CURRENT_MEETING_REPORT_ Reported by Bob Stewart/Xyplex SHR Minutes Agenda o Is this trip really necessary? o Principles of operation? - Architectural purity. - Interoperability. - Cost/benefit. o Definition of Special-purpose Host? - By overall function? * Terminal server. * File server. * Toaster. - By subfunctions? * Network self load. * Programming interface. * Terminals (character devices). * Files (FTP, NFS, etc.). * Network management client. * Network management agent (e.g., bridge, router). o RFC Format and organization? o Specific issues? - IP fragment reassembly from < 576 byte fragments. - TCP efficiency (e.g., Jacobson retransmission in a ROM). - Source routing. o Contributors? - Analyses from vendors of example systems. - RFC section authors. The Agenda's first question was ``Is this trip really necessary?'' The consensus was affirmative. We need some clarifications, the contention was over how far they should go and what form they should take. On the question ``Principles of operation?'', we generally agreed that interoperability is the primary goal. George Conant of Xyplex suggested that our first concern should be maintaining the strength of requirements whose intention is to protect the network from misbehaving hosts. Bound by this principle, we can then apply some cost/benefit analysis to ``musts'' required for architectural purity or use by wizards under unusual conditions. Considerable discussion and disagreement did not result in an answer to ``Definition of Special-purpose Host?'' Although subject to debate, the 1 majority seemed to think along the lines of recognizing optional functional areas, such as an open programming interface, limited application protocols (such as just Telnet), and so on. This points to the consideration that ``special-purpose host'' simply means a host that isn't general purpose. The question of ``RFC Format and organization?'' should have included ``Degree of Specificity?''. Stev Knowles of FTP Software led the charge for stating principles and omitting specifics. He was not alone (as if that matters), but the majority believed we must be more specific. David Jordan of Emulex spoke for organization by system type (for example, terminal server, file server). The strongest consensus was to organize around the RFC 1022/1023 ``musts'', examining each in the light of hosts with useful application subsets. On ``Specific issues?'', the consensus on IP reassembly was ``Shut up and do it.'' Source routing was less clear. The idea of keeping the requirements to forward and to respond on the reverse path but weaken the requirement to originate a source route had noticeable support. Issues such as TCP efficiency appear subject to the rule of not hurting the network while allowing space for knowing exactly how your limited TCP user (such as a ROM) will use TCP. The answer to ``Contributors?'' was: o Stev Knowles will supply a statement of principle. We will then judge whether we are done. o Bill Westfield of cisco and Robert Elz of the University of Melbourne will each supply an analysis of the ``musts'' which might be subject to weakening in special cases. o David Jordan will propose an all-inclusive list of special host types. Discussion was lively and varied, with many valued participants other than the few mentioned above. Discussion will continue on the mailing list. According to the (unchanged by the way) charter, the next milestone is a draft document by the end of October, for review at the December IETF meeting. The above contributions will provide the text of that document. Attendees Philip Almquist almquist@jessica.stanford.edu Larry Brandt lbrandt@sparta.com Asheem Chandna ac0@mtuxo.att.com Anthony Chung anthony@hls.com Paul Ciarfella ciarfella@levers.enet.dec.com George Conant geconant@eng.zyplex.com Robert Elz kre@munnari.oz.au 2 Richard Fox sytek!rfox@sun.com Karen Frisa karen@kinetics.com Martin Gross gross@polaris.dca.mil Peter Hayden hayden@levers.enet.dec.com Ruei-Hsin Hsiao nac::hsiao Ole Jacobsen ole@csli.stanford.edu David Jordan ...jordan@emulex.com Ajay Kachrani kachrani%regent.dec@decwrl.dec.com Michael Karels karels@berkeley.edu Frank Kastenholz kasten@europa.interlan.com Stev Knowles stev@ftp.com Sam Lam Paul Langille quiver::langille@decwrl.dec.com John LoVerso john@loverso.leom.ma.us Yoni Malachi malachi@polya.stanford.edu Keith McCloghrie kzm@his.com David Miller dtm@ulana.mitre.org Craig Partridge craig@nnsc.nsf.net Stephanie Price cmcvax!price@hub.ucsb.edu Michael Reilly reilly@nsl.dec.com Craig Smelser Bob Stewart rlstewart@eng.xyplex.com Bill Townsend townsend@xylogics.com Justin Walker justin@apple.com Jonathan Wenocur jhw@shiva.com Bill Westfield billw@cisco.com 3