files/general_info directory as
earn-resource-tool-guide.ps and earn-resource-tool-guide.txt.
8.15 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.
If your host supports TELNET, your command to connect to a remote
host would probably be "telnet <hostname>" or "telnet <host IP
address>". For example, "telnet rs.internic.net" or "telnet
198.41.0.5".
9. Mailing Lists and Sending Mail
9.1 What is a mailing list?
A mailing list is an email address that stands for a group of
people rather than for an individual. 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 "public" mailing lists have
a second email address to handle administrative matters, such as
requests to be added to or deleted from the list. All
subscription requests should be sent to the administrative address
rather than to the list itself!
9.2 How do I contact the administrator of a mailing list rather
than posting to the entire list?
Today there are two main methods used by mailing list
adminstrators to handle requests to subscribe or unsubscribe from
their lists. The administrative address for many lists has the
same name as the list itself, but with "-request" appended to the
list name. So, to join the ietf-announce@cnri.reston.va.us list,
you would send a message to ietf-announce-
request@cnri.reston.va.us. Most often, requests to a "-request"
mailbox are handled by a human and you can phrase your request as
a normal message.
More often today, especially for lists with many readers,
administrators prefer to have a program handle routine list
administration. Many lists are accessible via LISTSERVE programs
or other mailing list manager programs. If this is the case, the
administrative address will usually be something like
"listserv@host.domain", where the address for the mailing list
itself will be "list@host.domain". The same listserve address can
handle requests for all mailing lists at that host. When talking
with a program, your subscription request will often be in the
form, "subscribe ListName YourFirstName YourLastName" where you
substitute the name of the list for ListName and add your real
name at the end.
The important thing to remember is that all administrative
messages regarding using, joining, or quitting a list should be
sent to the administrative mailbox instead of to the whole
list so that the readers of the list don't have to read them.
9.3 How do I send mail to other networks?
Mail to the Internet is addressed in the form user@host.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 email 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
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.
xxxx.xxxx@compuserve.com
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.
10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions
10.1 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!
10.2 What do "btw", "fyi", "imho", "wrt", and "rtfm" mean?
Often common 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 :-).
10.3 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. The term FAQ has become generalized so that any
topic may have its FAQ even if it is not a newsgroup.
Here is information about obtaining the USENET FAQs, courtesy of
Gene Spafford:
Many questions can be answered by consulting the most recent
postings in the news.announce.newusers and news.lists groups. If
those postings have expired from your site, or you do not get
news, you can get archived postings from the FTP server on the
host rtfm.mit.edu.
These archived postings include all the Frequently Asked Questions
posted to the news.answers newsgroups, as well as the most recent
lists of Usenet newsgroups, Usenet-accessible mailing lists, group
moderators, and other Usenet-related information posted to the
news.announce.newusers and news.lists groups.
To get the material by FTP, log in using anonymous FTP (userid of
anonymous and your email address as password).
The archived files, and FAQ files from other newsgroups, are all
in the directory:
/pub/usenet/news.answers
Archived files from news.announce.newusers and news.lists are in:
/pub/usenet/news.announce.newusers
/pub/usenet/news.lists
respectively.
To get the information by mail, send an email message to: mail-
server@pit-manager.mit.edu containing:
send usenet/news.answers/TITLE/PART
where TITLE is the archive title, and PART is the portion of the
posting you want.
Send a message containing "help" to get general information about
the mail server, including information on how to get a list of
archive titles to use in further send commands.
11. Suggested Reading
For further information about the Internet and its protocols in
general, you may choose to obtain copies of the following works as
well as some of the works listed as References:
Krol, Ed. (1992) The Whole Internet User's Guide and Catalog, 400
p. O'Reilly and Assoc., Inc. Sebastopol, CA.
Dern, Daniel P. (1993) The Internet Guide for New Users, 570 p.
McGraw-Hill, Inc. New York, NY.
Fisher, Sharon. (1993) Riding the Internet Highway, 266 p. New
Riders Publishing, Carmel, IN.
