RFC 1206

FYI on Questions and Answers: Answers to commonly asked "new Internet user" questions

📅 published February 1991, from ietf

RFC 1206: FYI on Questions and Answers 💖

okay bestie, this is RFC 1206, and it's called FYI on Questions and Answers, with the subtitle "Answers to Commonly asked 'New Internet User' Questions" 🎀. It came out of the Network Working Group in February 1991, and it's FYI 4. The authors are Gary Malkin, from FTP Software, Inc., and A. Marine, from SRI 🫶. It's an informational doc, so it doesn't specify any standard. It obsoletes RFC 1177 (so 1177 is officially retired 🙈), and it doesn't list any RFC it updates.

Status of this Memo ✨

okay so this FYI is one of two FYIs called "Questions and Answers" (Q/A) 📚. The User Services Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) made them, and the goal is to write down the most commonly asked questions and answers about the Internet 💅.

This memo just provides information for the Internet community 🌈. It does not specify any standard. Distribution of this memo is unlimited 🦋.

Table of Contents 📖

   1. Introduction.................................................   1
   2. Acknowledgements.............................................   2
   3. Questions About the Internet.................................   2
   4. Questions About TCP/IP.......................................   4
   5. Questions About the Domain Name System.......................   4
   6. Questions About Internet Documentation.......................   5
   7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts..........   9
   8. Questions About Services.....................................  13
   9. Mailing Lists................................................  16
  10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions.....................  17
  11. Suggested Reading...........................................  18
  12. References..................................................  19
  13. Condensed Glossary..........................................  20
  14. Security Considerations.....................................  31
  15. Authors' Addresses..........................................  32

1. Introduction 🧚

new users joining the Internet community have the exact same questions everyone else has ever had 🙈. Our whole mission is to give the community up-to-date, basic Internet knowledge and experience, and to move all the repeated stuff off the electronic mailing lists so the subscribers don't have to read the same questions and answers over and over again 💀.

future updates of this memo will happen as User Services members spot more questions that should be added, plus any mistakes or inaccuracies that need fixing in this doc ✨. There's also going to be an additional FYI Q/A covering intermediate and advanced topics, so stay tuned 👑.

the Q/A mailing lists are maintained by Gary Malkin at FTP.COM 💌. A subgroup of the User Services Working Group uses them to talk about the Q/A FYIs. There are three of them:

  • quail@ftp.com: this is the discussion list 💬. Its main job is pre-release review of the Q/A FYIs.
  • quail-request@ftp.com: this is how you join the quail mailing list 🎀.
  • quail-box@ftp.com: this is a write-only list 📥 that acts as a repository for candidate questions and answers. You don't have to be on the quail list to send stuff to the quail-box, so no pressure 🫶.

2. Acknowledgements 🫶

huge thanks to the following people for their help and contributions to this FYI Q/A 💜: Vint Cerf (CNRI), Ralph Droms (Bucknell), Tracy LaQuey Parker (UTexas), Craig Partridge (SICS), Jon Postel (ISI), Joyce K. Reynolds (ISI), Karen Roubicek (BBNST), Marty Schoffstall (PSI, Inc.), Patricia Smith (Merit), Gene Spafford (Purdue) and James Van Bokkelen (FTP Software, Inc.) 🙌.

3. Questions About the Internet 🌍

What is the Internet? 🤔

the Internet is a massive collection of networks, and every single one of them runs the TCP/IP protocols 🌐. They're all tied together so that users on any one of the networks can use the network services TCP/IP provides to reach users on any of the other networks. The Internet started with the ARPANET, but now it includes networks like NSFNET, NYSERnet, and thousands of others 🔥. There are other major wide area networks, like BITNET and DECnet networks, that aren't based on TCP/IP, so they aren't part of the Internet. BUT it's still possible to talk between them and the Internet over electronic mail, because mail gateways act as "translators" between the different network protocols involved 💌.

Note: you'll often see "internet" with a small "i" 🙈. That could refer to any network built on TCP/IP, or it might mean networks using other protocol families that are composites built out of smaller networks.

I just got on the Internet. What can I do now? 🦋

you now have access to all the resources you're allowed to use on your own Internet host 💻, on any other Internet host where you have an account, and on any other Internet host that offers publicly accessible information 🌸. The Internet lets you move information between these hosts with file transfers 📦. Once you're logged into one host, you can use the Internet to open a connection to another one, log in, and use its services interactively. This is known as remote login or "TELNETTING" 😭. You can also send electronic mail to users at any Internet site, and to users on lots of non-Internet sites that are reachable by electronic mail 💅.

there are plenty of other services too ✨. For example, some hosts give you access to specialized databases or to archives of information. The Internet Resource Guide tells you about some of these sites, and it lists facilities on the Internet that are available to users, like supercomputer centers, library catalogs and specialized data collections 🧚. The guide is published by the NSF Network Service Center (NNSC) and it's continuously being updated 🔥. The Resource Guide is free by e-mail (send a note to resource-guide-request@nnsc.nsf.net to join the e-mail distribution) and by anonymous FTP (in nnsc.nsf.net:resource-guide/*) 💖. You can get a hardcopy for a nominal fee, just to cover reproduction costs, from the NNSC. Call the NNSC at 617-873-3400 for more info 📞.

How do I find out if a site has a computer on the Internet? 🕵️‍♀️

three good sources to check are "!%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail Addressing and Networks" by Donnalyn Frey and Rick Adams 📘, "The User's Directory of Computer Networks", by Tracy LaQuey 📗, and "The Matrix: Computer Networks and Conferencing Systems Worldwide", by John Quarterman 📕.

it's also possible to find some info about Internet sites in the WHOIS database, which is maintained at the DDN NIC at SRI International 🌟. The DDN NIC (Defense Data Network, Network Information Center) gives you an information retrieval interface to that database, and it's also called WHOIS. To use it, TELNET to NIC.DDN.MIL and type whois (carriage return) 💻. No login is necessary, which is very chill 😌. Type help at the whois prompt for more info on using the facility 💡. Just know that WHOIS will show lots of sites, but it might not show every site registered with the DDN NIC. That's just because of how the program is set up to search the database 🙈.

