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- Network Working Group G. Malkin
- Request for Comments: 1325 Xylogics
- FYI: 4 A. Marine
- Obsoletes: RFC 1206 SRI
- May 1992
-
-
- FYI on Questions and Answers
- Answers to Commonly asked "New Internet User" Questions
-
- Status of this Memo
-
- This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does
- not specify an Internet standard. Distribution of this memo is
- unlimited.
-
- Abstract
-
- This FYI RFC is one of two FYI's called, "Questions and Answers"
- (Q/A), produced by the User Services Working Group of the Internet
- Engineering Task Force (IETF). The goal is to document the most
- commonly asked questions and answers in the Internet.
-
- New Questions and Answers
-
- In addition to updating information contained in the previous version
- of this FYI RFC, the following new questions have been added:
-
- Questions About the Internet:
- How do I get a list of all the hosts on the Internet?
-
- Questions About Internet Documentation:
- What is the RFC-INFO service?
- What is an FYI?
- What is an STD?
- What is the Internet Monthly Report?
-
- Questions About Internet Organizations:
- What is the Internet Society?
-
- Questions About Internet Services:
- What is "archie"?
- How do I Connect to archie?
-
- Mailing Lists and Sending Mail
- How Do I Send Mail to Other Networks?
-
-
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-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 1]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- Table of Contents
-
- 1. Introduction................................................. 2
- 2. Acknowledgements............................................. 3
- 3. Questions About the Internet................................. 3
- 4. Questions About TCP/IP....................................... 5
- 5. Questions About the Domain Name System....................... 6
- 6. Questions About Internet Documentation....................... 6
- 7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts.......... 14
- 8. Questions About Services..................................... 19
- 9. Mailing Lists and Sending Mail............................... 23
- 10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions..................... 27
- 11. Suggested Reading........................................... 28
- 12. References.................................................. 29
- 13. Condensed Glossary.......................................... 30
- 14. Security Considerations..................................... 42
- 15. Authors' Addresses.......................................... 42
-
- 1. Introduction
-
- New users joining the Internet community have the same questions as
- did everyone else who has ever joined. Our quest is to provide the
- Internet community with up to date, basic Internet knowledge and
- experience, while moving the redundancies away from the electronic
- mailing lists so that the lists' subscribers do not have to read the
- same queries and answers over and over again.
-
- Future updates of this memo will be produced as User Services members
- become aware of additional questions that should be included, and of
- deficiencies or inaccuracies that should be amended in this document.
- Although the RFC number of this document will change with each
- update, it will always have the designation of FYI 4. An additional
- FYI Q/A, FYI 7, is published that deals with intermediate and
- advanced Q/A topics [11].
-
- The Q/A mailing lists are maintained by Gary Malkin at Xylogics.COM.
- They are used by a subgroup of the User Services Working Group to
- discuss the Q/A FYIs. They include:
-
- quail@xylogics.com This is a discussion mailing list. Its
- primary use is for pre-release review of
- the Q/A FYIs. It is not necessary to be
- on this list to get the FYI documents.
-
- quail-request@xylogics.com This is how you join and leave the quail
- mailing list.
-
- quail-box@xylogics.com This is a write-only list which serves as a
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 2]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- repository for candidate questions and
- answers. It is not necessary to be on the
- quail mailing list to forward to the
- quail-box. Please note that this is not a
- place to ask questions to which you don't
- know the answers.
-
- 2. Acknowledgements
-
- The following people deserve thanks for their help and contributions
- to this FYI Q/A: Corinne Carroll (BBN), Vint Cerf (CNRI), Peter
- Deutsch (McGill), John Klensin (MIT), Doug Mildram (Xylogics), Tracy
- LaQuey Parker (UTexas), Craig Partridge (BBN), Jon Postel (ISI), Matt
- Power (MIT), Joyce K. Reynolds (ISI), Karen Roubicek (Faxon),
- Patricia Smith (Merit), Gene Spafford (Purdue), and Carol Ward (SRI).
-
- 3. Questions About the Internet
-
- What is the Internet?
-
- The Internet is a large collection of networks (all of which run
- the TCP/IP protocols) that are tied together so that users of any
- of the networks can use the network services provided by TCP/IP to
- reach users on any of the other networks. The Internet started
- with the ARPANET, but now includes such networks as NSFNET,
- NYSERnet, and thousands of others. There are other major wide
- area networks, such as BITNET and DECnet networks, that are not
- based on the TCP/IP protocols and are thus not part of the
- Internet. However, it is possible to communicate between them and
- the Internet via electronic mail because of mail gateways that act
- as "translators" between the different network protocols involved.
-
- Note: You will often see "internet" with a small "i". This could
- refer to any network built based on TCP/IP, or might refer to
- networks using other protocol families that are composites built
- of smaller networks.
-
- I just got on the Internet. What can I do now?
-
- You now have access to all the resources you are authorized to use
- on your own Internet host, on any other Internet host on which you
- have an account, and on any other Internet host that offers
- publicly accessible information. The Internet gives you the
- ability to move information between these hosts via file
- transfers. Once you are logged into one host, you can use the
- Internet to open a connection to another, login, and use its
- services interactively (this is known as remote login or
- "TELNETing". In addition, you can send electronic mail to users
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 3]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- at any Internet site and to users on many non-Internet sites that
- are accessible via electronic mail.
-
- There are various other services you can use. For example, some
- hosts provide access to specialized databases or to archives of
- information. The Internet Resource Guide provides information
- regarding some of these sites. The Internet Resource Guide lists
- facilities on the Internet that are available to users. Such
- facilities include supercomputer centers, library catalogs and
- specialized data collections. The guide is published by the NSF
- Network Service Center (NNSC) and is continuously being updated.
- The Resource Guide is distributed free via e-mail (send a note to
- resource-guide-request@nnsc.nsf.net to join the e-mail
- distribution) and via anonymous FTP (in nnsc.nsf.net:resource-
- guide/*). Hardcopy is available at a nominal fee (to cover
- reproduction costs) from the NNSC. Call the NNSC at 617-873-3400
- for more information.
-
- How do I find out if a site has a computer on the Internet?
-
- Three good sources to consult are "!%@:: A Directory of Electronic
- Mail Addressing and Networks" by Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams;
- "The User's Directory of Computer Networks", by Tracy LaQuey; and
- "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems
- Worldwide", by John Quarterman.
-
- In addition, it is possible to find some information about
- Internet sites in the WHOIS database maintained at the DDN NIC at
- Network Solutions, Inc.. The DDN NIC (Defense Data Network,
- Network Information Center) provides an information retrieval
- interface to the database that is also called WHOIS. To use this
- interface, TELNET to NIC.DDN.MIL and type "whois" (carriage
- return). No login is necessary. Type "help" at the whois prompt
- for more information on using the facility. WHOIS will show many
- sites, but may not show every site registered with the DDN NIC
- (simply for reasons having to do with how the program is set up to
- search the database).
-
- How do I get a list of all the hosts on the Internet?
-
- You really don't want that. The list includes almost 727,000
- hosts. Almost all of them require that you have access permission
- to actually use them. However, there are many machines which
- serve special functions and are available to the public. There is
- not yet a definitive list, but below are some available machines.
- They are available via telnet.
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 4]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- A geographic information server which provides latitude,
- longitude and other statistics about a city.
-
- telnet martini.eecs.umich.edu 3000
-
- The Library of Congress maintains an online catalog.
-
- telnet dra.com
-
- NASA SpaceLink offers latest NASA news including shuttle
- launches and satellite updates.
-
- telnet spacelink.msfc.nasa.gov
-
- 4. Questions About TCP/IP
-
- What is TCP/IP?
-
- TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) [4,5,6]
- is the common name for a family of over 100 data-communications
- protocols used to organize computers and data-communications
- equipment into computer networks. TCP/IP was developed to
- interconnect hosts on ARPANET, PRNET (packet radio), and SATNET
- (packet satellite). All three of these networks have since been
- retired; but TCP/IP lives on. It is currently used on a large
- international network of networks called the Internet, whose
- members include universities, other research institutions,
- government facilities, and many corporations. TCP/IP is also
- sometimes used for other networks, particularly local area
- networks that tie together numerous different kinds of computers
- or tie together engineering workstations.
-
- What are the other well-known standard protocols
- in the TCP/IP family?
