RFC 8126 · BEST CURRENT PRACTICE · 2017

Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs

Overview

RFC 8126, “Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs”, is a Best Current Practice document published in June 2017 by M. Cotton, B. Leiba, T. Narten. It obsoletes RFC 5226. It has since been updated by RFC 9907. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.

Abstract

Many protocols make use of points of extensibility that use constants to identify various protocol parameters. To ensure that the values in these fields do not have conflicting uses and to promote interoperability, their allocations are often coordinated by a central record keeper. For IETF protocols, that role is filled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).

To make assignments in a given registry prudently, guidance describing the conditions under which new values should be assigned, as well as when and how modifications to existing values can be made, is needed. This document defines a framework for the documentation of these guidelines by specification authors, in order to assure that the provided guidance for the IANA Considerations is clear and addresses the various issues that are likely in the operation of a registry.

This is the third edition of this document; it obsoletes RFC 5226.

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

What “Best Current Practice” means

Documents the IETF community's recommended operational or procedural practice rather than a protocol specification.

Read this RFC

The canonical text of RFC 8126 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.

Relationships to other RFCs
This RFC obsoletes
RFC 5226
Updated by
RFC 9907
Other RFCs from 2017

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