4. Questions About TCP/IP 💫

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 🧩. They're 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 those networks have since been retired, but TCP/IP lives on 👑. It's used right now on a huge international network of networks called the Internet, whose members include universities, other research institutions, government facilities, and lots of corporations 🏢. TCP/IP is also sometimes used for other networks, especially local area networks that tie together all kinds of different computers or engineering workstations 💅.

What are the other well-known standard protocols in the TCP/IP family? 🧐

okay so besides 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 tons of other protocols used on the Internet too 🌈. The Internet Activities Board (IAB) regularly publishes an RFC [2] that describes where the various Internet protocols stand in standardization. That document is the best guide to the current status of Internet protocols and their recommended usage 🎀.

5. Questions About the Domain Name System 🗺️

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 groups hosts administratively into a hierarchy of authority, which lets addressing and other info be widely distributed and maintained 💜. The big advantage of the DNS is that using it gets rid of the need for a centrally-maintained file that maps host names to addresses. Iconic, honestly 👑.

What is a Fully Qualified Domain Name? 🏷️

a Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) is a domain name that includes all the higher level domains relevant to the entity it names 🔥. Think of the DNS as a tree structure where every node has its own label. The FQDN for a specific node is its label, followed by the labels of all the other nodes between it and the root of the tree 🌳. For a host, that means the string identifying the particular host, plus every domain the host is part of, up to and including the top-level domain. The root domain is always null, which is so random but true 🙈. For example, PARIS.NISC.SRI.COM is a Fully Qualified Domain Name for the host at 192.33.33.109 💖. And NISC.SRI.COM is the FQDN for the NISC domain 🦋.

6. Questions About Internet Documentation 📚✨

What is an RFC? 🤔

okay so the Request for Comments documents (RFCs) are basically the working notes of the Internet research and development community 📝. A doc in this series can be about literally any topic related to computer communication 💅, from a meeting report all the way up to the specification of a standard 🤯. Submissions go to the RFC Editor, Jon Postel (POSTEL@ISI.EDU) 💌.

Most RFCs describe network protocols or services, usually with detailed procedures and formats for how to implement them 🛠️. Others report on the results of policy studies or sum up what technical committees or workshops got up to 🧠. All RFCs are considered public domain unless they're explicitly marked otherwise 🌈.

RFCs aren't refereed publications, but they do get technical review from the task forces, individual technical experts, or the RFC Editor, depending on what's needed 🔍. Right now most standards get published as RFCs, but not all RFCs specify standards, so don't assume 🙈.

Anyone can submit a document for publication as an RFC 🙋‍♀️. Submissions must be made via electronic mail to the RFC Editor. Check out RFC 1111, "Instructions to RFC Authors" [10], for more info 📖. RFCs are available in public access files, and a short message gets sent to a notification distribution list announcing the memo 📬. To get added to that list, send your request to RFC-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL 💕.

The online files get copied by people who print or display them on their own equipment 🖨️. (An RFC can also be sent back by email if you send an email query.) That means the format of the online files must meet the constraints of a wide variety of printing and display equipment 🎀.

Once a doc gets an RFC number and is published, that RFC is never revised or re-issued with the same number 🔒. So there's never a question of which one is the most recent version of a particular RFC 💯. However, a protocol (like File Transfer Protocol (FTP)) can get improved and re-documented many times across several different RFCs 🔄. It's important to verify you have the most recent RFC on a particular protocol ⚠️. The "IAB Official Protocol Standards" [2] memo is the reference for working out the correct RFC to look at for the current specification of each protocol 👑.

How do I obtain RFCs? 📥

RFCs can be grabbed via FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL, with the pathname RFC:RFCnnnn.TXT or RFC:RFCnnnn.PS (where "nnnn" is the number of the RFC) 💾. Log in with FTP using username anonymous and password guest. The NIC also has an automatic mail service for sites that can't use FTP 📧. Send the request to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL and put the RFC number in the subject line, like Subject: RFC nnnn (or Subject: RFC nnnn.PS for PostScript RFCs) 💌.

RFCs can also be grabbed via FTP from NIS.NSF.NET 🌐. Log in with username anonymous and password guest, then cd RFC to hop into the RFC directory 📂. The file name looks like RFCnnnn.TXT-1 (where "nnnn" is the RFC number) ✨. The NIS also has an automatic mail service for sites that can't use FTP. Send it to NIS-INFO@NIS.NSF.NET and leave the subject field blank. The first line of the message text must be SEND RFCnnnn.TXT-1, with nnnn swapped for the RFC number 🫶.

Requests for special distribution should be addressed to either the author of the RFC in question or to NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL 💅. SRI International runs NIC.DDN.MIL and also offers a hardcopy subscription service for RFCs, plus several publications that bundle together RFCs defining Internet standards 📚. Unless the RFC itself specifically says otherwise, all RFCs are for unlimited distribution 🌸.

How do I obtain a list of RFCs? 🗂️

The NIC keeps an index file of the RFCs 🗃️. It lists each RFC, starting with the most recent, and for each one gives the number, title, author(s), issue date, and number of hardcopy pages 📝. It also lists the online formats (PostScript or ASCII text) for each RFC and the number of bytes each version takes up online on the NIC.DDN.MIL host 💾. If an RFC is also an FYI, that's noted with the FYI number (there's a parallel FYI Index too 🧚). Finally, the Index notes whether an RFC is obsoleted or updated by another RFC and gives that RFC's number, or if an RFC itself obsoletes or updates another RFC and gives that RFC number 🔁. The index gets updated online each time an RFC is issued ⏰.

The RFC Index is available online from the NIC.DDN.MIL host as RFC:RFC-INDEX.TXT 🌟. The FYI Index is online as FYI:FYI-INDEX.TXT 💜. You can also get it in hardcopy from the NIC for $10, same as individual RFCs 💸. Call the NIC at 1-800-235-3155 if you need help getting the file 📞.