-
- Other than TCP and IP, the three main protocols in the TCP/IP
- suite are the Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) [8], the File
- Transfer Protocol (FTP) [3], and the TELNET Protocol [9]. There
- are many other protocols in use on the Internet. The Internet
- Activities Board (IAB) regularly publishes an RFC [2] that
- describes the state of standardization of the various Internet
- protocols. This document is the best guide to the current status
- of Internet protocols and their recommended usage.
-
-
-
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 5]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- 5. Questions About the Domain Name System
-
- What is the Domain Name System?
-
- The Domain Name System (DNS) is a hierarchical, distributed method
- of organizing the name space of the Internet. The DNS
- administratively groups hosts into a hierarchy of authority that
- allows addressing and other information to be widely distributed
- and maintained. A big advantage to the DNS is that using it
- eliminates dependence on a centrally-maintained file that maps
- host names to addresses.
-
- What is a Fully Qualified Domain Name?
-
- A Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is a domain name that
- includes all higher level domains relevant to the entity named.
- If you think of the DNS as a tree-structure with each node having
- its own label, a Fully Qualified Domain Name for a specific node
- would be its label followed by the labels of all the other nodes
- between it and the root of the tree. For example, for a host, a
- FQDN would include the string that identifies the particular host,
- plus all domains of which the host is a part up to and including
- the top-level domain (the root domain is always null). For
- example, PARIS.NISC.SRI.COM is a Fully Qualified Domain Name for
- the host at 192.33.33.109. In addition, NISC.SRI.COM is the FQDN
- for the NISC domain.
-
- 6. Questions About Internet Documentation
-
- What is an RFC?
-
- The Request for Comments documents (RFCs) are working notes of the
- Internet research and development community. A document in this
- series may be on essentially any topic related to computer
- communication, and may be anything from a meeting report to the
- specification of a standard. Submissions for Requests for
- Comments may be sent to the RFC Editor (RFC-EDITOR@ISI.EDU). The
- RFC Editor is Jon Postel.
-
- Most RFCs are the descriptions of network protocols or services,
- often giving detailed procedures and formats for their
- implementation. Other RFCs report on the results of policy
- studies or summarize the work of technical committees or
- workshops. All RFCs are considered public domain unless
- explicitly marked otherwise.
-
- While RFCs are not refereed publications, they do receive
- technical review from either the task forces, individual technical
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 6]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- experts, or the RFC Editor, as appropriate. Currently, most
- standards are published as RFCs, but not all RFCs specify
- standards.
-
- Anyone can submit a document for publication as an RFC.
- Submissions must be made via electronic mail to the RFC Editor.
- Please consult RFC 1111, "Instructions to RFC Authors" [10], for
- further information. RFCs are accessible online in public access
- files, and a short message is sent to a notification distribution
- list indicating the availability of the memo. Requests to be
- added to this distribution list should be sent to RFC-
- REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL.
-
- The online files are copied by interested people and printed or
- displayed at their sites on their equipment. (An RFC may also be
- returned via electronic mail in response to an electronic mail
- query.) This means that the format of the online files must meet
- the constraints of a wide variety of printing and display
- equipment.
-
- Once a document is assigned an RFC number and published, that RFC
- is never revised or re-issued with the same number. There is
- never a question of having the most recent version of a particular
- RFC. However, a protocol (such as File Transfer Protocol (FTP))
- may be improved and re-documented many times in several different
- RFCs. It is important to verify that you have the most recent RFC
- on a particular protocol. The "IAB Official Protocol Standards"
- [2] memo is the reference for determining the correct RFC to refer
- to for the current specification of each protocol.
-
- How do I obtain RFCs?
-
- RFCs are available online at several repositories around the
- world. For a list of repositories and instructions about how to
- obtain RFCs from each of the major US ones, FTP the file in-
- notes/rfc-retrieval.txt from the host ISI.EDU. That host supports
- anonymous login. You can also get information about RFC
- repositories via electronic mail. Send a message to rfc-
- info@isi.edu. In the body of the message, type
- "help: ways_to_get_rfcs" (without the quotes).
-
- Two examples of obtaining RFCs online follow.
-
- RFCs can be obtained via FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL, with the pathname
- rfc/rfcNNNN.txt (where "NNNN" refers to the number of the RFC).
- Login using FTP, username "anonymous" and password "guest".
-
- RFCs can also be obtained via FTP from NIS.NSF.NET. Using FTP,
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 7]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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- login with username "anonymous" and password "guest"; then connect
- to the RFC directory ("cd RFC"). The file name is of the form
- RFCnnnn.TXT-1 (where "nnnn" refers to the number of the RFC). The
- NIS also provides an automatic mail service for those sites which
- cannot use FTP. Address the request to NIS-INFO@NIS.NSF.NET and
- leave the subject field of the message blank. The first line of
- the text of the message must be "SEND RFCnnnn.TXT-1", where nnnn
- is replaced by the RFC number.
-
- Requests for special distribution should be addressed to either
- the author of the RFC in question, to NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL, or to
- NISC@NISC.SRI.COM. SRI International operates the
- FTP.NISC.SRI.COM online repository of RFCs and other files, and
- makes the RFCs available in hardcopy for those people who have
- neither FTP nor e-mail access to the Internet. Hardcopy RFCs are
- sold by SRI on a cost-recovery basis. In addition, SRI has a
- hardcopy subscription service for RFCs, as well as several
- publications that incorporate selections of RFCs. Unless
- specifically noted otherwise on the RFC itself, all RFCs are for
- unlimited distribution.
-
- How do I obtain a list of RFCs?
-
- SRI maintains a file that is an index of the RFCs. It lists each
- RFC, starting with the most recent, and for each RFC provides the
- number, title, author(s), issue date, and number of hardcopy
- pages. In addition, it lists the online formats (PostScript or
- ASCII text) for each RFC and the number of bytes each such version
- is online. If an RFC is also an FYI, that fact is noted, with the
- corresponding FYI number. (There is a parallel FYI Index
- available). Finally, the Index notes whether or not an RFC is
- obsoleted or updated by another RFC, and gives the number of that
- RFC, or if an RFC itself obsoletes or updates another RFC, and
- gives that RFC number. The index is updated online each time an
- RFC is issued.
-
- This RFC Index is available online for anonymous FTP from the
- FTP.NISC.SRI.COM host as rfc/rfc-index.txt. The FYI Index is
- online as fyi/fyi-index.txt. They are also available via
- electronic mail by sending a message to mail-server@nisc.sri.com.
- In the body of the message, say "send rfc-index" or "send fyi-
- index" (don't use quotes, but do use lowercase). The RFC Index is
- also available from the SRI in hardcopy for $12, as are individual
- RFCs. Call SRI at 1-415-859-3695 for help in obtaining the Index.
-
-
-
-
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-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 8]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- What is the RFC-INFO service?
-
- The Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern
- California (ISI) has announced a service called RFC-Info. Even
- though this is a service, rather than a document, we'll discuss it
- in this section because it is so closely tied to RFC information.
-
- RFC-Info is an e-mail based service to help in locating and
- retrival of RFCs and FYIs. Users can ask for "lists" of all RFCs
- and FYIs having certain attributes ("filters") such as their ID,
- keywords, title, author, issuing organization, and date. Once an
- RFC is uniquely identified (e.g., by its RFC number) it may also
- be retrieved.
-
- To use the service send e-mail to RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU with your
- requests in the body of the message. Feel free to put anything in
- the SUBJECT, the system ignores it. All input is case
- independent. Report problems to RFC-MANAGER@ISI.EDU.
-
- To get started, you may send a message to RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU with
- requests such as in the following examples (without the
- explanations between brackets):
-
- Help: Help [to get this information]
-
- List: FYI [list the FYI notes]
- List: RFC [list RFCs with window as keyword or in title]
- keywords: window
- List: FYI [list FYIs about windows]
- Keywords: window
- List: * [list both RFCs and FYIs about windows]
- Keywords: window
- List: RFC [list RFCs about ARPANET, ARPA NETWORK, etc.]
