Subject: [Pso-discuss] (correction) Looking for a layman example on what PSO does.

From: chiari mario <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 06 Jul 2000 19:02:46 +0200

Please reply to [email-masked]

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Dear PSO,

I am trying to write a document on what ICANN and related SO's are and do.

I am writing for layman readers who are very interested in Internet and
could be interested to join the ICANN's at large membership.

Due to lack of technical knowledge, I am not sure to understand what
'assignment of parameters for Internet protocols' really means. (I
understand that that is PSO main business, isn't it?) 

Any 'easy to understand'  explanation is very welcome. In particular, I
would appreciate a couple of simple examples of the kind: the protocol
..... includes the parameters ....., and they are usually fixed in such and
such way as ......... 

I have given a look at RFC 1340 : ASSIGNED NUMBERS, but I couldn't make
sense of it.

I really appreciate any advise on this matter.
Thanks Regards

mario chiari

(from Parma, Italy)

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From: Steve Coya <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 6 Jul 2000 13:37:51 -0400 (Eastern Daylight Time)

Mario,

I'm not a technical expert (or any other kind), but I can take a stab at
this.

If one were to look at the construct of certain header records (IP, TCP,
ICMP, etc), there are fields which can contain certain values. Some of
these fields define the set of permissible values from which the
appropriate value is selected/chosen. Many protocol header records include
a space for the inclusion of options,
each of which is assigned a particular value for uniqueness.

For example, in the IP header, there is a IP Version field. There are
also such things as Type of Service fields, option fields, protocol
fields, traffic class fields (in IPv6), etc.

I hope this helps.

Steve

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From: chiari mario <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 07 Jul 2000 20:13:47 +0200

Steve 

thanks for your reply.
It helps, though I am trying do write a less abstract statement. 

Would you say that the following statement conveys a correct understanding
of the matter of fact:  

---- the Internet protocol contains numerous parameters, for example to
identify the character set of a text, or a operating system. (A character
set is a set of conventions to code a traditional alphabet, e.g. latin,
cyrillic, japanese). The values of these parameters need to be assigned
uniquely. ICANN/PSO is to make those unique assignments and to maintain a
registry of the currently assigned values.

(here I am cutting & pasting statements from IANA's web site)  

mario

ps do you have a two lines definition of what a port is?