What two organizations set Internet standards?

In computer network engineering, an Internet Standard (abbreviated as "STD") is a normative specification of a technology or methodology applicable to the Internet. Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).

Overview

An Internet Standard is a special Request for Comments (RFC) or set of RFCs. An RFC that is to become a Standard or part of a Standard begins as an Internet Draft, and is later (usually after several revisions) accepted and published by the RFC Editor as an RFC and labeled a Proposed Standard. Later, an RFC can be labeled Internet Standard. Collectively, these stages are known as the Standards Track, and are defined in RFC 2026 and RFC 6410. The label Historic is applied to deprecated Standards Track documents or obsolete RFCs that were published before the Standards Track was established.

Only the IETF, represented by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), can approve Standards Track RFCs. The definitive list of Internet Standards is maintained in Internet Standards document STD 1: Internet Official Protocol Standards.

Standardization process

Becoming a standard is a two-step process within the IETF called Proposed Standards and Internet Standards. If an RFC is part of a proposal that is on the Standard Track, then at the first stage, the standard is proposed and subsequently organizations decide whether to implement this Proposed Standard. After the criteria in RFC 6410 is met (two separate implementations, widespread use, no errata etc.), the RFC can advance to Internet Standard.

The Internet Standards Process is defined in several "Best Current Practice" documents, notably BCP 9 (currently RFC 2026 and RFC 6410). There were previously three standard maturity levels Proposed Standard, Draft Standard and Internet Standard. RFC 6410 reduced this to two maturity levels.

Proposed Standard

A Proposed Standard (PS) is generally stable, has resolved known design choices, is believed to be well-understood, has received significant community review, and appears to enjoy enough community interest to be considered valuable. However, further experience might result in a change or even retraction of the specification before it advances. Usually, neither implementation nor operational experience is required.

Draft Standard

In October 2011 RFC 6410 in essence merged this second and the third Internet Standard maturity level for future Internet Standards. Existing older Draft Standards retain that classification. The IESG can reclassify an old Draft Standard as Proposed Standard after two years (October 2013).

Internet Standards

An Internet Standard is characterized by a high degree of technical maturity and by a generally held belief that the specified protocol or service provides significant benefit to the Internet community. Generally Internet Standards cover interoperability of systems on the Internet through defining protocols, message formats, schemas, and languages. The most fundamental of the Internet Standards are the ones defining the Internet Protocol.

An Internet Standard ensures that hardware and software produced by different vendors can work together. Having a standard makes it much easier to develop software and hardware that link different networks because software and hardware can be developed one layer at a time. Normally, the standards used in data communication are called protocols.

All Internet Standards are given a number in the STD series - The first document in this series, STD 1, describes the remaining documents in the series, and has a list of Proposed Standards.

Each RFC is static; if the document is changed, it is submitted again and assigned a new RFC number. If an RFC becomes an Internet Standard (STD), it is assigned an STD number but retains its RFC number. When an Internet Standard is updated, its number stays the same and it simply refers to a different RFC or set of RFCs. A given Internet Standard, STD n, may be RFCs x and y at a given time, but later the same standard may be updated to be RFC z instead. For example, in 2007 RFC 3700 was an Internet Standard—STD 1—and in May 2008 it was replaced with RFC 5000, so RFC 3700 changed to Historic status, and now STD 1 is RFC 5000. When STD 1 is updated again, it will simply refer to a newer RFC, but it will still be STD 1. Note that not all RFCs are standards-track documents, but all Internet Standards and other standards-track documents are RFCs.

The list of Internet standards in RFC 5000 ends with STD 68 (RFC 5234, ABNF) published in 2008. It does not cover STD 69 (a set of five EPP RFCs), STD 70 (RFC 5652, CMS) published in 2009, STD 71 (RFC 6152, 8BITMIME), and STD 72 (RFC 6409, Mail Submission) published in 2011.

Internet standard is a working document or a proposed specification that gains the status of the standard after proper validation and is applicable to the worldwide Internet. This Internet standard is formed under the supervision of the Internet Society (ISOC) which is responsible for the creation and implementation of Internet standards. In this section, we will discuss the ISOC organization, and we will also see the step-by-step formation of Internet standards.

Formation of Internet Society

Earlier there were no such organizations or committees that can define the internet standards. However, people around the world were doing their own thing to establish worldwide communication. This raises the need for standards that can be accepted across the world.

While working on ARPANET the Department of Defense (DoD) set up an informal committee i.e., the Internet Activities Board (IAB) which works to set up a network of the connected computer so that they can share their findings. This would also reduce and even eliminates the cost of duplication effort.

The acronym of IAB was modified to Internet Architecture Board (IAB). The IAB consisted of approximately ten members where each member was assigned a task, which they used to report to DoD. DoD and NSF used to raise the fund for IAB.

