RFC 1386
The US Domain
RFC 1386: The US Domain 🎀
- Network Working Group 💜 Request for Comments: 1386 ✨
- Authors: A. Cooper and J. Postel 🫶
- Date: December 1992 📅
- Status: Informational. The memo itself says it provides information for the Internet community and does not specify an Internet standard, so it's FYI energy, not a rulebook 🍓
- Obsoletes / Updates: the title block doesn't list any RFCs it obsoletes or updates 🧚
Status of this Memo 💅
Okay so this memo is just giving info to the Internet community 📣 It does not specify an Internet standard, and distribution is unlimited, so share away 🦋
Table of Contents 🌸
1. Introduction ................................................ 2
1.1 The Internet Domain Name System......................... 2
1.2 Top Level Domains....................................... 3
1.3 The US Domain .......................................... 4
2. Naming Structure ............................................ 4
2.1 State Codes ............................................ 5
2.2 City Codes or Locality Names............................ 5
2.3 Examples of Names....................................... 5
3. Registration ................................................ 8
3.1 Requirements ........................................... 8
3.2 Direct Entries ......................................... 9
3.2.1 UUCP Hosts .......................................... 9
3.2.2 Non-IP Hosts ........................................ 10
3.3 Delegated Subdomains ................................... 12
3.3.1 Schools ............................................. 12
3.3.2 State Agencies ...................................... 14
3.3.3 Federal Agencies .................................... 14
3.3.4 Delegation Requirement............................... 14
3.3.5 Delegation Procedures ............................... 15
3.3.6 Subdomain Contacts................................... 18
4. Database Information......................................... 19
4.1 Name Servers ........................................... 19
4.2 Zone files ............................................. 20
4.3 Resource Records ....................................... 21
4.3.1 A Records ........................................... 22
4.3.2 CNAME Records ....................................... 22
4.3.3 MX Records .......................................... 22
4.3.4 HINFO Records ....................................... 23
4.3.5 PTR Records ......................................... 23
4.4 Wildcards .............................................. 23
5. References .................................................. 24
6. Security Considerations ..................................... 25
7. Author's Address ............................................ 25
Appendix-I: US Domain Names BNF................................. 26
Appendix-II: US Domain Questionnaire for Host Entry.............. 281. Introduction ✨
1.1. The Internet Domain Name System 🌐
Okay bestie, so the Domain Name System (DNS) is the thing that translates host names into addresses 🧚 Like, you type venera.isi.edu and it gives you back the IP address 128.9.0.32. It's literally how the Internet knows where to go 💖
The DNS is a set of protocols and databases. The protocols define the syntax and semantics for a query language so you can ask questions about info stored under DNS-style names 🔥 The databases are distributed and replicated, so nobody's relying on one big central server, and every part of the database is provided by at least two servers 👑
The 32-bit IP addresses are a separate thing, assigned by the Network Information Center (Hostmaster@NIC.DDN.MIL) 📬
DNS also lets you register DNS-style names for hosts you can only reach by email through gateways or mail relays 💌 The records for that kind of name point at an Internet host (one with an IP address) that acts as a mail forwarder for the registered host. For example, bah.rochester.ny.us is registered with a pointer to the mail relay relay1.uu.net, and that pointer is called an MX record 🫶
This gives email users one uniform mail addressing syntax, so they don't have to think about the network boundaries underneath 🎀
So why did DNS even happen? Growth 📈 The NIC used to keep all the host name to address mappings in one single file, HOSTS.TXT, and every host on the Internet had to FTP it. The network population was changing: the timeshared hosts of the original ARPANET were getting replaced by local networks of workstations 💻 Local orgs were managing their own names and addresses but had to wait for the NIC to change HOSTS.TXT before anyone else could see it. Orgs also wanted some local structure on the name space 🏠 Apps were getting more sophisticated and needed general purpose name service. So the idea was a hierarchical name space, roughly matching organizational structure, with names using "." to mark the boundaries between levels 🪜 They built a distributed database with generalized resources to make it work ✨
The domain system gives you standard formats for resource data, standard ways to query the database, and standard methods for name servers to refresh their local data from other name servers 💅
1.2. Top-Level Domains 🌍
The top-level domains in DNS are EDU, COM, GOV, MIL, ORG, INT, and NET, plus all the 2-letter country codes from the ISO-3166 country list 🌏
The original plan was that any educational institution anywhere could register under EDU, but in practice only US ones have (with a few exceptions), and the same goes for COM (commercial) 🙈 Everywhere else just uses its 2-letter country code, often with a subdivision. For example, in Korea (KR) the second-level names are AC (academic community), CO (commercial), GO (government), and RE (research). Each country can run its own domain however it wants, and many have 🌸
There are no plans to put all of the organizational domains (.EDU, .GOV, .COM, etc.) under .US either 🙅
Some states are registered in the .GOV domain: 11 by two-letter code and 3 by full name 🗺️
ca.gov la.gov ohio.gov va.gov
co.gov md.gov or.gov wa.gov
hawaii.gov nc.gov sc.gov
ia.gov ny.gov texas.govOther names sometimes show up as top-level domains too. People have made up DNS-style names without coordinating or registering with DNS management 😬 Common ones are .BITNET, .UUCP, and two-letter continent codes like .NA for North America (which clashes with the official Internet code for Namibia, oops 💀).
