geoff@FERNWOOD.MPK.CA.US (the tty of Geoff Goodfellow) (07/15/88)
What's required to register a UUCP host in the .US domain:
o a copy of the US DOMAIN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOST ENTRY,
o a friendly Internet host to act as your mail forwarder,
o a UUCP map entry.
-------
1. Request a copy of the US DOMAIN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOST ENTRY from
Ann Westine <Westine@ISI.EDU> / {backbone-site}!isi.edu!Westine (a copy is
included at the end of this posting).
2. All hosts in the US Domain are of the form: Hostname.City.STATE.US,
i.e. Fernwood.MPK.CA.US or Lurker.Irvine.CA.US. There is no standard for
"City". Either pick your city's full name or make up a reasonable abbreviation
of it (all future hosts in your city will be registered under it). I choose
MPK to represent Menlo Park, since it was our Western Union answerback city
code and is short. Here's what the initial application for Fernwood.MPK.CA.US
looked like (the following example is outdated and *NOT* current information):
(1) The name of the top-level domain to join.
US
(2) The NIC handle of the administrative head of the organization.
GEOF
(3) The NIC handle of the technical contact for the entry.
GEOF
(4) The name of the host.
Fernwood.MPK.CA.US
(5) Please describe your organization briefly.
Fernwood is a PC/GRiD File Server/LAN-Internet/UUCP/MCI-Mail liaison.
(6) What RR records and values are to be entered.
Fernwood.MPK.CA.US IN HINFO PC-XT/GRiD-1701 PC-DOS/GRiD-OS
IN MX 10 unix.sri.com
(7) Where is the IN-ADDR pointer record to be entered.
n/a
(8) What TTL
One Week 604800
(9) CNAME Record if any.
none
3. Arrange for an Internet host to act as your MX Record relay/forwarder.
a MX (Mail eXchange) record contains the host name(s) of systems which accept
mail for your host and then forward it along to you. The mail forwarding host
will need to put a hack in its sendmail.cf file (or in whatever mail system
they run) to translate mail for
User@YourHost.City.STATE.US to YourUUCPHostname!User.
Note: your UUCP host name and your US Domain host name do not necessarily have
to be the same (although its recommended they be). Erik Fair kindly provided
sri-unix a sendmail.cf rule to translate mail for User@Fernwood.MPK.CA.US to
fernwood!User. The rule is inserted the in the machine dependent section of
ruleset zero, before the general purpose TCP/SMTP mailer call:
R$*<@fernwood.mpk.ca.us>$* $#uucp$@fernwood$:$1
4. Fill out a uucp map entry template and mail it off to your regional map
coordinator. Here's what the initial uucp map entry for Fernwood.MPK.CA.US
looked like (the following example is outdated and *NOT* current information):
#N fernwood, .fernwood.mpk.ca.us
#F unix.sri.com
#S WGS-PCXT / GRiD Server 1701; PC-DOS 3.2 / GRiD Server OS 11.1.0
#O fernwood is a PC/GRiD File Server/LAN-Internet/UUCP/MCI-Mail liaison.
#C Geoff Goodfellow
#E Geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us, fernwood!Geoff
#T +1 415 325 7335
#P P.O. Box 1206, Menlo Park, CA 94026-1206
#L 37 27 30 N / 122 10 20 W
#U quintus
#R Registered in US Domain
#W fernwood!geoff; May 11, 1988
#
fernwood .fernwood.mpk.ca.us
fernwood= fernwood.mpk.ca.us
fernwood sri-unix(DEMAND)
-------
Jon Postel & Ann Westine November 1987
US DOMAIN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOST ENTRY
To register a host in the US domain, the following information must be
sent to the US Domain Registrar (WESTINE@ISI.EDU). Questions may be
sent by electronic mail to the above address, or by phone at (213-822-
1511).
NOTE: The key people must have electronic mailboxes and NIC "handles,"
unique NIC database identifiers. If you have access to "WHOIS", please
check to see if you are registered and if so, make sure the information
is current. Include only your handle and any changes (if any) that need
to be made in your entry. If you do not have access to "WHOIS", please
provide all the information indicated.
(1) The name of the top-level domain to join.
For example: US
(2) The NIC handle of the administrative head of the organization.
Alternately, the person's name, title, mailing address, phone
number, organization, and network mailbox. This is the contact
point for administrative and policy questions about the domain. In
the case of a research project, this should be the principal
investigator.
