An Internet Draft (I-D) is a document published by the

Internet Engineering Task Force The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...

(IETF) containing preliminary technical specifications, results of networking-related research, or other technical information. Often, Internet Drafts are intended to be work-in-progress documents for work that is eventually to be published as a

Request for Comments A Request for Comments (RFC) is a publication in a series from the principal technical development and standards-setting bodies for the Internet, most prominently the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). An RFC is authored by individuals or g ...

(RFC) and potentially leading to an

Internet Standard In computer network engineering, an Internet Standard is a normative specification of a technology or methodology applicable to the Internet. Internet Standards are created and published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). They allow ...

. It is considered inappropriate to rely on Internet Drafts for reference purposes. I-D

citations A citation is a reference to a source. More precisely, a citation is an abbreviated alphanumeric expression embedded in the body of an intellectual work that denotes an entry in the bibliographic references section of the work for the purpose of ...

should indicate the I-D is a ''work in progress''. An Internet Draft is expected to adhere to the basic requirements imposed on any RFC. An Internet Draft is only valid for six months unless it is replaced by an updated version. An otherwise expired draft remains valid while it is under official review by the

Internet Engineering Steering Group The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster or requirements and a ...

(IESG) when a request to publish it as an RFC has been submitted. Expired drafts are replaced with a "tombstone" version and remain available for reference.

Naming conventions

Internet Drafts produced by the IETF working groups follow the naming convention: draft-ietf---.txt. Internet Drafts produced by IRTF research groups following the naming convention: draft-irtf---.txt. Drafts produced by individuals following the naming convention: draft---.txt The IAB, RFC Editor, and other organizations associated with the IETF may also produce Internet Drafts. They follow the naming convention: draft---.txt. The initial version number is represented as 00. The second version, i.e. the first revision is represented as 01, and incremented for all following revisions.

References

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External links

Internet-Drafts

Status of IETF Internet Drafts (IANA)

Internet Draft search

An archive of expired IDs
Internet Standards