For example, KA7EEJ.CO.USA.NA is used in the amateur radio network 📻 These addresses aren't supposed to show up on the Internet, but they occasionally do. The amateur radio folks made their own naming scheme, and it sometimes interferes with real Internet addresses 🙃
1.3. The US Domain 🇺🇸
The US Domain is an official top-level domain in the DNS of the Internet community, and it's registered with the NIC. The domain administrators are Jon Postel and Ann Westine Cooper at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California (USC-ISI) 👑
US is the ISO-3166 2-letter country code for the United States, so the US Domain is set up as a top-level domain and registered with the NIC the same way other country domains are 🇺🇸
Because organizations in the United States mostly registered under EDU and COM, the US domain got little use at first 😴
Back in the day, computers registered in the US Domain were mainly owned by small companies or people with computers at home 🏡 But it's grown a lot. It now registers hosts from federal government agencies, state government agencies, K12 schools, community colleges, private schools, libraries, county agencies, and city utilities, to name a few 🏫🏛️
Administration used to be handled solely by the Domain Registrar. Because the number of hosts has exploded, though, administration of subdomains is being delegated to others 🤝
Any computer in the United States may be registered in the US Domain 🦋
2. NAMING STRUCTURE 💅
okay so the US Domain hierarchy is based on political geography 🗺️ aka it goes by where you actually live. the namespace under .US is the state namespace, then the city namespace, then organization or computer name, and so on 🦋
for example:
SPK.WA.US
VANC.WA.USand yes, there is obviously no problem with running out of names 🙄
the things that get named are individual computers 💻
if you register in one city and then move, the database can be updated with a new name in your new city, and a pointer can be set up from your old name to your new name. this type of pointer is called a CNAME record 🎀
the use of un-registered names is not effective and causes problems for other users. making up your own name and using it without registering is not a good idea 🙅
2.1. State Codes 🇺🇸
the state codes are the two letter US Postal abbreviations 📮
2.2. City Codes or Locality Names 🏙️
cities can be named (designated) by their full name, spelled out with hyphens replacing spaces (e.g., Los-Angeles or New-York), or by a city code. the first choice is the full city name. the second choice is a city code from Western Union's "City Mnemonics" list. the third choice is a code for your city that you pick yourself as the applicant. however, it is very desirable that all users in the same city use the same designator for the city 🫶
abbreviated city names are a good idea, especially when the city name is long, because there is already so much to type 😭 one of the problems is that the city codes in the Western Union City Mnemonics list are sometimes not very good abbreviations. users tend to prefer abbreviations that are already commonly used in their region, like SF for San Francisco or MPK for Menlo Park ✨
exceptions have been made to the abbreviations, even though this causes extra work to keep track of them. it's one abbreviation for one city. applicants are told which codes are currently in use. but if a city code isn't used yet and they would rather use a different code that's more common among the locals, then the new code is allowed. once it's registered, though, everyone else who registers in that city will have to use that code or spell out the full city name 💖
some applicants have tried to get a copy of the Western Union City Mnemonics code list, but it is no longer available from Western Union. however, we do have a copy, it just isn't online. if you're requesting an abbreviated city code, let us know and we will gladly look it up for you 🧚
2.3. Examples of Names 📝
for small entities like individuals or small businesses, there is usually no problem with picking a locality-based name 🌸
For example: Zuckys.Santa-Monica.CA.US
for large entities like big corporations with multiple facilities in several cities or states, this can seem like an unreasonable constraint, especially when you compare it with just registering directly in the .COM domain 🙃 still, a company does have a headquarters office in a particular locality, so it could register with that name 🏢
For example: IBM.Armonk.NY.US
EXAMPLES OF THE NAMING STRUCTURE IN THE US DOMAIN
PRIVATE (business or individual)
================================
Camp-Curry.Yosemite.CA.US <==== a business
IBM.Armonk.NY.US <==== a business
Dogwood.atl.GA.US <==== a business
Geo-Petrellis.Culver-City.CA.US <==== a restaurant
Zuckys-Santa-Monica.CA.US <==== a restaurant
Joe-Josts.Long-Beach.CA.US <==== a bar
Holodek.Santa-Cruz.CA.US <==== a personal computer
FEDERAL
=======
Senate.FED.US <==== US Senate
DOD.FED.US <==== US Defense Dept.
DOT.FED.US <==== US Transportation Dept.
USPS.FED.US <==== US Postal Service
VA.FED.US <==== US Veterans Administration
IRS.FED.US <==== US Internal Revenue Service
Yosemite.NPS.Interior.FED.US <==== a federal agency
STATE
=====
Senate.STATE.MN.US <==== state Senate
House.STATE.MN.US <==== state House of Reps
MDH.STATE.MN.US <==== state Health Dept.
HUD.STATE.CA.US <==== state House and Urban Dev. Dept.
DOT.STATE.MN.US <==== state Transportation Dept.
Caltrans.STATE.CA.US <==== state Transportation Dept.
DMV.STATE.CA.US <==== state Motor Vehicles Dept.