For example:
Administrator
Organization The NetWorthy Corporation
Name Penelope Q. Sassafrass
Title President
Mail Address The NetWorthy Corporation
4676 Andrews Way, Suite 100
Santa Clara, CA 94302-1212
Phone Number (415) 123-4567
Net Mailbox Sassafrass@ECHO.TNC.COM
NIC Handle PQS
(3) The NIC handle of the technical contact for the entry.
Alternately, the person's name, title, mailing address, phone
number, organization, and network mailbox. This is the contact
point for problems concerning the domain or zone, as well as for
updating information about the domain or zone.
For example:
Technical Contact
Organization The NetWorthy Corporation
Name Ansel A. Aardvark
Title Executive Director
Mail Address The NetWorthy Corporation
4676 Andrews Way, Suite 100
Santa Clara, CA. 94302-1212
Phone Number (415) 123-6789
Net Mailbox Aardvark@ECHO.TNC.COM
NIC Handle AAA2
(4) The name of the host. This is the name that will be used in tables
and lists associating the domain with the domain server addresses.
[While, from a technical standpoint, domain names can be quite long
(programmers beware), shorter names are easier for people to cope
with.]
For example: NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US
(5) Please describe your organization briefly.
For example: The NetWorthy Corporation is a consulting
organization of people working with UNIX and the C language in an
electronic networking environment. It sponsors two technical
conferences annually and distributes a bimonthly newsletter.
(6) What RR records and values are to be entered.
a. A Internet Address
b. HINFO Host Information, Machine System
c. WKS Well Known Services, Protocols, Ports
d. MX Mail Exchanger
For example:
NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US IN A 128.9.3.123
IN HINFO SUN-3/11OC UNIX
IN MX 0 ISI.EDU
IN WKS 128.9.3.133. UDP (echo
tftp)
IN WKS 128.9.3.133. TCP (telnet
ftp
tftp
finger)
Who is the contact for the zone of the IN-ADDR-ARPA data, where
this record will be entered?
(7) Where is the IN-ADDR pointer record to be entered.
For example:
123.3.9.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA. PTR NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US
(8) What TTL
For example:
One Week 604800
(9) CNAME Record if any.
A nicname to official name entry
For example:
ANN.MDR.CA.US CNAME WESTINE.ISI.EDU
NOTE: In general CNAMES are undesirable, and usually only used
temporarily when a host is changing from one official name to
another.
NOTE: No other RRs are allowed for the name defined by a CNAME
record.
-------
The US Domain name servers run on internet hosts venera.isi.edu &
vaxa.isi.edu. US Domain name service requests will be given NS records to
these hosts by the root domain system.
Geoff Goodfellow
Member, .US Domain
Geoff@fernwood.mpk.ca.us
{ames,sun,decwrl,sri-unix}!fernwood!Geoffvixie@palo-alto.DEC.COM (Paul Vixie) (07/15/88)
In <8807141838.0.UUL1.3#948@Fernwood.MPK.CA.US> geoff@FERNWOOD.MPK.CA.US
(Geoff Goodfellow) writes:
# 2. All hosts in the US Domain are of the form: Hostname.City.STATE.US,
# i.e. Fernwood.MPK.CA.US or Lurker.Irvine.CA.US. There is no standard for
# "City". Either pick your city's full name or make up a reasonable abbrev-
# iation of it (all future hosts in your city will be registered under it).
I've been working with Geoff to re-register my various personal machines in
the .US domain, and I wanted to add a few comments.
First, the city has to be a city. I wanted domainname.ba.ca.us, since there
is a very old name called "ba" for the metropolitan area in which I live; I
thought it would be better to choose a name that would still be valid if I
were to move 20 feet and indicentally cross a city limit line.
No dice. Neither Anne Westine (sp?) or Jon Postel has answered my plea,
which usually means I don't get what I want. So I'll be moving vixie.UUCP
to vixie.sf.ca.us (unless I drop the "vixie"), and if I create a second
machine in my new house in Menlo Park it'll be xxxx.mpk.ca.us. Not very
sensible, but I didn't make the rule.
Note that these names are _hostnames_ and not _domainnames_ in the eyes of
several people. You may have trouble with machine.something.mpk.ca.us, and
you may not. All your hosts go directly under the .city.state.US, according
to the present rules. Even if I get "them" to go for .metro-area.state.US,
I don't know if they'll allow subdomains or not. I think they want orgs big
enough to need more than one machine to continue to use .COM/.EDU/etc.
