RFC 1530

Principles of Operation for the TPC.INT Subdomain: General Principles and Policy ✨

Part 1 of 2 🎀

• Series: RFC 1530, Network Working Group 💅
• Authors: C. Malamud (Internet Multicasting Service) and M. Rose (Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.) 🫶
• Category: Informational
• Date: October 1993
• Obsoletes / Updates: the title block doesn't list either, so this doc doesn't obsolete or update anything 🌈

Status of this Memo 📌

okay so this memo is informational 🫶 it's for the Internet community, and it does not specify an Internet standard. Distribution is unlimited, so share away 💖

Abstract 🎀

this doc sets up the starting principles for the tpc.int subdomain ✨, which is basically a collection of service listings you can reach over the Internet through an administered namespace living inside the Domain Name System [1,2]. It's informational and only applies to Internet sites that choose to register in tpc.int 💜 The subdomain is organized as a cooperative of the sites that provide access, and policy is set by a board that answers to the cooperative 👑

the main goal is transparent mapping between general-purpose computers on the Internet and special-purpose devices plugged right into the telephone network 📞 to start, it defines a remote printing service [3,4] that ties G3-compatible fax machines on the phone network to people using email on the Internet and its message-handling friends, connected through application-layer gateways 🦋

it should be noted, lowkey, that remote printer gateways have been technically feasible for ages and are already an integral part of lots of individual networks 🧚 what tpc.int does is glue individual sites into one common namespace, turning remote printing from a single-site, value-added service into an integral, transparent service in the global Internet. main character energy 🔥

Overview of Services in the TPC.INT Subdomain 💅

the tpc.int subdomain is a cooperative, which means an association organized for the purpose of providing service without gain to itself, as defined in this document and as further defined by the membership 🤝 members are the Internet sites that provide access to services as defined here, as periodically amended by the membership as represented by the Board of Arbitration and Conciliation for the tpc.int subdomain 🎀

the main purpose is still transparent mappings between users of general-purpose computers on the Internet and special-purpose devices directly connected to the telephone network 🌸 this extends the population reachable from the Internet by giving a communications path to devices that otherwise couldn't be directly addressed. it's giving reach 🦋

the initial remote printing facility is built on top of the electronic mail protocols of the Internet, including RFC 822 [5] and MIME [6]. since it runs on Internet message-handling, it's also available to message-handling domains connected to the Internet through application-layer gateways 💜 think X.400-compatible systems [7], UUCP-based message-handling environments [8], and commercial services like AT&T Mail, MCI Mail, SprintMail, and CompuServe [9] 🧚

Operation of Name Service in the TPC.INT Subdomain 🦋

okay so here's how the naming works 💅 services on the Internet are identified with a service target name listed in the Domain Name System (DNS). those target names get looked up in the DNS, and the appropriate resource records tied to the name come back 🫶 once the lookup is done, the initiator swaps a series of IP packets with an Internet site that provides access to a service accessible through tpc.int ✨

for remote printing, the DNS MX resource record is used to register the Internet sites that give access to the remote printing facility. so a site running a remote printer server registers itself in DNS as willing to provide access to some portion of the telephone numbering plan, registered by one or more MX records within tpc.int 🎀

for example, if the host hewes.radio.com is willing to provide remote printing to devices with telephone numbers starting with the prefix +1-415-336, it would be listed in the Domain Name System with this MX resource record:

*.6.3.3.5.1.4.1.tpc.int.    IN MX    10 hewes.radio.com.

the resource records can have an arbitrary level of precision 🌈 the North American numbering plan (IDDD country code 1) is structured by a 3-digit area code, then a 3-digit exchange prefix, then a 4-digit station number. so you might expect records in this zone to look something like:

*.5.1.4.1.tpc.int.         IN MX    10  hewes.radio.com.

which accesses any printer with a telephone number prefix of +1-415 (i.e., any printer in area code 415). another record might look like:

*.8.6.9.5.1.4.1.tpc.int.   IN MX    10  hewes.radio.com.

