Subject: [DNSOP] Call for Contributions: Name Server Control -- Followup Work

From: Peter Koch <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 13 Oct 2010 22:12:03 +0200

Dear DNSOP WG,

with draft-ietf-dnsop-name-server-management-reqs-04.txt now on its way to
the IESG, it is time to look at future efforts.  There was followup work
proposed based on this draft that we had postponed until after the requirements
document would have been finished.  Also, there was a proposal to hold a BOF in Beijing to explore potential approaches based on, but not limited to, existing 
IETF management protocol frameworks.
During the IETF79 planning, the IESG decided to assign the necessary work
to DNSOP which lead to a withdrawal of the BOF request.

Our postponement of the work was due to the desire to get the requirements
finished first.  But some approaches were ruled out of charter because:          
 o DNSOP is by definition not allowed to work on protocol (where the
   emphasis is on DNS protocol)

 o the necessary expertise isn't necessarily readily available within the
   DNSOP WG as of today

During the BOF planning there were basically two drafts available:

o draft-dickinson-dnsop-nameserver-control-00.txt (now expired),
  using NETCONF/YANG as a framework,

o draft-kong-dns-conf-auto-sync-01.txt, which suggests mapping DNS
  configuration data into the DNS itself. (It is arguable whether this is
  a modification to the DNS protocol.)

The IESG guidance to go ahead with this work within DNSOP (pending necessary
charter updates) should not be read as a preemptive decision in favor of
YANG or against any other approach.  It was suggested based on the fact
that the administrative overhead of a BOF wasn't necessary to overcome
what might only be a charter update to an existing working group.
That said, we would like to reserve 45 minutes of our 120 minute slot
in Beijing to the topic of "approaches towards a name server control protocol".

What should be achieved during that meeting (with later decision on the list)
is whether there is support for a particular approach to be addressed within
DNSOP.  We'd like to encourage everybody to read the two drafts mentioned
above and, if alternative suggestions exist, submit an individual Internet
Draft by the Beijing deadline (2010-10-18).  Only suggestions with an I-D
are eligible for agenda time and discussion.

An archive of the discussion of the followup work is available at:
<http://www.ietf.org/mail-archive/web/nscp/current/maillist.html>

Further discussion is encouraged on the DNSOP mailing list.

-Peter (for the DNSOP co-chairs)