IETF wins Dvorak Telecommunications Award
Employment Opportunity with the IETF Secretariat.
The actual technical work of the IETF is done in its working groups, which are organized by topic into several areas (e.g., routing, network management, security, etc.). Much of the work is handled via mailing lists, however, the IETF also holds meetings three times per year. Chairs and presenters might find it helpful to read the instructions for sessions and plenaries. First-time attendees might find it helpful to read The Tao of IETF .
The IETF itself is the subject of research efforts. One such researcher is Elaine Hyder who attends IETF meetings and made arrangements with, and received approval from, the IESG to conduct interviews and distribute questionnaires at IETF meetings.
Proceedings of the IETF meetings are made available in the following forms:
The internal management of the IETF is handled by the area directors. Together with the Chair of the IETF, they form the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). The operational management of the Internet standards process is handled by the IESG under the auspices of the Internet Society . The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is a body of the Internet Society responsible for overall architectural considerations in the Internet. It also serves to adjudicate disputes in the standards process.
There are two types of Internet documents: Internet-Drafts and Request for Comments (RFCs). Internet-Drafts have absolutely no formal status and can be changed or deleted at any time . Authors should read the Guidelines to Authors of Internet-Drafts. The Secretariat maintains an Internet-Drafts index. RFCs are the official document series of the IAB, and are archived permanently (i.e., they are never deleted, and once an RFC is published, it will never change); however, it is important to note that not all RFCs are standards (see the "IETF structure and Internet standards process" slides for complete information or browse the RFC Editor Web pages at ISI). The Database and Directory Services part of the InterNIC, provided by AT&T;, has an RFC index .
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is the central coordinator for the assignment of unique parameter values for Internet protocols. The IANA is chartered by the Internet Society (ISOC) and the Federal Network Council (FNC) to act as the clearinghouse to assign and coordinate the use of numerous Internet protocol parameters.
In addition to this Web server, there are several other ways to access IETF information.
The Corporation for National Research Initiatives (CNRI) runs the IETF Secretariat with funding from the US government.
Please send questions, comments, and/or suggestions to ietf-web@ietf.org.