RFCs

The Internet is a loosely-organized international collaboration of autonomous, interconnected networks. It supports host-to-host communication through voluntary adherence to open protocols and procedures defined by Internet Standards. The Internet Standards process is an activity of the Internet Society that is organized and managed on behalf of the Internet community by the Internet Architecture Board (IAB) and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Each distinct version of an Internet standards specification is published as part of the "Request for Comments" (RFC) document series. The RFC series is the official publication channel for Internet standards documents and other publications of the IESG, IAB, and the general Internet community. RFCs can be obtained from a number of Internet sites using anonymous FTP, gopher, World Wide Web, and other Internet document-retrieval systems. The RFC series of documents on networking began in 1969 as part of the original ARPA wide-area networking (ARPANET) project. RFCs cover a wide range of topics in addition to Internet Standards, from early discussion of new research concepts to status memos about the Internet. RFC publication is the direct responsibility of the RFC Editor, under the general direction of the IAB. The following series of pages are some of documents from the RFC series which relate directly to topics covered in this technical reference.