RFC 7799 is one of the key documents that record IETF best current thinking about the classification of measurement metrics and methods. Also, the document is normatively referenced by other RFCs and cited outside IPPM, including by other SDOs. The classification guidelines set in this RFC are used as a reference to position measurement methods and establish a structured approach to capture measurement method characteristics. Typically, a measurement method is first presented by indicating whether it belongs to Active/Passive/Hybrid category defined in RFC 7799.

The experience so far supports reclassification of RFC 7799 from Informational to BCP in compliance with the definition in Section 5 of RFC2026. This reclassification is also meant to ensure consistent with the recent approval by the IESG of the companion document "Guidelines for Characterizing the Term "OAM"" (draft-ietf-opsawg-oam-characterization) that will be published as a BCP (currently in the RFC Editor Queue) and which was carefully reviewed to ensure consistency with RFC 7799. Both these documents and "Guidelines for the Use of the "OAM" Acronym in the IETF" (RFC 6291) will be published under the same BCP: BCP 161.

This reclassification allows to group key guidelines to enable unambiguous, precise, and consistent understanding of OAM mechanisms in the IETF, in particular.