[Iasa20] Comments on draft-ietf-iasa2-rfc4844-bis-01

[Alissa Cooper <[e-mail]>]

Earlier this week the IAB discussed whether to put draft-ietf-iasa2-rfc4844-bis-01 out for community review. In reviewing it I felt there were some clarifications needed before it would be ready and the IAB thought the most appropriate path would be to bring those to the WG for resolution first.

I haven’t started my AD review of 4071bis yet (hope to next week), but I think 4071bis has a problem in that the definition of “IASA” in that document is broken (it refers to the definition in 4071, which it itself is obsoleting). And until it is clear how we are defining “IASA,” I have trouble with statements such as the following from Section 3.3 in 4844bis:

"The IASA is tasked with providing the funding for and operational oversight of the RFC Editor.”

Is the RSOC part of IASA? It’s pretty hard to tell without a good definition of IASA, which we do not currently have IMO. (I think there is a further problem with the sentence above, which is that the funding comes from the LLC, and it would be better to be that specific.)

While looking at Section 3.3, I don’t think this text belongs there since this document is about the RFC series and editor, not IASA generally:

"The IETF LLC Board provides oversight of the IASA, and the IETF Executive Director is the chief actor for the IASA.”

I also find lack of clarity between 4844bis Section 3 and 6635bis Section 3. For example, 4844bis says:

"The IETF Executive Director works with the IAB to identify suitable persons or entities to fulfill the mandate of the RFC Editor.”

While 6635bis says:

"For all decisions that affect the RSE individually (e.g., hiring and firing), the RSOC prepares recommendations for the IAB, but the final decision is the responsibility of the IAB.”

But under the current model (which I presume we plan to keep), the ED is a member of the RSOC. So does the ED work directly with the IAB? Or indirectly with the IAB through the RSOC? Or both?

4844bis also says:

"The IETF Executive Director may define additional operational requirements and policies for management purposes to meet the requirements defined by the various communities.”

I wonder if this is really consistent with what is envisioned in 6635bis.

I also find it odd that the budget for an RSE search is discussed in 6635bis, while the budget for the RFC Editor function overall is discussed in 4844bis — is the separation meaningful? Since the LLC Board approves the whole IETF budget, presumably what 4844bis says about the RFC Editor budget applies to the search budget mentioned in 6635bis as well, but since it’s not explicit it isn’t totally clear.

Thanks,
Alissa