RFC, or Request for Comments, are documents published that describe various items surrounding computer networking. Generally, these are memorandums published by the Internet Engineering Task Force.

RFCs can be a great resource. For some unknown reason, most candidates preparing for the CCIE don't take the time to review these documents, which can be very helpful in assisting with understanding the how and why of various networking components. Perhaps the language is a bit dry, or they prefer books with shiny covers.

There are a variety of status classifications. These include, but are not limited to: standards, informational, best current practices. Some are very serious discussions of the deep inner workings, where others are just there for entertainment, such as RFC 1149 and 2549.

If you aren't sure whether a RFC is intended to be serious or entertainment, check the date. If it was one from 1 April of any year, most likely it falls into the category of entertainment.

http://www.rfc-archive.org/1+april+rfc.php

Language is included to define how an item is intended to behave. RFC 2119 lists some of these requirements. Requirements are shown capitalized, and include the following: MUST, MUST NOT, SHOULD, SHOULD NOT, MAY, RECOMMENDED, NOT RECOMMENDED, OPTIONAL.

RFCs are not a "magic bullet" for lab preparation. Most students that are familiar with RFCs tend to be more comfortable with the technologies discussed.

RFCs can be viewed online at a number of sites, including the following:

http://www.ietf.org/rfc.html

http://www.rfc-editor.org/

Most search engines will also give you results for RFCs by number or topic.

Quick quiz.

Four questions on RFCs that most people are generally familiar with. Questions are True or False, and the answers can be found fairly quickly, if you know where to look.

T or F
RFC 3330, which describes Special Use IPv4 Addresses, is obsolete.

T or F
RFC 1812, which discusses requirements for IPv4 Routers, states that subnet bits MUST be contiguous.

T or F
RFC 2827 discusses ingress filtering mechanisms, including the effects of multihoming.

T or F
RFC 1918 does not address security issues.

How did you do? Two of these are true and two are false. If you got all four correct, congratulations. If you've never heard of these RFCs, perhaps it is time to do some additional reading.

Bonus Question:

True or False:
Neither Cisco nor Juniper devices are compliant with RFC 5841.