Ballot: RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification Version 2 to Proposed Standard

[IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>]

Note: There are three documents in this set. See Writeup below

Last Call to expire on: 05/15/1995

	Please return the full line with the vote.

		    Yes    No-Objection  Discuss *  Abstain

Harald Alvestrand   [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Scott Bradner       [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Joel Halpern        [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Frank Kastenholz    [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
John Klensin        [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Deirdre Kostick     [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Allison Mankin      [ X ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Paul Mockapetris    [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Mike O'Dell         [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Joyce K. Reynolds   [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Jeff Schiller       [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]
Susan Thomson       [   ]     [   ]       [   ]      [   ]

 Yes =>     I have read the spec and know it is good stuff.
 No Obj =>  I am familiar with the protocol and believe it to be OK.
	    Note: The ballot contains analysis from the AD which
		  may be adequate information to vote positively.
 Discuss => There is something fishy that may need clarification
	    or modification. May be considered a "no" vote.
 Abstain => I am not familiar with the spec, have no
	    interest/expertise in the subject or otherwise feel
	    obliged to skip the voting.

 2/3 (8) Yes or No-Objection votes needed to pass.

 * Indicate reason if "Discuss".


To: IETF-Announce:;
Dcc: *******
Cc: RFC Editor <[e-mail]>
Cc: Internet Architecture Board <[e-mail]>
Cc: [e-mail]
From: IESG Secretary <[e-mail]>
Subject: Protocol Action: RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification
	 Version 2 to Proposed Standard
-------------

The IESG has approved the following three Internet-Drafts as Proposed
Standards:

 1. RPC: Remote Procedure Call Protocol Specification Version 2
	<draft-ietf-oncrpc-rpcv2-01.txt>
 2. XDR: External Data Representation Standard
	<draft-ietf-oncrpc-xdr-01.txt>
 3. Binding Protocols for ONC RPC Version 2
	<draft-ietf-oncrpc-bind-00.txt>




 These documents are the product of the ONC Remote Procedure Call
 Working Group. The IESG contact person is Allison Mankin.


Technical Summary

The protocols described in these three documents are a set of tools for
platform-independent distributed computing. The general Remote
Procedure Call model of distributed computing is the basis for many
networked applications. External Data Representation (XDR) is a simple
method of abstracting data types from their machine representations to
make RPCs possible.

(Open Network Computing) RPC Version 2, ONC XDR, and ONC RPC binding
are protocols developed by Sun Microsystems originally for supporting
the Network File System. NFS is widely ported and widely used in the
Internet, so there is benefit to the community for its underlying
transport and presentation support to be openly accessible and for
their evolution to be a matter of future, open engineering
discussions.

Other Remote Procedure Call approaches and protocols are also well
accepted and widely used. The IESG views ONC RPC as coexisting with
such peers, in a way that might be said to be parallel to TELNET and
RLOGIN.

In standardizing ONC XDR and ONC RPC, the IESG intends for the
community to gain added value from two useful distributed computing
protocols.

Working Group Summary

The Working Group reviewed initial specifications developed by Sun
Microsystems. The WG review resulted in a modest but substantial set
of changes. A spec of authentication binding protocols is not being
advanced at this time and the WG is chartered to rewrite and enhance it
in at least one future meeting. The WG contributed particularly as well
in the area of transport-independence, and the resulting specs provide
good support for the implementation of RPC over TCP that is finding
increasing use in some quarters of the Internet.

Protocol Quality

There are numerous implementations of the ONC XDR and RPC protocols. A
key question in the Transport Area's review of the specifications was
whether they accurately specified the protocols in use, and whether it
would be easy enough to implement from these specs as opposed to
implementing from others' example code. We concluded that they were
accurate and that they were complete and implementable.

The starting point of the WG was Sun Microsystems' request to transfer
control of ONC XDR and ONC RPC to the IETF. This starting point and
context for the WG was extensively reviewed as well.  The agreement
between Sun Microsystems and the Internet Society transferring the
protocols was published as an Internet-Draft, given a Last Call and
passed by the IESG. See RFC 1790 for this agreement.