Network Time Protocol (ntp) Charter

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Chair(s):

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Description of Working Group:

The Network Time Protocol (NTP) is widely deployed and used
in the Internet. However, the standardization status of this
protocol has lagged in the IETF. RFC 1305 (NTP version 3) was
published in March 1992 and remains unchanged and at Draft
Standard status. RFC 1305 represents the majority of full NTP
implementations deployed today. RFC 2030 (SNTP version 4)
was published as an Informational RFC in October 1996 as a
lightweight version of NTP for deployments not requiring the full
functionality of NTP. SNTP now represents the majority of both
NTP traffic and NTP implementation issues on the Internet. A
good deal of work has been produced in the NTP community
updating both NTPv3 and SNTPv4. This work is ongoing and
available through the collaborative development effort in the NTP
community, but it has not been reflected back into the NTP
specifications.

The goal of this working group is to document NTPv4 based on
the extensive work of the NTP community and to advance the
standardization status of NTP. It is an explicit goal of this effort to
have NTPv4 interoperate with the deployed base avoiding any
backwards-incompatible changes.

A number of topics have been raised as potential work items for
an update to NTP including support for IPv6, security
considerations including authentication, automatic configuration
including possible requirements for DHCP, and algorithm
improvements. This working group will focus first on delivering
NTPv4 and will defer additional development efforts until after
the delivery of NTPv4. Support for IPv6 and defining
mechanisms for securing NTP transactions is considered part of
the core NTPv4 functionality. Potential further modifications and
additions to the NTP protocol will be documented for possible
further work beyond the initial NTPv4 effort.

The working group will initially focus on the following
deliverables:
1. NTPv4 Scope and Requirements Document
(documenting the scope of the NTPv4 update and
identifying issues deferred for future work).
2. NTPv4 Protocol Specification (documenting the protocol
on the wire)
3. NTPv4 Architecture and Algorithms Specification
(documenting the architecture, mathematical algorithms,
and behavior of NTP servers and clients)
4. NTPv4 MIB (provision for management and monitoring
of NTP via SNMP)

Goals and Milestones:

Done		NTP BOF at IETF 61
Done		NTP WG Charter Approved
Done		Draft of Scope and Requirements Document
Done		Draft of NTP Protocol Specification
Done		Draft of MIB Specification
Done		Draft of NTP Algorithms Specification
Done		Draft of NTP Autokey Specification - Informational RFC
Dec 2007		WG Last Call NTP Protocol Specification
Dec 2007		WG Last Call NTP MIB Specification
Dec 2007		Draft of NTP Control Protocol - Informational RFC
Mar 2008		WG Last Call NTP Autokey Specification - Informational RFC
Mar 2008		WG Last Call NTP Control Protocol - Informational RFC

Internet-Drafts:

Network Time Protocol Version 4 Protocol And Algorithms Specification (236628 bytes)
Definitions of Managed Objects for Network Time Protocol Version 4 (NTPv4) (47831 bytes)
Network Time Protocol Version 4 Autokey Specification (131613 bytes)

No Request For Comments

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Network Time Protocol (ntp)