Culver-City.DMV.STATE.CA.US <==== a local office of DMV
CITY | COUNTY
==============
Police.CITY.Culver-City.CA.US <==== a city department
Fire-Dept.CITY.Los-Angeles.CA.US <==== a city department
Fire-Dept.COUNTY.Los-Angeles.CA.US <==== a county department
REGIONAL | DISTRICT | LIBRARY
=============================
SCAQMD.DISTRICT.CA.US <==== a regional district
Bunker-Hill-Improvement.DISTRICT.LA.CA.US <==== a local district
Huntington.LIB.LA.US <==== a private library
Venice.LA-City.LIB.CA.US <==== a city library
MDR.LA-County.LIB.CA.US <==== a county library
K12 | CC | STATE UNIV | PRIVATE SCHOOLS
=======================================
Los-Angeles.UC.STATE.CA.US <==== UCLA
Berkeley.UC.STATE.CA.US <==== "CAL"
Irvine.UC.STATE.CA.US <==== University of Calif. Irvine
Santa-Cruz.UC.STATE.CA.US <==== University of Calif. Santa Cruz
Northridge.CSU.STATE.CA.US <==== Calif. State. Univ. Northridge
Fullerton.CSU.STATE.CA.US <==== Calif. State. Univ. Fullerton
Sonoma.CSU.STATE.CA.US <==== Calif. State. Univ. Sonoma
SMCC.Santa-Monica.CC.CA.US <==== a public community college
Trade-Tech.Los-Angeles.CC.CA.US <==== a public community college
Hamilton.High.LA-Unified.K12.CA.US <==== a public K12 school
Sherman-Oaks.Elem.LA-Unified.K12.CA.US <==== a public K12 school
John-Muir.Middle.Santa-Monica.K12.CA.US <==== a public K12 school
St-Monica.High.Santa-Monica.CA.US <==== a private high school
St-Monica.Elem.Santa-Monica.CA.US <==== a private elem. school
Crossroads-School.Santa-Monica.CA.US <==== a private school
Mary-Ellens.Montessori-School.LA.CA.US <==== a private school
Leland-Stanford-Jr-Univ.Stanford.CA.US <==== a private school
Loyola-Marymount-Univ.Los-Angeles.CA.US <==== a private schoolwhen it's appropriate, subdomains get delegated and partitioned into categories, like this 🎀
K12.<state>.US = kindegarten thru 12th grade
CC.<state>.US = community colleges
LIB.<state>.US = libraries
STATE.<state>.US = state government agencies
<org-name>.FED.US = federal government agenciesthe Appendix-I has the current US Domain Names BNF, but honestly the names under these subdomains can vary depending on what the subdomain administrators decide 🤷♀️
some users want names tied to a bigger metro area or region, like the "Bay Area" or "Tri-Cities". the problem is that these names aren't necessarily unique within a state. the best move here is to use the larger metropolitan city in your host name. cities and, in some cases, counties get used 🏙️
3. REGISTRATION 🎫
3.1. Requirements
anyone who wants to register a host in the US Domain gets sent a copy of the US Domain policy and procedure, and needs to fill out a US Domain questionnaire 📋
the US Domain template is similar to the NIC Domain template, but it's not the same 👀 to request a copy of the US Domain questionnaire, send a message to the US Domain registrar at us-domain@isi.edu 💌
Note: If you are registering a name in a delegated zone (see Section 3.3.6), please register with the contact for that zone.
the key people need electronic mailboxes that actually work 📬 please provide all the information requested in the "Administrator" and "Technical Contact" slots. this person is the point of contact for any administrative and policy questions about the domain 🫡
the administrator is usually the person who manages the organization being registered. the technical contact can be the administrator too, or the systems person, or someone who knows the technical details of the Internet well 🧠 the technical contact should have a valid working e-mail address, because that's necessary in case something goes wrong 🚨
it's important that your "Return-Path" and "From" fields show an Internet style address 💅 UUCP style addresses like "host1!user" will not work. that's fine in the UUCP world, but not on the Internet. if you want people on the Internet to be able to send mail to you, your return path needs to be an Internet style address, such as host1!user@internet.gateway.host or user@internet.gateway.host 💖
it's also possible to register through one of the Internet service providers that have established working relationships with the US domain administrator 🌈
if everything checks out, turnaround for registering a host is usually a day or two ⚡ the nameservers get updated anywhere from 12 to 24 hours later ⏰
there are two ways to be registered in the US Domain: directly, or by delegation 🦋
3.2. Direct Entries
direct entry in the database of the US Domain appeals most to individuals and small companies 🌸 fill out the application and send it directly to the US Domain administrator. if you're in an area where the zone is delegated to someone else, your request gets forwarded to the zone administrator for your registration 🧚
3.2.1. UUCP Hosts
lots of applicants have hosts in the UUCP world 🐢 some are one hop away from their "Internet Forwarder", and some are two or three hops away. this is ok ✨ what matters is getting an Internet host to be your forwarder 🫶 if you don't already have an Internet forwarder, there are several businesses that provide this service for a fee, such as UUNET.UU.NET (postmaster@uunet.uu.net), PSI (postmaster@UU2.PSI.COM) and CERFNET (help@cerf.net) 💸 sometimes local colleges in your area are already on the Internet and might be willing to act as an Internet Forwarder 🎓 you'd need to work that out with the systems administrator, because we cannot make these arrangements for you 🙈
even though we work with UUCP service providers, the Internet US Domain registration is not affiliated with the registration of UUCP Map entries 🗺️ the UUCP map entry doesn't give us enough information. if you don't have a copy of the US Domain questionnaire template, send a message to us-domain@isi.edu and request one. see Appendix-II 📎
This is not an appropriate registration for the US Domain. 💀
#N starl
#S Amiga 2500; AmigaDOS 2.04; Dillon's AmigaUUCP 1.15D
#O Starlight BBS
#C Stephen Baker
#E starl!sbaker
#T +1 305 378 1161
#P 1107 SW 200th St #303B Miami, Fl. 33157
#L 25 47 N / 88 10 W [city]
#R
#U mthvax
#W starl!sbaker (Stephen Baker); Mon Feb 24 19:58:24 EST 1992
starl mthvax(DAILY)if you're registering your host as a central site for a USENET group where other UUCP sites will feed from you, that's totally fine 🙌 those UUCP sites don't need to register. however, if the other sites become a subdomain of your hostname, then we'll need to register them individually or add a wildcard record 🃏
For example: bah.rochester.ny.us
host1.bah.rochester.ny.us
host2.bah.rochester.ny.us3.2.2 NON-IP Hosts ✨
okay so if your host isn't an IP host, you can still use US Domain names 🫶 but there must be a forwarder host that IS an IP host. there must also be an administrative agreement and a technical procedure for relaying mail between the non-IP host and the forwarder host 📬 no skipping this part bestie!!