Which RFCs are Standards? 🏆

See "IAB Official Protocol Standards" (currently, RFC 1140) [2] 👑.

What is an Internet Draft? Are there any guidelines available for writing one? ✍️

Internet Drafts (I-D's) are the current working documents of the IETF 🛠️. They're generally in the format of an RFC, with some key differences:

  • The Internet Drafts are not RFC's and are not a numbered document series.
  • The words INTERNET-DRAFT appear in place of RFC XXXX in the upper left-hand corner 🙃.
  • The document does not refer to itself as an RFC or 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 RFC Editor, and the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) 🚫.

An Internet Drafts Directory has been installed so IETF members can review and comment on draft documents that will eventually go to the IAB and the RFC Editor to be considered for publishing as an RFC 👀. The Internet Drafts Directories are maintained primarily at the NSFNET Network Service Center (NNSC), and there are several "shadow" machines that contain the IETF and Internet Drafts Directories 🪞:

NSF Network Service Center:  nnsc.nsf.net
DDN NIC:  nic.ddn.mil
Pacific Rim:  munnari.oz.au
Europe:  nic.nordu.net (192.36.148.17)

To access these directories, use anonymous FTP. Log in with username "anonymous" and password "guest". Once you're logged in, cd internet-drafts, and then the Internet Draft files can be retrieved 🏃‍♀️.

For further information on the Internet Drafts of the IETF, or if you have problems retrieving Internet Draft documents, contact Megan Davies (mdavies@nri.reston.va.us) or Greg Vaudreuil (gvaudre@nri.reston.va.us) for assistance 🫶.

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

However, the GOSIP specification, which covers the use of OSI protocols within the U.S. Government, is available from the NIC and from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) 🇺🇸. The final text of GOSIP Version 2 is now available from both sites 🎉. Version 2 is expected to become a Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) in early 1991 📅.

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

Also available through anonymous ftp from nic.ddn.mil (192.67.67.20) as:

PROTOCOLS:GOSIP-V2.TXT        -- ascii
PROTOCOLS:GOSIP-V2.PS         -- PostScript

Hardcopy sources:

Standards Processing Coordinator (ADP)
National Institute of Standards and Technology
Technology Building, Room B-64
Gaithersburg, MD  20899
(301) 975-2816

Network Information Systems Center
SRI International, Room EJ291
333 Ravenswood Ave.
Menlo Park, CA  94025
1-800-235-3155

7. Questions about Internet Organizations and Contacts ✨

okay bestie, this is the org chart section and it's SO important, so let's get into it 🧚

What is the IAB? 🌸

okay so the Internet Activities Board (IAB) is the coordinating committee for Internet design, engineering and management [7]. 💅 IAB members are seriously dedicated to keeping the Internet running well and growing into a huge, super fast future 🔥 The chairman serves a two-year term and gets elected by the other IAB members 🗳️ The current Chair of the IAB is Vint Cerf 👑 The IAB is all about the TCP/IP protocol suite, plus extending the Internet system so it can support multiple protocol suites ✨

here's what the IAB actually does:

  1. Sets Internet Standards 📜
  2. Manages the RFC publication process 📚
  3. Reviews how the IETF and IRTF are running 🔍
  4. Does strategic planning for the Internet, spotting long-range problems and opportunities 🔭
  5. Acts as an international technical policy liaison and representative for the Internet community, and 🌍
  6. Resolves technical issues that can't be handled within the IETF or IRTF frameworks 🛠️

the IAB has two main subsidiary task forces 🎀

  • Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
  • 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 main way IAB decisions get passed along to everyone who cares about the Internet and its TCP/IP protocol suite is the Request for Comments (RFC) note series and the Internet Monthly Report 📰

What is the IANA? 🦋

the task of coordinating the assignment of values to protocol parameters was handed off by the Internet Activities 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] is where you can look up the values that are currently assigned from several series of numbers used in network protocol implementations 📖 Internet addresses and Autonomous System numbers are assigned by the Network Information Center at SRI International. That job was delegated by the IANA to the DDN NIC, which serves as the Internet Registry 🗂️ And the IANA is located at USC/Information Sciences Institute 📍

the current types of assignments listed in Assigned Numbers and maintained by the IANA are:

  • Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
  • ARPANET and MILNET X.25 Address Mappings
  • ARPANET and MILNET Logical Addresses
  • ARPANET and MILNET Link Numbers
  • BOOTP Parameters and BOOTP Extension Codes
  • Domain System Parameters
  • IANA Ethernet Address Blocks
  • Ethernet Numbers of Interest
  • IEEE 802 Numbers of Interest
  • Internet Protocol Numbers
  • Internet Version Numbers
  • IP Time to Live Parameter
  • IP TOS Parameters
  • Machine Names
  • Mail Encryption Types
  • Multicast Addresses
  • Network Management Parameters
  • Point-to-Point Protocol Field Assignments
  • PRONET 80 Type Numbers
  • Port Assignments
  • Protocol and Service Names
  • Protocol/Type Field Assignments
  • Public Data Network Numbers
  • Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Operation Codes
  • TELNET Options
  • Terminal Type Names
  • Unix Ports
  • X.25 Type Numbers

for more info on number assignments, hit up IANA@ISI.EDU 💌

What is a NIC? What is a NOC? 🙈

"NIC" stands for Network Information Center 💁‍♀️ It's an organization that gives network users information about the services the network provides 📡

"NOC" stands for Network Operations Center 🛠️ It's the organization responsible for maintaining a network 🔧

for lots of networks, especially smaller local ones, the NIC and NOC functions are combined 🍓 For bigger networks, like mid-level and backbone networks, the NIC and NOC are separate organizations. They still have to interact to fully perform their functions 🤝

