Subject: Protocol Action: 'Assigning Experimental and Testing Numbers Considered Useful' to BCP

From: The IESG <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 24 Nov 2003 13:46:21 -0500

The IESG has approved following document:

- 'Assigning Experimental and Testing Numbers Considered Useful '
   <draft-narten-iana-experimental-allocations-05.txt> as a BCP

This document has been reviewed in the IETF but is not the product of an
IETF Working Group. 

The IESG contact person is Harald Alvestrand.

Technical Summary
 
   When experimenting with or extending protocols, it is often necessary
   to use some sort of protocol number or constant in order to actually
   test or experiment with the new function, even when testing in a
   closed environment.  For example, to test a new DHCP option, one needs
   an option number to identify the new function.  This document
   recommends that when writing IANA Considerations sections, authors
   should consider assigning a small range of numbers for
   experimentation purposes that implementers can use when testing
   protocol extensions or other new features.  This document reserves
   some ranges of numbers for experimentation purposes in specific
   protocols where the need to support experimentation has been
   identified.
 
Working Group Summary
 
   As this is not a WG document, a four week IETF last call was held, in
   which no substantive technical issues were raised.
 
Protocol Quality
 
   This document was reviewed for the IESG by Randy Bush.