- title: ARPA*NET
- List: RFC [list RFCs issued by MITRE, dated 1989-1991]
- Organization: MITRE
- Dated-after: Jan-01-1989
- Dated-before: Dec-31-1991
- List: RFC [list RFCs obsoleting a given RFC]
- Obsoletes: RFC0010
- List: RFC [list RFCs by authors starting with "Bracken"]
- Author: Bracken* [* is a wild card matches everything]
- List: RFC [list RFCs by both Postel and Gillman]
- Authors: J. Postel [note, the "filters" are ANDed]
- Authors: R. Gillman
- List: RFC [list RFCs by any Crocker]
- Authors: Crocker
- List: RFC [list only RFCs by S.D. Crocker]
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 9]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- Authors: S.D. Crocker
- List: RFC [list only RFCs by D. Crocker]
- Authors: D. Crocker
-
- Retrieve: RFC [retrieve RFC-822]
- Doc-ID: RFC0822 [note, always 4 digits in RFC#]
-
- Help: Manual [to retrieve the long user manual, 30+ pages]
- Help: List [how to use the LIST request]
- Help: Retrieve [how to use the RETRIEVE request]
- Help: Topics [list topics for which help is available]
- Help: Dates ["Dates" is such a topic]
- List: keywords [list the keywords in use]
- List: organizations [list the organizations known to the system]
-
- Which RFCs are Standards?
-
- See "IAB Official Protocol Standards" (currently, RFC 1280) [2].
-
- What is an FYI?
-
- FYI stands for For Your Information. FYIs are a subset of the RFC
- series of online documents.
-
- FYI 1 states, "The FYI series of notes is designed to provide
- Internet users with a central repository of information about any
- topics which relate to the Internet. FYI topics may range from
- historical memos on operational questions. The FYIs are intended
- for a wide audience. Some FYIs will cater to beginners, while
- others will discuss more advanced topics."
-
- In general, then, FYI documents tend to be more information
- oriented, while RFCs are usually (but not always) more technically
- oriented.
-
- FYI documents are assigned both an FYI number and an RFC number.
- As RFCs, if an FYI is ever updated, it is issued again with a new
- RFC number; however, its FYI number remains unchanged. This can
- be a little confusing at first, but the aim is to help users
- identify which FYIs are about which topics. For example, FYI 4
- will always be FYI 4, even though it may be updated several times
- and during that process receive different RFC numbers. Thus, you
- need only to remember the FYI number to find the proper document.
- Of course, remembering titles often works as well.
-
- FYIs can be obtained in the same way RFCs can and from the same
- repositories. In general, their pathnames are fyi/fyiNN.txt or
- fyi/fyiNN.ps, where NN is the number of the FYI without leading
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 10]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- zeroes.
-
- What is an STD?
-
- The newest subseries of RFCs are the STDs (Standards). RFC 1311
- [12], which introduces this subseries, states that the intent of
- STDs is to identify clearly those RFCs that document Internet
- standards. An STD number will be assigned only to those
- specifications that have completed the full process of
- standardization in the Internet. Existing Internet standards have
- been assigned STD numbers; a list of them can be found both in RFC
- 1311 and in the IAB Official Protocol Standards RFC.
-
- Like FYIs, once a standard has been assigned an STD number, that
- number will not change, even if the standard is reworked and re-
- specified and later issued with a new RFC number.
-
- It is important to differentiate between a "standard" and
- "document." Different RFC documents will always have different RFC
- numbers. However, sometimes the complete specification for a
- standard will be contained in more than one RFC document. When
- this happens, each of the RFC documents that is part of the
- specification for that standard will carry the same STD number.
- For example, the Domain Name System (DNS) is specified by the
- combination of RFC 1034 and RFC 1035; therefore, both of those
- RFCs are labeled STD 13.
-
- What is the Internet Monthly Report?
-
- The Internet Monthly Report communicates online to the Internet
- Research Group the accomplishments, milestones reached, or
- problems discovered by the participating organizations. Many
- organizations involved in the Internet provide monthly updates of
- their activities for inclusion in this report.
-
- The Internet Monthly Report is for Internet information purposes
- only.
-
- You can receive the report online by joining the mailing list that
- distributes the rerpot. Requests to be added or deleted from the
- Internet Monthly report list should be sent to "cooper@isi.edu".
-
- In addition, back issues of the Report are available for anonymous
- FTP from the host NIS.NSF.NET in the 'imr' directory with the file
- names in the form IMRYY-MM.TXT, where YY is the last two digits of
- the year and MM two digits for the month. For example, the June
- 1991 Report is in the file IMR91-06.TXT.
-
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 11]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
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-
- What is an Internet Draft? Are there any guidelines available for
- writing one?
-
- Internet Drafts (I-Ds) are the current working documents of the
- IETF. Internet Drafts are generally in the format of an RFC with
- some key differences:
-
- - The Internet Drafts are not RFCs and are not a numbered
- document series.
-
- - The words INTERNET-DRAFT appear in place of RFC XXXX
- in the upper left-hand corner.
-
- - The document does not refer to itself as an RFC or as a
- Draft RFC.
-
- - An Internet Draft does not state nor imply that it is a
- proposed standard. To do so conflicts with the role of
- the IAB, the RFC Editor, and the Internet Engineering
- Steering Group (IESG).
-
- An Internet Drafts Directory has been installed to make available,
- for review and comment by the IETF members, draft documents that
- will be submitted ultimately to the IAB and the RFC Editor to be
- considered for publishing as an RFC. The Internet Drafts
- Directories are maintained primarily at the NSFNET Network Service
- Center (NNSC). There are several "shadow" machines which contain
- the IETF and Internet Drafts Directories. They are:
-
- NSF Network Service Center: nnsc.nsf.net
- DDN NIC: nic.ddn.mil
- SRI International: ftp.nisc.sri.com
- Pacific Rim: munnari.oz.au
- Europe: nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)
-
- To access these directories, use anonymous FTP. Login with
- username, "anonymous", password, "guest". Once logged in, change
- to the directory, "cd internet-drafts". Internet Draft files can
- then be retrieved.
-
- For further information on the Internet Drafts of the IETF, or if
- you have problems with retrieving Internet Draft documents,
- contact Megan Davies (mdavies@nri.reston.va.us) or Greg Vaudreuil
- (gvaudre@nri.reston.va.us) for assistance.
-
-
-
-
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- User Services Working Group [Page 12]
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- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How do I obtain OSI Standards documents?
-
- OSI Standards documents are NOT available from the Internet via
- anonymous FTP due to copyright restrictions. These are available
- from:
-
- Omnicom Information Service
- 501 Church Street NE
- Suite 304
- Vienna, VA 22180 USA
- Telephone: (800) 666-4266 or (703) 281-1135
- Fax: (703) 281-1505
-
- American National Standards Institute
- 11 West 42nd Street
- New York, NY 10036 USA
- Telephone: (212) 642-4900
-
- However, the GOSIP specification which covers the use of OSI
- protocols within the U.S. Government is available from SRI and
- from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST).
- The final text of GOSIP Version 2 is now available from both
- sites.
-
- Online sources:
-
- Available through anonymous ftp from osi.ncsl.nist.gov
- (129.6.48.100) as:
-
- ./pub/gosip/gosip_v2.txt -- ascii
- ./pub/gosip/gosip_v2.txt.Z -- ascii compressed
- ./pub/gosip/gosip_v2.ps -- PostScript
- ./pub/gosip/gosip_v2.ps.Z -- PostScript compressed
-
- Available through anonymous ftp from ftp.nisc.sri.com
- (192.33.33.22) as:
-
- netinfo/gosip-v2.txt -- ascii
- netinfo/gosip-v2.ps -- PostScript
-
- Hardcopy sources:
-
- Standards Processing Coordinator (ADP)
- National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Technology Building, Room B-64
- Gaithersburg, MD 20899
- (301) 975-2816
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 13]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- Network Information Systems Center
- SRI International, Room EJ291
- 333 Ravenswood Ave.
- Menlo Park, CA 94025
- 1-415-859-3695
-
- 7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts
-
- What is the IAB?
-
- The Internet Activities Board (IAB) is the coordinating committee
- for Internet design, engineering and management [7]. IAB members
- are deeply committed to making the Internet function effectively
- and evolve to meet a large scale, high speed future. The chairman
- serves a term of two years and is elected by the members of the
- IAB. The current Chair of the IAB is Lyman Chapin. The IAB
- focuses on the TCP/IP protocol suite, and extensions to the
- Internet system to support multiple protocol suites.
-
- The IAB performs the following functions:
-
- 1) Sets Internet Standards,
-
- 2) Manages the RFC publication process,
-
- 3) Reviews the operation of the IETF and IRTF,
-
- 4) Performs strategic planning for the Internet, identifying
- long-range problems and opportunities,
-
- 5) Acts as an international technical policy liaison and
- representative for the Internet community, and
-
- 6) Resolves technical issues which cannot be treated within
- the IETF or IRTF frameworks.
