Re: Fwd: Re: RADIUS

[Bernard Aboba <aboba@internaut.com>]

> One of the approaches for IEEE 802.11 fast roaming would require a RADIUS
> extension.  Yet, many people say that "RADIUS is dead."  If the proponents
> of this solution were to generate the Internet-Draft, is there any reason
> to prevent it from being published on the standards track?

Assuming that there is experimental evidence that the proposal actually
works ("running code"), some thoughtfulness about security issues, and
community consensus about its usefulness ("consensus") then publication
should be considered.

In this particular case, Bill Arbaugh is proposing formation of an IRTF WG
on the subject, which presumably would examine this against alternative
approaches (such as IAPP), and would also do the requisite security/key
hierarchy analysis. Assuming that this work gets done, we might actually
have a proposal, running code, and some evidence of efficacy before IETF
activity is initiated.

While Bill's approach is radical and has never been attempted before
(thought prior to implementation of a RADIUS extension, imagine!) it is
worth encouraging, if only for the precedent it would set.