# R$*<@fernwood.mpk.ca.us>$* $#uucp$@fernwood$:$1
Gotta love sendmail, right?
If subdomains are to be allowed or used, it'll have to be:
R$*<@$*fernwood.mpk.ca.us>$* $#uucp$@fernwood$:$1
^^ note
"at sign" followed by "0 or more tokens" followed by "fernwood.mpk.ca.us".
And note that the domain name should be passed into the mailer:
R$*<@$*fernwood.mpk.ca.us>$* $#uucp$@fernwood$:$1@$2fernwood.mpk.ca.us$3
note ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Fun fun fun. Smail 3.2 will be out RSN, they say. :-).
--
Paul Vixie
Digital Equipment Corporation Work: vixie@dec.com Play: paul@vixie.UUCP
Western Research Laboratory uunet!decwrl!vixie uunet!vixie!paul
Palo Alto, California, USA +1 415 853 6600 +1 415 864 7013campbell@maynard.BSW.COM (Larry Campbell) (07/17/88)
Why would we want to register under the .US domain? We're already registered
under the .COM domain. Is this some crypto-socialist CCITT/ISO/UN plot
to sap us of our precious bodily fluids?
--
Larry Campbell The Boston Software Works, Inc.
Internet: campbell@bsw.com 120 Fulton Street, Boston MA 02109
uucp: {husc6,mirror,think}!maynard!campbell +1 617 367 6846dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) (07/18/88)
In article <1096@maynard.BSW.COM> campbell@maynard.UUCP (Larry Campbell) writes: >Why would we want to register under the .US domain? We're already registered >under the .COM domain. Is this some crypto-socialist CCITT/ISO/UN plot >to sap us of our precious bodily fluids? I get the impression that .US is primarily for individual private hosts which fit with difficulty into the existing domain structure. Nevertheless, the requirement (if it truly is so) that 2nd-level domains must be states and 3rd-level domains must be cities is truly bizarre. Does anyone have the whole story, including the rationale for why this was done? -- Steve Dyer dyer@harvard.harvard.edu dyer@spdcc.COM aka {ihnp4,harvard,husc6,linus,ima,bbn,m2c}!spdcc!dyer
wisner@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Bill "Spam Eggs Sausage and Spam" Wisner) (07/18/88)
The US domain is intended for small sites: small businesses, BBSes,
individual systems (what's that Unix-PC stashed in your basement?) and
the like. It is NOT intended for anyone who is already registered in
COM, EDU, or what-have-you. Steve Dyer's remark about sites that
have some difficulty fitting into the existing domain structure also
has some merit. I believe the main rationale was something like "there
are some hosts so small that they're never going to register."
Part of the US domain information I was sent said something to the
effect that if you can, you should probably register in a "real" domain.
--
Bill Wisner
..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis,rutgers}!killer!wisner
(and, sometime real soon now) wisner@killer.dallas.tx.usvixie@palo-alto.DEC.COM (Paul Vixie) (07/19/88)
In article <4829@killer.DALLAS.TX.US> wisner@killer.UUCP (Bill Wisner) writes:
# Part of the US domain information I was sent said something to the
# effect that if you can, you should probably register in a "real" domain.
It's definitely not being pushed as something to replace .COM/.EDU/etc.
It suits my home machine well, because I'm not COM or EDU or NET or MIL
and I never understood ORG (and I'm not an org, either, if it mattered).
Trouble is, my home machine would be in .SF.CA.US right now, but it could
move to .MPK.CA.US some evening soon, and it (and I) may move across the
street to .EPA.CA.US or across the creek to .PA.CA.US.
I want to name the machine in .BA.CA.US, since "BA" represents the area I'm
likely to live in no matter how many times I move across the street.
It ain't gonna fly, though. Host.City.State.US, note "Host" and not "Domain".
If Geoff gets a second machine after Fernwood.MPK.CA.US, it'll be some other
thing in .MPK.CA.US, not inside .Fernwood.MPK.CA.US. Or so I suspect.
Very bizarre. Much needed and appreciated, but bizarre nonetheless.
