After nearly 3 weeks at home (my longest stretch since last August), I’m off to join the already-in-progress APRICOT 2015 in Fukuoka, Japan.

For those who don’t know, the annual APRICOT (Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies) is a:

Ten-day long summit consist[ing] of seminars, workshops, tutorials, conference sessions, birds-of-a-feather (BOFs), and other forums all with the goal of spreading and sharing the knowledge required to operate the Internet within the Asia Pacific region.

Learn more about APRICOT and all of the prestigious organizations who collaborate to help make it happen here.

This is a pretty massive event, and there is a ton going on next week. I’ll start with a couple of the activities I’m most involved in. Next, I’ll rundown a few other potentially exciting/informative/important sessions that caught my eye.

Operators and the IETF BoF

I’m very pleased to announce that I will be hosting a BoF on Wednesday, 4 March from 17:30 – 19:00 (local, UTC+9) in rooms 502 + 503 to talk about our project to address the perceived gap between Operators and the IETF. This project has become about more than just operators though, we’re really trying to make it easier for newcomers to bring real-world experiences into the IETF process.

I will be presenting the results from our 2014 survey of operators but the real purpose and value of this session will be the discussion in the room. We understand the problems, now let’s start finding solutions, together!

Read more about this project here, read the IETF Internet-Draft with detailed survey results here, and then come to the BoF and help us continue this conversation! Want to get a jump start? Whether or not you’ll be in Japan next week, you can join the ‘synergy‘ mailing list and join the discussion today.

One thing that makes this super exciting is that we are already testing ideas generated from this project. The IETF Help Desk is one such idea, which we’ll get to see in action in Fukuoka.

IETF Help Desk @ APRICOT 2015

Following our success with the alpha run at NANOG 63, we’ll be continuing to test the IETF Help Desk concept next week at APRICOT 2015. The IETF Help Desk is designed to be your one stop for all your IETF questions.

Reminder: This is not an official (read: approved or funded) IETF activity. We’re just a bunch of folks who happen to participate in both the IETF and APRICOT who’ve volunteered to staff the table and help our fellow community members.

IETF Help DeskWe hope to answer questions such as:

  • “Why should I participate in the IETF?”
  • “How do I get involved in the IETF?”
  • “What is the difference between an Internet-Draft and an RFC?”
  • “How do I submit an idea to the IETF?”
  • “What is the IETF working on in <foo> space?”
  • “How do I comment on an existing IETF document?”
  • <your question here>

Please come ask your questions about the IETF! Look for the “IETF Help Desk” banner.

Best Current Operational Practices (BCOP) BoF

The bad news is that the BCOP BoF is at the exact same time as the Operators and the IETF BoF. The good news is that there will finally be a BCOP BoF at APRICOT!

A BCOP is a living document describing the best operational practices currently agreed on by subject matter experts. BCOPs are vetted and periodically reviewed by the global network engineering community (GNEC). Groups around the world have formed to find, create, and share these documents in an open, transparent, bottom-up, and community-led manner. This BCOP BoF at APRICOT 2015 marks the Asia Pacific region adding support for this effort.

It may be a tough choice on Wednesday afternoon. Join the Operators and the IETF discussion, or jump in at the ground floor of an Asia-Pacific BCOP effort. Decisions, decisions. To help you decide, you can learn more about BCOP efforts globally here. If you decide to join the BCOP BoF you can find it in room 411 from 17:30 – 19:00 (local, UTC+9) on Wednesday, 4 March.

Routing Resilience Manifesto & MANRS

My colleague Andrei Robachevsky will also be there talking about the Routing Resilience Manifesto and accompanying Mutually Agreed Norms for Routing Security (“MANRS”) document. He wrote about it over on the Internet Technology Matters blog yesterday and in part, he wrote:

We are looking for leaders, the network operators who take security and resilience seriously and have already implemented the Actions outlined in MANRS, and probably many more. We are looking for leaders whose reputation will motivate others to step up and do the same.

I know that many such leading operators are planning to attend APRICOT 2015. I’ll be there, too, presenting MANRS at the Peering Forum on 3 March and the APCERT session on 4 March. But I am also looking forward to meeting with you in person and hearing your feedback and answering your questions about this initiative.

Packed Agenda

Which Wednesday afternoon BoF to attend isn’t the only tough choice you’re likely to face next week at APRICOT 2015. As usual, they have put together a great program. Here’s a few highlights from my perspective:

  • RIPE NCC Measurements Tools Workshop – Monday 09:00 – 12:30 in room 409 + 410
  • Internet Measurement – Tuesday 09:00 – 10:30 in room 502 + 503
  • Internet Society @ APRICOT 2015 – Tuesday 17:30 – 19:00 in room 411
  • APNIC Plenary on Real Mobile/Wireless Broadband – Wednesday 09:00 – 10:30 in room 501
  • Understanding and Deploying DNSSEC – Thursday 11:00 – 12:30 in room 409 + 410

Let’s Chat!

As always, one of the primary reasons I do all this travel is to get a chance to talk to you. Yes you. If you’ll be at APRICOT 2015 please let me know and let’s find some time to chat. See you soon!

This post also appears on the Deploy360 blog.

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