-
- The IAB has two principal subsidiary task forces:
-
- 1) Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
-
- 2) Internet Research Task Force (IRTF)
-
- Each of these Task Forces is led by a chairman and guided by a
- Steering Group which reports to the IAB through its chairman. For
- the most part, a collection of Research or Working Groups carries
- out the work program of each Task Force.
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 14]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- All decisions of the IAB are made public. The principal vehicle
- by which IAB decisions are propagated to the parties interested in
- the Internet and its TCP/IP protocol suite is the Request for
- Comments (RFC) note series and the Internet Monthly Report.
-
- What is the IETF?
-
- The Internet has grown to encompass a large number of widely
- geographically dispersed networks in academic and research
- communities. It now provides an infrastructure for a broad
- community with various interests. Moreover, the family of
- Internet protocols and system components has moved from
- experimental to commercial development. To help coordinate the
- operation, management and evolution of the Internet, the IAB
- established the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF).
-
- The IETF is chaired by Phill Gross and managed by its Internet
- Engineering Steering Group (IESG). The IETF is a large open
- community of network designers, operators, vendors, and
- researchers concerned with the Internet and the Internet protocol
- suite. It is organized around a set of several technical areas,
- each managed by a technical area director. In addition to the
- IETF Chairman, the area directors make up the IESG membership.
-
- The IAB has delegated to the IESG the general responsibility for
- making the Internet work and for the resolution of all short- and
- mid-range protocol and architectural issues required to make the
- Internet function effectively.
-
- What is the IRTF?
-
- To promote research in networking and the development of new
- technology, the IAB established the Internet Research Task Force
- (IRTF).
-
- In the area of network protocols, the distinction between research
- and engineering is not always clear, so there will sometimes be
- overlap between activities of the IETF and the IRTF. There is, in
- fact, considerable overlap in membership between the two groups.
- This overlap is regarded as vital for cross-fertilization and
- technology transfer.
-
- The IRTF is a community of network researchers, generally with an
- Internet focus. The work of the IRTF is governed by its Internet
- Research Steering Group (IRSG). The chairman of the IRTF and IRSG
- is Jon Postel.
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 15]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- What is the Internet Society?
-
- The Internet Society is a relatively new, professional, non-profit
- organization with the general goal of fostering the well-being and
- continued interest in, and evolution and use of the Internet. The
- Society (often abbreviated ISOC) anticipates that it will
- integrate the IAB, IETF, and IRTF functions into its operation.
-
- The following goals of the Society are taken from its charter:
-
- A. To facilitate and support the technical evolution of
- the Internet as a research and education infrastructure, and to
- stimulate the involvement of the scientific community,
- industry, government and others in the evolution of the
- Internet;
-
- B. To educate the scientific community, industry and the
- public at large concerning the technology, use and application
- of the Internet;
-
- C. To promote educational applications of Internet
- technology for the benefit of government, colleges and
- universities, industry, and the public at large;
-
- D. To provide a forum for exploration of new Internet
- applications, and to stimulate collaboration among
- organizations in their operational use of the global Internet.
-
- More information about the Internet Society is available for
- anonymous FTP from the host NNSC.NSF.NET in the directory isoc.
- Here is a list of the files available:
-
- Filename (Topic) Description
-
- index-isoc An index of the isoc directory
-
- announcement Internet Society Announcement
-
- charter Internet Society Charter
-
- inet-conference INET 92 Internet Society Annual Meeting
- Announcement and Call for Participation
-
- isoc-advisory-council The Internet Society advisory council
-
- isoc-founding-members List of the Internet Society founding
- members
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 16]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- isoc-secretariat Information about the Internet Society
- secretariat
-
- isoc-trustees List of the Internet Society trustees
-
- questions-and-answers Internet Society Questions & Answers
- by Vint Cerf
-
- membership-organizations Internet Society Organizational
- Membership Form
-
- membership-individuals Internet Society Individual Membership
- Form
-
- This information is also available via electronic mail via the
- NNSC Info-Server. The Info-Server is an automated program that
- retrieves information through electronic mail. To receive these
- files via the Info-Server, send a mail message to: info-
- server@nnsc.nsf.net. In the body of the message, type "Request:
- isoc" followed by the topic names of any files you'd like. For
- example:
-
- Request: isoc
- Topic: inet-conference
- Topic: questions-and-answers
- Topic: charter
- Topic: announcement
- Request: end
-
- Notice that the "Topics" for the Info-Server correspond to the
- file names used when FTPing.
-
- What is the IANA?
-
- The task of coordinating the assignment of values to the
- parameters of protocols is delegated by the Internet Activities
- Board (IAB) to the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).
- These protocol parameters include op-codes, type fields, terminal
- types, system names, object identifiers, and so on. The "Assigned
- Numbers" Request for Comments (RFC) [1] documents the currently
- assigned values from several series of numbers used in network
- protocol implementations. Internet addresses and Autonomous
- System numbers are assigned by the Network Information Center at
- Network Solutions, Inc. This responsibility has been delegated by
- the IANA to the DDN NIC which serves as the Internet Registry.
- The IANA is located at USC/Information Sciences Institute.
-
- Current types of assignments listed in Assigned Numbers and
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 17]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- maintained by the IANA are:
-
- Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
- ARPANET and MILNET X.25 Address Mappings
- ARPANET and MILNET Logical Addresses
- ARPANET and MILNET Link Numbers
- BOOTP Parameters and BOOTP Extension Codes
- Domain System Parameters
- IANA Ethernet Address Blocks
- Ethernet Numbers of Interest
- IEEE 802 Numbers of Interest
- Internet Protocol Numbers
- Internet Version Numbers
- IP Time to Live Parameter
- IP TOS Parameters
- Machine Names
- Mainl Encryption Types
- Multicast Addresses
- Network Management Parameters
- Point-to-Point Protocol Field Assignments
- PRONET 80 Type Numbers
- Port Assignments
- Protocol and Service Names
- Protocol/Type Field Assignments
- Public Data Network Numbers
- Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Operation Codes
- TELNET Options
- Terminal Type Names
- Unix Ports
- X.25 Type Numbers
-
- For more information on number assignments, contact IANA@ISI.EDU.
-
- What is a NIC? What is a NOC?
-
- "NIC" stands for Network Information Center. It is an
- organization which provides network users with information about
- services provided by the network.
-
- "NOC" stands Network Operations Center. It is an organization
- that is responsible for maintaining a network.
-
- For many networks, especially smaller, local networks, the
- functions of the NIC and NOC are combined. For larger networks,
- such as mid-level and backbone networks, the NIC and NOC
- organizations are separate, yet they do need to interact to fully
- perform their functions.
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 18]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- What is "The NIC"?
-
- "The NIC" usually refers to the Defense Data Network, Network
- Information Center (DDN NIC), which is now at Network Solutions,
- Inc. The DDN NIC is a network information center that maintains a
- repository for RFCs and Internet Drafts. The host name is
- NIC.DDN.MIL. Shadow copies of the RFCs and the Internet Drafts
- are maintained on several other hosts as well, including
- NIS.NSF.NET and FTP.NISC.SRI.COM.
-
- The DDN NIC also provides various user assistance services for DDN
- users; contact NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL or call 1-800-365-3642 for more
- information. In addition, the DDN NIC is the Internet
- registration authority for the root domain and several top and
- second level domains; maintains the official DoD Internet Host
- Table; is the site of the Internet Registry (IR); and maintains
- the WHOIS database of network users, hosts, domains, networks, and
- Points of Contact.
-
- This NIC was located for many years at SRI International, so you
- may also hear the term "SRI NIC". SRI also maintains an online
- information repository and provides general Internet information
- services. For example, the SRI Network Information Systems Center
- is currently the only site that provides paper copies of the RFCs,
- which are made available on a cost recovery basis. Call 415-859-
- 3695 for more information on this service.
-
- What is the IR?
-
- The Internet Registry (IR) is the organization that is responsible
- for assigning identifiers, such as IP network numbers and
- autonomous system numbers, to networks. The IR also gathers and
- registers such assigned information. The IR may, in the future,
- allocate the authority to assign network identifiers to other
- organizations; however, it will continue to gather data regarding
- such assignments. At present, the DDN NIC at Network Solutions,
- Inc., serves as the IR.
-
- 8. Questions About Services
-
- How do I find someone's electronic mail address?
-
- There are a number of directories on the Internet; however, all of
- them are far from complete. The largest directories are the WHOIS
- database at the DDN NIC, the PSInet White Pages, and KNOWBOT.
- Generally, it is still necessary to ask the person for his or her
- email address.
