A Best Current Practice (BCP) is a ''de facto'' level of performance in engineering and information technology. It is more flexible than a
standard, since techniques and tools are continually evolving.
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 an ...
publishes Best Current Practice documents in a numbered document series. Each document in this series is paired with the currently valid
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) document. BCP was introduced in RFC-1818.
[rfc:1818]
BCPs are document guidelines, processes, methods, and other matters not suitable for standardization. The
Internet standards process itself is defined in a series of BCPs, as is the formal organizational structure of the IETF,
Internet Engineering Steering Group,
Internet Architecture Board, and other groups involved in that process.
IETF's separate
Standard Track (STD) document series defines the fully standardized network protocols of the Internet, such as the
Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol (IP) is the network layer communications protocol in the Internet protocol suite for relaying datagrams across network boundaries. Its routing function enables internetworking, and essentially establishes the Internet.
...
, the
Transmission Control Protocol
The Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) is one of the main protocols of the Internet protocol suite. It originated in the initial network implementation in which it complemented the Internet Protocol (IP). Therefore, the entire suite is commonl ...
, and the
Domain Name System
The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical and distributed naming system for computers, services, and other resources in the Internet or other Internet Protocol (IP) networks. It associates various information with domain names assigned t ...
.
Each RFC number refers to a specific version of a document Standard Track, but the BCP number refers to the most recent revision of the document. Thus, citations often reference both the BCP number and the RFC number.
Example citations for BCPs are:
BCP 38
In computer networking, ingress filtering is a technique used to ensure that incoming packets are actually from the networks from which they claim to originate. This can be used as a countermeasure against various spoofing attacks where the atta ...
,
RFC 2827
In computer networking, ingress filtering is a technique used to ensure that incoming packets are actually from the networks from which they claim to originate. This can be used as a countermeasure against various spoofing attacks where the atta ...
.
Significant fields of application
BCP related to IPv6
BCP related to DNS
BCP related to security
BCP related to globalization
{, class="wikitable sortable" border="1"
, -
!BCP number!!Title
, -
BCP047, style="width:400px", Tags for Identifying Languages (
IETF language tag
An IETF BCP 47 language tag is a standardized code or tag that is used to identify human languages in the Internet. The tag structure has been standardized by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in ''Best Current Practice (BCP) 47''; the s ...
)
, -
See also
*
Benchmarking
Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost.
Benchmarking is used to measure performanc ...
*
Best practice
A best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to other known alternatives because it often produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing ...
*
Gold standard (test)
*
Prior art
Prior art (also known as state of the art or background art) is a concept in patent law used to determine the patentability of an invention, in particular whether an invention meets the novelty and the inventive step or non-obviousness criteria ...
References
External links
IETF's BCP Index
Organizational performance management
Standards