Frey, Donnalyn and Rick Adams. (1993) !%@:: A Directory of
Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks, (third edition) 443 p.
O'Reilly & Assoc., Inc. Sebastopol, CA.
Hoffman, Ellen and Lenore Jackson. (1993) "FYI on Introducing the
Internet: A Short Bibliography of Introductory Internetworking
Readings for the Network Novice," 4 p. (FYI 19/RFC1463).
Kehoe, Brendan P. (1993) Zen and the Art of the Internet: A
Beginner's Guide, (second edition) 112 p. Prentice Hall, Englewood
Cliffs, NJ.
LaQuey, Tracy with Jeanne C. Ryer. (1992) The Internet Companion:
A Beginner's Guide to Global Networking, 208 p. Addison-Wesley,
Reading, MA.
Malkin, Gary, S. and Tracy LaQuey Parker. (1993) "Internet Users'
Glossary," 53 p. (FYI 18/RFC1392).
Marine, April, et al. (1993) Internet: Getting Started, 360 p.
Prentice Hall, Englewood Cliffs, NJ.
Martin, Jerry. (1993) "There's Gold in them thar Networks! or
Searching for Treasure in all the Wrong Places," 39 p. (FYI 10/RFC
1402).
Quarterman, John. (1993) "Recent Internet Books," 15 p. (RFC
1432).
12. References
[1] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", STD 2, RFC1340,
USC/Information Sciences Institute, July 1992.
[2] Postel, J., Editor, "Internet Official Protocol Standards", STD
1, RFC1540, Internet Architecture Board, October 1993.
[3] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "File Transfer Protocol (FTP), STD
9, RFC959, USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1985.
[4] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol
Specification", STD 5, RFC791, DARPA, September 1981.
[5] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol - DARPA Internet
Program Protocol Specification", STD 7, RFC793, DARPA, September
1981.
[6] Leiner, B., Cole, R., Postel, J., 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" RFC1160, CNRI, May
1990.
[8] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol", STD 10, RFC821,
USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1982.
[9] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "TELNET Protocol Specification", STD
8, RFC854, USC/Information Sciences Institute, May 1983.
[10] Postel, J., "Instructions to RFCAuthors", RFC1543,
USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1993.
[11] Malkin, G., Marine, A., and J. Reynolds, "FYI on Questions and
Answers: Answers to Commonly Asked 'Experienced Internet User'
Questions", FYI 7, RFC1207, FTP Software, SRI, USC/Information
Sciences Institute, February 1991.
[12] Postel, J., "Introduction to the STD Notes", RFC1311,
USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1992.
[13] Krol, E., and E. Hoffman, "FYI on 'What is the Internet?'", FYI
20, RFC1462, University of Illinois, Merit Network, Inc., May
1993.
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 three types of addresses in common use within the
Internet. They are email address; IP, internet or Internet
address; and hardware or MAC 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. A MAC address is the hardware address of a device
connected to a shared media. 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
This organization is responsible for approving U.S. standards
in many areas, including computers and communications.
Standards approved by this organization are often called ANSI
standards (e.g., ANSI C is the version of the C language
approved by ANSI). ANSI is a member of ISO. See also:
International Organization for Standardization.
ARP Address Resolution Protocol
Used to dynamically discover the low level physical network
hardware address that corresponds to the high level IP address
for a given host. ARP is limited to physical network systems
that support broadcast packets that can be heard by all hosts
on the network. It is defined in STD 37, RFC826.
ARPA Advanced Research Projects Agency
An agency of the U.S. Department of Defense responsible for
the development of new technology for use by the military.
ARPA was responsible for funding much of the development of
the Internet we know today, including the Berkeley version of
Unix and TCP/IP.
ARPANET Advanced Research Projects Agency Network
A pioneering longhaul 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 routers under a single
administrative authority using a common Interior Gateway
Protocol for routing packets.
ASCII American (National) Standard Code for Information Interchange
A standard character-to-number encoding widely used in the
computer industry.
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 An academic computer network that provides interactive
electronic mail and file transfer services, using a
store-and-forward protocol, based on IBM Network Job Entry
protocols. BITNET-II encapsulates the BITNET protocol within
IP packets and depends on the Internet to route them. 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
Implementation of the UNIX operating system and its utilities
developed and distributed by the University of California at
Berkeley. "BSD" is usually preceded by the version number of
the distribution, e.g., "4.3 BSD" is version 4.3 of the
Berkeley UNIX distribution. Many Internet hosts run BSD
software, and it is the ancestor of many commercial UNIX
implementations.
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
This organization is part of the United National International
Telecommunications Union (ITU) and is responsible for making
technical recommendations about telephone and data
communications systems.
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
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
This organization was formed in October 1989, when BITNET and
CSNET (Computer + Science NETwork) were combined under one
administrative authority. CSNET is no longer operational, but
CREN still runs BITNET. See also: BITNET.
DARPA See ARPA.
Datagram
A self-contained, independent entity of data carrying
sufficient information to be routed from the source
to the destination computer without reliance on earlier
exchanges between this source and destination computer and
the transporting network.
DCA Defense Communications Agency
Former name of the Defense Information Systems Agency
(DISA). See DISA.
DDN Defense Data Network
A global communications network serving the US Department of
Defense composed of MILNET, other portions of the Internet,
and classified networks which are not part of the Internet.
The DDN is used to connect military installations and is
managed by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA).
See also: DISA.
DDN NIC The Defense Data Network Network Information Center
The network information center at Network Solutions, Inc.,
funded by DISA, that provides information services to the
DDN community. It is also a primary repository for RFCs, and
a delegated registration authority for military networks.
DEC Digital Equipment Corporation
DECnet Digital Equipment Corporation network
A proprietary network protocol designed by Digital Equipment
Corporation. The functionality of each Phase of the
implementation, such as Phase IV and Phase V, is different.
default route
A routing table entry which is used to direct packets
addressed to networks not explicitly listed in the routing table.
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 general purpose distributed,
replicated, data query service. The principal use is the
lookup of host IP addresses based on host names. The style of
host names now used in the Internet is called "domain name",
because they are the style of names used to look up anything
in the DNS. Some important domains are: .COM (commercial),
.EDU (educational), .NET (network operations), .GOV (U.S.
government), and .MIL (U.S. military). Most countries also
have a domain. For example, .US (United States), .UK (United
Kingdom), .AU (Australia). It is defined in STD 13, RFCs 1034
and 1035.
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 IP addresses of
the form A.B.C.D; where each letter represents, in decimal,
one byte of a 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
A standard character-to-number encoding used primarily by IBM
computer systems. See also: ASCII.
EGP Exterior Gateway Protocol
A protocol which distributes routing information to the
routers which connect autonomous systems. The term "gateway"
is historical, as "router" is currently the preferred term.
There is also a routing protocol called EGP defined in STD 18,
RFC904.
Ethernet
A 10-Mb/s standard for LANs, initially developed by Xerox,
and later refined by Digital, Intel and Xerox (DIX). All
hosts are connected to a coaxial cable where they contend for
network access using a Carrier Sense Multiple Access with
Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) paradigm.
FDDI Fiber Distributed Data Interface
A high-speed (100Mb/s) LAN standard. The underlying medium is
fiber optics, and the topology is a dual-attached,
counter-rotating token ring.
FIPS Federal Information Processing Standard
FTP File Transfer Protocol
A protocol which allows a user on one host to access, and
transfer files to and from, another host over a network.
Also, FTP is usually the name of the program the user invokes
to execute the protocol. It is defined in STD 9, RFC959.
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 and other
fields. A header is also the part of an electronic mail
message that precedes the body of a message and contains,
among other things, the message originator, date and time.
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 Architecture Board
The technical body that oversees the development of the
Internet suite of protocols. It has two task forces: the IETF
and the IRTF.
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. It is defined in STD 5,
RFC792.
IEEE Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers
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 Engineering Steering Group for final approval. The
IETF meets three times a year and extensive minutes of the
plenary proceedings are issued.
internet
internetwork
While an internet is a network, the term "internet" is usually
used to refer to a collection of networks interconnected with
routers.
Internet
The Internet (note the capital "I") is the largest internet in
the world. Is a three level hierarchy composed of backbone
networks (e.g., NSFNET, MILNET), mid-level networks, and stub
networks. The Internet is a multiprotocol internet.
internet address
The 32-bit address defined by the Internet Protocol
in STD 5, RFC791. It is usually represented in dotted
decimal notation. An internet, or IP, address uniquely
identifies a node on an internet.
IP Internet Protocol
The Internet Protocol, defined in STD 5, RFC791, is the
network layer for the TCP/IP Protocol Suite. It is a
connectionless, best-effort packet switching protocol.
IRTF Internet Research Task Force
The IRTF is chartered by the IAB to consider long-term
Internet issues from a theoretical point of view. It has
Research Groups, similar to IETF Working Groups, which are
each tasked to discuss different research topics. Multi-cast
audio/video conferencing and privacy enhanced mail are samples
of IRTF output.
ISO International Organization for Standardization
A voluntary, nontreaty organization founded in 1946 which is
responsible for creating international standards in many
areas, including computers and communications. Its members
are the national standards organizations of the 89 member
countries, including ANSI for the U.S.
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).
LAN Local Area Network
A data network intended to serve an area of only a few square
kilometers or less. Because the network is known to cover
only a small area, optimizations can be made in the network
signal protocols that permit data rates up to 100Mb/s.
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
The lower portion of the datalink layer. The MAC differs for
various physical media.
Mac Apple Macintosh computer.
MAN Metropolitan Area Network
A data network intended to serve an area approximating that of
a large city. Such networks are being implemented by
innovative techniques, such as running fiber cables through
subway tunnels. A popular example of a MAN is SMDS.
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.
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NBS National Bureau of Standards
Now called NIST.
network number
The network portion of an IP address. For a class A network,
the network address is the first byte of the IP address. For
a class B network, the network address is the first two bytes
of the IP address. For a class C network, the network address
is the first three bytes of the IP address. In each case, the
remainder is the host address. In the Internet, assigned
network addresses are globally unique.
NFS Network File System
A protocol developed by Sun Microsystems, and defined in RFC
1094, which allows a computer system to access files over a
network as if they were on its local disks. This protocol has
been incorporated in products by more than two hundred
companies, and is now a de facto Internet standard.
NIC Network Information Center
A organization that provides information, assistance and
services to network users.
NOC Network Operations Center
A location from which the operation of a network or internet
is monitored. Additionally, this center usually serves as a
clearinghouse for connectivity problems and efforts to resolve
those problems.
NIST National Institute of Standards and Technology
United States governmental body that provides assistance in
developing standards. Formerly the National Bureau of
Standards (NBS).
NSF National Science Foundation
A U.S. government agency whose purpose is to promote the
advancement of science. NSF funds science researchers,
scientific projects, and infrastructure to improve the quality
of scientific research. The NSFNET, funded by NSF, is an
essential part of academic and research communications.
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 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 suite of protocols, designed by ISO committees, to be the
international standard computer network architecture.
OSI Reference Model
A seven-layer structure designed to describe computer network
architectures and the way that data passes through them. This
model was developed by the ISO in 1978 to clearly define the
interfaces in multivendor networks, and to provide users of
those networks with conceptual guidelines in the construction
of such networks.
OSPF Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol
A link state, as opposed to distance vector, routing protocol.
It is an Internet standard IGP defined in RFC1247.
packet The unit of data sent across a network. "Packet" a generic
term used to describe unit of data at all levels of the
protocol stack, but it is most correctly used to describe
application data units.
PC Personal Computer
PCNFS Personal Computer Network File System
PPP Point-to-Point Protocol
The Point-to-Point Protocol, defined in RFC1548, provides a
method for transmitting packets 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).
RFCThe document series, begun in 1969, which describes the
Internet suite of protocols and related experiments. Not all
(in fact very few) RFCs describe Internet standards, but all
Internet standards are written up as RFCs.
RIP Routing Information Protocol
A distance vector, as opposed to link state, routing protocol.
It is an Internet standard IGP defined in STD 34, RFC1058
(updated by RFC1388).
RJE Remote Job Entry
The general protocol for submitting batch jobs and
retrieving the results.
router A device which forwards traffic between networks. The
forwarding decision is based on network layer information and
routing tables, often constructed by routing protocols.
RPC Remote Procedure Call
An easy and popular paradigm for implementing the
client-server model of distributed computing. In general, a
request is sent to a remote system to execute a designated
procedure, using arguments supplied, and the result returned
to the caller. There are many variations and subtleties in
various implementations, resulting in a variety of different
(incompatible) RPC protocols.
server A provider of resources (e.g., file servers and name servers).
SLIP Serial Line Internet Protocol
A protocol used to run IP over serial lines, such as telephone
circuits or RS-232 cables, interconnecting two systems. SLIP
is defined in STD 47, RFC1055.
SMTP Simple Mail Transfer Protocol
A protocol, defined in STD 10, RFC821, used to transfer
electronic mail between computers. It is a server to server
protocol, so other protocols are used to access the messages.
SNA Systems Network Architecture
A proprietary networking architecture used by IBM and
IBM-compatible mainframe computers.
SNMP Simple Network Management Protocol
The Internet standard protocol, defined in STD 15, RFC1157,
developed to manage nodes on an IP network. It is currently
possible to manage wiring hubs, toasters, jukeboxes, etc.
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 An AT&T 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
An Internet Standard transport layer protocol defined in STD
7, RFC793. It is connection-oriented and stream-oriented, as
opposed to UDP.
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 switched network using the CCITT X.25 protocols.
It should not be confused with Telnet.
TELNET Telnet is the Internet standard protocol for remote terminal
connection service. It is defined in STD 8, RFC854 and
extended with options by many other RFCs.
Token Ring
A token ring is a type of LAN with nodes wired into a ring.
Each node constantly passes a control message (token) on to
the next; whichever node has the token can send a message.
Often, "Token Ring" is used to refer to the IEEE 802.5 token
ring standard, which is the most common type of token ring.
Tymnet A public character-switching/packet-switching network
operated by British Telecom.
UDP User Datagram Protocol
An Internet Standard transport layer protocol defined in STD
6, RFC768. It is a connectionless protocol which adds a
level of multiplexing to IP.
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
This was initially a program run under the UNIX operating
system that allowed one UNIX system to send files to another
UNIX system via dial-up phone lines. Today, the term is more
commonly used to describe the large international network
which uses the UUCP protocol to pass news and electronic mail.
VMS Virtual Memory System
A Digital Equipment Corporation operating system.
WAN Wide Area Network
A network, usually constructed with serial lines, which covers a
large geographic area.
WHOIS An Internet program which allows users to query databases of
people and other Internet entities, such as domains, networks,
and hosts. The information for people generally shows a
person's company name, address, phone number and email
address.
XNS Xerox Network System
A network developed by Xerox corporation. Implementations
exist for both 4.3BSD derived systems, as well as the Xerox
Star computers.
X.25 A data communications interface specification developed to
describe how data passes into and out of public data
communications networks. The CCITT and ISO approved protocol
suite defines protocol layers 1 through 3.
14. Security Considerations
Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
15. Authors' Addresses
April N. Marine
Network Applications and Information Center
NASA Ames Research Center
M/S 204-14
Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000
Phone: (415) 604-0762
EMail: amarine@atlas.arc.nasa.gov
Joyce K. Reynolds
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 1001
Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695
Phone: (310) 822-1511
EMail: jkrey@isi.edu
Gary Scott Malkin
Xylogics, Inc.
53 Third Avenue
Burlington, MA 01803
Phone: (617) 272-8140
EMail: gmalkin@Xylogics.COM