Request for Comments: 1594 NASA NAIC
FYI: 4 J. Reynolds
Obsoletes: 1325 ISI
Category: Informational G. Malkin
Xylogics
March 1994
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. This memo
does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of
this memo is unlimited.
Abstract
This FYI RFCis 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 Internet Organizations and Contacts:
What is the InterNIC?
Questions About Internet Services:
What is gopher?
What is the World Wide Web? What is Mosaic?
How do I find out about other Internet resource discovery tools?
Table of Contents
1. Introduction................................................. 2
2. Acknowledgements............................................. 2
3. Questions About the Internet................................. 3
4. Questions About TCP/IP....................................... 5
5. Questions About the Domain Name System....................... 5
6. Questions About Internet Documentation....................... 6
7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts.......... 13
8. Questions About Services..................................... 18
9. Mailing Lists and Sending Mail............................... 24
10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions..................... 26
11. Suggested Reading........................................... 28
12. References.................................................. 29
13. Condensed Glossary.......................................... 31
14. Security Considerations..................................... 44
15. Authors' Addresses.......................................... 44
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.
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 RFCnumber 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].
2. Acknowledgements
The following people deserve thanks for their help and contributions
to this FYI Q/A: Matti Aarnio (FUNET), Susan Calcari (InterNIC),
Corinne Carroll (BBN), Vint Cerf (MCI), Peter Deutsch (Bunyip), Alan
Emtage (Bunyip), John Klensin (UNU), Thomas Lenggenhager (Switch),
Doug Mildram (Xylogics), Tracy LaQuey Parker (Cisco), Craig Partridge
(BBN), Jon Postel (ISI), Matt Power (MIT), Karen Roubicek (BBN),
Patricia Smith (Merit), Gene Spafford (Purdue), and Carol Ward
(Sterling Software/NASA NAIC).
3. Questions About the Internet
3.1 What is the Internet?
The Internet is a collection of thousands of networks linked by a
common set of technical protocols which make it possible for users
of any one of the networks to communicate with or use the services
located on any of the other networks. These protocols are
referred to as TCP/IP or the TCP/IP protocol suite. The Internet
started with the ARPANET, but now includes such networks as the
National Science Foundation Network (NSFNET), the Australian
Academic and Research Network (AARNet), the NASA Science Internet
(NSI), the Swiss Academic and Research Network (SWITCH), and about
10,000 other large and small, commercial and research, networks.
There are other major wide area networks that are not based on the
TCP/IP protocols and are thus often not considered 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.
See FYI 20 (RFC1462), "FYI on 'What is the Internet?'" for a
lengthier description of the Internet [13].
3.2 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
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 maintained by the
Directory Services portion of the InterNIC and is available online
in a number of ways. It is available for anonymous FTP from the
host ds.internic.net in the resource-guide directory. It is also
readable via the InterNIC gopher (gopher internic.net). For more
information, contact admin@ds.internic.net or call the InterNIC at
(800) 444-4345 or (908) 668-6587.
Today the trend for Internet information services is to strive to
present the users with a friendly interface to a variety of
services. The goal is to reduce the traditional needs for a user
to know the source host of a service and the different command
interfaces for different types of services. The Internet Gopher
(discussed more in the "Questions about Internet Services"
section) is one such service to which you have access when you
join the Internet.
3.3 How do I find out if a site has a computer on the Internet?
Frankly, it's almost impossible to find out if a site has a
computer on the Internet by querying some Internet service itself.
The most reliable way is to ask someone at the site you are
interested in contacting.
It is sometimes possible to find whether or not a site has been
assigned an IP network number, which is a prerequisite for
connecting an IP network to the Internet (which is only one type
of Internet access). To do so, query the WHOIS database,
maintained by the Registration Services portion of the InterNIC.
You have several options about how to do such a query. The most
common currently are to TELNET to the host rs.internic.net and
invoke one of the search interfaces provided, or to run a WHOIS
client locally on your machine and use it to make a query across
the network.
The RIPE Network Coordination Center (RIPE NCC) also maintains a
large database of sites to whom they have assigned IP network
numbers. You can query it by TELNETing to info.ripe.net and
stepping through the interactive interface they provide.
