RFC 3439 · INFORMATIONAL · 2002

Some Internet Architectural Guidelines and Philosophy

Overview

RFC 3439, “Some Internet Architectural Guidelines and Philosophy”, is an Informational document published in December 2002 by R. Bush, D. Meyer. It updates RFC 1958. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

This document extends RFC 1958 by outlining some of the philosophical guidelines to which architects and designers of Internet backbone networks should adhere. We describe the Simplicity Principle, which states that complexity is the primary mechanism that impedes efficient scaling, and discuss its implications on the architecture, design and engineering issues found in large scale Internet backbones. This memo provides information for the Internet community.

Abstract as published in the RFC, via rfc-editor.org.

What “Informational” means

Published for the general information of the community. It does not define an IETF standard and carries no standards-track status.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 3439 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC updates
RFC 1958
Other RFCs from 2002

Who Is Online

In total there are 122 users online: 0 registered, 115 guests and 7 bots.

Most users ever online was 5,555 on 17 Jul 2026, 3:23 am.

Bots: AhrefsBot Applebot Bingbot Other Bot Other Crawler PetalBot SemrushBot

Users active in the past 15 minutes. Total registered members: 372