Re: Last Call: draft-housley-rfc2050bis-01.txt (The Internet Numbers Registry System) to Informational RFC

2013-05-13 Thread Tom Vest

On May 11, 2013, at 11:17 AM, SM wrote:

 If it's a policy it cannot be a principle.

Sorry, but unless you can point to some relevant real-world examples of 
self-executing, self-sustaining principles, or you're a nihilist and don't 
really believe that such things as principles exist at all, this is a patently 
false, bordering on nonsense statement.

 I'll suggest alternative text:
 
  1) Allocation Pool: IP addresses and AS numbers are fixed length numbers.
 The allocation pools for these number resources are considered as
 resources which are finite.
 
 The principle for the above is to avoid set any constraint unless it is 
 necessary for IETF protocols to work.

One is tempted to ask work for who? but that would entail giving this 
statement more credence that it merits. Since TCP/IP is only useful to the end 
of communication between two or more nodes, the proposed principle of 
finitude would perfectly consistent with this, and almost every other IETF 
addressing/attachment protocol *not* working at all. 

Or did you mean to say that The principle for the above is to avoid set any 
constraint unless it is necessary for IETF protocols to 'work' between two 
virtual machines, under lab conditions? 

I suggest that the proposed alternative text should be rejected.

 True. The document is documenting current practices and policies. At this 
 point in time, I'm unaware of a global privacy practice or policy that is 
 applicable to all levels of the Internet Numbers Registry System.
 
  Is it up to the IETF to set up a one-stop shop for personal data requests?
 
 I suspect not, but I suspect it isn't up to the IETF to dictate global 
 privacy policy either.
 
 Section 2 is about the goals for distributing number resources (re. first 
 sentence).  I suggest removing the third goal as it might be a matter of 
 global (or other) policy.  

Since uniqueness is a basic constraint for most if not all current 
addressing/attachment-related IETF protocols -- even between two virtual 
machines, under lab conditions -- and would still be a basic constraint even if 
current address protocols were not quantity constrained in any way, you seem to 
be suggesting that the IETF forego not only policy statements, but also your 
own only work principle, at least under certain circumstances. 

Bottom line: this word principle, I do not think it means what you think it 
means. 

I suggest leaving section three in place.

TV 






 Regards,
 -sm 



Re: Last Call: draft-housley-rfc2050bis-01.txt (The Internet Numbers Registry System) to Informational RFC

2013-05-13 Thread Tom Vest

On May 11, 2013, at 7:34 PM, SM wrote:

 At 13:08 11-05-2013, Tom Vest wrote:
 Sorry, but unless you can point to some relevant real-world examples of 
 self-executing, self-sustaining principles, or you're a nihilist and don't 
 really believe that such things as principles exist at all, this is a 
 patently false, bordering on nonsense statement.
 
 I am not suggesting any self-executing or self-sustaining principles.

Fair enough; I will assume that we agree that policies and principles are 
not mutually exclusive and incompatible phenomena, and that the class of 
durable, self-executing, and self-sustaining principles is an empty set.

 One is tempted to ask work for who? but that would entail giving this 
 statement more credence that it merits. Since TCP/IP is only useful to the 
 end of communication between two or more nodes, the proposed principle of 
 finitude would perfectly consistent with this, and almost every other IETF 
 addressing/attachment protocol *not* working at all.
 
 Or did you mean to say that The principle for the above is to avoid set any 
 constraint unless it is necessary for IETF protocols to 'work' between two 
 virtual machines, under lab conditions?
 
 What I meant was to leave policy (PDP, etc.) to the communities interested in 
 IP addressing.  I'll quote part of a message posted on the thread:
 
  'To date, the communities interested in IP addressing have established 
 policies
   that dictate operational needs should be the primary constraint (as 
 opposed
   to say constraining on geo-political boundaries, by ability to pay, etc).'
 
 The message is at 
 http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/ietf/current/msg79200.html in case what 
 I was quoted is misrepresented.

I certainly did not intend to misrepresent your position. But given the fact 
that the part of a message that you reproduced was offered in response to 
doubts that you yourself raised about the points covered therein (esp. 
operational need), what is your position, exactly? As David said, to date 
the communities have established policies that are broadly informed by the 
practical implications of the finitude and uniqueness constraints on address 
resource management. However, to conclude based on past observations that such 
will always be true would be tantamount to claiming that management of those 
constraints is assured by the operation of (unspecified self-executing, 
self-sustaining) principles. Based on your views as expressed in/around 
draft-moonesamy-rfc2050-historic-00, it's pretty clear that you don't see any 
durable, much less timeless principles embodied therein -- but that only 
makes your position on these matters all the more ambiguous. 

Perhaps it would help if you would answer the following clarifying questions:

1. Is it your position that some other force or principle(s) outside of the 
general mechanisms/practices documented in RFC2050 (and potentially, 
RFC2050-bis) guarantees that IETF-defined addressing protocols will just work 
as designed, in perpetuity, and thus the informational codification of matters 
related to the management of finitude and uniqueness constraints is at best 
unnecessary, at worst counterproductive? If so, what are those unnamed 
forces/principles, exactly?

2. Is it your position that, if the traditional communities interested in IP 
addressing one day elect to adopt policies that make it impossible for IETF 
addressing protocols to fulfill even the basic just work test, then from the 
IETF view  that should be regarded as a perfectly appropriate and acceptable 
outcome?

 At 13:14 11-05-2013, Brian E Carpenter wrote:
 It's up to the IETF to set boundary conditions for the address space
 that it created (in the case of IPv6) or inherited (in the case of
 IPv4), in order to protect the long-term viability of the Internet.
 
 There is some text about Internet address architecture.  It would cover that 
 if the relevant communities are agreeable to it.

Could you please clarify which passages about Internet address architecture you 
are suggesting are sufficient to make the sections about distribution and 
uniqueness constraints unnecessary?

Thanks, 

TV


 Regards,
 -sm