3.4 How do I get a list of all the hosts on the Internet?
You really don't want that. The list includes more than 1.5
million hosts. Almost all of them require that you have access
permission to actually use them. You may really want to know
which of these hosts provide services to the Internet community.
Investigate using some of the network resource discovery tools,
such as gopher, to gain easier access to Internet information.
4. Questions About TCP/IP
4.1 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.
4.2 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
Architecture 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.
5. Questions About the Domain Name System
5.1 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.
5.2 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, atlas.arc.nasa.gov is a Fully Qualified Domain Name for
the host at 128.102.128.50. In addition, arc.nasa.gov is the FQDN
for the Ames Research Center (ARC) domain under nasa.gov.
6. Questions About Internet Documentation
6.1 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 RFCEditor (RFC-EDITOR@ISI.EDU). The
RFCEditor 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
experts, or the RFCEditor, 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 RFCEditor.
Please consult RFC1543, "Instructions to RFCAuthors" [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 RFCmay 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 RFCnumber 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 "Internet Official Protocol
Standards" [2] memo is the reference for determining the correct
RFCto refer to for the current specification of each protocol.
6.2 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 U.S. ones, send a message to
rfc-info@isi.edu. As the text of the message, type
"help: ways_to_get_rfcs" (without the quotes).
An example of obtaining RFCs online follows.
RFCs can be obtained via FTP from ds.internic.net with the
pathname rfc/rfcNNNN.txt (where "NNNN" refers to the number of the
RFC). Login using FTP, username "anonymous" and your email
address as password. The Directory Services portion of the
InterNIC also makes RFCs available via electronic mail, WAIS, and
gopher.
To obtain RFCs via electronic mail, send a mail message to
mailserv@ds.internic.net and include any of the following commands
in the message body:
document-by-name rfcnnnn where 'nnnn' is the RFCnumber
The text version is sent.
file /ftp/rfc/rfcnnnn.yyy where 'nnnn' is the RFCnumber.
and 'yyy' is 'txt' or 'ps'.
help to get information on how to use
the mailserver.
6.3 How do I obtain a list of RFCs?
Several sites make an index of RFCs available. These sites are
indicated in the ways_to_get_rfcs file mentioned above and in the
next question.
6.4 What is the RFC-INFO service?
The Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern
California (ISI) has 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 RFCinformation.
RFC-INFO is an email based service to help in locating and
retrieval of RFCs, FYIs, STDs, and IMRs. 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 RFCis uniquely identified (e.g., by its RFC
number) it may also be retrieved.
To use the service, send email to: RFC-INFO@ISI.EDU with your
requests as the text 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]
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]
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]
6.5 Which RFCs are Standards?
See "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (currently RFC1540)
[2]. This RFCdocuments the status of each RFCon the Internet
standards track, as well as the status of RFCs of other types. It
is updated periodically; make sure you are referring to the most
recent version. In addition, the RFCIndex maintained at the
ds.internic.net repository notes the status of each RFClisted.
6.6 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 'Why it was was done this way' to answers to
commonly asked 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 RFCnumber.
As RFCs, if an FYI is ever updated, it is issued again with a new
RFCnumber; 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 RFCnumbers. 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
zeroes.
6.7 What is an STD?
The newest subseries of RFCs are the STDs (Standards). RFC1311
[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, "Internet 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 RFCnumber.
It is important to differentiate between a "standard" and
"document". Different RFCdocuments will always have different
RFCnumbers. However, sometimes the complete specification for a
standard will be contained in more than one RFCdocument. When
this happens, each of the RFCdocuments 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 RFC1034 and RFC1035; therefore, both of those
RFCs are labeled STD 13.
6.8 What is the Internet Monthly Report?
The Internet Monthly Report (IMR) communicates online to the
Internet community 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 IMR is for
Internet information purposes only.
You can receive the report online by joining the mailing list that
distributes the report. Requests to be added or deleted from the
Internet Monthly Report list should be sent to "imr-
request@isi.edu".
