I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment. Living by the age old theory that "this time it will be different", I started browsing around the IETF website last week. There's no "joining" the IETF, you just subscribe to mailing list, add content, and go to meetings. I've subscribed to IETF mailing lists in the past only to be deluged in e-mail. I got thousands of messages from the working groups discussing the next great version of ARP. :-) I tried the e-mail digests too, but that only lead to a few extremely long e-mails.
But this time was going to be different. While reading the "Tao of the IETF" I came across the "Internet Drafts" mailing list. This is a list that sends an e-mail for each Internet Draft (ID) that is submitted. IDs are how all RFCs start. Put very simply, people write-up their great ideas as IDs, working groups argue about them, it turns into an RFC. (As anyone who works with the IETF can now tell I am not an expert on this process.)
I figured the volume from this IETF e-mail distro would be light. Couple e-mails a week when someone submitted their great new idea for BGP version 10.0 (or whatever). It would be interesting to see the new ideas people have that may one day become an RFC.
OMG! There are a lot of people out there with great ideas. In 5 days since I subscribed there have been 209 Internet Drafts submitted. Yes, some may be the same ID, but a quick look shows most are unique.
There were many topics, but a lot on SIP and mobility. And SIP for mobility. And mobility for SIP. Anyways...
There were some interesting ones too:
- IP Multicast Fast Reroute Framework
- IANA Allocation Guidelines for TCP and UDP Port Numbers
- DHCP Location Area - using DHCP response from a client with GPS to report its location (cool).
- MPLS Traffic Engineering Soft Preemption
So, maybe I'll check back in a year to see if one of these 209 IDs becomes an actual RFC. But, for now, I'll just unsubscribe. ;-)
Michael Morris is a communications team lead and network architect at a $3 billion high-tech company. His background is in enterprise WANs working with telcos, and developing large-scale routing designs. He has worked on networks at government and corporate organizations, including networks at two Fortune 10 companies. In his current role, he leads large-scale IT networking projects and develops and maintains architectural standards for data networks, storage area networks, IP Telephony, and security. Michael is a CCIE and has 11 years experience in networking and communications, including four years as a paratrooper in the U.S. Army. He has a bachelor's degree in MIS from the University at Buffalo. Recently, he was awarded the Network Professional Association® (NPA) Professional Excellence and Innovation Award for his work on network architecture, templates and enterprise MPLS design.
|
|
Network Templates
Michael...sorry to post this in here but I figure you will see it here easier. I was curious about you network template post. Do you have this in the actual Visio template as opposed to a PDF? Thanks and I'm looking forward to your other posts you indicate you are going to do on larger templates.
Thanks again.
RE: Network Templates
Hi, yes, I saw your request to post more of the template and I will soon. In Visio format.
Michael J. Morris
CCIE #11733, JNCIA
Deluge of Internet Drafts
Keep in mind that the volume of I-Ds drastically increases just before each of the three IETF meetings held each year. Even so, there are a lot of drafts submitted, and no one can possibly read them all. But the days of anyone trying to do so are long gone. Instead, read those that look interesting. Use filters or search terms to narrow things down. And one handy trick: if you're really swamped, skip any version -00 draft. After all, most drafts are not such good ideas, and won't go anywhere. So you can start with version -01. (It's best not tot to use this technique within those groups you actively follow.)