IPv6 Essentials

Appendix A. RFCs

If you want to learn more about IPv6, you need to read RFCs. This appendix provides an overview of the standards and the RFC process.

Standards

This part of the appendix provides an overview of the important things to know about RFCs and the RFC process. It also includes a list of IPv6-relevant RFCs.

General RFC Information

If you want to understand the role of the IETF and the standardization process, if you need a list of all the organizations involved in the process and a description of what they do, or if you wish to attend an IETF meeting, there is an interesting and humorous RFC that describes the background, processes, and rules: RFC 3160, titled “The Tao of IETF—A Novice’s Guide to the Internet Engineering Task Force.”

Requests for Comments (RFCs) are written reports describing most of the information regarding TCP/IP and the architecture, protocols, and history of the Internet. There are many sites on the Internet where RFCs are electronically accessible. The sites are very different, but most of them support some form of search mechanism. Find the site that best suits your preferences.

A good starting point is http://www.rfc-editor.org. There is a tribute to Jon Postel, father of the Internet, who died in October, 1998. He was the RFC editor. Besides this information, there is also an overview of the RFC series and process.

On the search and retrieve page of this site, there are many ways to access the wealth of information. RFCs can be viewed by number ...