In addition, back issues of the Report are available for anonymous
FTP from the host ftp.isi.edu in the in-notes/imr directory, with
the file names in the form imryymm.txt, where yy is the last two
digits of the year and mm two digits for the month. For example,
the July 1992 Report is in the file imr9207.txt.
6.9 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 RFCwith
some key differences:
- The Internet Drafts are not RFCs and are not a numbered
document series.
- The words INTERNET-DRAFT appear in place of RFCXXXX
in the upper left-hand corner.
- The document does not refer to itself as an RFCor 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 RFCEditor, and the Internet Engineering
Steering Group (IESG).
An Internet Drafts directory has been installed to make draft
documents available for review and comment by the IETF members.
These draft documents that will ultimately be submitted to the IAB
and the RFCEditor to be considered for publishing as RFCs. The
Internet Drafts Directories are maintained on several Internet
sites. There are several "shadow" machines which contain the IETF
and Internet Drafts Directories. They are:
West Coast (US) Address: ftp.isi.edu (128.9.0.32)
East Coast (US) Address: ds.internic.net (198.49.45.10)
Europe Address: nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)
Pacific Rim Address: munnari.oz.au (128.250.1.21)
To access these directories, use anonymous FTP. Login with
username "anonymous" and your email address as password (or
"guest" if that fails). Once logged in, change to the desired
directory with "cd internet-drafts". Internet Draft files can
then be retrieved. Once logged in, if you change to the directory
"ietf", you can retrieve a file called "1id-guidelines.txt", which
explains how to write and submit an Internet Draft.
6.10 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 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
Hardcopy source:
Standards Processing Coordinator (ADP)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Technology Building, Room B-64
Gaithersburg, MD 20899
(301) 975-2816
7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts
7.1 What is the IAB?
The Internet Architecture Board (IAB) is concerned with technical
and policy issues involving the evolution of the Internet
architecture [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 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) Reviews Internet Standards,
2) Manages the RFCpublication 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.
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.
7.2 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 a large open community of network designers,
operators, vendors, and researchers concerned with the Internet
and the Internet protocol suite. The activity is performed in a
number of working groups organized around a set of several
technical areas, each working group has a chair, and each area is
managed by a technical area director. The IETF overall is managed
by its chair and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG),
which is made up of the area directors.
The IAB has delegated to the IESG the general responsibility for
the resolution of short- and mid-range protocol and architectural
issues required to make the Internet function effectively, and the
development of Internet standards.
7.3 What is the IRTF?
To promote research in networking and the development of new
technology, the IAB established the Internet Research Task Force
(IRTF). The IRTF is a set of research groups, generally with an
Internet focus. The work of the IRTF is governed by its Internet
Research Steering Group (IRSG).
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.
7.4 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) is integrating 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: isoc.org in the directory: isoc.
Information is also available via the ISOC gopher, accessible via
"gopher isoc.org" if you are running a gopher client.
7.5 What is the IANA?
The task of coordinating the assignment of values to the
parameters of protocols is delegated by the Internet Architecture
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 Registration Services portion
of the InterNIC. The IANA is located at USC/Information Sciences
Institute.
Current types of assignments listed in Assigned Numbers and
maintained by the IANA are:
Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
BOOTP Parameters and BOOTP Extension Codes
Character Sets
Domain System Parameters
Encoding Header Field Keywords
ESMTP Mail Keywords
Ethernet Multicast Addresses
Ethernet Numbers of Interest
Ethernet Vendor Address Components
IANA Ethernet Address Block
ICMP Type Numbers
IEEE 802 Numbers of Interest
Internet Protocol Numbers
Internet Version Numbers
IP Option Numbers
IP Time to Live Parameter
IP TOS Parameters
Internet Multicast Addresses
Inverse Address Resolution Protocol
Machine Names
Mail Encryption Types
Mail System Names
Mail Transmission Types
MILNET X.25 Address Mappings
MILNET Logical Addresses
MILNET Link Numbers
MIME Types
MIME/X.400 Mapping Tables
Network Management Parameters
Novell Numbers
Operating System Names
OSPF Authentication Codes
Point-to-Point Protocol Field Assignments
Protocol Numbers
Protocol and Service Names
Protocol/Type Field Assignments
Public Data Network Numbers
Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Operation Codes
SUN RPC Numbers
TCP Option Numbers
TCP Alternate Checksum Numbers
TELNET Options
Terminal Type Names
Version Numbers
Well Known and Registered Port Numbers
X.25 Type Numbers
XNS Protocol Types
For more information on number assignments, contact: IANA@ISI.EDU.