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 19]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How do I use the WHOIS program at the DDN NIC?
-
- To use the WHOIS program to search the WHOIS database at the DDN
- NIC, TELNET to the NIC host, NIC.DDN.MIL. There is no need to
- login. Type "whois" to call up the information retrieval program.
- Next, type the name of the person, host, domain, network, or
- mailbox for which you need information. If you are only typing
- part of the name, end your search string with a period. Type
- "help" for a more in-depth explanation of what you can search for
- and how you can search. If you have trouble, send a message to
- NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL or call 1-800-365-3642.
-
- How do I become registered in the DDN NIC's WHOIS database?
-
- If you would like to be listed in the WHOIS database, you must
- have an electronic mailbox accessible from the Internet. First
- obtain the file netinfo/user-template.txt. You can retrieve this
- file via anonymous FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL.
-
- Fill out the name and address information requested in the file
- and return it to REGISTRAR@NIC.DDN.MIL. Your application will be
- processed and you will be added to the database. Unless you are
- an official Point of Contact for a network entity registered at
- the DDN NIC, the DDN NIC will not regularly poll you for updates,
- so you should remember to send corrections to your information as
- your contact data changes.
-
- How do I use the White Pages at PSI?
-
- Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSI), sponsors a White
- Pages Pilot Project that collects personnel information from
- member organizations into a database and provides online access to
- that data. This effort is based on the OSI X.500 Directory
- standard.
-
- To access the data, TELNET to WP.PSI.COM and login as "fred" (no
- password is necessary). You may now look up information on
- participating organizations. The program provides help on usage.
- For example, typing "help" will show you a list of commands,
- "manual" will give detailed documentation, and "whois" will
- provide information regarding how to find references to people.
- For a list of the organizations that are participating in the
- pilot project by providing information regarding their members,
- type "whois -org *".
-
- For more information, send a message to WP-INFO@PSI.COM.
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 20]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How do I use the Knowbot Information Service?
-
- The Knowbot Information Service is a white pages "meta-service"
- that provides a uniform interface to heterogeneous white pages
- services in the Internet. Using the Knowbot Information Service,
- you can form a single query that can search for white pages
- information from the NIC WHOIS service, the PSI White Pages Pilot
- Project, and MCI Mail, among others, and have the responses
- displayed in a single, uniform format.
-
- Currently, the Knowbot Information Service can be accessed through
- TELNET to port 185 on hosts nri.reston.va.us and sol.bucknell.edu.
- From a UNIX host, use "telnet nri.reston.va.us 185". There is
- also an electronic mail interface avaliable by sending mail to
- netaddress at either nri.reston.va.us or sol.bucknell.edu.
-
- The commands "help" and "man" summarize the command interface.
- Simply entering a user name at the prompt searches a default list
- of Internet directory services for the requested information.
- Organization and country information can be included thorgh the
- syntax: "userid@organization.country". For example, the queries
- "droms@bucknell" and "kille@ucl.gb" are both valid. Note that
- these are not Domain Names, but rather a syntax to specify an
- organization and a country for the search.
-
- The default list of directory services currently includes the
- whois services at the DDN NIC and the white pages service for
- MCIMail. If an organization is specified, the PSI X.500 service
- is also searched. Other services can be requested explicitly.
-
- What is USENET? What is Netnews?
-
- USENET is the formal name, and Netnews a common informal name, for
- a distributed computer information service that some hosts on the
- Internet use. USENET handles only news and not mail. USENET uses
- a variety of underlying networks for transport, including parts of
- the Internet, UUCP, BITNET, and others. USENET is not part of the
- Internet proper. Netnews can be a valuable tool to economically
- transport traffic that would otherwise be sent via mail. USENET
- has no central administration.
-
- How do I get on USENET?
-
- To get on USENET, you must acquire the software, which is
- available for some computers at no cost from some anonymous FTP
- sites across the Internet, and you must find an existing USENET
- site that is willing to support a connection to your computer. In
- many cases, this "connection" merely represents additional traffic
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 21]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- over existing Internet access channels.
-
- One well-known anonymous FTP archive site for software and
- information regarding USENET is ftp.uu.net. There is a "news"
- directory which contains many software distribution and
- information sub-directories.
-
- It is recommended that new users subscribe to and read
- news.announce.newusers since it will help to become oriented to
- USENET and the Internet.
-
- What is anonymous FTP?
-
- Anonymous FTP is a conventional way of allowing you to sign on to
- a computer on the Internet and copy specified public files from it
- [3]. Some sites offer anonymous FTP to distribute software and
- various kinds of information. You use it like any FTP, but the
- username is "anonymous". Many systems will allow any password and
- request that the password you choose is your userid. If this
- fails, the generic password is usually "guest".
-
- What is "archie"?
-
- The archie system was created by a group at McGill University in
- Montreal to automatically track anonymous FTP archive sites, and
- this is still its primary function. The system curently makes
- available the names and locations of some 1,500,000 files at some
- 900 archive sites.
-
- Archie's User Access component allows you to search the "files"
- database for these filenames. When matches are found, you are
- presented with the appropriate archive site name, IP address, the
- location within the archive, and other useful information.
-
- You can also use archie to "browse" through a site's complete
- listing in search of information of interest, or obtain a complete
- list of the archive sites known to that server.
-
- The archie server also offers a "package descriptions" (or
- "whatis") database. This is a collection of names and descriptions
- gathered from a variety of sources and can be used to identify
- files located throughout the Internet, as well as other useful
- information. Files identified in the whatis database can then be
- found by searching the files database as described above.
- Additional databases are planned for the coming months.
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 22]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How do I connect to archie?
-
- You can connect to archie in a variety of ways. There is a
- conventional TELNET interface, an electronic mail interface, and a
- variety of client programs available. There are currently nine
- archie servers located throughout the world.
-
- To try the TELNET interface to archie you can TELNET to the host
- ARCHIE.MCGILL.CA and login as user "archie" (there is no password
- required). Type "help" to get you started. The "servers" command
- can be used to locate an archie server closer to your site. Using
- an archie server closer to you relieves some of the load on the
- McGill host.
-
- You can obtain details on using the electronic mail interface by
- sending mail to "archie@archie.mcgill.ca" with the word "help" in
- either the subject or body of the message.
-
- Documentation on archie is available for anonymous ftp from
- ARCHIE.MCGILL.CA in the subdirectory "archie/doc". A variety of
- archie client programs are available in the subdirectory
- "archie/clients". Questions, comments, and suggestions can be
- sent to the archie development group by sending mail to "archie-
- group@archie.mcgill.ca".
-
- What is "TELNET"?
-
- The term "TELNET" refers to the remote login that's possible on
- the Internet because of the TELNET Protocol [9]. The use of this
- term as a verb, as in "telnet to a host" means to establish a
- connection across the Internet from one host to another. Usually,
- you must have an account on the remote host to be able to login to
- it once you've made a connection. However, some hosts, such as
- those offering white pages directories, provide public services
- that do not require a personal account.
-
- 9. Mailing Lists and Sending Mail
-
- What is a mailing list?
-
- A mailing list is really nothing more than an alias that has
- multiple destinations. Mailing lists are usually created to
- discuss specific topics. Anybody interested in that topic, may
- (usually) join that list. Some mailing lists have membership
- restrictions, others have message content restrictions, and still
- others are moderated. Most large, "public" mailing lists, such as
- IETF and TCP-IP, have an additional mail address to which requests
- to be added or deleted may be sent. Usually, these are of the
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 23]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- form listname-request.
-
- There is a "list-of-lists" file available on the host
- ftp.nisc.sri.com that lists most of the major mailing lists,
- describes their primary topics, and explains how to subscribe to
- them. The file is available for anonymous ftp in the netinfo
- directory as interest-groups (that is, the path is:
- netinfo/interest-groups). It can also be obtained via electronic
- mail. Send a message to mail-server@nisc.sri.com with the body of
- the message reading, "Send netinfo/interest-groups" and the file
- will be returned in moderate size pieces via electronic mail.
-
- How do I contact the administrator of a mailing list rather than
- posting to the entire list?
-
- For every mailing list mentioned in the "interest-groups" file,
- there is a description of how to join the list or send other such
- administrative messages to the person in charge of the list. In
- general, however, it is usually safe to assume that you can send a
- message to an address in the format of ListName-request@domain.
- The convention of having a parallel mailbox conforming to the "-
- request" format is very widely followed. All administrative
- messages regarding using, joining, or quitting the list should be
- sent to that mailbox instead of to the whole list so that the
- readers of the list don't have to read them.
