The -11 version of this draft resolves all of the concerns raised by the Gen-ART review of the -09 version. I want to thank the authors for the timely and productive manner in which the review's concerns were addressed. idnits 2.12.13 found a minor line length problem that can be left to the RFC Editor to correct. Thanks, --David > -----Original Message----- > From: Black, David > Sent: Friday, December 28, 2012 3:26 PM > To: rogaglia at cisco.com; Stephen Kent; Sean Turner; gen-art at ietf.org > Cc: Black, David; sidr at ietf.org; Stewart Bryant > Subject: Gen-ART review of draft-ietf-sidr-algorithm-agility-09 > > I am the assigned Gen-ART reviewer for this draft. For background on > Gen-ART, please see the FAQ at > < http://wiki.tools.ietf.org/area/gen/trac/wiki/GenArtfaq>. > > Please resolve these comments along with any other Last Call comments > you may receive. > > Document: draft-ietf-sidr-algorithm-agility-09 > Reviewer: David L. Black > Review Date: December 28, 2012 > IETF LC End Date: December 14, 2012 > > Summary: > > This draft is on the right track but has open issues, described in the review. > > I apologize for the tardy arrival of this review after the end of IETF Last > Call for this draft - the last few months have been a rather busy time for me. > > This draft specifies the algorithm transition process for RPKI, which > entails coordinated issuance of new certificates and other signed products > across the collection of RPKI CAs in a fashion that ensures that at least > one set of signed products is usable at all times. > > The draft is generally well-written and clear, but has an unfortunate > nomenclature change problem that is the primary open issue[*]. > > Major issues: > > [*] Section 4.7 changes the meaning of the algorithm suite names (A, B > and C) from prior sections. This also affects Sections 6 and 7. > I have classified this as a major issue as I believe it introduces > severe lack of clarity (and potential ambiguity) into the following > two paragraphs in Section 7: > > During Phase 1, a CA that revokes a certificate under Suite A SHOULD > revoke the corresponding certificate under Suite B, if that > certificate exists. During Phase 4, a CA that revokes a certificate > under Suite A SHOULD revoke the corresponding certificate under Suite > C, if that certificate exists. > > During Phase 1, a CA may revoke certificates under Suite B without > revoking them under Suite A, since the Suite B products are for test > purposes. During Phase 4 a CA may revoke certificates issued under > Suite C without revoking them under Suite A, since Suite C products > are being deprecated. > > Despite the use of three letters (A, B and C), there are only two > algorithm suites involved, and different instances of Suite A refer to > different algorithm suites. In each paragraph, the first instance of > "Suite A" refers to the same algorithm suite as "Suite C", and the > second instance of "Suite A" refers to the same algorithm suite > as "Suite B". > > It would be much better and clearer to not change the meaning of the > algorithm suite names until the EOL date. In addition, this change > should enable removal of the Suite C concept from this draft. I > strongly recommend removing the Suite C concept, as the C-A-B > chronological order of suite introduction dates seems counter-intuitive. > > Minor issues: > > Starting in Section 4.3.1, there are a number of uses of "will be" > (future tense) in the milestone and phase descriptions. All of > these uses of "will be" should be reviewed to determine whether > "MUST be" is appropriate, e.g., as appears to be the case for > this sentence in 4.3.1: > > Additionally, the new algorithm transition timeline document will be > published with the following information: > > When "MUST be" is not appropriate, present tense (i.e., "is") is > preferable. > > Nits/editorial: > > Abstract: The following two sentences don't quite line up: > > The process > is expected to be completed in a time scale of months or years. > Consequently, no emergency transition is specified. > > Also, section 4.2 indicates that a multi-year transition timeframe > is expected, which suggests that "months" is not appropriate in > the abstract. Suggested rephrasing: > > The time available to complete the transition process > is expected to be several years. > Consequently, no emergency transition process is specified. > > Section 2. Introduction: The first sentence in the last paragraph > mentions a forthcoming BCP on transition timetable. The rest of > that paragraph implies that the BCP is for a single transition, as > opposed to being a BCP for transitions in general. It would be > helpful to clarify that at the start of the paragraph, e.g., > by adding "For each algorithm transition," to the start of the > paragraph. > > Section 3 Definitions: Is there any concern about possible > confusion of the use of "Suite B" in this draft with NSA Suite B? > The draft is clear on what Suite B means for RPKI, but I suspect > that RPKI Suite B and NSA Suite B are unlikely to match, if ever. > > Describing Phase 0 as both the steady state of the RPKI and the first > phase of transition is confusing (e.g., in 4.3). It would be clearer > if Phase 0 began with publication of the updated RPKI algorithm > document (Milestone 1) and that the activities that are unchanged > from steady state were described as not changing in phase 0. > > Starting near the end of section 4.3, the three characters > |-> are used in figures to represent an RPKI hierarchy relationship; > that relationship should be defined and/or explained before it is used. > For clarity, I'd suggest swapping the order of the two paragraphs > above that figure in 4.3 and making the following change at the end > of the paragraph that is moved down (addition of the word > "certificate" is the important change): > > OLD > and shows the relationship between three CAs (X, Y, and Z) that form > a chain. > NEW > and shows the relationships among the three CAs (X, Y, and Z) > that participate in a certificate chain. > > Subsequent uses of |-> seemed clear to me. > > Section 4.5 Phase 2 says that Suite B product SHOULD be stored at > independent publication points, but does not make it clear that this > recommendation applies beyond phase 2. I suggest adding text to > make that clear - a reference to Section 9 (which is clear about > this) may be useful as part of that text. > > In Section 6, please expand the ROA acronym on first use and consider > whether it should be defined in Section 3. I'm also assuming that the > ASN acronym is intended to refer to ASN.1 content; if not, that > acronym also needs attention. > > idnits 2.12.13 found a couple of minor nits: > > ** There is 1 instance of too long lines in the document, the longest one > being 23 characters in excess of 72. > > == The document seems to use 'NOT RECOMMENDED' as an RFC 2119 keyword, but > does not include the phrase in its RFC 2119 key words list. > > Thanks, > --David > ---------------------------------------------------- > David L. Black, Distinguished Engineer > EMC Corporation, 176 South St., Hopkinton, MA  01748 > +1 (508) 293-7953             FAX: +1 (508) 293-7786 > david.black at emc.com        Mobile: +1 (978) 394-7754 > ----------------------------------------------------