What is "The NIC"? 💜

"The NIC" is the Defense Data Network, Network Information Center (DDN NIC) at SRI International 🏛️ It's the network information center that holds a primary repository for RFCs and Internet Drafts 📚 The host name is NIC.DDN.MIL. Shadow copies of the RFCs and the Internet Drafts are maintained by the NSFNET on NIS.NSF.NET 🪞

the DDN NIC also offers various user assistance services for DDN users. For more info, contact NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL or call 1-800-235-3155 📞 On top of that, the DDN NIC is the Internet registration authority for the root domain and several top and second level domains 🌐 It maintains the official DoD Internet Host Table, is the site of the Internet Registry (IR), and maintains the WHOIS database of network users, hosts, domains, networks, and Points of Contact 🗃️ that's a lot of responsibility, periodt 💅

What is the IR? 🧚

the Internet Registry (IR) is the organization responsible for assigning identifiers, like IP network numbers and autonomous system numbers, to networks 🔢 It also gathers and registers that assigned information 📝 The IR may, in the future, allocate the authority to assign network identifiers to other organizations. However, it will continue to gather data about those assignments 🔁 At present, the DDN NIC at SRI International serves as the IR ✨

What is the IETF? 🌷

the Internet has grown to include a huge number of widely geographically dispersed networks in academic and research communities 🌍 It now provides infrastructure for a broad community with all kinds of interests. The family of Internet protocols and system components has also 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 chaired by Phill Gross and managed by its Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG) 👑 It's a large open community of network designers, operators, vendors, and researchers who care about the Internet and the Internet protocol suite 🫶 It's organized around a set of several technical areas, and each one is managed by a technical area director 🗂️ Besides the IETF Chairman, the area directors make up the IESG membership 💫

the IAB has delegated the IESG the general responsibility for making the Internet work. That includes resolving all short- and mid-range protocol and architectural issues required to make the Internet function effectively 🛠️

What is the IRTF? 🦋

to promote research in networking and the development of new technology, the IAB established the Internet Research Task Force (IRTF) 🔬

in the area of network protocols, the line between research and engineering isn't always clear, so the IETF and IRTF sometimes overlap 🌀 There's actually a lot of overlap in membership between the two groups too. That overlap is seen as vital for cross-fertilization and technology transfer 💜

the IRTF is a community of network researchers, generally with an Internet focus 🌸 Its work is governed by its Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). The chairman of the IRTF and IRSG is David Clark 🌈

8. Questions About Services ✨

How do I find someone's electronic mail address? 🔍

Okay so there are a bunch of directories on the Internet, but none of them are complete, bestie 😭 The biggest ones are the WHOIS database at the DDN NIC, the PSInet White Pages, and KNOWBOT. Honestly, it's still usually necessary to just ask the person for their email address 💅

How do I use the WHOIS program at the DDN NIC? 🕵️‍♀️

To search the WHOIS database at the DDN NIC, you TELNET to the NIC host, NIC.DDN.MIL. There's no need to login 🙌 Type whois to call up the information retrieval program. Next, type the name of the person, host, domain, network, or mailbox you need info on. If you're only typing part of the name, end your search string with a period. Type help for a more in-depth explanation of what you can search for and how you can search ✨

If you have trouble, send a message to NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL or call 1-800-235-3155. Bug reports can be sent to BUG-WHOIS@NIC.DDN.MIL, and suggestions for improvements to the program can be sent to SUGGESTIONS@NIC.DDN.MIL 🦋

How do I become registered in the DDN NIC's WHOIS database? 📝

If you want to be listed in the WHOIS database, you must have an electronic mailbox accessible from the Internet. First, grab the file NETINFO:USER-TEMPLATE.TXT. You can either retrieve it via anonymous FTP from NIC.DDN.MIL or get it through electronic mail. To get it by email, send a message to SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL and put the file name in the subject line, like this:

Subject: NETINFO USER-TEMPLATE.TXT

The file will be returned to you overnight 🌙

Fill out the name and address information the file asks for, then send it back to REGISTRAR@NIC.DDN.MIL. Your application will be processed and you'll be added to the database. Unless you're an official Point of Contact for a network entity registered at the DDN NIC, the DDN NIC will not regularly poll you for updates, so you should remember to send corrections whenever your contact data changes 🫶

How do I use the White Pages at PSI? 📖

Performance Systems International, Inc. (PSI), sponsors a White Pages Pilot 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 can now look up information on participating organizations. The program provides help on usage: typing help shows you a list of commands, manual gives detailed documentation, and whois tells you how to find references to people. For a list of the organizations participating in the pilot project by providing information about their members, type whois -org * 💜

For more information, send a message to WP-INFO@PSI.COM.

How do I use the Knowbot Information Service? 🤖

The Knowbot Information Service is a white pages "meta-service" that gives you one uniform interface to heterogeneous white pages services on the Internet. With it, you can form a single query that searches the NIC WHOIS service, the CSNET WHOIS service, the PSI White Pages Pilot Project, and MCI Mail, among others, and get the responses displayed in a single, uniform format. Main character energy 💅

Right now, you can reach it through TELNET to port 185 on the hosts nri.reston.va.us and sol.bucknell.edu. From a UNIX host, use this:

telnet nri.reston.va.us 185

There's also an electronic mail interface. You send mail to netaddress at either nri.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 info you asked for. Organization and country info 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 🙈

The default list of directory services currently includes the whois services at the SRI NIC and the CSNET NIC, plus the white pages service for MCIMail. If an organization is specified, the PSI X.500 service is also searched. Other services can be requested explicitly ✨

What is Usenet? What is Netnews? 📰

Usenet and Netnews are the common names of a distributed computer bulletin board system that some computers on the Internet participate in. It's not strictly an Internet service, because many computers that aren't on the Internet also take part. Netnews can be a valuable tool for economizing what might otherwise be a large volume of traffic from electronic mailing lists 🌸

How do I get on Usenet? How do I get Netnews on my computer? 💻

To get on Usenet, you must acquire the software, which is available for some computers at no cost from some anonymous FTP sites across the Internet. You must also find an existing Usenet site that's willing to support a connection to your computer. In many cases, this "connection" merely represents additional traffic over existing Internet access channels 🌈

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 allow any password and request that the password you choose is your userid. If this fails, the generic password is usually guest 🫧

