RFC2850 - Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

Network Working Group Internet Architecture Board

Request for Comments: 2850 B. Carpenter, Editor

Obsoletes: 1601 May 2000

BCP: 39

Category: Best Current Practice

Charter of the Internet Architecture Board (IAB)

Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the

Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for

improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

This memo documents the composition, selection, roles, and

organization of the Internet Architecture Board. It replaces RFC

1601.

Table of Contents:

1. IAB Membership...............................................2

1.1 Selection of full IAB members..............................2

1.2 Ex-Officio and Liaison members..............................2

2. The Role of the IAB.........................................3

2.1 Architectural oversight in more detail......................4

3. IAB Organization.............................................5

3.1 IAB chair...................................................5

3.2 Executive Director..........................................5

3.3 Selection of the IRTF chair.................................5

3.4 Liaisons within the IETF....................................5

3.5 Decision taking.............................................6

3.6 Openness and confidentiality................................6

Security Considerations.........................................6

Summary of Changes from RFC1601................................6

References......................................................7

Author's Address................................................7

Full Copyright Statement........................................8

1. IAB Membership

The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) shall consist of thirteen full

members, composed of the chair of the Internet Engineering Task Force

(IETF), and of twelve sitting members. The IETF chair, who is also

the chair of the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG), may

participate in all official IAB actions except the approval of IESG

members and appeals against IESG decisions. Ex-officio and liaison

members of the IAB may also attend IAB meetings but shall not

participate in determination of official actions.

Members of the IAB shall serve as individuals, and not as

representatives of any company, agency, or other organization.

Members of the IAB shall owe no fidUCiary duty of loyalty or care to

IAB, IETF, IRTF or IESG.

1.1 Selection of full IAB members

Full IAB members, including the IETF chair, are selected and

appointed according to the procedures defined in [BCP 10] . Normally,

six sitting members are appointed each year to sit for two years, and

the IETF chair is appointed every two years.

There is no limit to the number of terms that a member of the IAB may

serve, subject to the process defined by [BCP 10].

Mid-term vacancies are filled as defined in [BCP 10] and do not

affect the IAB's power to take decisions.

1.2 Ex-Officio and Liaison members

Ex-officio and liaison members of the IAB have no standing to

participate in IAB decisions but are eXPected to participate in IAB

discussions as appropriate to their roles. However, an ex-officio

position may be held by a full member, who does not thereby lose his

or her standing to participate in IAB decisions.

The chair of the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) is an ex-officio

member of the IAB. The IAB has an Executive Director who is an ex-

officio member of the IAB.

The Internet Society, the RFCEditor, the IANA and the IESG each

appoints a liaison member to the IAB. These liaison positions may not

be held by a full member of the IAB.

Vacancies in the liaison and ex officio positions do not affect the

IAB's power to take decisions.

2. The Role of the IAB

The IAB is chartered both as a committee of the IETF and as an

advisory body of the Internet Society. Its responsibilities include:

(a) IESG Appointment

The IETF nominating committee established under [BCP 10] annually

provides a list of candidates for vacant IESG seats and for the IETF

Chair if vacant. The IAB reviews the candidates, consenting to some,

all, or none.

(b) Architectural Oversight

The IAB provides oversight of the architecture for the protocols and

procedures used by the Internet. This point is expanded in Section

2.1 below.

The IAB provides oversight of the process used to create Internet

Standards [BCP 9].

The IAB serves as an appeal board for complaints of improper

execution of the standards process, with powers defined in [BCP 9].

(d) RFCSeries and IANA

The RFCEditor executes editorial management and publication of the

IETF "Request for Comment" (RFC) document series, which is the

permanent document repository of the IETF. The RFCseries

constitutes the archival publication channel for Internet Standards

and for other contributions by the Internet research and engineering

community. RFCs are available free of charge to anyone via the

Internet. The IAB must approve the appointment of an organization to

act as RFCEditor and the general policy followed by the RFCEditor.

The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) administers various

protocol parameters used by IETF protocols, delegating this

administration as appropriate. The IAB must approve the appointment

of an organization to act as IANA on behalf of the IETF. The IANA

takes technical direction on IETF protocols from the IESG.

(e) ISOC Liaison

The IAB acts as a source of advice and guidance to the Board of

Trustees and Officers of the Internet Society concerning technical,

architectural, procedural, and (where appropriate) policy matters

pertaining to the Internet and its enabling technologies. If

necessary the IAB may convene panels of knowledgeable people, hold

hearings, and otherwise pursue the investigation of specific

questions or topics presented to it by the Internet Society.

(f) External Liaison

The IAB acts as representative of the interests of the IETF and the

Internet Society in technical liaison relationships with other

organizations concerned with standards and other technical and

organizational issues relevant to the world-wide Internet. Liaisons

are kept as informal as possible and must be of demonstrable value in

improving the quality of IETF specifications. Individual members of

the IETF are appointed as liaisons to other organizations by the IAB

or IESG as appropriate.

2.1 Architectural oversight in more detail

A major role of the IAB is long range planning and coordination

between different areas of IETF activity. The IAB, both collectively

and on an individual basis, is expected to pay attention to important

long-term issues in the Internet, and to make sure that these issues

are brought to the attention of the group(s) that are in a position

to address them. It is also expected to play a role in assuring that

the people responsible for evolving the Internet and its technology

are aware of the essential elements of the Internet architecture.

