The Hacker's Encyclopedia 1998

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==Phrack Inc.== Volume Two, Issue 24, File 3 of 13 <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> <> <> <> Limbo To Infinity <> <> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <> <> Chapter Three of The Future Transcendent Saga <> <> <> <> Traversing The Barriers For Gateway Communication <> <> <> <> Presented by Knight Lightning <> <> February 11, 1989 <> <> <> <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> Beyond Bitnet lies the other wide area networks. We will discuss more about those networks in chapter four. Right now lets learn how to communicate with those other realms. _______________________________________________________________________________ Mailing To Other Networks - Gateway Communications ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Bitnet, as you already know, is not the only computer network in the world. What you might be surprised to find out, however, is that when you have access to Bitnet you also have access to many other networks as well. Unfortunately, the methods for communicating with people in these other networks are not as simple as the ones described earlier. Bitnet's links to other networks give you access to people and services you could not contact otherwise (or at least without great expense). This alone should make learning a bit about them worthwhile. In chapter one of this series, I showed you how some Bitnet nodenames can be broken down into state abbreviations. To go a step further, try and think of Bitnet as a country and the links between the Bitnet nodes as highways. Another network (or country in this example) is connected to our highway system at one point, which is called a "gateway." These borders do not let interactive messages or files through; only mail is allowed past the gateway. The people in these other networks have addresses just like yours, but you will need to specify something extra in order to get mail to them. A userid@node address is not enough, because that does not tell the Bitnet mail software what network that node is in. Therefore, we can extend the network address with a code that identifies the destination network. In this example, the destination network is ARPAnet (a network I'm sure you have heard much about), the code for which is ARPA. TARAN@MSP-BBS.ARPA +---- +------ +--- | | | | | +-------------------- the network | | | +---------------------------- the node | +---------------------------------- the userid That is about as simple as an address from another network gets. Generally they are much more complex. Because of the variety of networks there can be no example which will show you what a "typical" address might be. However, you should not have to let it worry you too much. If someone tells you that his network address is C483307@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU, just use it like that with your mail software. As long as you understand that the mail is going to another network and that the transit time may be longer than usual (although in many cases I have found that mail going to EDU addresses is delivered much faster than Bitnet mail) you should not have many problems. More On Gateways ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I introduced the gateways in the previous section, but didn't get into too much detail. This is because the subject can get more than a little complex at times. Actually, understanding gateways isn't difficult at all, but interpreting network addresses that use them can be. In the previous example, an address for someone in another network looked like this: TARAN@MSP-BBS.ARPA The ".ARPA" in the address tells your networking software that your letter should go to someone in another network. What you might not realize is that your networking software "knows" that the address for the gateway to ARPA may be at, say INTERBIT. It might extend the address to look something like this: TARAN%MSP-BBS.ARPA@INTERBIT +---- +------ +--- +------- | | | | | | | +--------------- the node of the gateway | | | | | +-------------------- the network | | | +---------------------------- the node | +---------------------------------- the userid The gateway is a server machine (userid@node) that transfers files between the two networks. In this case, it is ARPA@INTERBIT. Note that the "%" replaces the "@" from the previous example. This is because Bitnet networking software cannot handle addresses with more than one AT sign (@). When your mail gets to the gateway, the "@INTERBIT" would be stripped off, and the "%" would be turned back into a "@". Ok, so now you are asking, "If this is so automatic, why do you need to know this?" In many cases your networking software is not smart enough to know that the gateway for SCONNET is at STLMOVM. If this is the case, you have to type out the whole address with all of the interesting special characters. For example, sometimes, you may have to change the addresses around somewhat. Let's say I'm talking to Lex Luthor one day and he tells me his address is "lex@plover.COM". I have found that an address like "lex@plover.COM" would actually be mailed to as "plover!lex@RUTGERS.EDU". Now this is just a specific example of how it works from my particular system and other systems (not to mention networks) will work differently (this is a guide for