[registrars] Re: WHOISfix BOF request (fwd)

[Rick H Wesson <wessorh@ar.com>]

Folks,

the IETF is investigating how to fix port 43 whois again, our last BOF on
this subject didn't turn into a working group because of ill defined
focus. This is a new attempt.

A BOF is a meeting to determine if there is sufficient support within the
IETF to create a working group, and if there is, define the charter,
goals, and scope of the working goup.

Things in the IETF don't happen fast so I'll keep you all updated on its
progress, if the working group is formed.

-rick


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 14:33:18 -0400
From: Eric Brunner-Williams in Portland Maine <brunner@nic-naa.net>
To: Dinara Suleymanova <dinaras@ietf.org>
Cc: Eric Brunner-Williams in Portland Maine <brunner@nic-naa.net>,
     Dave Crocker <dcrocker@brandenburg.com>, agenda@ietf.org,
     Patrik Fältström <paf@cisco.com>, Rick H. Wesson <wessorh@ar.com>,
     iesg@ietf.org, brunner@nic-naa.net
Subject: Re: WHOISfix BOF request

1. Full Name
	Whois Enhancement BOF
2. Acronym
	whoisfix
3. Area under which it appeared
	Applications (prefer joint with O&M)
4. The AREA Director(s) for this BOF
	Patrik Fältström, paf@cisco.com
	(if joint with O&M, add Randy Bush, randy@psg.com)
5. Chairs names with e-mail addresses
	Eric Brunner-Williams, brunner@nic-naa.net
	Dave Crocker, dcrocker@brandenburg.com
6. Meeting agenda, etc.

ANNOUNCEMENT
------------
Yet another attempt will be made to create a working group providing
minimal enhancements to the WHOIS (port 43) service.

This BOF will review a proposed charter and a proposed specification
for enhancements. This round of effort will be marked by extremely
narrow focus and extremely tight management to maintain that focus.

The technical goals for the enhancement effort will be to:
	specify a common, structured query format,
	specify a means for server query redirection,
	specify server-server queries, and
	specify standardized whois structured response formats.

Character set and data protection (privacy) issues are included in the query
and response format goals.

PROPOSED CHARTER
----------------
Whois is a public-access query service that provides essential operations
information for locating technical points of contact associated with domains
and networks. Current Whois (rfc954) service suffers from an incomplete core
specification, which may be summarized using familiar notation as:

	C: [::printable::]\r\n
	S: .*\r\n <socket close>

This working group will specify a common, structured query format, a means
for server query redirection, server-server queries, and standardized whois
structured response formats. Unmodified clients will interwork with modified
servers and modified clients must be able to interwork with unmodified servers.
The working group will NOT specify the detail of data to be provided when
using the protocol.

The working group will NOT consider functional enhancements to the service.
All such considerations are deferred to other efforts, for protocols using
ports other than port 43.

Goals and Milestones:
Sep 01  Initial specification of structured data response format,
	and protocol redirection to an alternate server
Dec 01  Initial specification of structured query format
Jan 02  Revised drafts
Mar 02  Drafts submitted for consideration as Proposed Standard


AGENDA:
----------------
 5 min -- introduction, agenda bashing, scribe pressing
 5 min -- charter bashing
15 min -- RIR state-of-whois overview (requirements)
15 min -- TLD state-of-whois overview (requirements)
15 min -- prior work
------
 5 min -- break
------
 5 min -- requirements document
30 min -- design team: queries & formats
10 min -- testbed(s) and transition(s) document
 5 min -- interactions with other WGs
 5 min -- wrap-up
10 min -- it isn't whois:43 trademark & law enforcement & LDAP
 ------
 2 hours  Total