-
- What are some good mailing lists?
-
- The TCP-IP, IETF, and RFC Distribution lists are primary lists for
- new Internet users who desire further information about current
- and emerging developments in the Internet. The first two lists
- are unmoderated discussion lists, and the latter is an
- announcement service used by the RFC Editor.
-
- How do I subscribe to the TCP-IP mailing list?
-
- To be added to the TCP-IP mailing list, send a message to:
-
- TCP-IP-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL
-
- How do I subscribe to the IETF mailing list?
-
- To be added to the IETF mailing list, send a message to:
-
- IETF-REQUEST@ISI.EDU
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 24]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How do I subscribe to the RFC Distribution list?
-
- To be added to the RFC Distribution list, send a message to:
-
- RFC-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL
-
- Note that all announcements to this list are also sent to the IETF
- list. So, if you are on the IETF list, you don't need to be on
- this list, too.
-
- How do I send mail to other networks?
-
- Mail to the Internet is addressed in the form user@domain.
- Remember that a domain name can have several components and the
- name of each host is a node on the domain tree. So, an example of
- an Internet mail address is june@nisc.sri.com.
-
- There are several networks accessible via e-mail from the
- Internet, but many of these networks do not use the same
- addressing conventions the Internet does. Often you must route
- mail to these networks through specific gateways as well, thus
- further complicating the address.
-
- Here are a few conventions you can use for sending mail from the
- Internet to three networks with which Internet users often
- correspond.
-
- Internet user to Internet user:
-
- username@hostname.subdomain.toplevel domain
- e.g. gsmith@nisc.sri.COM
-
- Internet user to BITNET user:
-
- user%site.BITNET@BITNET-GATEWAY
- e.g. gsmith%emoryu1.BITNET@cunyvm.cuny.edu.
- gsmith%emoryu1@CORNELLC.CIT.CORNELL.EDU
-
- Internet user to UUCP user:
-
- user%host.UUCP@uunet.uu.net
- user%domain@uunet.uu.net
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 25]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- Internet user to SprintMail user:
-
- /G=Mary/S=Anderson/O=co.abc/ADMD=SprintMail/C=US/@SPRINT.COM
- -or-
- /PN=Mary.Anderson/O=co.abc/ADMD=SprintMail/C=US/@SPRINT.COM
- (Case is significant.)
-
- Internet user to CompuServe user:
-
- Replace the comma in the CompuServe userid (represented
- here
- with x's) with a period, and add the compuserve.com
- domain name.
-
- CompuServe user to Internet user:
-
- >Internet:user@host Insert >internet: before an
- Internet address.
-
- Internet user to MCIMail user:
-
- accountname@mcimail.com
- mci_id@mcimail.com
- full_user_name@mcimail.com.
-
- What is a newsgroup?
-
- A newsgroup is a bulletin board which readers, interested in that
- newsgroup's particular topic, can read and respond to messages
- posted by other readers. Generally, there will be a few "threads"
- of discussion going on at the same time, but they all share some
- common theme. There are approximately 900 newsgroups, and there
- are more being added all the time.
-
- There are two types of newsgroups: moderated and unmoderated. A
- moderated newsgroup does not allow individuals to post directly to
- the newsgroup. Rather, the postings go to the newsgroup's
- moderator who determines whether or not to pass the posting to the
- entire group. An unmoderated newsgroup allows a reader to post
- directly to the other readers.
-
- How do I subscribe to a newsgroup?
-
- You don't subscribe to a newsgroup. Either you get it on your
- machine or you don't. If there's one you want, all you can do is
- ask the systems administrator to try to get it for you. The same
- is true for creating newsgroups.
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 26]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- 10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions
-
- What does :-) mean?
-
- In many electronic mail messages, it is sometimes useful to
- indicate that part of a message is meant in jest. It is also
- sometimes useful to communicate emotion which simple words do not
- readily convey. To provide these nuances, a collection of "smiley
- faces" has evolved. If you turn your head sideways to the left,
- :-) appears as a smiling face. Some of the more common faces are:
-
- :-) smile :-( frown
-
- :) also a smile ;-) wink
-
- :-D laughing 8-) wide-eyed
-
- :-} grin :-X close mouthed
-
- :-] smirk :-o oh, no!
-
- What do "btw", "fyi", "imho", "wrt", and "rtfm" mean?
-
- Often commmon expressions are abbreviated in informal network
- postings. These abbreviations stand for "by the way", "for your
- information", "in my humble [or honest] opinion", "with respect
- to", and "read the f*ing manual" (with the "f" word varying
- according to the vehemence of the reader).
-
- What is the "FAQ" list?
-
- This list provides answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" that
- often appear on various USENET newsgroups. The list is posted
- every four to six weeks to the news.announce.newusers group. It
- is intended to provide a background for new users learning how to
- use the news. As the FAQ list provide new users with the answers
- to such questions, it helps keep the newsgroups themselves
- comparatively free of repetition. Often specific newsgroups will
- have and frequently post versions of a FAQ list that are specific
- to their topics.
-
- Other information is also routinely posted. Here are the subject
- lines of several general information postings provided on USENET:
-
- Answers to Frequently Asked Questions (the "FAQ" list)
- Introduction to news.announce
- What is Usenet?
- Rules for posting to Usenet
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 27]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- How to Create a New Newsgroup
- How to Create a New Trial Newsgroup
- A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
- Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
- Hints on writing style for Usenet
- USENET Software: History and Sources
- List of Active Newsgroups
- Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
- Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
- How to Construct the Mailpaths File
- Regional Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part I
- Regional Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part II
- Regional Newsgroup Hierarchies, Part III
- List of Moderators
- Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part I
- Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part II
- Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists, Part III
- List of Periodic Informational Postings
- How to Get Information about Networks
- A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists
-
- All of these articles are normally archived for FTP access on
- pit-manager.mit.edu in /pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers.
-
- 11. Suggested Reading
-
- For further information about the Internet and its protocols in
- general, you may choose to obtain copies of the following works:
-
- Bowers, K., T. LaQuey, J. Reynolds, K. Roubicek, M. Stahl, and A.
- Yuan, "Where to Start - A Bibliography of General Internetworking
- Information", RFC 1175, FYI 3, CNRI, U Texas, ISI, BBN, SRI,
- Mitre, August 1990.
-
- Comer, D., "Internetworking with TCP/IP: Principles, Protocols,
- and Architecture", Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1989.
-
- Krol, E., "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Internet", RFC 1118,
- University of Illinois Urbana, September 1989.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 28]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- 12. References
-
- [1] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", RFC 1060,
- USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1990.
-
- [2] Postel, J., Editor, "IAB Official Protocol Standards", RFC 1280,
- Internet Activities Board, March 1992.
-
- [3] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "File Transfer Protocol (FTP), RFC
- 959, USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1985.
-
- [4] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol
- Specification", RFC 791, DARPA, September 1981.
-
- [5] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol - DARPA Internet
- Program Protocol Specification", RFC 793, DARPA, September 1981.
-
- [6] Leiner, B., R. Cole, J. Postel, and D. Mills, "The DARPA Internet
- Protocol Suite", IEEE INFOCOM85, Washington D.C., March 1985.
- Also in IEEE Communications Magazine, March 1985. Also as
- ISI/RS-85-153.
-
- [7] Cerf, V., "The Internet Activities Board" RFC 1160, CNRI, May
- 1990.
-
- [8] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", RFC 821,
- USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1982.
-
- [9] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "TELNET Protocol Specification", RFC
- 854, USC/Information Sciences Institute, May 1983.
-
- [10] Postel, J., "Request for Comments on Request for Comments -
- Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 1111, USC/Information Sciences
- Institute, August 1989.
-
- [11] Malkin, G., A. Marine, and J. Reynolds, "FYI on Questions and
- Answers: Answers to Commonly Asked 'Experienced Internet User'
- Questions", FYI 7, RFC 1207, FTP Software, SRI, USC/Information
- Sciences Institute, February 1991.
-
- [12] Postel, J., "Introduction to the STD Notes", RFC 1311,
- USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1992.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 29]
-
- RFC 1325 FYI Q/A - for New Internet Users May 1992
-
-
- 13. Condensed Glossary
-
- As with any profession, computers have a particular terminology all
- their own. Below is a condensed glossary to assist in making some
- sense of the Internet world.
-
- ACM Association for Computing Machinery
- A group established in 1947 to promote professional
- development and research on computers.
