Minutes of the 2021-06-16 IAB Teleconference
1. Administrivia
1.1. Attendance
Present:
- Jari Arkko
- Deborah Brungard
- Ben Campbell
- Michelle Cotton (IANA Liaison)
- Lars Eggert (IETF Chair)
- Wes Hardaker
- Cullen Jennings
- John Levine (Temporary RFC Series Project Manager)
- Zhenbin Li
- Jared Mauch
- Cindy Morgan (IAB Executive Administrative Manager)
- Tommy Pauly
- Karen O’Donoghue (ISOC Liaison)
- Colin Perkins (IRTF Chair)
- Amy Vezza (IETF Secretariat)
- Martin Vigoureux (IESG Liaison)
- Russ White
- Jiankang Yao
Regrets:
- Mirja Kühlewind (IAB Chair)
- David Schinazi
Observers:
- Warren Kumari
- Daniel Migault
- Greg Wood
1.2. Agenda bash and announcements
No new items were added to the agenda.
1.3. Meeting Minutes
The following meeting minutes were approved:
- 2021-05-26 business meeting & technical discussion – (draft submitted 2021-05-26)
- 2021-06-02 business meeting – (draft submitted 2021-06-02)
1.4. Action Item Review
Done:
- 2021-04-07: Tommy Pauly (with Christoph Paasch and Stuart Cheshire) to update the proposal for an IAB workshop on user-consumable network quality and send it to the IAB for further refinement.
- 2021-05-18: Cindy Morgan to follow up with Stuart Cheshire about setting up a web page for the Network Quality Workshop. (Page should be live by 2021-06-09.)
- 2021-05-05: Cullen Jennings to reach out to Warren Kumari and Rob Wilton on living documents and report back to the IAB.
In Progress:
- 2021-04-07: Wes Hardaker (with Cullen Jennings, Colin Perkins, and Russ White) to come up with a list of subjective tags that define common characteristics of good RFCs.
- 2021-04-27: Deborah Brungard to work with Alvaro Retana (Jiankang Yao, Zhenbin Li) on a proposal about the IAB coordinating outreach efforts.
- 2021-04-29: Tommy Pauly to come up with a list of things for the IAB to review during the WG chartering process.
- 2021-04-29: Karen O’Donoghue to arrange a discussion between the IAB and the ISOC team working on moderation issues.
- 2021-05-18: Mirja Kühlewind and Colin Perkins to continue working with Niels ten Oever to refine the proposal for a workshop on IETF participation trends.
- 2021-05-18: Ben Campbell (with Tommy Pauly and Wes Hardaker) to draft an IAB Statement on inclusive language.
- 2021-05-26: Jari Arkko to send mail to the arch-discuss list on the work ongoing in the ICANN root server system.
- 2021-05-26: Jari Arkko to bring the tech trends topic from retreat to an IAB meeting in June.
- 2021-05-26: Russ White and Jared Mauch to review the IAB discussion on “The Internet of Three Protocols” and draft a problem statement to see if there is work that the IAB can do in this space.
New:
- 2021-06-16: Cindy Morgan to follow up on the Community Coordination Group appointments.
2. Monthly Reports
2.1. IESG Liaison Report
–Begin IESG Liaison Report, Ben Campbell–
Lars is preparing a blog post to the effect that, while the IESG appreciates post-meeting feedback regarding side meetings, the IESG thinks the current level of support is appropriate does not plan to change that. Jay asked if the IESG wanted to strengthen the statement that side meetings do no collect blue sheets to say that side meetings should not collect personal information. Multiple ADs mentioned that this did not seem practical, and that taking attendee lists and capturing contact information for future discussion seemed normal. The conclusion is that Jay will remind people that the privacy statement applies. Rob noted that github comes with it’s own code of conduct that would bind any IETF participant using GIT. Should the IESG care? Jay forwarded the question to counsel. Erik is considering rechartering NTP to broaden the scope to cover network time protocols in general. The IESG published the proposed policy on individual email addresses under the ietf.org domain and asked for community feedback. The IESG has finalized the job descriptions for the NOMCOM.