Case 1 💅
your host isn't an IP host, but it does talk directly with a host that is 🌸
+-----------------+
+----------+ +---------+ | |
|your-host |---UUCP-----|forwarder|----IP/TCP--| INTERNET |
+----------+ +---------+ | |
+-----------------+the "forwarder" must be an IP host on the Internet. you have to ask "forwarder" if they're willing to be the internet forwarder for "your-host" 🥺
in the US Domain of the DNS database there must be an entry like this:
"your-host" MX 10 "forwarder"this must be entered by the US Domain administrator 👑
in the "forwarder" routing tables there must be info about "your-host" with a rule like: If I see mail for "your-host" I will send it via uucp by calling phone number "123-4567". ☎️
Case 2 🦋
this time your host talks to another host that... that talks to an IP host. so in other words, there are multiple hops between your host and the Internet 🧚
+-----------------+
+----------+ +---------+ | |
|path-host |---UUCP-----|forwarder|----IP/TCP--| INTERNET |
+----------+ +---------+ | |
| +-----------------+
UUCP
|
+----------+
|your-host |
+----------+the "forwarder" must be an IP host on the internet. you have to ask "forwarder" if they're willing to be the Internet Forwarder for "Your-Host," and you have to ask "path-host" to relay your mail 💌
in the US Domain of the DNS DataBase there must be an entry like this:
"your-host" MX 10 "forwarder"this must be entered by the US Domain Administrator 👑
in the "forwarder" routing tables there must be info about "your-host" with a rule like: If I see mail for "your-host" I will send it via UUCP to "path-host" by calling phone number "123-4567". and "path-host" must also know how to relay the mail to "your-host" 📞
Note: it is assumed that "path-host" is already MXed to "forwarder." it is not appropriate to ask to MX "your-host" to "path-host" (this is sometimes called double MXing) 🙈 the host on the right hand side of an MX entry must be a host on the Internet with an IP address (e.g., 128.9.2.32).
3.3 Delegated Subdomains 🎀
the administrator of the US Domain is responsible for assigning all the DNS names that end with ".US." of course, one person (or even one group) can't handle all of that in the long run, so portions of the name space get delegated to other people 💜
delegating cities, companies within cities, schools (K12), community colleges (CC), libraries (LIB), state government (STATE), and federal government agencies, departments, etc. is acceptable and practical ✨
for a delegated portion of the namespace, like a city, no alterations can be made to that name. no abbreviations added, etc., unless it's applied for 🙅♀️
sometimes there may be two people running name servers in the same city, because different portions of the name space have been delegated to them 👯 for example, someone may be delegated the <city>.<state>.US name space, and someone from a state government agency may have the .STATE.<state>.US portion. so Fred may run the name servers for Sacramento.CA.US, and Joe may run the name servers for STATE.CA.US in Sacramento 😭
if a company would like to have wildcard records added, or run their own name servers in a city that we've delegated name space to, this is ok 💅
delegation of the whole State namespace is not yet implemented 🥲 the delegated part of the name space is in this form:
.STATE.<state>.US.
.K12.<state>.US.
.CC.<state>.US.
.LIB.<state>.US.
.<org-name>.<city>.<state>.US.
.CITY.<city-name>.<state>.US.
.<org-name>.FED.US.3.3.1 Schools 🏫
as schools start joining the Internet, there ought to be a consistent scheme for naming them. so a "K12" name branch has been set up in each state in the US Domain for this purpose 🍓
public schools are usually organized by districts, which can be bigger or smaller than a city or county 🗺️
districts often have the same name as a city or county, so there has to be a way to tell a public school district name apart from some other type of locality name. the keyword "K12" is used for this 🔑
in some districts the same school name gets used at different levels, like Washington Elementary School and Washington High School. when it's necessary, we suggest using the keywords "Elementary", "Middle", and "High" to tell these schools apart. these keywords would only be used when they're needed. if the school's name is unique without them, don't use them 🙃
typical K12 school names used right now look like:
IVY.PRS.K12.NJ.US
DMHS.JCPS.K12.KY.US
OHS.EUNION.K12.CA.US
BOHS.BREA.K12.CA.USthese names could be long 😅 with so many schools, organizing by school district and state seems right. when there are lots of things to name, some of the names have to be long.
in some cases there may be appropriate abbreviations you can use. for example, Hamilton High School in Los Angeles could be:
Hami.Hi.LA.K12.CA.USSome School Examples: 🎒
Hamilton.High.LA-Unified.K12.CA.US <== a public school
Sherman-Oaks.Elem.LA-Unified.K12.CA.US <== a public school
John-Muir.Middle.Santa-Monica.K12.CA.US <== a public school
Crossroads-School.Santa-Monica.CA.US <== a private school
SMCC.CC.CA.US <== a community college
Northridge.CSU.STATE.CA.US <== a state universityif a school has a bunch of PCs, then each PC should have a name 💻 suppose they're named "alpha", "beta", ... then if they belong to a school named "Lincoln.High.Lakewood.K12.CA.US", their names would be:
alpha.Lincoln.High.Lakewood.K12.CA.US.
beta.Lincoln.High.Lakewood.K12.CA.US
...3.2.2 State Agencies 🏛️
the US Domain namespace has been delegated to state government agencies. for example, in the State of Minnesota, the subdomain is STATE.MN.US 🌈
this means the person running the nameservers for state.mn.us is responsible for naming the agencies of the state government. for example:
State Agencies: 🏢
Senate.STATE.MN.US <== State Senate
MDH.STATE.MN.US <== Dept. of Health
CALTRANS.STATE.CA.US <== Dept. of Transportation
DMV.STATE.CA.US <== Dept. of Motor Vehicles3.3.3 Federal Agencies 🦅
a federal namespace has been delegated to federal government agencies. for example, the subdomain for the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis is MNPL.FRB.FED.US. more examples are listed below 👇
Federal Government Agencies: 🇺🇸
Senate.FED.US <==== US Senate
DOD.FED.US <==== US Defense Dept.
