[comp.protocols.tcp-ip] How's the LAN doing

0004219666@MCIMAIL.COM (Bob Stine) (04/26/91)

>I would be interested in the catalog "A Network Management Tool
>Catalog" but I do not know what the RFC in "RFC 1147" stands for.

RFCs are online documents maintained by the NIC (Network Information Center). 
The misleading acronym is "Request For Comments."  The name is a hold-over from
the days when the Internet was being put together, and was populated almost
exclusively by leading-edge hackers, now known as "old boys."   Today, RFCs are
most often Internet standards or draft standards.  Occasionally, as is the case
with RFC 1147, RFCs are informally informational.

If you have FTP access to the Internet, you can get RFCs from nic.ddn.mil.  Use
username "anonymous", and give your actual user@host as the password.  Change
directory to "rfc:" (the colon is _required_), and get "rfc1147.txt".  Better
yet, if you have a postscript printer, get "rfc1147.ps".

If you don't have FTP access, you can get RFCs by email.  Send a null message to
service@nic.ddn.mil.  For the subject line, use "RFC 1147" or "RFC 1147.PS".
For more info on the email document server, send it an empty message with
subject line "help".

I'd recommend that you also get RFC 1175, "FYI on where to start: A bibliography
of internetworking information," and RFC 1177, "FYI on Questions and Answers:
Answers to commonly asked `new internet user' questions".

Happy hunting,

Bob Stine