--
Paul Vixie
Digital Equipment Corporation Work: vixie@dec.com Play: paul@vixie.UUCP
Western Research Laboratory uunet!decwrl!vixie uunet!vixie!paul
Palo Alto, California, USA +1 415 853 6600 +1 415 864 7013edm@nwnexus.WA.COM (Ed Morin) (07/20/88)
In article <1477@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >Nevertheless, the requirement (if it truly is so) that 2nd-level >domains must be states and 3rd-level domains must be cities is truly >bizarre. Does anyone have the whole story, including the rationale >for why this was done? My understanding is that this naming convention eliminates naming collisions. The idea is to use the "standard" three-letter city abreviations (i.e. SEA for Seattle). (As an aside, this also applies to little towns; but how many people know the three letter code for Monroe, WA?) I seriously considered registering our public access Un*x system in the .US domain, but given the naming convention and the fact that *none* of our users wanted that sort of address inflicted on them we opted for the .COM domain. (Admittedly this is not 100% applicable, but *most* of our users are businesses.) I would be happy to use the .US domain instead of the .COM domain if I could administer it at the second level (.WA.US) like I do for .WA.COM, but I (and my users) refuse to have this city name requirement imposed on us. Ed Morin Northwest Nexus Inc. edm@nwnexus.wa.com
dhp@ihlpa.ATT.COM (Douglas H. Price) (07/20/88)
My personal machine 'vfrot' is registered in the .CHI.IL.US domain. Basically, we expect that the .CHI.IL.US domain should be able to take care of any machine in northern Illinois within about 50 miles of downtown (I live in Oak Park, the first suburb due west). -- Douglas H. Price Postmaster, att at IH @ AT&T Bell Laboratories ..!att!ihlpa!dhp
mark@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn) (07/20/88)
I have just recently set up a .us domain for the Chicago area. The
name of the domain is .chi.il.us. Note that the host for the domain
is in Streamwood, IL, about 30 miles from the Loop. I think that Jon
Postel wanted to be able to group the domains by geographical area so
that they would be easier to maintain. Note, however, if the
geographical area is too small, there are just as many problems as
bang paths :-(.
My suggestion for the California area is to set up a domain, sf.ca.us.
This namespace could server as the domain for all of San Francisco and
the surrounding Bay Area. In order to do this, you would need to form
a domain park so that you would have a centralized machine to handle
the namespace, but it has been done in Minnesota by Shane McCarron,
and in Chicago by me.
If you are interested in domain parks, you can contact either myself
or Shane (ahby@bungia.mn.org) for more details. If there is enough
interested I will post.
--
Mark H. Colburn mark@jhereg.mn.org, ..!chinet!jhereg!mark
They didn't understand a different kind of smack was needed,
than the back of a hand, something was always needed.tgt@cbnews.ATT.COM (Tim Thompson) (07/21/88)
In article <410190450@nwnexus.WA.COM> edm@nwnexus.WA.COM (Ed Morin) writes: >In article <1477@spdcc.COM> dyer@spdcc.COM (Steve Dyer) writes: >>Nevertheless, the requirement (if it truly is so) that 2nd-level >>domains must be states and 3rd-level domains must be cities is truly >>bizarre. Does anyone have the whole story, including the rationale >>for why this was done? I agree with you, Steve. If the .US domain is set up explicitely for personal UNIX systems or for very small one- and two-person consulting firms, I can kind of understand the rational. They're using something that is already in place to determine their naming heirarchy, and so no thought needs to go into a domain name until you reach the actual machine level. On the other hand, if the .US domain is designed for just anyone, then I think the assignment of domain names on geographic location is silly. How does a large multi-state (or multi-national) company decide which domain to go into under the .US naming scheme? There are many arguments against the geographic naming of domains - would someone care to present them here? > >I seriously considered registering our public access Un*x system in >the .US domain, but given the naming convention and the fact that >*none* of our users wanted that sort of address inflicted on them we >opted for the .COM domain. (Admittedly this is not 100% applicable, >but *most* of our users are businesses.) I would be happy to use >the .US domain instead of the .COM domain if I could administer it >at the second level (.WA.US) like I do for .WA.COM, but I (and my >users) refuse to have this city name requirement imposed on us. > >Ed Morin >Northwest Nexus Inc. >edm@nwnexus.wa.com A perfect example of an argument against geographically-based domain names. Others? Tim Thompson tgt@cbnews.att.com tgt@cube.stargate.com
lyndon@ncc.Nexus.CA (Lyndon Nerenberg) (07/22/88)
Given that this discussion is about the .US domain, could everyone
please put a USA distribution on it? Thanks.
