CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_

Reported by Tony Bates/RIPE

Minutes of the Generic Internet Service Specification BOF (GISS)



Agenda

   o Short presentation of GISS work so far
   o Discussion of whether a working group is needed
   o Review of proposed working charter


It was noted that the attendance at this meeting was quite low.
However, this can, in part, be attributed to an unfortunate timing clash
with the most popular session of the IETF - the IPng Decision Process
BOF (IPDECIDE).



GISS Work Presentation

Tony Bates gave a presentation of the current GISS work.  The document
has changed quite dramatically since the last BOF meeting.  A second
draft is available from:


     ftp.ripe.net:ripe/docs/ripe-drafts/giss.[txt,ps]


The major changes are in the focus and structure of the document.  The
document is aimed at service providers.  Six areas of GISS have been
highlighted:


  1. Access
  2. Generic Services
  3. Connectivity
  4. Operations
  5. Information Provision and Coordination
  6. Security


Currently 38 aspects have been highlighted in the first cut of GISS.
Many are still to be completed.  The intention is to have aspects
contributed by relevant experts rather than the authors themselves.  The
structure of the document is very much like a UNIX manual page, making
it easy to index only the GISS aspects of direct interest.  It was
agreed that the current areas and aspects were more than enough for a
first GISS document.

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An issue was raised as to whether GISS could in fact be renamed to GISD
``Generic Internet Service Description'' as is intimated in the document
itself.  It was agreed that the next draft and all future work will be
referred to as GISD.


Working Group Discussion

The issue of whether a working group is needed was discussed.  The clear
consensus was that such a document is badly needed by service providers.
It was felt the correct forum should be some sort of ``operators'' forum
rather than the IETF itself.  However, such a group doesn't really
exist, at least in a global context.  In Europe, RIPE is such a group
and a GISS-based working group will continue within RIPE. Andrew Partan
also mentioned the possibility of such an operators forum being formed
in North America.  However, until such time, the IETF seems to contain
the correct target audience, or to be more precise, many service
providers also attend the IETF.

It was agreed that the chair would request that a GISD Working Group be
formed within the Operations Area once the charter has been accepted by
the group.  A request along with the charter would be sent to Scott
Bradner.


Proposed Working Group Charter Review

The charter was circulated.  Apart from typographical changes and
changes in wording (to make it clear that providers meant all forms of
service providers, not just commercial), the charter was accepted.


   o Name:  Generic Internet Service Description (GISD)

   o Chairs:  Tony Bates and Daniel Karrenberg

   o Mailing Lists:

      -  General Discussion:  giss-wg@ripe.net
      -  To Subscribe:  giss-wg-request@ripe.net


   o Description:
     GISD collects short descriptions of Internet service aspects.
     Internet service in GISD means the interaction of Internet service
     providers among themselves and with their users.  GISD aims to
     provide a common frame of reference and vocabulary to talk about an
     Internet service.  For each aspect of the Internet service, it
     describes different options for service provision in use in the
     current Internet.  GISD is merely descriptive and does not

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     proscribe or mandate.  GISD is intended to be a living document
     collecting work of many contributors.
     The GISD Working Group will update and revise the GISD document to
     assist network service providers in a better understanding and
     description of what Internet service means.  It will:

      -  Update and revise the GISD document that lists the areas and
         aspects of interest to TCP/IP network service providers.
      -  Identify additional GISD areas and aspects appropriate to GISD.
      -  Identify areas of overlap with other IETF working groups.
      -  Create a reference document of GISD terms.
      -  Establish procedures to ensure the ongoing maintenance of the
         document and identify an organisation willing to do it.


   o Goals and Milestones:

      -  Review current GISD draft and add any additional areas and
         aspects deamed to be essential.
      -  Draft of GISD will be prepared, reviewed and modified.
         Initiate IETF Internet-Draft review process by submission of
         the GISD document to the IETF Secretariat.
      -  Follow-up with final amendments to the document and the
         submission of the document to the RFC Editor for publication as
         an FYI RFC.


Attendees

Tony Bates               tony@ripe.net
David Conrad             davidc@iij.ad.jp
Ola Johansson            ojn@se.ubn.net
Daniel Karrenberg        daniel@ripe.net
Anne Lord                anne@ripe.net
Andrew Partan            asp@uunet.uu.net
Marten Terpstra          marten@ripe.net
Wilfried Woeber          Wilfried.Woeber@CC.UniVie.ac.at



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