What is "TELNET"? 🖥️

The term "TELNET" refers to the remote login that's possible on the Internet because of the TELNET Protocol [9]. Used as a verb, as in "telnet to a host," it 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 don't require a personal account 🦋

9. Mailing Lists 💌

What is a mailing list? 📬

A mailing list is really nothing more than an alias that has multiple destinations. They're usually created to discuss specific topics, and anybody interested in that topic may (usually) join the list. Some mailing lists have membership restrictions, others have message content restrictions, and still others are moderated. Most large, "public" mailing lists, such as IETF and TCP-IP, have an additional mail address where requests to be added or deleted may be sent. Usually, these are of the form listname-request 🍓

There's a "list-of-lists" file available on the host ftp.nisc.sri.com that lists most of the major mailing lists, describes their primary topics, and explains how to subscribe to them. The file is available for anonymous ftp in the netinfo directory as interest-groups (that is, the path is netinfo/interest-groups). It can also be obtained via electronic mail. Send a message to mail-server@nisc.sri.com with the body of the message reading Send netinfo/interest-groups, and the file will be returned in moderate size pieces via electronic mail 🧚‍♀️

How do I contact the administrator of a mailing list rather than posting to the entire list? 🙋‍♀️

For every mailing list mentioned in the "interest-groups" file, there's a description of how to join the list or send other such administrative messages to the person in charge of it. In general, though, it's usually safe to assume that you can send a message to an address in the format ListName-request@domain. The convention of having a parallel mailbox conforming to the "-request" format is very widely followed. All administrative messages regarding using, joining, or quitting the list should be sent to that mailbox instead of to the whole list, so that the readers of the list don't have to read them 🙈

What are some good mailing lists or news groups? 🌟

The TCP-IP, IETF, and RFC Distribution lists are the primary lists for new Internet users who want more information about current and emerging developments on the Internet. The first two are unmoderated discussion lists, and the last one is an announcement service used by the RFC Editor 👑

How do I subscribe to the TCP-IP mailing list? 💖

To be added to the TCP-IP mailing list, send a message to:

TCP-IP-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL

How do I subscribe to the IETF mailing list? 💜

To be added to the IETF mailing list, send a message to:

IETF-REQUEST@ISI.EDU

How do I subscribe to the RFC Distribution list? 🦄

To be added to the RFC Distribution list, send a message to:

RFC-REQUEST@NIC.DDN.MIL

10. Miscellaneous "Internet lore" questions 🧚

What does :-) mean?

Okay so in lots of emails you need a way to say something is meant as a joke, or to show a feeling that plain words can't quite carry 💅 That's how the "smiley faces" came about. Tilt your head to the left and :-) becomes a smiling face 😭 Here are some faves:

:-)  smile

:)   also a smile

:-D  laughing

:-}  grin

:-]  smirk

:-(  frown

;-)  wink

8-)  wide-eyed

:-X  close mouthed

:-o  oh, no!

What do "btw", "fyi", "imho", "wrt", and "rtfm" mean?

People are always shortening stuff in online posts 🙈 So: "btw" is "by the way", "fyi" is "for your information", "imho" is "in my humble [or honest] opinion", "wrt" is "with respect to", and "rtfm" is "read the f*ing manual" 💀 (the "f" word depends on how heated the reader is, lol).

What is the "FAQ" list?

The FAQ list is a set of answers to "Frequently Asked Questions" that keep popping up in various Usenet newsgroups ✨ It gets posted every four to six weeks to news.announce.newusers. It's basically a background guide for new users learning how to use the news, and since it answers their questions up front, the newsgroups themselves stay less repetitive 🌸 Specific newsgroups often have their own FAQ versions tailored to their topics, too.

Other info gets posted all the time as well. Here are the subject lines of some general information postings on Usenet:

Answers to Frequently Asked Questions  (the "FAQ" list)
Introduction to news.announce
Rules for posting to Usenet
How to Create a New Newsgroup
How to Create a New Trial Newsgroup
A Primer on How to Work With the Usenet Community
Emily Postnews Answers Your Questions on Netiquette
Hints on writing style for Usenet
USENET Software: History and Sources
List of Active Newsgroups
Alternative Newsgroup Hierarchies
How to Construct the Mailpaths File
Regional Newsgroup Hierarchies
List of Moderators
Publicly Accessible Mailing Lists
List of Periodic Informational Postings
How to Get Information about Networks
A Guide to Social Newsgroups and Mailing Lists

11. Suggested Reading 📚

If you want to go deeper on the Internet and its protocols in general, these are the reads I'd grab 🎀

Bowers, K., T. LaQuey, J. Reynolds, K. Roubicek, M. Stahl, and A. Yuan, "Where to Start - A Bibliography of General Internetworking Information", RFC 1175, FYI 3, CNRI, U Texas, ISI, BBN, SRI, Mitre, August 1990.

Comer, D., "Internetworking with TCP/IP: Principles, Protocols, and Architecture", Prentice Hall, New Jersey, 1989.

Krol, E., "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Internet", RFC 1118, University of Illinois Urbana, September 1989.

12. References 🦋

[1] Reynolds, J., and J. Postel, "Assigned Numbers", RFC 1060, USC/Information Sciences Institute, March 1990.

[2] Postel, J., Editor, "IAB Official Protocol Standards", RFC 1140, Internet Activities Board, May 1990.

[3] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "File Transfer Protocol (FTP), RFC 959, USC/Information Sciences Institute, October 1985.

[4] Postel, J., "Internet Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification", RFC 791, DARPA, September 1981.

[5] Postel, J., "Transmission Control Protocol - DARPA Internet Program Protocol Specification", RFC 793, DARPA, September 1981.

[6] Leiner, B., R. Cole, J. Postel, 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" RFC 1160, CNRI, May 1990.

[8] Postel, J., "Simple Mail Transport Protocol", RFC 788, USC/Information Sciences Institute, November 1981.

[9] Postel, J., and J. Reynolds, "TELNET Protocol Specification", RFC 854, USC/Information Sciences Institute, May 1983.

