Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment

Stephen McQuistin; Mladen Karan; Prashant Khare; Colin Perkins; Gareth Tyson; Matthew Purver; Patrick Healey; Waleed Iqbal; Junaid Qadir; Ignacio Castro

doi:10.1145/3487552.3487821

Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment

Stephen McQuistin, Mladen Karan, Prashant Khare, Colin Perkins, Gareth Tyson, Matthew Purver, Patrick Healey, Waleed Iqbal, Junaid Qadir, Ignacio Castro

School of Computer Science

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Conference contribution

Abstract

Protocol standards, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are crucial to the successful operation of the Internet. This paper presents a large-scale empirical study of IETF activities, with a focus on understanding collaborative activities, and how these underpin the publication of standards documents (RFCs). Using a unique dataset of 2.4 million emails, 8,711 RFCs and 4,512 authors, we examine the shifts and trends within the standards development process, showing how protocol complexity and time to produce standards has increased. With these observations in mind, we develop statistical models to understand the factors that lead to successful uptake and deployment of protocols, deriving insights to improve the standardisation process.

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Proceedings of the 2021 ACM internet measurement conference (IMC 2021)
Place of Publication	New York, NY
Publisher	ACM
Pages	137-149
Number of pages	13
ISBN (Electronic)	9781450391290
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487821
Publication status	Published - 2 Nov 2021
Event	21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021 - Virtual, Online, United States Duration: 2 Nov 2021 → 4 Nov 2021 Conference number: 21

Conference

Conference	21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021
Abbreviated title	IMC 2021
Country/Territory	United States
City	Virtual, Online
Period	2/11/21 → 4/11/21

Keywords

IETF
Protocol standardisation
Request for comments

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10.1145/3487552.3487821

https://eprints.gla.ac.uk/250206/

Cite this

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title = "Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment",

abstract = "Protocol standards, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are crucial to the successful operation of the Internet. This paper presents a large-scale empirical study of IETF activities, with a focus on understanding collaborative activities, and how these underpin the publication of standards documents (RFCs). Using a unique dataset of 2.4 million emails, 8,711 RFCs and 4,512 authors, we examine the shifts and trends within the standards development process, showing how protocol complexity and time to produce standards has increased. With these observations in mind, we develop statistical models to understand the factors that lead to successful uptake and deployment of protocols, deriving insights to improve the standardisation process.",

keywords = "IETF, Protocol standardisation, Request for comments",

author = "Stephen McQuistin and Mladen Karan and Prashant Khare and Colin Perkins and Gareth Tyson and Matthew Purver and Patrick Healey and Waleed Iqbal and Junaid Qadir and Ignacio Castro",

note = "Funding: This work is supported by the UK Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, under grants EP/S033564/1 and EP/S036075/1.; 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021, IMC 2021 ; Conference date: 02-11-2021 Through 04-11-2021",

year = "2021",

month = nov,

day = "2",

doi = "10.1145/3487552.3487821",

language = "English",

pages = "137--149",

booktitle = "Proceedings of the 2021 ACM internet measurement conference (IMC 2021)",

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address = "United States",

}

McQuistin, S, Karan, M, Khare, P, Perkins, C, Tyson, G, Purver, M, Healey, P, Iqbal, W, Qadir, J & Castro, I 2021, Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment. in Proceedings of the 2021 ACM internet measurement conference (IMC 2021). ACM, New York, NY, pp. 137-149, 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021, Virtual, Online, United States, 2/11/21. https://doi.org/10.1145/3487552.3487821

TY - GEN

T1 - Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment

AU - McQuistin, Stephen

AU - Karan, Mladen

AU - Khare, Prashant

AU - Perkins, Colin

AU - Tyson, Gareth

AU - Purver, Matthew

AU - Healey, Patrick

AU - Iqbal, Waleed

AU - Qadir, Junaid

AU - Castro, Ignacio

N1 - Conference code: 21

PY - 2021/11/2

Y1 - 2021/11/2

N2 - Protocol standards, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are crucial to the successful operation of the Internet. This paper presents a large-scale empirical study of IETF activities, with a focus on understanding collaborative activities, and how these underpin the publication of standards documents (RFCs). Using a unique dataset of 2.4 million emails, 8,711 RFCs and 4,512 authors, we examine the shifts and trends within the standards development process, showing how protocol complexity and time to produce standards has increased. With these observations in mind, we develop statistical models to understand the factors that lead to successful uptake and deployment of protocols, deriving insights to improve the standardisation process.

AB - Protocol standards, defined by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), are crucial to the successful operation of the Internet. This paper presents a large-scale empirical study of IETF activities, with a focus on understanding collaborative activities, and how these underpin the publication of standards documents (RFCs). Using a unique dataset of 2.4 million emails, 8,711 RFCs and 4,512 authors, we examine the shifts and trends within the standards development process, showing how protocol complexity and time to produce standards has increased. With these observations in mind, we develop statistical models to understand the factors that lead to successful uptake and deployment of protocols, deriving insights to improve the standardisation process.

KW - IETF

KW - Protocol standardisation

KW - Request for comments

U2 - 10.1145/3487552.3487821

DO - 10.1145/3487552.3487821

M3 - Conference contribution

AN - SCOPUS:85118969061

SP - 137

EP - 149

BT - Proceedings of the 2021 ACM internet measurement conference (IMC 2021)

PB - ACM

CY - New York, NY

T2 - 21st ACM Internet Measurement Conference, IMC 2021

Y2 - 2 November 2021 through 4 November 2021

ER -

Characterising the IETF through the lens of RFC deployment

Abstract

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Keywords

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