[Tsvwg] ECN nonce snag in TCP ESTATS MIB

[Matt Mathis <[e-mail]>]

Folks, this needs TSVWG input....

The document draft-ietf-tsvwg-tcp-mib-extension has been stalled due to a
"DOWNREF",  a normative reference from a standards track document to
to a less mature document.  In this case to an Experimental Protocol, RFC3540,
Robust ECN Signaling with Nonces.    The problem is with one object:

tcpEStatsPathECNNonceRcvd  OBJECT-TYPE
       SYNTAX          ZeroBasedCounter32
       MAX-ACCESS      read-only
       STATUS          current
       DESCRIPTION
          "Number of ECN Nonces (NS bits) received."
       REFERENCE
          "RFC3540, Robust Explicit Congestion Notification (ECN)
           Signaling with Nonces"
       ::= { tcpEStatsPathEntry 34 }

The recently posted doc is draft-ietf-tsvwg-tcp-mib-extension-13.txt
The current working draft is at:
http://www.psc.edu/~mathis/TcpExtendedMib/draft-ietf-tsvwg-tcp-mib-extension-13bis.txt
With an html word diff at:
http://www.psc.edu/~mathis/TcpExtendedMib/draft-ietf-tsvwg-tcp-mib-extension-13bis.wdiff.html


There are two obvious approaches to fix this:
1) Pursue the downref procedure in RFC 3967.  This entails writing a
justification for the downward reference and re-issuing the IETF last call.
2) Deleting the object entirely.  Since this is a substantial technical change
to the document, it requires re-issuing the TSVWG LC and possibly the IETF LC.

I am willing to pursue either approach, however I think it would be best to
match the likely ultimate trajectory for RFC 3540.

My questions:
Are there any known implementations of RFC3540 in the field?

Can somebody provide some pointers to either dependent or alternative
nonce mechanisms?

Given that RFC 3540 conflicts with RE-ECN, what is (your opinion of) the
likely trajectory for RFC 3540?

Thanks,
--MM--
-------------------------------------------
Matt Mathis      http://www.psc.edu/~mathis
Work:412.268.3319    Home/Cell:412.654.7529
-------------------------------------------
Evil is defined by mortals who think they know
"The Truth" and use force to apply it to others.