USPS.FED.US <==== US Postal Service
VA.FED.US <==== US Veterans Administration
IRS.FED.US <==== US Internal Revenue Service
Yosemite.NPS.Interior.FED.US <==== A Federal agency3.3.4 Delegation Requirements 📋
when a subdomain is delegated, the following requirements must be met 🫡
- there must be a knowledgeable and competent technical contact, familiar with the Internet Domain Name System. this is easily satisfied if the technical contact already runs some other nameservers 🤓
- organizations requesting delegations must provide at least two independent (robust and reliable) DNS name servers in physically separate locations on the Internet 🌍
- the subdomain must accept all applicants on an equal basis ⚖️
- the subdomain must provide timely processing of requests. to do this, it is helpful to have several individuals knowledgeable about the procedures, so that operations aren't delayed by one person's unavailability (for example, by being on vacation) 🏖️
3.3.5 Delegation Procedures 🧾
the procedure followed when a subdomain is delegated includes the following steps 💫
- evaluate the technical contact's experience with DNS. make sure there is a need for the proposed delegation. make sure the technical contact has the information about the US Domain and the suggested naming structure 🔍
- note: in the past there was the concept of a "coordinator" for a group, a club, or a "Domain Park." they would coordinate the registration of all the computers used by members of the club and forward all the information for the group to the US Domain Administrator. most coordinators have moved into the position of administrator of that now-delegated subdomain 🫶
- add the new technical contact to the "us-dom-adm" mailing list for distributing updates to the US Domain policies and procedures, or other pertinent information 📨
- delete any hosts from our zone file that belong in the newly delegated subdomain, and make sure they now have those hosts in their zone file 🗑️
- send them a copy of the zone file so their initial zone file is identical to ours. for example:
mil.wi.us. 86400 SOA spool.mu.edu. manager.spool.mu.edu. (
920904 ;serial
28800 ;refresh
14400 ;retry
3600000 ;expire
86400 ) ;minim
mil.wi.us. 86400 NS spool.mu.edu.
spool.mu.edu. 50400 A 134.48.1.31
mil.wi.us. 86400 NS sophie.mscs.mu.edu.
sophie.mscs.mu.edu. 50400 A 134.48.4.6
solaria.mil.wi.us. 86400 HINFO Sun 3/60 SunOs
solaria.mil.wi.us. 86400 MX 10 spool.mu.edu.
nthomas.mil.wi.us. 86400 HINFO 386 Clone DOS
nthomas.mil.wi.us. 86400 MX 10 spool.mu.edu.
rwmke.mil.wi.us. 86400 HINFO UNIX PC UNIX
rwmke.mil.wi.us. 86400 MX 10 spool.mu.edu.
milestn.mil.wi.us. 86400 HINFO PC AT ENIX
milestn.mil.wi.us. 86400 MX 10 spool.mu.edu.
dawley.mil.wi.us. 86400 HINFO 386 Clone DOS
dawley.mil.wi.us. 86400 MX 10 spool.mu.edu.
...- the US Domain zone file must have the following records, showing the name, address, e-mail, and phone number of the technical contact for the delegated subdomain, the name of the delegated name space, and the names of the nameservers 📇 this is the good stuff, bestie 🌈
Okay so the zone-file example is next 💅 Here's how the delegation for .mil.wi.us looks, with two name servers and no glue records needed 🎀
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
;
;Delegated zone: .mil.wi.us
;Contact: Steven Goodman
; manager@spool.mu.edu
; Marquette University
; (414) 288-6734
mil.wi.us. 604800 NS SPOOL.MU.EDU.
604800 NS SOPHIE.MSCS.MU.EDU.
; A glue record is not needed this time. Glue records are
; needed when the name of the server is a subdomain of the
; delegated domain.
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;- Next, check that the delegated subdomain name servers are up and running 🌸 and that the delegated hosts are installed in their zone file. Then delete any hosts from the US Domain zone file that belong in the newly delegated subdomain. Clean sweep, no duplicates ✨
- Let the technical contact of the newly delegated subdomain know 💜 that wildcard records are allowed in the zone file under the organizational subdomain, but no wildcard records are allowed under the "city" or "state" domain. Boundaries matter, bestie 🫶
3.3.6. Subdomain Contacts
Around 680 individual hosts are registered 🦋, but we've delegated the following chunks of the namespace. We don't know how many hosts live under each of these subdomains, which is lowkey mysterious 🙈
DELEGATED ZONE CONTACT
============== =======
TUCSON.AZ.US leonard@arizona.edu
SF.CA.US sf-hostmaster@apple.com
PREMENOS.SF.CA.US jenkins@premenos.sf.ca.us
SCVL.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
SANTA-CRUZ.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
APTOS.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
CAMPBELL.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
CAPITOLA.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
FELTON.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
ZAYANTE.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
BOULDER-CREEK.CA.US sinster@scintilla.capitola.ca.us
DARWIN.PTVY.CA.US brian@angband.stanford.edu
LOGAN-HS.UNIONCITY.CA.US cjw@marmot.nersc.gov
BOULDER.CO.US trent@XOR.COM
COLOSPGS.CO.US trent@XOR.COM
DENVER.CO.US trent@XOR.COM
DVR.CO.US trent@XOR.COM
CHI.IL.US matt@oddjob.uchicago.edu
EUGENE.OR.US meyer@oregon.uoregon.edu
SPRINGFIELD.OR.US meyer@oregon.uoregon.edu
MULTNOMAH.LIB.OR.US brianw@polaris.admin.ogi.edu
PGH.PA.US ecd@CERT.ORG
SPK.WA.US root@dogear.spk.wa.us
MIL.WI.US manager@spool.mu.edu
ATL.GA.US charvey@gatech.gatech.edu
Mt-PARK.GA.US charvey@gatech.gatech.edu
CLARKSTON.GA.US charvey@gatech.gatech.edu
STATE.MN.US dfazio@mr.net
MNPL.FRB.FED.US dfazio@mr.net
K12.CA.US mdm@NIC.CSU.NET
CC.CA.US mdm@NIC.CSU.NET
K12.MI.US sandra.s.waite@um.cc.umich.edu
K12.TX.US bmanning@is.rice.edu
K12.NJ.US becker@nisc.jvnc.net
K12.MS.US fwp@msstate.edu
dmhs.jcps.K12.KY.US lentner@sura.net
TIES.K12.MN.US dfazio@mr.netNow the MD.US counties 👑 The following MD.US counties have been delegated to butler@brl.mil.