IAB members pay special attention to emerging activities in the IETF

and to "Birds of a Feather" sessions at IETF meetings. The IAB

assists the IESG in evaluating such activities and in determining

whether an IETF or an IRTF group is more appropriate. When a new

IETF working group is proposed, the IESG will forward a preliminary

version of the charter to the IAB for review of architectural

consistency and integrity. The IAB shall review these proposed

charters and give feedback to the IESG as appropriate.

Pursuant to the architectural oversight function, the IAB sponsors

and organizes the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) [BCP 8]. The

IAB reviews proposed IRTF groups.

The IAB will convene invitational workshops to perform in-depth

reviews of particular architectural issues. Such reviews may include

consideration of relevant IETF and IRTF activities, and of work in

other organizations, and for this purpose the workshop may invite

presentations by qualified parties on the design goals and decisions,

technology choices, and other pertinent ASPects of these activities.

The results of such a review will be a report which may give advice

to the IETF community and the IESG.

The IAB may organize ad hoc bodies of independent technical experts

to adjudicate technical disputes.

3. IAB Organization

3.1 IAB chair

The members of the IAB shall select one of its full members to serve

as the chair of the IAB, with all of the duties and responsibilities

normally associated with such a position. The term of the IAB chair

shall be one year, with no restriction on renewal. The chair of the

IAB may be removed at any time by the affirmative vote of two-thirds

of the members of the IAB, or as a result of his or her departure

from the IAB.

The chair of the IAB shall have the authority to manage the

activities and meetings of the IAB.

3.2 Executive Director

The chair of the IAB shall have the authority to appoint an honorary

Executive Director (ExecD) for a one-year renewable term, and to

remove him or her. The ExecD shall administer the internal operation

of the IAB, e.g., organization of meetings and reporting of their

results.

The ExecD is an ex-officio member as defined in Section 1.2.

3.3 Selection of the IRTF chair

The IAB shall have the authority to appoint the chair of the Internet

Research Task Force (IRTF) for a two-year renewable term, and to

remove him or her. The IRTF chair shall be responsible for the

management and organization of the IRTF according to [BCP 8].

The IRTF chair is an ex-officio member as defined in Section 1.2.

3.4 Liaisons within the IETF

The chair of the IAB and another full IAB member (other than the IETF

chair), to be selected by the IAB, shall serve as liaisons to the

IESG. In addition, the IESG will appoint one of its members (other

than the IETF chair) to serve as a liaison to the IAB. The IESG

liaison may attend IAB meetings.

Vacancies in these liaison seats have no effect on the IAB's or the

IESG's powers to make decisions.

3.5 Decision taking

The IAB attempts to reach all decisions unanimously. If unanimity

cannot be achieved, the chair may conduct informal polls to determine

consensus. The IAB may make decisions and take action if at least

seven full members concur and there are no more than two dissents.

The IAB may reach decisions by face to face meeting, teleconference,

Internet communication, or any combination of the above.

3.6 Openness and confidentiality

The IAB publishes minutes of all its meetings on the Internet, and

conducts an open meeting at every IETF meeting. It publishes all its

findings as RFCs, Internet Drafts or messages to the IETF mailing

list. However, discussion of personnel matters and possibly legal and

financial matters may sometimes be required to be kept confidential,

and the chair may, with the consent of the full members, exclude

liaison and ex officio members from such discussions.

Specifically, the IAB makes use of the second level domain iab.org

and the URL http://www.iab.org to publish information.

Security Considerations

This memo does not raise any known security threats.

Summary of Changes from RFC1601

This document replaces [RFC1601]. The principal change is the

removal of material now covered in [BCP 8], [BCP 9] and [BCP 10],

with many consequent editorial changes. Additional changes are:

- description of decision making when unanimity cannot be achieved

- note on openness and confidentiality

- addition of liaison seats for the Internet Society and the IANA

- revised text concerning the IANA and the RFCEditor

- clarifications following legal review

References

[RFC1601] Huitema, C., "Charter of the Internet Architecture Board

(IAB)", RFC1601, March 1994.

[BCP 8] Weinrib, A., and J. Postel, "IRTF Research Group

Guidelines and Procedures", BCP 8, RFC2014, October

1996.

[BCP 9] Bradner, S., "The Internet Standards Process -- Revision

3", BCP 9, RFC2026, October 1996.

[BCP 10] Galvin, J., "IAB and IESG Selection, Confirmation, and

Recall Process: Operation of the Nominating and Recall

Committees", BCP 10, RFC2282, February 1998.

Author's Address

Brian E. Carpenter

IBM

c/o iCAIR

Suite 150

1890 Maple Avenue

Evanston IL 60201

USA

EMail:

brian@icair.org

Full Copyright Statement

This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to

others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it

or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published

and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any

kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are

included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this

document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing

the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other

Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of

developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for

copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be

followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than

English.

The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be

revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns.

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"AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING

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BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION

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Acknowledgement

Funding for the RFCEditor function is currently provided by the

Internet Society.