Session Date/Time: 23 Jul 2025 12:30

rtgarea

Summary

The RTG Area meeting covered four main topics: an update from the Routing Directorate, guidelines for operational and management considerations in IETF specifications, and two presentations focused on security implications for routing protocols. The security discussions covered securing transport for routing protocols and leveraging TLS certificates for authentication in BGP.

Key Discussion Points

Routing Directorate Update: The Routing Directorate provided a statistics update on document reviews conducted since IETF 118. Key groups requesting reviews include MPLS and IDR. A significant portion of documents required changes after review, highlighting the value of early feedback. The directorate is also considering cross-area reviews and is seeking experts to join their review pool.
Guidelines for Operational and Management Considerations: A presentation on the "Guidelines for Considering Operations and Management in IETF Specifications" draft (a BIS on RFC 5706) covered the need to modernize the guidance and integrate operational considerations earlier in the protocol development process. A key proposal is a mandatory "Operational and Management Considerations" section in standards-track drafts. Discussion revolved around whether this section should be mandatory for all IETF documents and how to encourage early consideration of these factors.
Secure Transport for Routing Protocols: This presentation discussed the trade-offs between using TLS over TCP and Quick as secure transport protocols for routing. Quick secures both payload and headers and supports datagrams/multicast. The presenter advocated leveraging existing secure transport protocols instead of inventing new solutions. Examples were provided of using certificates within a BGP context for additional functionality like automated configuration changes.
Leveraging TLS Certificates for Authentication: This presentation explored the use of TLS certificates for authenticating BGP endpoints, with a focus on creating a dedicated PKI for routing protocols. Concerns about complexity were addressed by proposing simplified certificate profiles with short lifespans and automated provisioning. The discussions touched on integrating with the RPKI for trust anchor validation.

Decisions and Action Items

Action Item: The authors of the "Guidelines for Considering Operations and Management in IETF Specifications" draft will incorporate feedback received during the meeting, particularly regarding the scope and mandatory nature of the proposed "Operational and Management Considerations" section.
Action Item: Discuss with the BGP over quick draft authors, the implications of IP address changes on prefixes when connection migration happens.

Next Steps

Authors to publish version 04 of the "Guidelines for Considering Operations and Management in IETF Specifications" draft shortly.
Continued discussion on the BGP over Quick draft regarding connection migration.
Further exploration of certificate profiles for routing protocols, potentially involving the creation of IETF boilerplate for security considerations and transport security profiles.