[10] Postel, J., "Request for Comments on Request for Comments - Instructions to RFC Authors", RFC 1111, USC/Information Sciences Institute, August 1989.

13. Condensed Glossary 🍓

Computers have their own terminology, just like any profession 💖 So here's a condensed glossary to help you make sense of the Internet world ✨

  • ACM (Association for Computer Machinery): a group set up in 1947 to promote professional development and research on computers.
  • address: there are two separate uses of this term in internet networking, "electronic mail address" and "internet address". An electronic mail address is the string of characters you have to give an electronic mail program to send a message to a particular person. See "internet address" for its definition.
  • AI (Artificial Intelligence): the branch of computer science that deals with simulating human intelligence with computer systems.
  • AIX (Advanced Interactive Executive): IBM's version of Unix.
  • ANSI (American National Standards Institute): a group that certifies organizations developing U.S. standards for the information processing industry. ANSI accredited groups take part in defining network protocol standards.
  • ARP (Address Resolution Protocol): an Internet protocol that runs on Ethernet and all IEEE 802.X LANs, mapping internet addresses to MAC addresses.
  • ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency): the former name of what is now called DARPA.
  • ARPANET (Advanced Research Projects Agency Network): a pioneering long haul network funded by ARPA. It served as the basis for early networking research and as a central backbone while the Internet was being developed. The ARPANET was made up of individual packet switching computers interconnected by leased lines.
  • AS (Autonomous System): a collection of gateways (routers) under a single administrative authority, using a common Interior Gateway Protocol for routing packets.
  • ASCII (American Standard Code for Information Interchange)
  • B (Byte): one character of information, usually eight bits wide.
  • b (bit - binary digit): the smallest amount of information that may be stored in a computer.
  • BBN (Bolt Beranek and Newman, Inc.): the Cambridge, MA company responsible for developing, operating and monitoring the ARPANET and, later, the Internet core gateway system, the CSNET Coordination and Information Center (CIC), and the NSFNET Network Service Center (NNSC).
  • BITNET (Because It's Time Network): BITNET has about 2,500 host computers, mainly at universities in many countries. It's managed by EDUCOM, which provides administrative support and information services. The three main constituents are BITNET in the United States and Mexico, NETNORTH in Canada, and EARN in Europe. There's also AsiaNet in Japan, plus connections in South America. See CREN.
  • bps (bits per second): a measure of data transmission speed.
  • BSD (Berkeley Software Distribution): a term used when describing different versions of the Berkeley UNIX software, as in "4.3BSD UNIX".
  • catenet: a network in which hosts are connected to networks with varying characteristics, and those networks are interconnected by gateways (routers). The Internet is an example of a catenet.
  • CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee)
  • core gateway: historically, one of a set of gateways (routers) operated by the Internet Network Operations Center at BBN. The core gateway system formed a central part of Internet routing, since all groups had to advertise paths to their networks from a core gateway.
  • CREN (The Corporation for Research and Educational Networking): BITNET and CSNET have recently merged to form CREN.
  • CSNET (Computer + Science Network): a large data communications network for institutions doing research in computer science. It uses several different protocols, including some of its own. CSNET sites include universities, research laboratories, and commercial companies. See CREN.
  • DARPA (U.S. Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency): the government agency that funded the ARPANET and later started the Internet.
  • datagram: the unit transmitted between a pair of internet modules. The Internet Protocol provides for transmitting blocks of data, called datagrams, from sources to destinations. The Internet Protocol does not provide a reliable communication facility. There are no acknowledgements, either end-to-end or hop-by-hop. There is no error control for data, only a header checksum. There are no retransmissions. There is no flow control. See IP.
  • DCA (Defense Communications Agency): the government agency responsible for installing the Defense Data Network (DDN), including the ARPANET and MILNET lines and PSNs. Currently, DCA administers the DDN and supports the user assistance and network registration services of the DDN NIC.
  • DDN (Defense Data Network): comprises the MILNET and several other DoD networks.
  • DDN NIC: the network information center at SRI International. It is the primary repository for RFCs and Internet Drafts, as well as providing other services.
  • DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation)
  • DECnet (Digital Equipment Corporation network): a networking protocol for DEC computers and network devices.
  • default route: a routing table entry used to direct any data addressed to network numbers not explicitly listed in the routing table.
  • DNS (Domain Name System): a mechanism used in the Internet for translating names of host computers into addresses. The DNS also lets host computers not directly on the Internet have registered names in the same style, but it returns the electronic mail gateway that accesses the non-Internet network instead of an IP address.
  • DOD: U.S. Department of Defense
  • DOE: U.S. Department of Energy
  • dot address (dotted address notation): the common notation for Internet addresses of the form A.B.C.D, where each letter represents, in decimal, one byte of the four byte IP address.
  • EARN (European Academic Research Network): one of three main constituents of BITNET.
  • EBCDIC (Extended Binary-coded Decimal Interchange Code)
  • EGP: Exterior Gateway Protocol 🛣️ This one hands out routing info to the gateways (routers) that connect autonomous systems. Route-planning gossip, basically. 💅
  • Ethernet 🔌 A network standard for the hardware and data link levels. It comes in two flavours: Digital/Intel/Xerox (DIX) and IEEE 802.3. Both iconic ✨
  • FDDI: Fiber Distributed Data Interface 🌈 A high-speed (100Mb) token ring LAN. Speedy and very organised 🏃‍♀️
  • FIPS: Federal Information Processing Standard 📋
  • FTP: File Transfer Protocol 📁 The Internet standard high-level protocol for moving files from one computer to another. Sending files, but make it official 🫶
  • gateway: see router 🔀
  • GB: Gigabyte 💾 A unit of data storage that stands for 2^30 characters, which is over 1 billion. That's a lot of characters, bestie 😭