-
- address There are two separate uses of this term in internet
- networking: "electronic mail address" and "internet
- address". An electronic mail address is the string
- of characters that you must give an electronic mail
- program to direct a message to a particular person.
- See "internet address" for its definition.
-
- AI Artificial Intelligence
- The branch of computer science which deals with the
- simulation of human intelligence by computer systems.
-
- AIX Advanced Interactive Executive
- IBM's version of Unix.
-
- ANSI American National Standards Institute
- A group that certifies organizations which develop U.S.
- standards for the information processing industry. ANSI
- accredited groups participate in defining network protocol
- standards.
-
- ARP Address Resolution Protocol
- An Internet protocol which runs on Ethernet and all IEEE
- 802.X LANs which maps internet addresses to MAC addresses.
-
- ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency
- The former name of what is now called DARPA.
-
- ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
- A pioneering long haul network funded by ARPA. It
- served as the basis for early networking research as
- well as a central backbone during the development of
- the Internet. The ARPANET consisted of individual
- packet switching computers interconnected by leased lines.
-
- AS Autonomous System
- A collection of gateways (routers) under a single
- administrative authority using a common Interior Gateway
- Protocol for routing packets.
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 30]
-
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-
-
- ASCII American (National) Standard Code for Information Interchange
-
-
- B Byte
- One character of information, usually eight bits wide.
-
- b bit - binary digit
- The smallest amount of information which may be stored
- in a computer.
-
- BBN Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.
- The Cambridge, MA company responsible for development,
- operation and monitoring of the ARPANET, and later,
- the Internet core gateway system, the CSNET Coordination
- and Information Center (CIC), and NSFNET Network
- Service Center (NNSC).
-
- BITNET Because It's Time Network
- BITNET has about 2,500 host computers, primarily at
- universities, in many countries. It is managed by
- EDUCOM, which provides administrative support and
- information services. There are three
- main constituents of the network: BITNET in the United
- States and Mexico, NETNORTH in Canada, and EARN in
- Europe. There are also AsiaNet, in Japan, and
- connections in South America. See CREN.
-
- bps bits per second
- A measure of data transmission speed.
-
- BSD Berkeley Software Distribution
- Term used when describing different versions
- of the Berkeley UNIX software, as in "4.3BSD
- UNIX".
-
-
- catenet A network in which hosts are connected to networks
- with varying characteristics, and the networks
- are interconnected by gateways (routers). The
- Internet is an example of a catenet.
-
- CCITT International Telegraph and Telephone
- Consultative Committee
-
- core gateway
- Historically, one of a set of gateways (routers)
- operated by the Internet Network Operations Center
- at BBN. The core gateway system forms a central part
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 31]
-
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-
-
- of Internet routing in that all groups had to advertise
- paths to their networks from a core gateway.
-
- CREN The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking
- BITNET and CSNET have recently merged to form CREN.
-
- CSNET Computer + Science Network
- A large data communications network for institutions doing
- research in computer science. It uses several different
- protocols including some of its own. CSNET sites include
- universities, research laboratories, and commercial
- companies. See CREN.
-
-
- DARPA U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency
- The government agency that funded the ARPANET and later
- started the Internet.
-
- Datagram
- A self-contained, independent entity of data carrying
- sufficient information to be routed from the source
- to the destination data terminal equipment without
- reliance on earlier exchanges between this source
- and destination data terminal equipment and the
- transporting network.
-
- DCA Defense Communications Agency
- Former name of the Defense Information Systems Agency
- (DISA). See DISA.
-
- DDN Defense Data Network
- Comprises the MILNET and several other DoD networks.
-
- DDN NIC The network information center at Network Solutions, Inc.
- It is the primary repository for RFCs and Internet Drafts,
- as well as providing other services.
-
- DEC Digital Equipment Corporation
-
- DECnet Digital Equipment Corporation network
- A networking protocol for DEC computers and network devices.
-
- default route
- A routing table entry which is used to direct any data
- addressed to any network numbers not explicitly listed
- in the routing table.
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 32]
-
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-
-
- DISA Defense Information Systems Agency
- Formerly called DCA, this is the government agency
- responsible for installing the Defense Data Network
- (DDN) portion of the Internet, including the MILNET
- lines and nodes. Currently, DISA administers the
- DDN, and supports the user assistance services of the
- DDN NIC.
-
- DNS The Domain Name System is a mechanism used in
- the Internet for translating names of host computers
- into addresses. The DNS also allows host computers
- not directly on the Internet to have registered
- names in the same style, but returns the electronic
- mail gateway which accesses the non-Internet network
- instead of an IP address.
-
- DOD U.S. Department of Defense
-
- DOE U.S. Department of Energy
-
- dot address (dotted address notation)
- Dot address refers to the common notation for Internet
- addresses of the form A.B.C.D; where each letter represents,
- in decimal, one byte of the four byte IP address.
-
- Dynamic Adaptive Routing
- Automatic rerouting of traffic based on a sensing and analysis
- of current actual network conditions. NOTE: this does not
- include cases of routing decisions taken on predefined
- information.
-
-
- EARN European Academic Research Network
-
- EBCDIC Extended Binary-coded Decimal Interchange Code
-
- EGP Exterior Gateway Protocol
- A protocol which distributes routing information to the
- gateways (routers) which connect autonomous systems.
-
- Ethernet
- A network standard for the hardware and data link levels.
- There are two types of Ethernet: Digital/Intel/Xerox (DIX)
- and IEEE 802.3.
-
-
- FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
- FDDI is a high-speed (100Mb) token ring LAN.
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 33]
-
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-
-
- FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard
-
- FTP File Transfer Protocol
- The Internet standard high-level protocol for
- transferring files from one computer to another.
-
-
- gateway See router
-
- GB Gigabyte
- A unit of data storage size which represents 10^9 (one
- billion) characters of information.
-
- Gb Gigabit
- 10^9 bits of information (usually used to express a
- data transfer rate; as in, 1 gigabit/second = 1Gbps).
-
- GNU Gnu's Not UNIX
- A UNIX-compatible operating system developed by the
- Free Software Foundation.
-
-
- header The portion of a packet, preceding the actual data,
- containing source and destination addresses and
- error-checking fields.
-
- host number
- The part of an internet address that designates which
- node on the (sub)network is being addressed.
-
- HP Hewlett-Packard
-
-
- I/O Input/Output
-
- IAB Internet Activities Board
- The IAB is the coordinating committee for Internet
- design, engineering and management.
-
- IBM International Business Machines Corporation
-
- ICMP Internet Control Message Protocol
- ICMP is an extension to the Internet Protocol. It
- allows for the generation of error messages,
- test packets and informational messages related to IP.
-
- IEEE Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 34]
-
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-
-
- IETF Internet Engineering Task Force
- The IETF is a large open community of network designers,
- operators, vendors, and researchers whose purpose is to
- coordinate the operation, management and evolution of
- the Internet, and to resolve short- and mid-range
- protocol and architectural issues. It is a major source
- of proposed protocol standards which are submitted to the
- Internet Activities Board for final approval. The IETF
- meets three times a year and extensive minutes of the
- plenary proceedings are issued.
-
- internet
- internetwork
- Any connection of two or more local or wide-area networks.
-
- Internet
- The global collection of interconnected local, mid-level and
- wide-area networks which use IP as the network layer
- protocol.
-
- internet address
- An assigned number which identifies a host in an internet.
- It has two or three parts: network number, optional subnet
- number, and host number.
-
- IP Internet Protocol
- The network layer protocol for the Internet. It is a packet
- switching, datagram protocol defined in RFC 791.
-
- IRTF Internet Research Task Force
- The IRTF is a community of network researchers,
- generally with an Internet focus. The work of the IRTF
- is governed by its Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG).
-
- ISO International Organization for Standardization
-
-
- KB Kilobyte
- A unit of data storage size which represents 10^3
- (one thousand) characters of information.
-
- Kb Kilobit
- 10^3 bits of information (usually used to express a
- data transfer rate; as in, 1 kilobit/second = 1Kbps = 1Kb).
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 35]
-
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-
-
- LAN Local Area Network
- A network that takes advantage of the proximity of computers
- to offer relatively efficient, higher speed communications
- than long-haul or wide-area networks.
-
- LISP List Processing Language
- A high-level computer language invented by Professor John
- McCarthy in 1961 to support research into computer based
- logic, logical reasoning, and artificial intelligence. It
- was the first symbolic (as opposed to numeric) computer
- processing language.
