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RE: Draft IESG Statement on Ethertype Assignments for IETF Protocols

2012-09-11 05:31:38
Ralph,

        It cannot hurt to try to make this as unambiguous as possible.

        The IETF cannot instruct the IEEE RAC not to assign an Ethertype to 
anyone who
applies for it, assuming they otherwise comply with RAC requirements and are 
willing to
pay for the assignment, if necessary.  

        However, the IETF can caution the RAC that any such assignment can only 
be (or 
become) associated with an IETF protocol specification upon its approval and 
publication 
as an IETF RFC.

--
Eric

-----Original Message-----
From: ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org 
[mailto:ietf-bounces(_at_)ietf(_dot_)org] On Behalf Of Ralph Droms
Sent: Friday, September 07, 2012 12:15 PM
To: Joe Touch
Cc: IETF Chair; IETF list discussion
Subject: Re: Draft IESG Statement on Ethertype Assignments for IETF Protocols


On Sep 7, 2012, at 10:51 AM 9/7/12, Joe Touch wrote:

Hi, all,

This statement seems fine, but it's worth noting that it would apply only to  
*IETF* protocol specs.

What did you have in mind as "noting"?  This text seems pretty clear to me as 
applying only to "IETF protocol specifications": 

  the IEEE RAC will not assign a new Ethertype to
  a new IETF protocol specification that needs one until the IESG has
  approved the protocol specification for publication as an RFC.



The IESG has, IMO, no authority to make such claims for independent 
submissions (and what about IRTF ones?), and the IEEE should recognize that 
such protocols are described by RFCs too.

Where do you see any such claims in this statement?  What would you change?

- Ralph


Joe

On 9/3/2012 5:02 PM, IETF Chair wrote:
The IESG is considering this IESG Statement.  Comments from the community 
are solicited.

On behalf of the IESG,
Russ

--- DRAFT IESG STATEMENT ---

Subject: Ethertype Assignments for IETF Protocols

The IEEE Registration Authority Committee (RAC) assigns Ethertypes.
(See http://standards.ieee.org/develop/regauth/ethertype/.)  Some 
IETF protocol specification make use of Ethertypes.  Since Ethertypes 
are a fairly scarce resource, the IEEE RAC will not assign a new 
Ethertype to a new IETF protocol specification that needs one until 
the IESG has approved the protocol specification for publication as an RFC.

To let the IEEE RAC know that the IESG has approved an IETF protocol 
specification for publication, all future requests for assignment of 
Ethertypes for IETF protocol specifications will be made by the IESG.

Note that playpen Ethertypes have been assigned in IEEE 802 [1] for 
use during development and experimentation.


[1] IEEE Std 802a-2003 (Amendment to IEEE Std 802-2001).
   IEEE standard for Local and Metropolitan Area Networks:
   Overview and Architecture -- Amendment 1: Ethertypes for
   Prototype and Vendor-Specific Protocol Development.