allowing access to any printer in area code 415, exchange prefix 968. but the level of precision is arbitrary 🧚 for example, if all of the printers in an organization had a telephone number prefix of +1-415-96, the following resource record could be used:

*.6.9.5.1.4.1.tpc.int.     IN MX    10  hewes.radio.com.

it is the responsibility of administrators of the tpc.int namespace to register only those Internet sites that are willing to conform to the principles of operation as defined in this document and as periodically amended by the Board of Arbitration and Conciliation for the tpc.int subdomain 🙈

it is a key principle in the tpc.int subdomain that all Internet sites meeting the principles of operation stated in this document shall be registered in the tpc.int subdomain without bias, and that the subdomain should encourage the largest number of Internet sites possible 💜 no favorites, everyone's invited 🫶

if multiple Internet sites are willing to provide access in the same area, multiple resource records for the same target name are maintained 🌸 in response to a query, the Domain Name System returns the resource records in an unordered list. in practice, though, the initiator will go through the list in the order returned. so to provide an unbiased environment, an authoritative name server for the tpc.int subdomain shall alternate the ordering of the list frequently, and shall return a small TTL with the resource records 👑 fair is iconic ✨

References 📚✨

bestie, here's the full reading list the memo leans on, typos and all, exactly as written 🫶

[1] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names"Concepts and Facilities", STD 13,
    RFC 1034, USC/Information Sciences Institute, November 1987.

[2] Mockapetris, P., "Domain Names"Implementation and Specification",
    STD 13, RFC 1035, USC/Information Sciences Institute, November
    1987.

[3] Malamud, C., and M. Rose, "Principles of Operation for the
    TPC.INT Subdomain: Technical Procedures", RFC 1528, Internet
    Multicasting Service, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc., October 1993.

[4] Malamud, C., and M. Rose, "Principles of Operation for the
    TPC.INT Subdomain: Administrative Policies" RFC 1529, Internet
    Multicasting Service, Dover Beach Consulting, Inc., October 1993.

[5] Crocker, D., "Standard for the Format of ARPA Internet Text
    Messages", STD 11, RFC 822, UDEL, August 1982.

[6] Borenstein, N., and N. Freed, "MIME (Multipurpose Internet Mail
    Extensions) Part One: Mechanisms for Specifying and Describing
    the Format of Internet Message Bodies", RFC 1521, Bellcore,
    Innosoft, September 1993.

[7] Hardcastle-Kille, S., "Mapping Between X.400 (1988)/ISO 10021 and
    RFC 822", RFC 1327, May 1992. See also M.T. Rose, The Message
    Book, Prentice Hall (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: 1992).

[8] Horton, M., "UUCP Mail Interchange Format Standard", RFC 976,
    February, 1986.  See also Tim O'Reilly and Grace Todino, Managing
    UUCP and Usenet, O'Reilly & Associates (Sebastapol, CA: 1986).

[9] See Frey and Adams, !%@:: A Directory of Electronic Mail
    Addressing and Networks, 3rd ed., O'Reilly & Associates
    (Sebastapol, CA: 1993).

[10] See Acts 30 and 31 Vict., c. 105 as quoted in Black's Law
     Dictionary, 5th ed., West Publishing (St. Paul, Minn: 1979), p.
     313.

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Security Considerations 🔒

Plot twist: this memo doesn't discuss security issues at all 💀 Security issues are not discussed in this memo, so there's nothing more to say here, bestie 🙈

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Authors' Addresses 💌

These are the two people who wrote it, and how to reach them 🦋

Carl Malamud
Internet Multicasting Service
Suite 1155, The National Press Building
Washington, DC 20045
US

Phone: +1 202 628 2044
Fax:   +1 202 628 2042
Email: carl@malamud.com


Marshall T. Rose
Dover Beach Consulting, Inc.
420 Whisman Court
Mountain View, CA  94043-2186
US

Phone: +1 415 968 1052
Fax:   +1 415 968 2510
Email: mrose@dbc.mtview.ca.us

And that's the whole memo, the end!! 🌈💖