3352411
Show More Cited By

Index Terms

Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment
1. Networks
  1. Network protocols
    1. Network protocol design
2. Social and professional topics
  1. User characteristics

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Published In

cover image ACM Conferences

IMC '21: Proceedings of the 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference

November 2021

768 pages

ISBN:9781450391290

DOI:10.1145/3487552

General Chairs:
Dave Levin
University of Maryland
,
Alan Mislove
Northeastern University
,
Program Chairs:
Johanna Amann
International Computer Science Institute
,
Matthew Luckie
University of Waikato

Copyright © 2021 ACM.

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Published: 02 November 2021

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IMC '21

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IMC '21: ACM Internet Measurement Conference

November 2 - 4, 2021

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Overall Acceptance Rate 277 of 1,083 submissions, 26%

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Cited By

Healey PKhare PCastro ITyson GKaran MShekhar RMcQuistin SPerkins CPurver M(2024)Power and vulnerability: managing sensitive language in organizational communicationFrontiers in Psychology10.3389/fpsyg.2023.126642514Online publication date: 23-Feb-2024
https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2023.1266425
Huang RChattopadhyay SChua TNgo CKumar RLauw HKa-Wei Lee R(2024)A Tale of Two Communities: Exploring Academic References on Stack OverflowCompanion Proceedings of the ACM Web Conference 202410.1145/3589335.3651464(855-858)Online publication date: 13-May-2024
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3589335.3651464
Caviglione LMazurczyk W(2024)You Can’t Do That on Protocols Anymore: Analysis of Covert Channels in IETF StandardsIEEE Network10.1109/MNET.2024.335241138:5(255-263)Online publication date: Sep-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/MNET.2024.3352411
Bian JWelzl MKutuzov AArefyev N(2024)Tell Me Why: Language Models Help Explain the Rationale Behind Internet Protocol Design2024 IEEE International Conference on Machine Learning for Communication and Networking (ICMLCN)10.1109/ICMLCN59089.2024.10624781(447-453)Online publication date: 5-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/ICMLCN59089.2024.10624781
Liang RZeng QGuo WDuan HNi W(2024)Automatic Extraction of Petri Nets from RFC Protocol Texts2024 27th International Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work in Design (CSCWD)10.1109/CSCWD61410.2024.10580780(556-561)Online publication date: 8-May-2024
https://doi.org/10.1109/CSCWD61410.2024.10580780
McQuistin SKaran MKhare PPerkins CPurver MHealey PCastro ITyson G(2023)Errare humanum est: What do RFC Errata say about Internet Standards?2023 7th Network Traffic Measurement and Analysis Conference (TMA)10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980(1-9)Online publication date: 26-Jun-2023
https://doi.org/10.23919/TMA58422.2023.10198980
Anaobi IRaman ACastro IZia HIbosiola DTyson G(2023)Will Admins Cope? Decentralized Moderation in the FediverseProceedings of the ACM Web Conference 202310.1145/3543507.3583487(3109-3120)Online publication date: 30-Apr-2023
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3543507.3583487
Welzl MOtt JPerkins CIslam SKutscher D(2023)How not to IETF: Lessons Learned From Failed Standardization Attempts2023 IEEE International Conference on Pervasive Computing and Communications Workshops and other Affiliated Events (PerCom Workshops)10.1109/PerComWorkshops56833.2023.10150250(427-432)Online publication date: 13-Mar-2023
https://doi.org/10.1109/PerComWorkshops56833.2023.10150250
Trautwein DRaman ATyson GCastro IScott WSchubotz MGipp BPsaras YKuipers FOrda A(2022)Design and evaluation of IPFSProceedings of the ACM SIGCOMM 2022 Conference10.1145/3544216.3544232(739-752)Online publication date: 22-Aug-2022
https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/3544216.3544232

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