–End IESG Liaison Report, Ben Campbell–
2.2. IRTF Chair Report
–Begin IRTF Chair Report, Colin Perkins–
IRTF chair report to the IAB for the month ending 16 June 2021.
# Research Groups
Recent workshop on LEO satellite networking organised by ETH Zürich,
(https://leoconn.github.io) potentially target an IRTF research group;
discussion ongoing.
# ANRP
The ANRP award talks for IETF 111 will be given by Rüdiger Birkner
("Config2spec: Mining Network Specifications from Network
Configurations", NSDI 2020) and Sadjad Fouladi ("Salsify: low-latency
network video through tighter integration between a video codec and a
transport protocol”, NSDI 2018).
# ANRW
13 papers and two invited talks were accepted from 28 submissions.
Registration will open shortly. Started scheduling discussion with
secretariat - ANRW complicates IETF scheduling due to large number of
sessions with many conflicts.
# Documents and Errata
draft-irtf-panrg-what-not-to-do sent to RFC Editor (UTH48)
draft-oran-icnrg-qosarch sent to RFC Editor
draft-irtf-cfrg-argon2 ready for RFC Editor
draft-irtf-icnrg-icn-lte-4g completed IRSG ballot; returned to RG
draft-irtf-icnrg-icnlowpan ready for IESG conflict review
draft-irtf-icnrg-nrs-requirements in IRSG final poll
draft-irtf-cfrg-hpke in IRSG final poll
draft-irtf-panrg-questions in IRSG review
draft-irtf-icnrg-nrsarch-considerations-04 in IRSG review
draft-irtf-pearg-numeric-ids-history-07 in IRSG review
draft-irtf-pearg-numeric-ids-generation-07 in IRSG review
draft-irtf-nwcrg-nwc-ccn-reqs-05 in IRTF Chair review
draft-irtf-cfrg-spake2-18 in IRTF Chair review
–End IRTF Chair Report, Colin Perkins–
2.3. ICANN Liaison Report
–Begin ICANN Liaison Report, Harald Alvestrand–
This report covers the state of the ICANN as seen from the liaison as per June 12, 2021. New gTLD round - SubPro The Global Names Supporting Organization (GNSO) has spoken, concluding its policy work: There should be a next gTLD application round. Now there are just a few details to work out. A number of communities (including the SSAC, representing security concerns, and the GAC, representing government concerns) think that there are serious concerns that must be addressed before launching the new round - one of those, the subject of a multi-year study led by the SSAC (the NCAP study), concerns the problem of collisions between new TLDs and names that have been used internally in companies and private networks. A main problem here is that it’s not clear either when the problem has been studied enough or what conclusions can be drawn from it (all the way from “no new gTLDs are safe to release” to “it’s not a problem - just go ahead” are still theoretically possible outcomes). This is just one example of an issue that has been raised - and might not even be the hardest one. But it serves to illustrate the pattern of “we can’t launch this until the studies have concluded”, and the lack of progress in actually concluding those studies. Still, ICANN is in the process of launching an Operational Design Phase for this area too - basically figuring out how we can do this, what it is likely to cost, and what the blocking factors are. It’s not yet formally launched, but is getting close. Access to non-public registrant info - GDPR, EPDP, SSAD This area continues to be a tribute to ICANN’s ability to drag any process out for an indefinite amount of time while still not totally precluding sensible action. The Expedited PDP (EPDP) policy process has long ended, resulting in a final report that left core questions unanswered. The current work is called “EPDP phase 2”, which has produced a “final report of EPDP phase 2A”, leaving - again - some questions to be answered in “EPDP phase 2B”. The current thought is that in order to satisfy law enforcement et al’s requirement for an “one stop, one size” method to get private information about any registrant, ICANN should operate (or license an operator for) a central gateway that offers authentication and authorization information about information requestsers and relays those requests to registries and registrars who actually have the information. This (like any proposal in this area) has proved fiercely controversial, with some people saying “it is a very expensive boondoggle that won’t satisfy either the people who want access or the privacy advocates”. Still, ICANN is going ahead with what’s called an “Operational Design Phase” - basically figuring out who can do such a thing and how much it would cost to build and operate it. In the meantime, the world is operating under the “temporary specification” that