Whenever a new standard was required the members of IAB use it to discuss the requirements and announce this to the software graduate students to implement it with the help of coding. The communication between IAB and students was achieved with the help of series of online technical reports i.e., RFCs (Request For Comments). These comments are organized in serial order online and can be fetched by anyone who is interested in them.

With the continuous growth of the internet, IAB was reorganized in the year 1989. It was repopulated to form an organization which was then split into two groups, IRTF (Internet Research Task Force) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). IRTF is held for conducting long-term research and IETF is held to handle short-term issues.

A year later an Internet society was for and populated with the people who were interested in the internet. The Internet Society emerges as an organization that was capable of creating standards for the internet. The trustees of the Internet Society then were responsible to appoint the members of IAB.

This is how the Internet Society (ISOC) was formed which thoroughly test and approved the proposed internet standards.

Internet Administrations

Just now we have seen the formation of ISOC (Internet Society). Well under ISOC there are various groups that coordinate to create and maintain the internet standards. In the figure below you can see the organization of all the groups under the ISOC.

Internet Society (ISOC)

The ISOC is an international organization that thoroughly test the proposed specifications before it is realized into the standard. Several administrative bodies such as IEFT, IA, etc. work cooperatively under the ISOC which is responsible to address all the issues that decide the future of the Internet. ISOC encourages scholarly activities and research in the field of the Internet.

IAB (Internet Architecture Board)

IAB issues technical advice to the Internet Society in order to ensure continuous growth of the Internet. IAB oversees the evolution of the Internet so that it becomes a global platform for communication.

IAB supervises two task forces namely IRTF (Internet Research Task Force) and IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force). IAB edits and manages the RFCs. IAB makes a connection between the Internet and other organizations that operate in the same direction.

Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)

IRTF conducts long-term researches related to the Internet. The research topic is related to Internet protocols, Internet applications, about their architecture. All the research groups involved in the research must have long-term membership. The research group (RG) or the working group under the IRTF is managed by the IRSG (Internet Research Steering Group).

Internet Engineering Task Force (IEFT)

IETF tackles short-term engineering problems subjected to the Internet. The working groups under IEFT are managed by the IESG (Internet Engineering Steering Group). The IEFT identifies the problems on the Internet and proposes a solution to resolve the problem.

IETF also reviews the proposed specifications which are capable of becoming the Internet Standards. Each working group is assigned a specific topic. The context of the assigned topic can be divided into nine categories such as application, Internet protocols, user services, Internet operation, routing, network management, transport, Internet protocol next generation, and security.

Studying the organization of Internet administration lets us study the process which every proposed specification must undergo before declared as an Internet standard.

Internet Standardization Process

Internet standards are those proposed specifications that are thoroughly tested for their successful implementation before they gain the status of Internet standard. Let us see the step-by-step procedure of the formation of Internet standards.

In the figure below we can observe level by level maturity of Internet standard.

A specification or statement or a working document is considered as an Internet draft that has no official status and has a lifetime of only six months. Upon approval by some Internet authorities, the Internet draft is published as Request for Comment (RFC). The RFCs are assigned a specific number and are available online for people interested in the Internet.

Every RFC before gaining the status of standard falls at least into one of the maturity levels below.

Maturity Level

1. Experimental

The published RFC is classified as experimental if it is applicable only in an experimental situation.

2. Informational

The published RFC is classified as informational if it is consists of any kind of information regarding the Internet. Usually, they put forth by non-Internet organizations such as vendors.

3. Proposed Standard

The RFC specification is classified as a proposed standard if it is well defined and has the work which seems to be of the Internet community’s interest. The specification here is examined and implemented by the different groups.

4. Draft Standard

Two successful implementations independent of each other and still interoperable promotes the proposed standard promote it to draft standard.

5. Internet Standard

Validation of successful implementation of a draft standard elevates it to Internet standard.

6. Historic

The Historic RFC are the specifications that are replaced by the newer specifications or those specifications that never reached the maturity levels that are required to gain the status of Internet standard.

The RFC itself can be of five different kinds on the basis of requirement.

Requirement Level

1. Required

The RFC is considered as required if it is mandatory to implement on all Internet systems to check whether it meets the specified standard. For example, ICMP an IP

2. Recommended

The RFC is considered as recommended if it is useful but is not mandatory to implement it on all Internet systems to check whether it meets the specified standard. For example, FTP and TELNET

3. Elective

The RFC is considered an elective if it can be used by an Internet system only for its own benefit.

4. Limited Use

The RFC is considered limited if can be used only in a limited situation. The RFC that are classified as experimental in maturity level is limited RFCs.

5. Not Recommended

The RFC is not meant for general use is not recommended RFC. Historical RFCs fall in this category.

So this is all about the Internet standards how they are formed, which committee is responsible for the creation, implementation, and maintenance of the Internet standards.