--
VE6BBM {alberta,pyramid,uunet}!ncc!lyndon lyndon@Nexus.CAwisner@killer.DALLAS.TX.US (Bill "Spam Eggs Sausage and Spam" Wisner) (07/22/88)
In article <694@cbnews.ATT.COM> tgt@cbnews.ATT.COM (Tim Thompson) writes: >On the other hand, if the .US domain is designed for just anyone, then I think >the assignment of domain names on geographic location is silly. How does a >large multi-state (or multi-national) company decide which domain to go >into under the .US naming scheme? A large multi-state (or multi-national) company goes into the .COM domain. Period. They would, in all likelihood, be rejected from .US. -- Bill Wisner wisner@killer.dallas.tx.us ..!{ames,decwrl,mit-eddie,osu-cis,rutgers}!killer!wisner
vixie@palo-alto.DEC.COM (Paul Vixie) (07/23/88)
In <308@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG> mark@clout.Jhereg.MN.ORG (Mark H. Colburn) writes:
#
# My suggestion for the California area is to set up a domain, sf.ca.us.
# This namespace could server as the domain for all of San Francisco and
# the surrounding Bay Area.
I should have thought of that. I wanted .ba.ca.us and Postel said (implicitly)
"no". He would probably not object to .sf.ca.us and if I move from suburb to
suburb without changing the name, no problem. I'd need to get other BA domains
to use .sf.ca.us and get Geoff to move from .mpk.ca.us to .sf.ca.us, but I
think it will work. Postel seems to want the third-level name to be a city
rather than the name of an area, so let's choose the name of the largest city
around.
Is this idea acceptable to other BA sites?
# In order to do this, you would need to form
# a domain park so that you would have a centralized machine to handle
# the namespace, but it has been done in Minnesota by Shane McCarron,
# and in Chicago by me.
I don't see why. I mean, yes, it would be convenient to have a machine whose
name or cname was sf.ca.us which would route things to xyzzy.sf.ca.us, but in
fact if there is no such machine, xyzzy.sf.ca.us need only be registered with
the NIC (as all .US domains need to be) and with the UUCP Project (which is
free) in order that they receive their mail.
The only reason for an SF.CA.US machine if there are XYZZY.SF.CA.US machines
unknown to the NIC and/or unknown to the UUCP Project. Handy but hardly nec'y.
Note that I have a Symmetric at home that I will gladly register as SF.CA.US
if Postel will allow it, and anyone who's a local call to San Francisco or
who will poll for their mail is welcome to get their mail through it. I would
need to make sure that UUNET didn't send your mail through my machine as this
could get expensive and I don't want to be in the business of recharging my
connect time. Perhaps Geoff would like to be in this business? :-), half.
Note: I'm not speaking as a DEC employee here, all opinions are my own.
--
Paul Vixie
Digital Equipment Corporation Work: vixie@dec.com Play: paul@vixie.UUCP
Western Research Laboratory uunet!decwrl!vixie uunet!vixie!paul
Palo Alto, California, USA +1 415 853 6600 +1 415 864 7013haugj@pigs.UUCP (Joe Bob Willie) (07/25/88)
In article <3548@palo-alto.DEC.COM> vixie@palo-alto.DEC.COM (Paul Vixie) writes: >Note that I have a Symmetric at home that I will gladly register as SF.CA.US >if Postel will allow it, and anyone who's a local call to San Francisco or >who will poll for their mail is welcome to get their mail through it. I would >need to make sure that UUNET didn't send your mail through my machine as this >could get expensive and I don't want to be in the business of recharging my >connect time. Perhaps Geoff would like to be in this business? :-), half. Has Postel elaborated on what he wants out of the naming scheme? Bill Wisner is getting .dallas.tx.us organized and I was wondering why it was not set up as .dfw.tx.us since that is how the city distribution for netnews is. Perhaps part of Postel's reasoning is to create an actual geographic area oriented domain structure to facilitate less expensive mail routing. If a domain is allowed to cover two or more LATA's, the cost of traffic may be no less than what it currently is for interstate calls. - John. -- jfh@rpp386.uucp (The Beach Bum at The Big "D" Home for Wayward Hackers) "Never attribute to malice what is adequately explained by stupidity" -- Hanlon's Razor