AL.MD.US. Allegany
AA.MD.US. Anne Arundel
BA.MD.US. Baltimore
CAL.MD.US. Calvert
CAR.MD.US. Caroline
CE.MD.US. Cecil
CH.MD.US. Charles
DO.MD.US. Dorchester
FR.MD.US. Frederick
GA.MD.US. Garrett
HA.MD.US. Harford
HO.MD.US. Howard
KE.MD.US. Kent
MO.MD.US. Montgomery
PG.MD.US. Prince George"s
QA.MD.US. Queen Anne's
SM.MD.US. St. Mary's
SO.MD.US. Somerset
TA.MD.US. Talbot
WA.MD.US. Washington
WI.MD.US. Wicomico
WO.MD.US. Worcester4. DATABASE INFORMATION ✨
4.1. Name Servers
okay so name servers are basically the storage units 🗄️ of the whole domain database 💅. The database gets chopped into chunks called zones, and those zones are spread across the name servers. Name servers can do a bunch of optional extra stuff and pull data from different places, but their main job is answering queries with the data in their own zones 🎀. Every answer can be built from local data alone. It's either the actual answer or a referral pointing you to other name servers that are "closer" to what you're hunting for 🦋.
Every zone is required to be available on at least two servers, and plenty of zones have way more backup than that 🫶. That's how a zone stays reachable even when a host or a communication link goes down. It's giving redundancy, and I'm obsessed 😭.
The US Domain is currently supported by six name servers:
venera.isi.edu
ns.isi.edu
ns.hercules.csl.sri.com
nnsc.nsf.net
ns.uu.net
adm.brl.mil4.2 Zone Files
A "zone" is a registry of domains kept by one particular organization. A zone registry is "authoritative", which means the master copy lives with the zone organization, and by definition that copy is always up-to-date ✨. Copies can be sent to other places and stored in caches, but those caches are not authoritative and might be out-of-date 🙈.
Every zone has at least one node (and therefore at least one domain name) it's authoritative for, and all the nodes in a zone are connected to each other 🧚. Because of the tree structure, every zone has a highest node, the one closest to the root compared to every other node in that zone 🌳. Folks often use that node's name to identify the zone. The data that describes a zone has four major parts:
- Authoritative data for all nodes within the zone.
- Data that defines the top node of the zone (can be thought of as part of the authoritative data).
- Data that describes delegated subzones, i.e., cuts around the bottom of the zone,
- Data that allows access to name servers for subzones (sometimes called "glue" data).
The zone administrator has to maintain the zones at all the name servers that are authoritative for the zone. When changes are made, they must be distributed to all of the name servers 📬.
Copies of the zone files are not available unless you are on the Internet. To look at the zone files, use the "dig" program of the DNS domain name system 🔍:
dig @nshost host-your-checking axfr4.3 Resource Records
Records in the zone data files are called resource records (RRs). The standard resource records are specified in STD 13, RFC 1034 and STD 13, RFC 1035 (3,4). An RR has a standard format, and it looks like this 👀:
<name> [<ttl>] [<class>] <type> <data>Here's the breakdown, bestie. The first field is always the name of the domain record. The second field is an optional time to live field, which specifies how long this data will be stored in the database ⏰. The third field is the address class, and the class field specifies the protocol group. Most often this is the Internet class "IN" 🌐. The fourth field states the type of the resource record. The fields after that depend on the type of RR, and the fifth field is the data field, which is defined differently for each type and class of data 🧩.
Here's a list of the current commonly used types:
SOA Start of Authority
NS Name Server
A Internet Address
CNAME Canonical Name (nickname pointer)
HINFO Host Information
WKS Well Known Services
MX Mail Exchanger
PTR PointerSo what do the fields actually mean? 🤔 Check out this example:
foo.LA.CA.US. 604800 MX 10 Venera.ISI.EDU.
(1) (2) (3) (4) (5)- domain name
- time to live information
- mail exchanger record
- preference value to determine (if more than one forwarder) which mailer to use first, lower number higher preference
- the Internet forwarding host.
4.3.1 A Records
An "A" record gives you the Internet (IP) address 🏠. The data for an "A" record is an Internet address in dotted decimal form. A sample "A" record might look like:
venera.isi.edu. A 128.9.0.32
(name) (A) (address)The name field is the machine name, and the address is the network address. There should be only one "A" record for each address of a host 💖.
4.3.2 CNAME Records
The Canonical Name resource record, CNAME, specifies an alias for a canonical name. It's essentially a pointer to the official name for the requested name, and all other RRs appear under that official name 👑. Say a machine named FERNWOOD.MPK.CA.US wants the nickname ANTERIOR.MPK.CA.US. The RR you'd use is:
anterior.mpk.ca.us. CNAME fernwood.mpk.ca.us.
