Nictable is the tool responsible for taking the hosts.txt table supplied by the SRI Network Information Center and creating domain and channel tables. The format of the NIC table is subject to change, and occasionally this program must be modified appropriately.
The -C option causes the program to generate a channel table on the standard output. The -D option creates a domain table. This option should be combined with the -d option explained below to state which domain table you are building. The -T option creates a ``top'' or ``rootdomain'' table. No trailing domain spec is removed from the LHS entry.
There are several options for further restricting the number of hosts chosen. The -d domain option states that only hosts in the domain specified should be output. An exception to this is when -d is combined with -T. In this case, all entries will be output EXCEPT for those in the domain specified. The intention is that you grap all of one domain with -D, and then grab everybody else with -T. The -s service option states that only hosts that are listed as supporting the service specified should be output. The -t transport option is like -s except it states that only hosts supporting the transport protocol specified should be considered.
Typical usage involves two or three invocations:
nictable -C < /etc/hosts.txt > smtpchannel
nictable -D -d ARPA < /etc/hosts.txt > arpadomain
(and optionally)
nictable -T -d ARPA < /etc/hosts.txt > rootdomain