RFC 812

NICNAME/WHOIS 💖

okay bestie, title block first! 🎀 This is RFC-812, dated 1 March 1982, written by Ken Harrenstien and Vic White from the Network Information Center at SRI International. The original doesn't state a category or status, and it doesn't say what it obsoletes or updates, so I'm not guessing 🙈

INTRODUCTION ✨

okay so NICNAME/WHOIS is an NCP/TCP query/response server that runs on the SRI-NIC machine and gives the whole network a directory service for ARPANET users 🌈 It's one of a series of ARPANET/Internet name services run by the Network Information Center (NIC) at SRI International for the Defense Communications Agency (DCA). User programs on local hosts can reach it across the ARPANET, and it hands back the full name, U.S. mailing address, telephone number, and network mailbox for ARPANET users. It's giving directory lookup 💅

This server, plus the matching Identification Data Base, gives you online directory look-up that's equivalent to the ARPANET Directory. DCA strongly encourages network hosts to give their users access to this network service 🫶

WHO SHOULD BE IN THE DATA BASE 🌸

DCA asks that every individual with a directory on an ARPANET host, who can pass traffic across the ARPANET, gets registered in the NIC Identification Data Base. To register, email the following to NIC@SRI-NIC: full name, middle initial, U.S. mailing address (including mail stop and a full explanation of abbreviations and acronyms), ZIP code, telephone (including Autovon and FTS, if available), and one network mailbox 📬✨

PROTOCOL 🦋

ngl this one is basically a cousin of the NAME/FINGER protocol (RFC 742) 👯‍♀️ To access the server:

Connect to the service host (SRI-NIC)
   TCP: service port 43 decimal
      NCP: ICP to socket 43 decimal, establishing two 8-bit
   connections

Send a single "command line", ending with <CRLF>. Then receive the information in response to that command line. The server closes its connections as soon as the output is finished, so don't wait around for it 🙈💀

EXISTING USER PROGRAMS 🧚

NICNAME is the global name for the user program, although some sites like to use the more familiar name "WHOIS" 💜 There are versions for Tenex, Tops-20, and Unix. The Tenex and Tops-20 programs are written in assembly language (FAIL/MACRO), and the Unix version is written in C. They're super easy to invoke: each takes one argument, which gets passed straight to the NICNAME server at SRI-NIC. Normally it's best to use the NIC-supplied programs, if you can, since the protocol will keep evolving. For copies, contact NIC@SRI-NIC 🔥

COMMAND LINES AND REPLIES 💅

A command line is usually a single name specification. The easiest way to get the newest documentation on name specifications is to send the server a command line of ?<CRLF>, which is a question mark all by itself. The NICNAME server will list every format you can use 📖✨

The responses aren't meant to be machine-readable, because the info goes straight back to a human user 🍓 Here are three examples of NICNAME in action:

Command line: ?
Response:
   Please enter a name or a handle ("ident"), such as "Smith"
or "SRI-NIC".  Starting with a period forces a name-only
search;
starting with exclamation point forces handle-only.  Examples:
   Smith                   [looks for name or handle SMITH ]
   !SRI-NIC                [looks for handle SRI-NIC only  ]
   .Smith, John            [looks for name JOHN SMITH only ]
Adding "..." to the argument will match anything from that
point,
e.g. "ZU..." will match ZUL, ZUM, etc.
   To have the ENTIRE membership list of a group or
organization,
if you are asking about a group or org, shown with the record,
use
an asterisk character "*" directly preceding the given
argument.
[CAUTION: If there are a lot of members this will take a long
time!]
You may of course use exclamation point and asterisk, or a
period
and asterisk together.

Command line: dyer
Response:
   Dyer, David A. (DAD2)   DDYER@USC-ISIB  (213) 822-1511
   Dyer, Fred S. (FSD)  Dyer@RADC-MULTICS  (315) 330-7275
   Dyer, Mary K. (MARY)   DYER@SRI-NIC     (415) 859-4775
   Dyer, William R. (WRD)   WRDyer@RADC-MULTICS  (315) 330-7791

Command line: mary
Response:
   Dyer, Mary K. (MARY)          DYER@SRI-NIC
   SRI International
   Network Information Center
   Telecommunications Sciences Center
   333 Ravenswood Avenue
   Menlo Park, California 94025
   Phone: (415) 859-4775

that's the whole thing, bestie!! 🌈💖