RFC - 3692

Assigning Experimental and Testing Numbers Considered Useful

Original:	ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3692.txt
Authors:	T. Narten [IBM]
Date:	January 2004
Category:	Best Current Practice [ BCP-82 ]

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Updates:
RFC-2434 [BCP 26]	Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs (Updated by RFC-3692)

Referred by:	10 RFC
Refers to:	3 RFC

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Status

This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2004). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

When experimenting with or extending protocols, it is often necessary to use some sort of protocol number or constant in order to actually test or experiment with the new function, even when testing in a closed environment. For example, to test a new DHCP option, one needs an option number to identify the new function. This document recommends that when writing IANA Considerations sections, authors should consider assigning a small range of numbers for experimentation purposes that implementers can use when testing protocol extensions or other new features. This document reserves some ranges of numbers for experimentation purposes in specific protocols where the need to support experimentation has been identified.

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