| Internet Engineering Task Force | B. Campbell, Ed. |
| Internet-Draft | Oracle |
| Updates: 5727 (if approved) | A. Cooper |
| Intended status: Best Current Practice | Cisco |
| Expires: November 30, 2015 | B. Leiba |
| Huawei | |
| May 29, 2015 |
Improving the Organizational Flexibility of the SIP Change Process.
draft-campbell-art-rfc5727-update-01
RFC 5727 defines several processes for the Real-time Applications and Infrastructure (RAI) area. These processes include the evolution of the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and related protocols, as well as the operation of the DISPATCH and SIPCORE working groups. This document updates RFC 5727 to allow flexibility for the area and working group structure, while preserving the SIP change processes. It also generalizes the DISPATCH working group processes so that they can be easily adopted by other working groups.
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[RFC5727] describes processes for evolving and maintaining the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) [RFC3261] and related technologies in the Real-time Application and Infrastructure (RAI) area. These processes are collectively known as the "SIP Change Process".
At the time of this writing, the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) expects to reorganize the RAI area. While areas do not normally have "charters" per se, RFC 5727 has effectively served as a charter for RAI. The language in RFC 5727 is tightly bound to the area and to the the DISPATCH and SIPCORE working groups. This document updates RFC 5727 to remove its dependency on RAI and its working group structure.
RFC 5727 specifies that the DISPATCH working group assesses potential new work for the area, and determines where such work should occur. DISPATCH does not itself take on such new work. The SIPCORE working group is responsible for maintenance of SIP. Other RAI working groups develop extensions to SIP that do not change the core protocol, new applications of SIP, and other technologies for interactive communication among humans. This document further generalizes the processes of the DISPATCH working group so that they can be applied to other areas, or to clusters of technologies within an area.
While the reorganization is expected to involve merging RAI with the Applications (APP) area and renaming the resulting area, the updates in this document do not depend on that. Rather, the authors seek to future-proof the SIP Change Process against future reorganizations.
This document does not change any other aspect of RFC 5727. While areas and working groups may change over time, the rules and procedures for changing SIP and other RAI protocols remain the same, until such time that they are updated by future documents.
The DISPATCH working group has proven successful at managing new work for the RAI area. Areas may choose to adopt DISPATCH-like procedures, either for an entire area, or for technology-clusters in an area or across areas. A "Dispatch-Style" working group operates according to procedures similar to those used for DISPATCH.
The "Dispatch Style" includes the following essential elements:
Nothing in this list prevents existing working groups from directly adopting new work that reasonably fits their charters. For borderline cases, the decision whether new work should start in a dispatch-style group, or in an existing group is a judgement call among the responsible Area Directors and chairs. Likewise, in cases where an area has multiple dispatch-style groups for different purposes or technology clusters, the decision about which group will handle a particular proposal is a judgement call.
The charter of a dispatch-style group should make that fact clear, either by referencing this document, or by directly describing similar procedures.
This document clarifies that the SIP Change Process is not bound to any particular area or working group structure. All references to the RAI area in RFC 5727 should be interpreted as "the cluster of SIP and closely related application and infrastructure technologies, as well as other technologies designed primarily for interactive communication among humans."
While the DISPATCH and SIPCORE working groups are expected to continue in their current capacities, nothing in the SIP Change Process prevents their responsibilities from being assigned to other working groups in the future.
All other aspects of the SIP-Change process are to continue as described in RFC 5727.
This document makes no requests to IANA.
This document discusses the roles and responsibilities of areas and working groups. It does not create new security considerations in the conventional sense.
However, organizational structures come with their own security considerations. A dispatch-stye working group has the potential to concentrate the control of work for an area or cluster in the hands of a much smaller set of people than those in the whole area or cluster. This could have the effect of a "Denial of Service Attack" against the area or cluster. Likewise, such a concentration could reduce the quality of decisions about new work. Care must be taken to avoid this risk. The best mitigation is active participation in the group by as many people in the area or cluster as possible.
The authors would like to thank all the previous authors of the SIP Change Process for their contributions. Jon Peterson, Cullen Jennings, and Robert Sparks authored RFC 5727. That RFC obsoleted [RFC3427], which was in turn written by Allison Mankin, Scott Bradner, Rohan Mahy, Dean Willis, Brian Rosen, and Joerg Ott.
The authors additionally thank the present and past chairs of DISPATCH and SIPCORE, as well as all the participants in the RAI area since its inception.
| [RFC5727] | Peterson, J., Jennings, C. and R. Sparks, "Change Process for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) and the Real-time Applications and Infrastructure Area", BCP 67, RFC 5727, March 2010. |
| [RFC3261] | Rosenberg, J., Schulzrinne, H., Camarillo, G., Johnston, A., Peterson, J., Sparks, R., Handley, M. and E. Schooler, "SIP: Session Initiation Protocol", RFC 3261, June 2002. |
| [RFC3427] | Mankin, A., Bradner, S., Mahy, R., Willis, D., Ott, J. and B. Rosen, "Change Process for the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP)", RFC 3427, December 2002. |
| [RFC5111] | Aboba, B. and L. Dondeti, "Experiment in Exploratory Group Formation within the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)", RFC 5111, January 2008. |