basically says “you have to ask registries and registrars for that information; if they don’t give it to you, and you think you’re entitled, you can complain to ICANN”. Some complaints have come in, but not really very many; it is not clear whether this is because there are few problems or whether it is because the prospective complainants don’t want to bother with using ICANN’s complaint mechanism to complain. Reviews, reviews, reviews… A particular aspect of ICANN’s operation is its infinitude of overlapping, recurring and long-running reviews. A couple of these have recently concluded, delivered their final reports (after public comments), and are now transforming into “implementation teams” that are cooperating with the board and icann.org in overseeing the implementations of the recommendations contained in those reports. Recent reports include WS2 (in the process of planning the implementation of the board-accepted recommendations) and SSR2 (in the process of evaluating the recommendations to see which ones the board will accept, which ones it needs to reject as infeasible or not in the global public interest, which ones are input to the policy-making process, and which ones need further work to understand which disposition is the right one. Financials: Acronym of the week - SFICR As the published financials show, ICANN has had a quite large reduction in expenses due to the cancellation of in-person meetings, and has a quite satisfactory reserve capital. At the same time, there are a number of projects that have been proposed - including the review implementation, the SSAD and the SubPro ODP mentioned above. In response to these two issues, an opportunity was found to set up a fund from which one would fund projects that are outside ICANN’s day-to- day operation.
–End ICANN Liaison Report, Harald Alvestrand–
2.4. IANA Liaison Report
–Begin IANA Liaison Report, Michelle Cotton–
IANA Services Liaison Report – 16 June 2021 SLA Deliverables Update: - ICANN met 100% of processing goal times for the May 2021 monthly statistics report, exceeding the SLA goal to meet 90% of processing goal times. These times include the steps that ICANN has control over and not time it is waiting on requesters, document authors or other experts. Monthly reports can be found at: https://www.iana.org/performance/ietf- statistics Other News: Work with the IETF trust on licensing language for protocol parameter registries is close to being completed. Staff update: New Director of IANA Operations, Amy Creamer, has joined the IANA Operations Team. Engagement for input to the PTI Fiscal Year 2023 (FY23) Operating Plan and Budget will begin soon. IANA Services Operator and IETF Leadership Meeting Minutes: None to report.
–End IANA Liaison Report, Michelle Cotton–
2.5. RFC Editor Liaison Report
–Begin RFC Editor Liaison Report, John Levine–
An ad-hoc committee convened by the RSOC is still working through the changes to the XML V3 vocabulary since RFC 7991 and making slow but perceptible progress. The knotty question of whether to go back and change the XML in published RFCs, or do some sort of V3.1 version or perhaps something else still remains unresolved. The [Temporary RFC Series Project Manager] plans to reengage with the community about the question of the immutability or not of the XML and the text in published RFCs. Related to this, you may have seen some discussion about whether to deprecate the element, since reliably formatting physical addresses turns out to be very hard, and we have no reports of anyone actually using the physical address in recent memory to contact authors.
–End RFC Editor Liaison Report, John Levine–
2.6. RSOC Chair Report
–Begin RSOC Chair Report, Peter Saint-Andre–
1. The RFC XML and Style Guide change management team is still working toward resolution of open issues related to the v3 XML format, but should finish that task in the next ~4 weeks. After that we can turn our attention to updating the relevant documentation (primarily 7991bis but secondarily the xml2rfc implementation notes, v3 FAQ for authors, and the style guide web page). 2. We are collaborating with Jay Daley and John Levine on next steps to make it easier for authors to use the v3 XML format during all stages of the authoring process (e.g., by surveying tools developers to identify which tools have support for v3 output, encouraging those developers to make v3 output the default where possible, and better documenting how authors can use these tools to produce v3 source documents when submitting Internet-Drafts to the RPC).
