This page describes how IANA supports the IETF document lifecycle, how expert review works, and when Area Directors (ADs) are expected to be involved.
IANA is responsible for:
IANA does not vote on documents. An AD is expected to hold a DISCUSS on behalf of IANA when the actions are incorrect or unclear. Typically the AD responsible for the document holds this DISCUSS.
During IETF Last Call, IANA:
If the document creates a new registry that requires experts, IANA will notify the AD, but experts are not designated until the document is published.
The authors need to respond to the IANA review only if IANA has questions or if IANA misunderstood the requested actions.
In the IESG Evaluation phase, IANA tells the IESG whether the IANA actions are clear by sending an “OK” or “NOT OK” email in response to the ballot. Messages may include a brief description of any issues, which should also be documented in the Datatracker response.
IANA NOT OK indicates that IANA is waiting for an expert review or for the authors to address unresolved issues. In this case, the document is placed on hold until the IANA actions are clarified.
For definitions of IANA Review States for Internet-Drafts, please see
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/help/state/draft-iana-review/.
ADs may be contacted if:
When an Internet-Draft is updated, the Datatracter automatically changes the IANA review state to “Version Changed - Review Needed.”
The actual IANA actions are performed after IESG approval of the document, while the document is in the RFC Editor's queue. After performing the actions, IANA checks with the document authors (with the WG Chairs and ADs in copy) to verify that the actions are what was intended. When the actions are verified (usually only a single response is required, everyone doesn't have to respond), IANA informs the RFC Editor that the IANA actions are complete.
Experts are designated after the document is published.
IANA submits a telechat management item requesting expert designation and:
After the experts are designated:
For ADs: DRAFT Text to send to prospective Experts:
Dear Prospective Expert:
The IESG is seeking volunteer designated experts for the [INSERT REGISTRY] as defined by [INSERT DRAFT OR RFC]. As defined in RFC 8126, the designated expert is an individual who is responsible for carrying out an appropriate evaluation and returning a recommendation to IANA. You were suggested as a possible candidate for this registry.
Expert Review and Specification Required, defined in sections 4.5 and 4.6 of RFC 8126, are the two registration procedures that require review by a designated expert. If either procedure applies to an IANA-maintained registry, the IESG will officially designate experts to review requests. More information about the role of the Designated Expert can be found in section 5 of RFC 8126.
A general summary of how the process works:
The IANA Operations team facilitates the reviews by sending the expert(s) the request and communicating the decision or any questions to the requester. If you wish to contact the requester directly for a more in-depth discussion, that is allowed, as long as your decision and any important information is communicated to the IANA Operations team. Sometimes there are specific instructions to the experts in the document that defines the registry to help guide the expert’s evaluation of a request. In general, experts are requested to provide a response to IANA within two weeks, unless the registry-defining RFC specifies otherwise.
Only your name will appear in the public registry. IANA will not share your email address or other contact information.
If you are unable to make a decision on a request, or if there is a conflict of interest for you (you are an author, the request is from the company you are employed with, etc), assistance from the Area Directors and/or IESG will be arranged via IANA.
As an individual contributor, you can still submit comments as part of Last Calls or directly to the WG chairs.
<The volume of requests varies from registry to registry. For this registry the expected volume will be [TBD] per month. NEED TO GET THIS INFO FROM THE DOCUMENT AUTHORS SETTING UP THE REGISTRY.>
Please respond to this email indicating your willingness to serve as designated expert. Your service will be appreciated by the IETF Community.
[signed Area Director]
IANA also handles assignments that are not the result of a document approval. Some name spaces are allocated on a first-come, first-served or expert review basis, for instance. IANA verifies that they understand the request, determines the policy that should apply for the resource in question, and follows the policy.
In some cases the policy may involve an IESG decision, or may require the IESG's help in interpreting the correct policy. In this case IANA contacts the IESG and asks for advice. IANA monitors responses from expert reviewers. If an expert becomes unresponsive, IANA will escalate to the IESG after 30 days, per IANA’s MoU with the IETF. IANA may also ask the AD to perform or delegate the review if an expert becomes unresponsive.
RFC 7120 allows temporary, renewable allocations before RFC publication.
The process is described in Section 3 of RFC 7120:
https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/html/rfc7120#section-3
Before each IETF meeting, IANA reviews every document on WG agendas for obvious IANA issues and contact authors as needed.
Requests for early review can be sent to iana@iana.org at any time.
The IAB and IESG collaborate with IANA to define detailed expectations, monitor its performance, and address specific issues. These responsibilities are managed by the IETF-IANA Group. For more information, please see https://datatracker.ietf.org/iabasg/ietfiana/about/.
The content of this page was last updated on 2025-02-05. It was migrated from the old Trac wiki on 2023-02-17.