7.6 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 for 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.
7.7 What is the InterNIC?
The InterNIC is a five year project partially supported by the
National Science Foundation to provide network information
services to the networking community. The InterNIC began
operations in April of 1993 and is a collaborative project of
three organizations: General Atomics provides Information Services
from their location in San Diego, CA; AT&T provides Directory and
Database Services from South Plainsfield, NJ; and Network
Solutions, Inc. provides Registration Services from their
headquarters in Herndon, VA. Services are provided via the
network electronically, and by telephone, FAX, and hardcopy
documentation.
General Atomics offers Information Services acting as the "NIC of
first and last resort" by providing a Reference Desk for new and
experienced users, and midlevel and campus NICs. The InterNIC
Reference Desk offers introductory materials and pointers to
network resources and tools.
AT&T services include the Directory of Directories, Directory
Services, and Database Services to store data available to all
Internet users.
Network Solutions, Inc. (NSI) provides Internet registration
services including IP address allocation, domain registration, and
Autonomous System Number assignment. NSI also tracks points of
contact for networks and domain servers and provides online and
telephone support for questions related to IP address or domain
name registration.
All three portions of the InterNIC can be reached by calling (800)
444-4345 or by sending a message to info@internic.net. Callers
from outside the U.S. can telephone +1 (619) 445-4600. Extensive
online information is available at host is.internic.net,
accessible via gopher or TELNET.
7.8 What is the DDN NIC (nic.ddn.mil)?
The DDN NIC is the Defense Data Network NIC. Until the formation
of the InterNIC, the DDN NIC had been responsible for many
services to the whole Internet, especially for registration
services. Now the DDN NIC focuses on serving its primary
constituency of MILNET users. Its host is nic.ddn.mil; the
address hostmaster@nic.ddn.mil may still be in older Internet
registration documentation. The DDN NIC maintains close ties to
the newer InterNIC.
7.9 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 delegates some number
assignment authority to regional registries (such as NCC@RIPE.NET
and APNIC-STAFF@APNIC.NET). However, it will continue to gather
data regarding such assignments. At present, the Registration
Services portion of the InterNIC at Network Solutions, Inc.,
serves as the IR.
8. Questions About Services
8.1 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. Many people can be found, however,
via the InterNIC WHOIS services, or KNOWBOT. Generally, it is
still necessary to ask the person for his or her email address.
8.2 How do I use the WHOIS program at the InterNIC Registration
Services?
There are several ways to search the WHOIS database. You can
TELNET to the InterNIC registration host, rs.internic.net. There
is no need to login. Type "whois" to call up the information
retrieval program, or choose one of the other options presented to
you. Help is available for each option. You can also run a
client of the WHOIS server and point it at any whois database
you'd like to search. Pointing a client at the whois server
ds.internic.net will enable you to query the databases at three
hosts: ds.internic.net, rs.internic.net, and nic.ddn.mil.
For more information, contact the InterNIC at (800) 444-4345 or
the registration services group at (703) 742-4777.
8.3 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 cnri.reston.va.us and
sol.bucknell.edu. From a UNIX host, use "telnet cnri.reston.va.us
185". There is also an electronic mail interface available by
sending mail to netaddress at either cnri.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 through 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.
8.4 What is the White Pages at PSI?
Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSI), sponsors a White
Pages 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 *".
Access to the White Pages data is also possible via programs that
act as X.500 Directory User Agent (DUA) clients.
For more information, send a message to WP-INFO@PSI.COM.
8.5 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, BITNET, and others. Netnews can be a valuable tool
to economically transport traffic that would otherwise be sent via
mail. USENET has no central administration.
8.6 How do I get a Netnews feed?
To get a Netnews feed, you must acquire the server 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
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.
8.7 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.
8.8 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.
8.9 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 request that the
password you choose is your email address. If this fails, the
generic password is usually "guest".
