Re: IETF interoperability testing

Ralph Droms wrote:
 > Fred - to be clear, that DHCPv6 interop testing was not associated in
 > any way with the dhc WG.  I'll let the organizers comment on any more
 > general sponsorship arrangement or other association of the event with
 > the IETF.

and

Randy Presuhn wrote:
> I recall ones for SNMPv2 (various flavors), AgentX, and SNMPv3.  One might
> quibble about whether they were organized by the working group, or whether
> it was just a mighty coincidence that people from companies with employees
> who attended these working groups hashed out mutual NDAs and held bake-offs
> to verify that their implementations could interoperate, as well as experiments
> over the open Internet.

This is interesting.  People seem to be confused about formal affiliation with 
IETF processes, versus independent activities that are a useful adjunct to 
IETF work.

Let's be clear:  When an activity that relates to working group product is not 
organized within the working group -- you know, overseen by the chairs, 
minutes written, and other the other group process stuff of an open IETF 
effort -- then it is not an IETF effort.

Apparently some folk thought I was making a slam at the IETF when I noted we 
don't do interoperability tests.  It wasn't a slam.  The lifecycle of a 
successful protocol involves quite a few phases, with quite a few 
participants, at the micro and macro level.  The IETF is a factor in only some 
of these.

But as anyone who has run a successful interoperability event for a successful 
protocol knows, you don't just declare a time and place for a party and see 
what happens.  That's the way the upcoming plenary was presented to us.

At a minimum, it demonstrated that serious events for exploring utility and 
problems are not commonly within the purview of IETF-specific operations.

d/
-- 

   Dave Crocker
   Brandenburg InternetWorking
   bbiw.net

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