  • Gb: Gigabit 🚀 That's 2^30 bits, and we usually use it for data transfer rates. So 1 gigabit/second is 1Gbps. Fast fast fast 💨
  • GNU: Gnu's Not UNIX 🐃 A UNIX-compatible operating system built by the Free Software Foundation. The name is a whole bit, and I'm obsessed 💜
  • header 📦 The bit of a packet that sits in front of the actual data. It holds the source and destination addresses and the error-checking fields. Basically the packet's name tag and ID card 🪪
  • host number 🏠 The part of an internet address that says which node on the (sub)network is being addressed. Which house on the street, you know? 🏡
  • HP: Hewlett-Packard 🖨️
  • HYPERchannel ⚡ A high-speed communications link. Lightning fast, no notes 🌩️
  • I/O: Input/Output 🔁
  • IAB: Internet Activities Board 👑 This is the coordinating committee for Internet design, engineering and management. The main boss energy of the whole Internet 💅
  • IBM: International Business Machines Corporation 💼
  • ICMP: Internet Control Message Protocol 🧚 ICMP is an extension to the Internet Protocol. It handles error messages, test packets and informational messages related to IP. The little messenger that tells you when something went wrong 🫠
  • IEEE: Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers ⚡
  • IETF: Internet Engineering Task Force 🌸 This is a big, open community of network designers, operators, vendors and researchers. Their job is to coordinate the operation, management and evolution of the Internet, and to sort out short- and mid-range protocol and architecture issues. They're a major source of proposed protocol standards, which get sent to the Internet Activities Board for final approval. They meet three times a year, and extensive minutes of the plenary proceedings get issued afterwards 📝✨ Honestly, the most organised group chat ever 🎀
  • internet, internetwork 🕸️ Any connection of two or more local or wide-area networks. Networks linking up, what a moment 🫶
  • Internet 🌍 The global collection of interconnected local, mid-level and wide-area networks that use IP as the network layer protocol. The whole main-character network 👑🦋
  • internet address 🪪 An assigned number that identifies a host in an internet. It has two or three parts: network number, optional subnet number, and host number. Three-part addresses are giving puzzle energy 🧩
  • IP: Internet Protocol 📬 The network layer protocol for the Internet. It's a packet switching, datagram protocol defined in RFC 791. Iconic, no notes 💖
  • IRTF: Internet Research Task Force 🔬 A community of network researchers, usually with an Internet focus. The IRTF is governed by its Internet Research Steering Group (IRSG). Nerds who are working on the future, and I stan 🫶
  • ISO: International Organization for Standardization 🌐
  • KB: Kilobyte 📀 A unit of data storage that represents 2^10 (1024) characters of information. Cute little size 🎀
  • Kb: Kilobit 🐣 That's 2^10 bits, usually used for data transfer rates. So 1 kilobit/second = 1Kbps = 1Kb. Tiny but mighty 💪
  • LAN: Local Area Network 🏘️ A network that takes advantage of computers being close together, so it can offer relatively efficient, higher speed communications than long-haul or wide-area networks. Neighbourhood vibes, but make it fast 🏃‍♀️💨
  • 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. Honestly the OG, and I'm obsessed 🙈🔥
  • MAC: Medium Access Control 🎟️ For broadcast networks, it's the method devices use to figure out which device has line access at any given time. Who gets the mic 🎤
  • Mac: Apple Macintosh computer 🍎
  • MAN: Metropolitan Area Network 🏙️
  • MB: Megabyte 💿 A unit of data storage that represents over 2^20 (one million) characters of information 🍓
  • Mb: Megabit 🛰️ That's 2^20 bits, usually used for data transfer rates. So 1 megabit/second = 1Mbps. Speed lore 🌟
  • MILNET: Military Network 🎖️ A network used for unclassified military production applications. It's part of the DDN and the Internet. Very hush-hush energy, but also very much out in the open 🫢
  • MIT: Massachusetts Institute of Technology 🎓
  • MTTF: Mean Time to Failure 💔 The average time between hardware breakdowns or loss of service. This might be an empirical measurement, or a calculation based on the MTTF of component parts. Sad but important, bestie 🥺
  • 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. The comeback arc 💪✨
  • 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 part of an internet address that designates the network the addressed node belongs to. The neighbourhood, not the house 🏘️
  • NFS: Network File System 📂 A network service that lets a program running on one computer use data stored on a different computer on the same internet, as if it were on its own disk. Borrowing files like it's nothing, so iconic 🫶💅
  • NIC: Network Information Center ℹ️ An organisation that gives network users information about the services provided by the network. The helpdesk era 🧁
  • NOC: Network Operations Center 🛠️ An organisation responsible for maintaining a network. The night shift that keeps everything alive 🌙
  • NIST: National Institute of Standards and Technology 📏 Formerly NBS.
  • NSF: National Science Foundation 🔭
  • NSFNET: National Science Foundation Network 🌐 This is a highspeed "network of networks" with a hierarchy. At the top is a network that 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 connects out of the U.S. to Canada, Mexico, Europe and the Pacific Rim. It's part of the Internet. A whole family tree of networks 🌳💖
  • NSFNET: Mid-level Level Network 🧩 A network connected to the highest level of the NSFNET that covers a region of the United States. Local sites connect to the mid-level networks, which were once called "regionals". Regional rep era 🗺️🌸
  • OSI: Open Systems Interconnection 🌏 A set of protocols designed to be an international standard method for connecting unlike computers and networks. Europe has done most of the work developing OSI and will probably use it as soon as possible. The international glow-up 💫
  • OSI Reference Model 📐 An "outline" of OSI that defines its seven layers and their functions. Sometimes it gets used to help describe other networks. The blueprint everyone borrows 🏗️
  • OSPF: Open Shortest-Path First Interior Gateway Protocol 🛤️ A proposed replacement for RIP. It addresses some of RIP's problems, and it's based on principles that have been well-tested in non-internet protocols. It was originally acronymed as OSPFIGP. Glow-up arc, and the name is a whole journey 🦋
  • packet 📮 The unit of data sent across a packet switching network. The term gets used loosely. Some Internet literature uses it to mean data sent across a physical network, while other literature sees the Internet as a packet switching network and describes IP datagrams as packets. Definitions are giving "it depends" energy 🙃
  • PC: Personal Computer 💻