-
-
- MAC Medium Access Control
- For broadcast networks, it is the method which devices use
- to determine which device has line access at any given
- time.
-
- Mac Apple Macintosh computer.
-
- MAN Metropolitan Area Network
-
- MB Megabyte
- A unit of data storage size which represents
- 10^6 (one million) characters of information.
-
- Mb Megabit
- 10^6 bits of information (usually used to express a
- data transfer rate; as in, 1 megabit/second = 1Mbps).
-
- MILNET Military Network
- A network used for unclassified military production
- applications. It is part of the DDN and the Internet.
-
- MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
-
- MTTF Mean Time to Failure
- The average time between hardware breakdown or loss of
- service. This may be an empirical measurement or a
- calculation based on the MTTF of component parts.
-
- MTTR Mean Time to Recovery (or Repair)
- The average time it takes to restore service after a
- breakdown or loss. This is usually an empirical measurement.
-
- MVS Multiple Virtual Storage
- An IBM operating system based on OS/1.
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 36]
-
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-
-
- NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
-
- NBS National Bureau of Standards
- Now called NIST.
-
- network number
- The part of an internet address which designates the
- network to which the addressed node belongs.
-
- NFS Network File System
- A network service that lets a program running on one
- computer to use data stored on a different computer on
- the same internet as if it were on its own disk.
-
- NIC Network Information Center
- An organization which provides network users with
- information about services provided by the network.
-
- NOC Network Operations Center
- An organization that is responsible for maintaining
- a network.
-
- NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
- Formerly NBS.
-
- NSF National Science Foundation
-
- NSFNET National Science Foundation Network
- The NSFNET is a highspeed "network of networks" which is
- hierarchical in nature. At the highest level is a
- backbone network currently comprising 16 nodes connected
- to a 45Mbps facility which spans the continental United
- States. Attached to that are mid-level networks and
- attached to the mid-levels are campus and local
- networks. NSFNET also has connections out of the U.S.
- to Canada, Mexico, Europe, and the Pacific Rim. The
- NSFNET is part of the Internet.
-
- NSFNET Mid-level Level Network
- A network connected to the highest level of the NSFNET that
- covers a region of the United States. It is to mid-level
- networks that local sites connect. The mid-level networks
- were once called "regionals".
-
- OSI Open Systems Interconnection
- A set of protocols designed to be an international standard
- method for connecting unlike computers and networks. Europe
- has done most of the work developing OSI and will probably
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 37]
-
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-
-
- use it as soon as possible.
-
- OSI Reference Model
- An "outline" of OSI which defines its seven layers and
- their functions. Sometimes used to help describe other
- networks.
-
- OSPF Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol
- A proposed replacement for RIP. It addresses some
- problems of RIP and is based upon principles that have
- been well-tested in non-internet protocols. Originally
- acronymed as OSPFIGP.
-
-
- packet The unit of data sent across a packet switching network.
- The term is used loosely. While some Internet
- literature uses it to refer specifically to data sent
- across a physical network, other literature views
- the Internet as a packet switching network
- and describes IP datagrams as packets.
-
- PC Personal Computer
-
- PCNFS Personal Computer Network File System
-
- PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
- The Point-to-Point Protocol (PPP) provides a method for
- transmitting datagrams over serial point-to-point links.
-
- protocol
- A formal description of message formats and the rules
- two computers must follow to exchange those messages.
- Protocols can describe low-level details of
- machine-to-machine interfaces (e.g., the order in
- which bits and bytes are sent across a wire)
- or high-level exchanges between allocation
- programs (e.g., the way in which two programs
- transfer a file across the Internet).
-
-
- RFC The Internet's Request for Comments documents series
- The RFCs are working notes of the Internet research and
- development community. A document in this series may be on
- essentially any topic related to computer communication, and
- may be anything from a meeting report to the specification of
- a standard.
-
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 38]
-
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-
-
- RIP Routing Information Protocol
- One protocol which may be used on internets simply to pass
- routing information between gateways. It is used on many
- LANs and on some of the NSFNET intermediate level networks.
-
- RJE Remote Job Entry
- The general protocol for submitting batch jobs and
- retrieving the results.
-
- router A special-purpose dedicated computer that attaches to
- two or more networks and routes packets from one
- network to the other. In particular, an Internet
- router forwards IP datagrams among the networks it
- connects. Gateways route packets to other
- gateways until they can be delivered to the final
- destination directly across one physical network.
-
- RPC Remote Procedure Call
- An easy and popular paradigm for implementing the
- client-server model of distributed computing.
-
-
- server A computer that shares its resources, such as printers
- and files, with other computers on the network. An
- example of this is a Network Files System (NFS)
- Server which shares its disk space with one or more
- workstations that may not have local disk drives of
- their own.
-
- SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
- SLIP is currently a defacto standard, commonly used for
- point-to-point serial connections running TCP/IP. It is
- not an Internet standard but is defined in RFC 1055.
-
- SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
- The Internet standard protocol for transferring
- electronic mail messages from one computer to another.
- SMTP specifies how two mail systems interact and the
- format of control messages they exchange to transfer mail.
-
- SNA System Network Architecture
- IBM's data communications protocol.
-
- SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
- The Simple Network Management Protocol (RFC 1157) is the
- Internet's standard for remote monitoring and management
- of hosts, routers and other nodes and devices on a network.
-
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 39]
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-
-
- subnet A portion of a network, which may be a physically independent
- network, which shares a network address with other portions
- of the network and is distinguished by a subnet number. A
- subnet is to a network what a network is to an internet.
-
- subnet number
- A part of the internet address which designates a subnet.
- It is ignored for the purposes internet routing, but is
- used for intranet routing.
-
-
- T1 A term for a digital carrier facility used to transmit a
- DS-1 formatted digital signal at 1.544 megabits per second.
-
- T3 A term for a digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-3
- formatted digital signal at 44.746 megabits per second.
-
- TCP Transmission Control Protocol
- A transport layer protocol for the Internet. It is a
- connection oriented, stream protocol defined by RFC 793.
-
- TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
- This is a common shorthand which refers to the suite
- of application and transport protocols which run over IP.
- These include FTP, TELNET, SMTP, and UDP (a transport
- layer protocol).
-
- Telenet A public packet-switching network operated by US Sprint.
- Also known as "SprintNet".
-
- TELNET The Internet standard protocol for remote terminal
- connection service. TELNET allows a user at one site
- to interact with a remote timesharing system at
- another site as if the user's terminal was connected
- directly to the remote computer.
-
- Token Ring
- A type of LAN. Examples are IEEE 802.5, ProNET-10/80 and
- FDDI. The term "token ring" is often used to denote 802.5
-
- Tymnet A public character-switching/packet-switching network
- operated by British Telecom.
-
-
- UDP User Datagram Protocol
- A transport layer protocol for the Internet. It is a
- datagram protocol which adds a level of reliability and
- multiplexing to IP datagrams. It is defined in RFC 768.
-
-
-
- User Services Working Group [Page 40]
-
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-
-
- ULTRIX UNIX-based operating system for Digital Equipment Corporation
- computers.
-
- UNIX An operating system developed by Bell Laboratories that
- supports multiuser and multitasking operations.
-
- UUCP UNIX-to-UNIX Copy Program
- A protocol used for communication between consenting
- UNIX systems.
-
-
- VMS Virtual Memory System
- A Digital Equipment Corporation operating system.
-
-
- WAN Wide Area Network
-
- WHOIS An Internet program which allows users to query a database of
- people and other Internet entities, such as domains,
- networks, and hosts, kept at the DDN NIC. The information for
- people shows a person's company name, address, phone number
- and email address.
-
-
- XNS Xerox Network System
- A data communications protocol suite developed by Xerox. It
- uses Ethernet to move the data between computers.
-
- X.25 A data communications interface specification developed to
- describe how data passes into and out of public data
- communications networks. The public networks such as
- Sprintnet and Tymnet use X.25 to interface to customer
- computers.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
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-
-
- 14. Security Considerations
-
- Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
-
- 15. Authors' Addresses
-
- Gary Scott Malkin
- Xylogics, Inc.
- 53 Third Avenue
- Burlington, MA 01803
-
- Phone: (617) 272-8140
- EMail: gmalkin@Xylogics.COM
-
-
- April N. Marine
- SRI International
- Network Information Systems Center
- 333 Ravenswood Avenue, EJ294
- Menlo Park, CA 94025
-
- Phone: (415) 859-5318
- EMail: april@nisc.sri.com
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
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-
-