(alias nickname) (canonical name)Nicknames (where the name attached to the RR is the nickname) may be added for a while when a host changes its name, usually because it moves to another state 🚚. It helps to have this CNAME pointer, because if any mail comes to the old address, it gets forwarded to the new one 💌. There cannot be any other RRs associated with a nickname of the same class 🙅♀️.
4.3.3 MX Records
Mail Exchanger records, MX, are used to specify a machine that knows how to deliver mail to a machine that is not directly connected to the Internet 📮. For example, venera.isi.edu is the mail gateway that knows how to deliver mail to foo.la.ca.us, but other machines on the network cannot deliver mail directly to foo.la.ca.us. Those two machines may have a private connection or use a different transport medium, such as uucp 🔌. The preference value (10) is the order a mailer should follow when there's more than one way to deliver mail to a single machine. The lower the number, the higher the preference 🥇.
foo.LA.CA.US. 604800 MX 10 Venera.ISI.EDU.
foo.LA.CA.US. 604800 MX 20 relay1.uu.net.4.3.4 HINFO Records
Host information resource records, HINFO, are for host-specific data 🖥️. They list the hardware and operating system running at the listed host. A space separates the hardware information from the operating system information, so if you want to include a space in the machine name, you must quote the name 🎀. Host information is not specific to any class, so ANY may be used for the address class. There should be one HINFO record for each host.
acb.la.ca.us. HINFO VAX-11/780 UNIX
(Hardware) (Operating System)The official HINFO types can be found in the latest Assigned Numbers RFC, and the most recent edition is RFC 1340 📚. The hardware type is called the Machine Name, and the software type is called the System Name.
Real talk, the information users supply here is often inconsistent or incomplete 😩. So please follow the terms in the current "Assigned Numbers" 🫶.
4.3.5 PTR Records
A Domain Name Pointer record, PTR, lets special names point to some other location in the domain database 🧭. These are typically used for setting up reverse pointers in the special IN-ADDR.ARPA domain. PTR names should be unique to the zone.
0.0.9.128.in-addr.arpa PTR isi-net.isi.edu.
(special name) (real name)A PTR record needs to be added to the IN-ADDR.ARPA domain for every A record registered in the US Domain 💅. These PTR records need to be added by the administrator of the network where the host is connected. The US Domain administration does not administer that network and cannot make these entries in the DNS database, so it's not on them 🙈.
4.4 Wildcards
Wildcard records are of the form *.<anydomain>, where <anydomain> is any domain name 🃏. Wildcards potentially apply to descendants of <anydomain>, but not to <anydomain> itself.
Let's do an example. Imagine a large company in California with a big non-IP/TCP network that wants to create a mail gateway ✨. The company is called DWP.LA.CA.US, and the IP/TCP capable gateway machine (Internet forwarder) is called ELROY.JPL.NASA.GOV. The following RRs might be entered into the .US zone:
dwp.la.ca.us MX 10 ELROY.JPL.NASA.GOV
*.dwp.la.ca.us MX 10 ELROY.JPL.NASA.GOVThe wildcard record *.DWP.LA.CA.US would cause an MX query for any domain name ending in DWP.LA.CA.US to return an MX RR pointing at ELROY.JPL.NASA.GOV. The entry without the "*" is needed so the host dwp can be found 🔎.
In the US Domain, wildcard records are allowed in our zone files under the organizational subdomain (and where noted otherwise), but no wildcard records are allowed under the "City" or "State" domain 🚫.
Okay, the authors (hi, it's us 🫶) strongly believe it's in everyone's interest, and good for the Internet, for each host to be explicitly registered. Basically, we believe wildcards should not be used. We know not everyone agrees with that, though 🤷♀️. So we will allow wildcard records in the US Domain under groups or organizations, like *.DWP.LA.CA.US. The reason we feel single entries are the best is simple. If anyone wanted to find one of the hosts in the domain name system, it would be right there, and problems can be detected more easily 🕵️♀️. When you use wildcard records, all the hosts under a subdomain are hidden 👻.
5. REFERENCES
- [1] Stahl, M., "Domain Administrators Guide", RFC 1032, SRI International, November 1987.
- [2] Lottor, M., "Domain Administrators Operations Guide" RFC 1033, SRI International, November 1987.
- [3] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities", STD 13, RFC 1034, ISI, November 1987.
- [4] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names - Implementation and Specification", STD 13, RFC 1035, ISI, November 1987.
- [5] Dunlap, K., "Name Server Operations Guide for Bind, Release 4.3", UC Berkeley, SMM:11-3.
- [6] Partridge, C., "Mail Routing and the Domain Name System", STD 14, RFC 974, BBN, January 1986.
6. SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS 💀
Security issues are not discussed in this memo.
Plot twist, bestie: this memo has zero security content. Nothing here covers it, so keep that in mind 😭.
