jer@peora.UUCP (J. Eric Roskos) (02/25/86)
Today I was reading the CSnet newsletter, and ran across some interesting
articles telling about planned changes in our (UUCP) network. Since it
was certainly the first I'd heard about it (did you know we had "network
administrators" who represent us at planning meetings?), following is the
text of the relevant articles... with great restraint, I'll avoid
commenting...
CSNET-FORUM Digest Wednesday, 19 February 1986 Volume 2 : Issue 2
Today's Topics:
Report from the Internet NIC on Domains
CSNET Now Accepting Applications for Domain Registration
...
-----------
[Send contributions to csnet-forum@csnet-sh.arpa]
[Send mailing-list queries to csnet-forum-request@csnet-sh.arpa]
========================================================================
CSNET Coordination and Information Center (CIC) cic@sh.cs.net
10 Moulton St, Cambridge MA 02238 617/497-2777 (cic@csnet-sh.arpa)
========================================================================
- ----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: Mon, 03 Feb 86 16:50:25 EST
From: Craig Partridge <craig@sh.cs.net>
Subject: Report From the Internet NIC on Domains
Representatives of CSNET, the Internet (ARPANET/MILNET), BITNET, and
the UUCP network, met at SRI Inc., Menlo Park, California, home of the
DDN Network Information Center (Internet NIC), during the week of
January 27th. The group discussed (mostly) domain names and how they
will affect mail systems. The basic decisions are discussed here -- how
we will act on them is reserved for later, more detailed, notes.
The major result of the meeting is that all the major networks that
exchange mail with the Internet appear to be willing to switch over to
domain names (using .EDU, .COM, etc.) for mail. On both UUCP and BITNET
this changeover will probably be voluntary (i.e., organizations who
don't want to register in domains won't have to), while it is mandatory
on the Internet and is very strongly encouraged on CSNET. The end
result will be, we think, a very nice situation in which it should be
possible to address all mail consistently, throughout the cooperating
networks. For example, I will become craig@sh.cs.net throughout CSNET,
the Internet, BITNET and UUCP. No more funny problems with '!' or heavy
use of '%'.
The CSNET Coordination and Information Center (CIC) has agreed to
help CSNET PhoneNet sites register with the NIC. A PhoneNet site should
notify the CIC and agree upon a name in the appropriate domain, usually
EDU or COM. The CIC will pass on the registration applications to NIC,
after doing some preliminary checking and paper work. (The purpose is
to ease the strain on the NIC of dealing with all the applications from
all the different sites.)
BITNET, MAILNET and UUCP hosts should register through their
respective network administrations. Sites on multiple networks (e.g.,
both CSNET and UUCP) should check with their respective networks. The
different administrative entities are still working out the details of
how to help sites decide where they want to register, and how to arrange
for Internet sites to run domain servers for them.
All of the network administrators thought the opportunity to talk
about these issues in person was very useful. We agreed to hold regular
meetings to discuss other areas of common interest.
Craig Partridge
CSNET Technical Staff
- ------------------------------
Date: Tue, 18 Feb 86 13:33:12 -0500
From: Craig Partridge <craig@sh.cs.net>
Subject: CSNET Now Accepting Applications for Domain Registration
The DDN Network Information Center (Internet NIC) has recently agreed
to give Internet domain names to CSNET sites. To reduce the load on the
NIC, CSNET sites are asked to register through the CSNET Coordination and
Information Center (CIC), and we will forward bulk requests to the NIC.
Each site is asked to choose a second-level domain name within a
first-level domain which gives some indication of what type of
organization the site is. The NIC administers the first-level domains,
which are also called top-level domains:
ARPA Temporary top-level domain, which will eventually
be replaced everywhere by other top-level domains.
(Please do not ask for a domain in ARPA.)
COM Commercial organizations
EDU Educational organizations
GOV Civilian government organizations
MIL Department of Defense
NET Administrative organizations for networks such as
CSNET, UUCP and BITNET
ORG Nonprofit organizations
There are also top-level domains for countries, such as UK for
the United Kingdom.
Second-level domain names are created by pre-pending a name and a
dot ('.') onto a first-level domain name.
We expect that most CSNET sites will register under either EDU or
COM. For example, you may choose a new sitename, OXBRIDGE.EDU, that
will eventually replace your old sitename, OXBRIDGE.CSNET. Hosts within
your site will change to use, or at least accept, new names like
VAX1.OXBRIDGE.EDU.