people using Bitnet). The COM (Commercial) addresses are not recognized by the mailer at UMCVMB and so I have to route them through Rutgers University. In chapter four, I will discuss some of the other networks that are interconnected. In many cases, a gateway to a network may be in another network. In this example, we are sending mail to RED at node KNIGHT in HDENNET. The gateway to the network is in, say, ARPAnet. Our networking software is smart enough to know where ARPA gateway is, so the address might look something like this: RED%KNIGHT.HDENNET@SRI-NIC.ARPA +-- +----- +------ +------ +--- | | | | | | | | | +----- the network of the gateway | | | | | | | +------------- the node of the gateway | | | | | +--------------------- the network | | | +---------------------------- the node | +-------------------------------- the userid As you can see, these addresses can get pretty long and difficult to type. Perhaps the only consolation is that your address probably looks just as bad to the people in the destination network. Foundations Abound ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Just as there are servers and services in Bitnet, there are similar counterparts in the other networks as well. There are many electronic digests and servers that are similar to Bitnet servers available on several of the other networks. _______________________________________________________________________________ Gateways To Non-Standard Networks - Intermail ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Intermail is perhaps the most interesting exception to standard gateways. It's better to just show you what I mean rather than try to really technically describe the process. With Intermail, you can access networks you probably never thought were accessible. I have included the instructions for using the Intermail system for transmitting computer mail between users in the MCI-Mail system, the GTE Telemail system, the Compmail/Dialcom 164 system, and the NFS-Mail/Dialcom 157 system to the ARPA-Mail system. The Intermail system may be used in either direction. Mail to be sent to MCI Mail, GTE Telemail, Compmail, or NSF-Mail is sent to the "Intermail" mailbox on the local mail system. The Intermail system operates by having a program service mailboxes in both the local and the destination mail systems. When the right information is supplied at the beginning of a message, the program forwards those messages into the other mail system. In order for a message to be delivered to a mailbox in another mail system, forwarding information must be included at the beginning of the text of each message. This forwarding information tells the mail forwarding program which mail system to forward the message to, and which mailboxes to send it to. This information is in the form: Forward: <mail system> To: <user mailbox> <blank line> The syntax allowed on the "To:" line is that of the system being forwarded into. In ARPA-Mail it is also possible to send to a list of CC recipients in any of the mail gateway systems. See the examples for further details. In either direction, the local Subject field of the message to Intermail is used as the Subject field of the message delivered in the other mail system. Sending To Non-Standard Networks From Bitnet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In this direction, the Internet user must first send mail to the Intermail mailbox on the ARPA-Internet. The address of "Intermail" is "INTERMAIL@ISI.EDU". Next, the Mailbox forwarding information must be added at the beginning of the text of each message. The names of the mailboxes are MCI-MAIL, TELEMAIL (for GTE Telemail), COMPMAIL, and NSF-MAIL. This information is in the form: Forward: <Type name of mailbox here> To: <a valid address on the system you're forwarding to> <blank line> <Message...> Please Note: Although CompuServe (CIS), Telex, and FAX are accessible from MCI-Mail, the Intermail gateway does not support these services. However, there is a Bitnet-CompuServe gateway, but that will be discussed in the next section of this file. Sending To Bitnet From Non-Standard Networks ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Supposing that you have an account on MCI-Mail, GTE Telemail, Compmail, or NSF-Mail and you would like to mail to someone on Bitnet, you would direct your mail to one of the following addresses; "INTERMAIL" (actually MCI-ID "107-8239") in MCI-Mail, "INTERMAIL/USCISI" in GTE Telemail, "164:CMP00817" in Compmail/Dialcom 164, and "157:NSF153" in NSF-Mail Once you have done this, you actually type the following as the first two lines in the mail: Forward: ARPA To: KNIGHT%MSPVMA.BITNET@CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU <blank line> <Message...> In this example, KNIGHT is the userid and MSPVMA is the Bitnet node. CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU is the Internet gateway to ARPAnet. It's really just that simple. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - In case of questions or problems using Intermail, please send a message to Intermail-Request@ISI.EDU. _______________________________________________________________________________ CompuServe ~~~~~~~~~~ The gateway is not yet live as of this writing. Testing on it has been delayed somewhat because of high-priority projects inside CompuServe. However, it might be a safe bet that by the time you read this that the gateway will be complete. The specific mechanism is that the gateway machine, 3B2/400 named Loquat, believes that it has a UUCP neighbor "compuserve" which polls it. In reality, the UUCP connection is a lie all around, but the gateway starts up on an hourly basis, pokes through the UUCP queue, finds mail aimed at CompuServe, and creates script language on the fly suitable for a utility called Xcomm 2.2 to call CompuServe, download any waiting mail, and upload any queued mail. Appropriate header hacking is done so that CompuServe looks like just another RFC-compliant entity on the Internet, and the Internet looks like yet another gatewayed system from the perspective of the CompuServe subscriber - a very minor modification to the usual syntax used in their mailer is needed, but this project has provided the impetus for them to generalize the mechanism, something they had apparently not needed before. So that's where it stands. Loquat speaks with machines at Ohio State. At the moment, there is a problem preventing mail passage except between CompuServe and Ohio State, while they finish development and testing. Also, part of the header hacking done is to make CompuServe IDs look right on the Internet - the usual 7xxxx,yyy is a problem due to the presence of the ",". _______________________________________________________________________________ Easynet ~~~~~~~ A mail gateway between Easynet and the UUCP network and DARPA Internet (including CSNET) is provided by the Western Research Laboratory in Palo Alto, California. Hopefully this service will provide improved communications between the DEC community and the Usenet and Internet communities. Mailing From A Bitnet Site To An Easynet Node ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ To mail a message from an Internet site to an Easynet node (say MSPVAX), you type: To: user%mspvax.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com A few other forms are still accepted for backward compatibility, but their use is discouraged and they will not be described here. Mailing From Easynet To Bitnet ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ For people on Easynet who would like to mail to people on Bitnet the following information may be of interest. The gateway supports connection to Bitnet using a pseudo-domain syntax. These addresses are translated by the gateway to the proper form to address the gateway into Bitnet. To address users in Bitnet you type: To: DECWRL::"user@host.bitnet" (Example: To: DECWRL::KNIGHT@MSPVAX.BITNET) _______________________________________________________________________________ Mailnet ~~~~~~~ The Bitnet-Mailnet Gateway no longer exists. EDUCOM's Mailnet Service was discontinued after June 30, 1987 in agreement with MIT. _______________________________________________________________________________ DASnet ~~~~~~ DASnet is one of the networks that is connected to AppleLink. Sending to DASnet from Bitnet: 1. In the "TO" field, enter the DASnet gateway address: XB.DAS@STANFORD.BITNET 2. In the "SUBJECT" field, enter the DASnet user id (such as [1234AA]joe) Example (0756AA is the DASnet address and randy is the user on that system): To: XB.DAS@STANFORD.BITNET Subject: [0756AA]randy 3. If you type a "!" after the address in the subject field, you can insert comments, but the subject line must be limited to 29 characters. Example; Subject: [0756AA]randy!Networks are cool Sending to Bitnet from DASnet 1. In the "TO" field, enter the BITNET address followed by "@dasnet" 2. Use the "SUBJECT" field for comments. Example: To: knight@umcvmb.bitnet@dasnet#MSubject: Gateways Don't be confused, there are two @s and a at the end. _______________________________________________________________________________ Gateways Between Bitnet And Other Networks Not Previously Detailed ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ______________________________________________________ | | | | | "u" = UserId | "h" = Host (Node) | "d" = Node (Host) | |______________|___________________|___________________| To: CSNET Phonenet @<h>.csnet To: JANET (Domains: U: uk) %<d>.U@ac.uk To: EAN (Domains: E: cdn, dfn, etc.) @<d>.E To: COSAC <h>/@france.csnet To: Xerox Internet (Domains: R: A registry) .R@xerox.com To: DEC's Easynet <*Detailed Earlier*> %<h>.dec.com@decwrl.dec.com To: IBM's VNET @vnet To: ACSNET (Domains: A: oz.au) %<d>.A@<g> To: UUCP h1!h2!<h>!@psuvax1 To: JUNET (Domains: J: junet) %<d>.J@csnet-relay.csnet To: JANET %U.<d>@ac.uk - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - To: BITNET From ARPA Internet %<h>.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu CSNET Phonenet %<h>.bitnet@relay.cs.net JANET %<h>@uk.ac.rl.earn EAN @<h>.bitnet COSAC adi/%<h>.bitnet@relay.cs.net ACSNET %<h>.bitnet@munnari.oz UUCP psuvax1!<h>.bitnet! JUNET @<h>.bitnet _______________________________________________________________________________ Conclusion ~~~~~~~~~~ Now that you understand how to mail to the other networks by making use of the gateways, we will begin looking at the other networks themselves. As my greatest area of expertise is Bitnet, I will cover the other networks in less detail. If they interest you, I'm sure you will find a way to learn more about them. So read Chapter Four of The Future Transcendent Saga -- Frontiers. :Knight Lightning _______________________________________________________________________________