7. AUTHORS' ADDRESSES 💌
Okay, the people who wrote this one! Ann Cooper and Jon Postel, both at USC/Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey, CA, with their contact details right here:
Ann Cooper
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 1-310-822-1511
Email: cooper@isi.edu
Jon Postel
USC/Information Sciences Institute
4676 Admiralty Way
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
Phone: 1-310-822-1511
Email: postel@isi.eduAPPENDIX-I: US DOMAIN NAMES BNF 🗺️
Okay bestie, this appendix is the grammar for what a US domain name is allowed to look like. It's giving very organised, very structured, very "every piece has a place" 🧚 Here it is, exactly as written:
<us-domain-name> ::= <us-name><dot><us>
<us-name> ::= <state-name><dot><state-code> |
<fed-name><dot><fed>
<state-code> ::= <the two-letter code of a state from the
zip code directory>
<state-name> ::= <local-name><dot><locality> |
<state-agency-name><dot><state> |
<regional-agency-name><dot><agency>
<fed-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a US
federal government agency>
<locality> ::= <the full name of a city from the
zip code directory> |
<a short code name for a city> |
<the full name of a county, township,
or parish> |
<other well known and commonly used
locality name>
<local-name> ::= <entity-name> |
<city-name><dot><city> |
<county-name><dot><county> |
<local-agency-name><dot><agency>
<state-agency-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a state
government agency>
<regional-agency-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a special
agency or district not an element of the
state government and typically larger than
a single city or county, for example, the
Southern California Air Quality Management
District>
<entity-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of an entity
within a city, for example: a company,
business, private school, club, organization,
or individual>
<city-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a city
government agency>
<county-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a county,
township, or parish government agency>
<local-agency-name> ::= <the dotted hierarchical name of a special
agency or district not an element of a
city or county government and typically
equal or smaller than a single city or
county, for example, the Bunker Hill
Improvement District>
<city> ::= "CITY"
<county> ::= "COUNTY" | "TOWNSHIP" | "PARISH"
<dot> ::= "."
<fed> ::= "FED"
<agency> ::= "AGENCY" | "DISTRICT" | "K12" | "CC" | "LIB"
<state> ::= "STATE" | "COMMONWEALTH"
<us> ::= "US"Now the spicy bits 🌶️ Notes on the grammar: "K12" may be used for public school districts, only. And "CC" may be used only for public community colleges, and "LIB" can only be used by libraries. So no sneaking in a library label if you're not one, periodt 📚💅
APPENDIX-II: US DOMAIN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOST ENTRY 📋
Okay this is the checklist you fill out to get a host registered in the US domain, and it is SO detailed. To register a host in the US domain, the following information must be sent to the US Domain Registrar at Us-Domain@ISI.EDU. You can send questions by email to that same address, or call Ann Cooper at 310-822-1511 📞
(1) The name of the top-level domain to join.
For example: US
(2) The name of the administrative head of the organization, including title, mailing address, phone number, organization, and network mailbox. This is the contact point for administrative and policy questions about the domain. If it's a research project, this should be the principal investigator 🎓
For example:
Administrator
Organization The NetWorthy Corporation
Name Penelope Q. Sassafrass
Title President
Mail Address The NetWorthy Corporation
4676 Andrews Way, Suite 100
Santa Clara, CA 94302-1212
Phone Number (415) 123-4567
Net Mailbox Sassafrass@ECHO.TNC.COM(3) The name of the technical contact for the entry, including title, mailing address, phone number, organization, and network mailbox. This is the contact point for problems concerning the domain or zone, as well as for updating information about the domain or zone 🛠️
For example:
Technical Contact
Organization The NetWorthy Corporation
Name Ansel A. Aardvark
Title Executive Director
Mail Address The NetWorthy Corporation
4676 Andrews Way, Suite 100
Santa Clara, CA. 94302-1212
Phone Number (415) 123-6789
Net Mailbox Aardvark@ECHO.TNC.COM(4) The name of the host. This is the name that will be used in tables and lists associating the domain with the domain server addresses. [Real talk: domain names can get SUPER long if you want them to (programmers, beware 👀), but shorter names are way easier for people to cope with.]
For example: NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US
Or: Alpha.NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US and Beta.NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US
(5) If this machine is not directly on the internet, how does it communicate with the Internet. Through UUCP, CREN, etc? Which forwarding host? 🌐
For example:
The host "Networthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US" uses UUCP
to connect to "RELAY.ISI.EDU" which is an Internet host.The administrator of RELAY.ISI.EDU must agree to be the forwarding host for Networthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US, and the forwarding host must know a delivery method and route to it. No double MXing 🙅♀️
If you're requesting an indirect connection, that is, a Mail Exchanger (MX) record, you need to give the name and mailbox of the administrator of the forwarding host.
For example:
John Smith
js@RELAY.ISI.EDU(6) Please describe your organization briefly. 🎀
For example:
The NetWorthy Corporation is a consulting
organization of people working with UNIX and the C language in an
electronic networking environment. It sponsors two technical
conferences annually and distributes a bimonthly newsletter.(7) What Domain Name System (DNS) Resource Records (RR) and values are to be entered. Here are the options, bestie 📝
a. A Internet Address (internet hosts only)
b. HINFO Host Information, Machine System
c. WKS Well Known Services, Protocols, Ports (internet hosts only)
d. MX Mail Exchanger (required for UUCP, and CREN hosts)An example of RRs for an internet host:
NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US IN A 128.9.3.123
IN HINFO SUN-3/11OC UNIX
IN MX 10 ISI.EDU
IN WKS 128.9.3.123. UDP (echo
tftp)
IN WKS 128.9.3.133. TCP (telnet
ftp
tftp
finger)An example of RRs for a non-internet host:
Beta.NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US MX 10 RELAY.ISI.EDU
HINFO SUN-3/11OC UNIX(8) Where is the IN-ADDR pointer record to be entered. (For internet hosts only.) This one's on you, babe 🫶 It is your responsibility to see that this is done. Contact the administrator of the IP network your host is on. The US Domain administration does not administer the network and cannot make these entries in the DNS database, so don't look at them for this one 🙈
For example:
123.3.9.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA. PTR NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.USWho is the contact for the zone of the IN-ADDR.ARPA data, where this record will be entered?
(9) What Time to Live (TTL)? TTL is the time (in seconds) that a resolver will use the data it got from the domain server before it asks it again for the data. A typical TTL is One Week 604800. (NOTE: TTL is not applicable to non-Internet hosts.) ⏳
For example:
One Week 604800📦 where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc1386 1992-12
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms