RFC 153

RFC 153: SRI ARC-NIC Status 🦋✨

Okay bestie, this one is from the very early days of the Internet, dated 15 May 1971. It's from the Network Working Group, written by J. Melvin and R. Watson at SRI-ARC (NIC 6758). The title block doesn't list a category, and it doesn't obsolete or update anything. 💜

Computer and Network Status 💻

So the move over to the DEC PDP 10, running BBN's operating system Tenex, is basically finished 🎉. There were a bunch of sneaky bugs causing delays. Several symptoms came from bad data getting written into memory, and the cause turned out to be a noisy ground on a chip in the drum-disk memory bus access control. Once that got fixed, reliability improved a lot, to about one crash every day or two. The team has moved on to system measurement and tuning, plus getting an NCP and Telnet up and running 🔥.

We've been working on bringing up the BBN NCP of Doc. #1 NIC (5143) and BBN's Telnet 🌸. Our configuration and system are a little different from BBN's, so some bugs from those differences are still hanging around. As of May 14, the estimate was only a few hours from finishing this task. There's still more testing needed before network service can go live. The NCP of RFC 107 NIC (5806) will come in once it's obtained from BBN, and the official Telnet will come when it's specified and BBN can provide it to us 🧚.

Our local connect capacity covers 12 displays and 24 typewriter terminals 💅. With about 10 displays and 6 typewriter terminals running NLS, response is satisfactory, but it's marginal for the display users 😭. The new Bryant drums arriving in June, plus the measurement and tuning already in progress, should boost capacity and response. Nobody knows exactly how much of an improvement to expect yet 🤷‍♀️.

Supporting a network user takes more system processing than supporting a local typewriter user, so it's not clear how many network users we can handle without response getting seriously worse. We might have to limit local loading with administrative restrictions. Our guess right now is 6 network users by middle summer, with an optimistic hope of getting closer to 12 🍓.

There's only limited interactive experience over the network so far, so we don't really know what the response characteristics will look like 🙈. The delays from two timesharing systems plus the network transmission might actually let us support the higher number of network users without adding serious extra response delays. The load from parallel processes handling intersite file transfers is also an unknown for now.

We're also pushing to boost capacity by adding deferred execution facilities 🚀. These would let people do NLS-compatible file preparation and editing offline or on local hosts, and then bring those files into NLS for further manipulation.

File capacity is going to be a scarce resource too, so we're looking into using tape or the facilities at UCSB to give us an integrated auxiliary facility 💜.

Here's a quick look at our plans for online service to the network. There are intermediate stages possible. For example, if things go well early in Stage 0, we can probably let more sites join Stage 0 🦋.

Stage 0 (June 18) 🌈

Stage 0 is all about experimental access to the NIC for a limited number of West Coast sites. These sites have a variety of hosts, and having them on the West Coast makes communications simpler for this initial trial period. This way, we can learn how to handle any problems that pop up during actual network operation 🫶.

Stage 0 will allow access to the Tenex Executive. It also brings NICTNLS (NIC Version of Typewriter On Line System), an initial Network Dialog Support System (NICDSS) that lets people create and submit messages and documents online, with hardcopy mail delivery, plus the first release of our users manual 📖.

We'll allow an initial maximum of two network users on at once 👑.

There will be a two-day NICTNLS course at SRI on June 16-17 for the initial sites 🎀.

Stage 1 (August 2) ⭐

Stage 1 is about giving access to the NIC from any site in the network that has the right access software 🌍.

Stage 1 will allow access to a self-contained version of NICTNLS that doesn't need the Tenex Executive. It also brings the NICDSS from Stage 0, with online access to documents and messages created online, and online access to network-related files like the NIC Catalog, the ARPA Network Resource Notebook, and NIC documentation 💅.

We expect to train any sites that want access 🎓. We'll allow as many simultaneous network users as we can, depending on how well system tuning goes early on. A reasonable guess is 4-8 💖.

Stage 2 (September 6) 🔥

Stage 2 will provide message delivery to files at remote sites. This assumes the NWG sets up file transfer protocols soon and sites implement them 👀. It also brings an initial deferred execution mode, so users can prepare files on their own systems and then enter them into NICTNLS for more work. Query facilities for network online files will get better too ✨.

We're hoping to improve Tenex-NLS performance so it can support more simultaneous network users than Stage 1 🦄.

Offline System Status 📬

Mailing 💌

We mail RFCs and other material going to Liaison people as soon as we can get it duplicated, which is usually within 24-48 hours of receiving it. Material goes to station agents once a week, usually on Fridays 📅.

If you do your own direct mailing to the Liaison list, please send us a good copy, preferably the original, so we can duplicate it and send it on to the stations 🫶.

Document Numbering 🔢

Unique numbers are super important for citation and cataloging, so every document needs one. Even if a document is just an update of one that was already issued, use a new NIC number and RFC number, and say which document(s) it supersedes. There are lots of numbers, so feel free to use them 💜.

Site Documentation 📝

Our recommendations for this kind of document, and for what information these documents should contain, are in RFCs 115 NIC (5822) and 118 NIC (5830). We really urge every Liaison person and station agent to read them carefully 🙏.

Catalog 📚

The biggest problem the computer transfer caused has been getting an up-to-date catalog out, and we're sorry about the mess 😭. Making the catalog has turned out to be a good debugging tool, though 🔧. The most recent catalog, with citations through 23 March, was mailed on 13 May, and it has an RFC index through 5 May. A catalog is currently being produced to get us up to date. Once that catalog goes out around the end of the month, we expect to make an up-to-date catalog every month 💖.

General 🌸

If a station is having trouble organizing or handling its collection and we can help, let our Information and Agent Coordinator Jeanne North know 🧚. If you have ideas for improving our service, or for services we should be offering, please tell us too 💅✨.

[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ] [ into the online RFC archives by Ryan Kato 6/01 ]