  • PCNFS: Personal Computer Network File System 🖇️
  • POSIX: Portable Operating System Interface 🧩 An operating system based on UNIX.
  • PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol 🔗 Provides a method for transmitting datagrams over serial point-to-point links. Direct line, no detours 💖
  • 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, like the order in which bits and bytes are sent across a wire, or high-level exchanges between allocation programs, like the way two programs transfer a file across the Internet. This is literally the whole point of me 🫶🎀
  • RFC: The Internet's Request for Comments documents series 📝 The RFCs are the working notes of the Internet research and development community. A document in this series can be about essentially any topic related to computer communication, from a meeting report all the way to the specification of a standard. This series is the tea, and I'm not even sorry 🍵🌈
  • RIP: Routing Interchange Protocol 🔄 One protocol that may be used on internets simply to pass routing information between gateways. It's used on many LANs and on some of the NSFNET intermediate level networks. Simple and iconic 🫶
  • RJE: Remote Job Entry 📨 The general protocol for submitting batch jobs and retrieving the results. Drop the job, pick up the results 💅
  • RLOGIN: Remote Login 🔑 A service on internets that's very similar to TELNET. RLOGIN was invented for use between Berkeley Unix systems on the same LAN, back when TELNET programs didn't provide all the services users wanted. Berkeley plans to phase it out, so this one's giving retired legend 🫡🌸
  • router 🚦 A special-purpose dedicated computer that attaches to two or more networks and routes packets from one network to the other. In particular, an Internet gateway routes IP datagrams among the networks it connects. Gateways pass packets along to other gateways until they can be delivered directly across one physical network to the final destination. Traffic cop of the whole Internet, and absolutely a main character 👮‍♀️👑
  • RPC: Remote Procedure Call 📞 An easy and popular paradigm for implementing the client-server model of distributed computing. Chef's kiss 🤌
  • server 🖨️ A computer that shares its resources, such as printers and files, with other computers on the network. For example, a Network File System (NFS) Server shares its disk space with one or more workstations that may not have local disk drives of their own. The generous one at the party 🎁💜
  • SLIP: Serial Line Internet Protocol 🧵 SLIP is currently a defacto standard, commonly used for point-to-point serial connections running TCP/IP. It isn't an Internet standard, but it's defined in RFC 1055. Unofficial but everywhere, the cool-kid-without-the-badge energy 😎
  • SMTP: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol 💌 The Internet standard protocol for transferring electronic mail messages from one computer to another. SMTP specifies how two mail systems interact, and the format of the control messages they exchange to transfer mail. The postman's rulebook, honestly iconic 📬🫶
  • SNA: System Network Architecture 🏦 IBM's data communications protocol. Big-company energy, but it slaps 💼✨
  • SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol): okay so this is the Internet's standard for remote monitoring and management of hosts, routers and other nodes and devices on a network. It's RFC 1157 🖥️✨
  • subnet: a portion of a network that might even be its own physically independent network. It shares a network address with the other portions of the network and gets told apart by a subnet number 🧚 A subnet is to a network what a network is to an internet 💜
  • subnet number: the part of the internet address that designates a subnet. It's ignored for internet routing, but it's used for intranet routing 🎀
  • T1: a digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-1 formatted digital signal at 1.544 megabits per second 🌊
  • T3: a digital carrier facility used to transmit a DS-3 formatted digital signal at 44.746 megabits per second 🚀
  • TCP (Transmission Control Protocol): a transport layer protocol for the Internet. It's a connection oriented, stream protocol defined by RFC 793 💖
  • TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol): this is the common shorthand for the suite of application and transport protocols that run over IP. That includes FTP, TELNET, SMTP, and UDP (a transport layer protocol) 🫶
  • Telenet: a public packet-switching network operated by US Sprint. It's also known as "SprintNet" 📡
  • TELNET: the Internet standard protocol for remote terminal connection service. It lets a user at one site interact with a remote timesharing system at another site as if their terminal was connected directly to the remote computer 💻
  • THEnet: the Texas Higher Education Network, a multiprotocol network connecting most major academic and research institutions in the State of Texas, plus several institutions in Mexico 🌵
  • Token Ring: a type of LAN. Examples are IEEE 802.5, ProNET-10/80 and FDDI. The term "token ring" is often used to denote 802.5 🪙
  • Tymnet: a public character-switching/packet-switching network operated by British Telecom ⭐
  • UDP (User Datagram Protocol): a transport layer protocol for the Internet. It's a datagram protocol that adds a level of reliability and multiplexing to IP datagrams. It's defined in RFC 768 🦋
  • ULTRIX: a 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): a protocol used for communication between consenting UNIX systems 🤝
  • VMS (Virtual Memory System): a Digital Equipment Corporation operating system 💙
  • WAN (Wide Area Network) 🌍
  • WHOIS: an Internet program that lets users query a database of people and other Internet entities, such as domains, networks, and hosts, kept at the NIC. For people, the information shows a person's company name, address, phone number and email address 🔍
  • XNS (Xerox Network System): a data communications protocol suite developed by Xerox. It uses Ethernet to move the data between computers 🧃
  • X.25: a data communications interface specification developed to describe how data passes into and out of public data communications networks. Public networks such as Sprintnet and Tymnet use X.25 to interface to customer computers 📦

14. Security Considerations ✨

Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

😭💀 The whole security section is one sentence, and that sentence is "Security issues are not discussed in this memo." Iconic, but also a lot 🙈

15. Authors' Addresses 💅

The lovely people who wrote this one 🫶

Gary Scott Malkin
FTP Software, Inc.
26 Princess Street
Wakefield, MA 01880

Phone:  (617) 246-0900

EMail:  gmalkin@ftp.com


April N. Marine
SRI International
Network Information Systems Center
333 Ravenswood Avenue, EJ294
Menlo Park, CA 94025

Phone:  (415) 859-5318

EMail:  APRIL@nic.ddn.mil
📦 where this page comes from