Right now, all we are asking is that you choose a second-level
domain name and change your mailer to accept the new name in addition to
your existing ones. Eventually the old names will go away, but this
will be months or years from now.
Exactly how you handle the new domain names depends upon the type
of mail distribution that you presently have in your organization.
If your site accepts any mailbox address of the form user@site,
then you can simply change user@OXBRIDGE.CSNET to user@OXBRIDGE.EDU.
If, however, you now require addresses of the form
user%VAX1@OXBRIDGE.CSNET
your new addresses will be of the form
user@VAX1.OXBRIDGE.EDU
Please check your preferred second-level domain name with the CIC,
and give us time to check with the NIC, before you change your mail
system. It looks as though a few thousand organizations will be
registering as second-level domains, so you are encouraged to choose
names which are more than simply initials, or you risk finding yourself
in competition with someone else for that domain name.
The NIC has a policy of allowing only one second-level domain per
organization (viz: university, corporation, etc.), and domain names are
given out on a first-come first-serve basis. If different parts of your
organization have UUCP or BITNET connections, we suggest you consult
with the administrative staff for those connections to coordinate your
organization's naming scheme.
It may help here to know that once you have a second-level domain,
you can create domains under it with impunity. For example you can
have VAX1.CS.OXBRIDGE.EDU for the Vax in the computer science department
and VAX1.CCC.OXBRIDGE.EDU for the Vax in the campus computing center,
and these hosts may be on different physical networks.
The domain system is implemented through the use of domain server on
Internet hosts. A domain server is a software system that supplies
physical routing information for one or more domains.
Technically, "OXBRIDGE.EDU" and "VAX1.CCC.OXBRIDGE.EDU" are both
domains. A mailbox address has the form
user@domain = user@subdomain. ... .subdomain.top-domain
The subdomain to the right of the "@" may or may not be the name of
an individual host. It is the job of the domain server to supply
appropriate routing information so that message addressed to user@domain
can be delivered.
When you register through the CSNET CIC, you can choose to have the
CSNET domain server as the primary domain server for your second-level
domain, and the CIC will also arrange for a backup domain server. If
your site is on PhoneNet only, we will cause all your Internet mail to be
routed to the CSNET-Internet gateway, RELAY.CS.NET. This simple type of
routing can be done through a "wildcard" entry in the domain server, of
the form "*.OXBRIDGE.EDU". The "wildcard" entry allows you to change
the names of your local hosts, or add new local hosts, without changing
your domain server entry.
The CSNET domain server can have more detailed "wildcard" entries of
the form "*.CS.OXBRIDGE.EDU" and "*.CCC.OXBRIDGE.EDU", and it can also
have entries for individual hosts at your organization. Any of these
entries can, of course, specify routings to networks other than CSNET,
so that it is possible for you to request entries that send mail to UUCP
or BITNET for some of the domains in your organization. The CIC will
be happy to handle such requests as part of its service to CSNET sites,
with the proviso that if your database requires a large number of
entries, we may have to charge a service fee.
Technical liaisons should note that for domain names to work,
your hosts must use 822 addressing for both incoming and outgoing mail.
Why are we asking you to make the change to domain-style names?
Two reasons:
1) The Internet, which is the network to whose mail system
CSNET is most closely linked, is in the process of making this
change.
2) From what we have been told by the other major mail networks
that gateway to the Internet (UUCP and BITNET), they too will be
converting to domains.
We'd hate to be the party that drags its feet in converting to a
standard addressing format. Please note, however, that the conversion
is going to take at least a few more months, so you don't have to rush
out and choose a domain name tomorrow.
How should you register? Fill out a copy of the domain registration
form below, and send it to cic@csnet-sh.arpa (or cic@sh.cs.net under the
new domain system). Note that this is a preliminary form, although it
requests all the information that we expect to need from you. We will
let you know when the NIC has approved your registration.
Please write us if you have any questions.
--
UUCP: Ofc: jer@peora.UUCP Home: jer@jerpc.CCUR.UUCP CCUR DNS: peora, pesnta
US Mail: MS 795; CONCURRENT Computer Corp. SDC; (A Perkin-Elmer Company)
2486 Sand Lake Road, Orlando, FL 32809-7642