8.10 What is "archie"?
The archie system was created to automatically track anonymous FTP
archive sites, and this is still its primary function. The system
currently makes available the names and locations of some
2,100,000 files at some 1,000 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.
8.11 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. The use of a client is
strongly encouraged. There are currently 22 archie servers
located throughout the world.
To try the TELNET interface to archie you can TELNET to one of the
22 archie servers (preferably the one nearest you, and during
non-peak hours). Log in as "archie" (no password is required).
Type "help" to get you started.
Here is a list of archie servers as of the date this was written:
archie.au* 139.130.4.6 Australia
archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at* 140.78.3.8 Austria
archie.univie.ac.at* 131.130.1.23 Austria
archie.uqam.ca* 132.208.250.10 Canada
archie.funet.fi 128.214.6.100 Finland
archie.th-darmstadt.de* 130.83.22.60 Germany
archie.ac.il* 132.65.6.15 Israel
archie.unipi.it* 131.114.21.10 Italy
archie.wide.ad.jp 133.4.3.6 Japan
archie.hana.nm.kr* 128.134.1.1 Korea
archie.sogang.ac.kr* 163.239.1.11 Korea
archie.uninett.no* 128.39.2.20 Norway
archie.rediris.es* 130.206.1.2 Spain
archie.luth.se* 130.240.18.4 Sweden
archie.switch.ch* 130.59.1.40 Switzerland
archie.ncu.edu.tw* 140.115.19.24 Taiwan
archie.doc.ic.ac.uk* 146.169.11.3 United Kingdom
archie.unl.edu 129.93.1.14 USA (NE)
archie.internic.net* 198.48.45.10 USA (NJ)
archie.rutgers.edu* 128.6.18.15 USA (NJ)
archie.ans.net 147.225.1.10 USA (NY)
archie.sura.net* 128.167.254.179 USA (MD)
Note: Sites marked with an asterisk "*" run archie version 3.0.
You can obtain details on using the electronic mail interface by
sending mail to "archie" at any of the above server hosts. Put
the word "help" as the text of your message for directions.
Questions, comments, and suggestions can be sent to the archie
development group by sending mail to info@bunyip.com.
8.12 What is "gopher"?
The Internet Gopher presents an extremely wide variety of diverse
types of information in an easy to use menu-driven interface.
Gopher servers link information from all around the Internet in a
manner that can be transparent to the user. (Users can easily
discover the source of any piece of information, however, if they
wish.) For example, gopher links databases of every type,
applications, white pages directories, sounds, and pictures.
Some gophers are available via TELNET. Since most gophers are
linked to other gophers, if you can get to one, you can get to
many. You can, for example, telnet to naic.nasa.gov and use their
public gopher.
The best way to use the gopher service, as with all client/server
type services, is by running your own gopher client. The Internet
Gopher was developed at the University of Minnesota. More
information is available for anonymous FTP on the host
boombox.micro.umn.edu.
8.13 What is the World Wide Web? What is Mosaic?
The World Wide Web is a distributed, hypermedia-based Internet
information browser. It presents users with a friendly point and
click interface to a wide variety of types of information (text,
graphics, sounds, movies, etc.) and Internet services. It is
possible to use the Web to access FTP archives, databases, and
even gopher servers.
The most familiar implementations of the World Wide Web are the
Mosaic clients developed by the National Center for Supercomputing
Applications (NCSA). Mosaic software is available online at
ftp.ncsa.uiuc.edu.
8.14 How do I find out about other Internet resource discovery
tools?
The field of Internet resource discovery tools is one of the most
dynamic on the Internet today. There are several tools in
addition to those discussed here that are useful for discovering
or searching Internet resources. The EARN (European Academic and
Research Network) Association has compiled an excellent document
that introduces many of these services and provides information
about how to find out more about them. To obtain the document,
send a message to listserv@earncc.bitnet or
listserve%earncc.bitnet@cunyvm.cuny.edu. As the text of your
message, type "GET filename" where the filename is either
"nettools ps" or "nettols memo". The former is in PostScript
format. This document is also available for anonymous FTP on some
hosts, including naic.nasa.gov, where it is available in the