–End RSOC Chair Report, Peter Saint-Andre–
3. draft-iana-arpa-authoritative-servers
The community review period for draft-iana-arpa-authoritative-servers ended on 2021-06-03. Jari Arkko reported that there are several comments from the community review that will be addressed in a new revision.
4. ICANN Governance Working Group Document
Wes Hardaker updated the IAB on the work happening in the ICANN Governance Working Group (GWG) after disclosing the following conflicts of interest:
- Root server operator for b.root-servers.net
- IAB member
- RSSAC member
- RSSAC037 author
- DNS specification author
- “LocalRoot” creator
- “DNSSEC-Tools” creator
- Author of multiple DNS research measurement papers
The DNS root was created in 1983 by Jon Postel and Paul Mockapetris with 4 original servers. The root expanded to 13 identifiers over the years, with 26 total addresses (v4/v6). Today, there are 1380 instances run by 12 organizations. There have been no operator changes since Jon Postel passed away in 1998, and there is an open question about how to add or remove one now, and when there might be a need to do so.
ICANN/RSSAC began discussions about root server system (RSS) evolution and governance in June 2015. RSSAC037 and RSSAC038 were published in June 2018. The Root Server System Governance Working Group (RSS GWG) was created in early 2020 to make the RSSAC037 model concrete.
The IAB appointed Ted Hardie and Geoff Huston to the GWG; Ted currently serves as its chair.
RSSAC037 defines eleven principles for the operation and evolution of the DNS Root Server System:
- To remain a global network, the Internet requires a globally unique public namespace.
- IANA is the source of DNS root data.
- The RSS must be a stable, reliable, and resilient platform for the DNS service to all users.
- Diversity of the root server operations is a strength of the overall system.
- Architectural changes should result from technical evolution and demonstrated technical need.
- The IETF defines technical operation of the DNS protocol.
- RSOs must operate with integrity and an ethos demonstrating a commitment to the common good of the Internet.
- RSOs must be transparent.
- RSOs must collaborate and engage with the stakeholder community.
- RSOs must be autonomous and independent.
- RSOs must be neutral and impartial.
RSSAC037 also proposes an initial governance model for the root server system and its operators. In this model, the stakeholders are the ICANN community, the IETF/IAB, and the RSOs. The ICANN board would approve all changes, and operations participate in policy decisions as needed through memberships in the various RSSAC037 functional bodies.
The GWG is different; it would create the Public Root Services (PRS) as an affiliate of ICANN, with ICANN being the only member. The PRS board would have 9 directors, including 1 appointed by the IAB. In this model, the PRS board would approve all changes.
The Strategy, Architecture and Policy Council (SAPF) would:
- Ensure that the guiding principles of the RSS and RSOs, as documented in RSSAC037, remain embedded in technical and operational architectures.
- Define system-wide, externally verifiable metrics to demonstrate that the RSS as a whole is online, serving correct and timely responses to end users.
- Define behaviors and measurements for individual RSOs to ensure that they are meeting an adequate and acceptable level of performance consistent with system-wide metrics.
- Provide guidance and develop best practices for root server operations based on industry-accepted best practices for the design, capacity, and availability of root servers. The guidance and best practices support the availability, performance, scalability, and security of the RSS.
- Commission technical proposals related to the evolution of root service in close collaboration with other groups who have a role in the provision of root service.
Wes Hardaker noted that the root is the foundation of how the DNS works. Political infighting could have technical ramifications. The DNS is an IETF protocol governed at the top by ICANN; the protocol needs to be resilient.
The RSOs are currently reviewing the GWG document in comparison to RSSAC037.
Jari Arkko said that it would be good to remind the IETF community that this discussion is happening, but that it would probably be better to do so when the documents are more stable.
5. Executive Session: Community Coordination Group Appointment
In an executive session, the IAB voted to reappoint Russ Housley and Barry Leiba to the Community Coordination Group. Cindy Morgan will follow up with them and send out an announcement.