From ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!ucsd!ucbvax!FERNWOOD.MPK.CA.US!geoff Tue Aug 16 10:59:00 PDT 1988 US Domain Policy and Procedures - July 1988 (Revised) ----------------------------------------------------- 1. What is the US Domain and who is eligible to register? The US domain is a new Top Level domain created for people in the United States who have computers at home, or small local corporations who would like to register their host geographically. A large corporation with offices all over the world would probably want to register with .COM. 2. How do you register a host in the US Domain? Send a message to the US Domain Registrar (Westine@ISI.EDU). She will send you a US Domain Questionnaire to fill out. 3. How is the Naming Scheme going to be set up for the US Domain and it's subdivisions? The US Domain is set up geographically, that is, states, cities, etc. The state codes are those assigned by the US Postal Service, and the city codes are Western Union's "City Mnemonics" code that we will send to you. Another alternative for the city code it to use the full name of your city. For example: fernwood.mpk.ca.us (or) fernwood.menlo-park.ca.us 4. Who will administer the US Domain and its subdivisions? For now we will administer ALL OF THE US DOMAIN AND ITS SUBDIVISIONS (i.e., states, cities etc.). The US Domain is just getting started and we want to be careful about what names get used and how control is allocated until some usage patterns are established. We will run the servers for all the US domains. At some future point we will hand off the administration of individual states to appropriate responsible people, probably in the state they administer. 5. Can I manage a Domain Group? If you want to keep tabs on users in a certain group and to register them say under "Houston" in the TX.US domain, (joe@ACADEM.HOUSTON.TX.US) with "ACADEM" as the group you would be managing, this would be ok. But you can't manage all "HOUSTON" or all "TX", just your group. Also, you would have to see that all the hosts in your group are registered with us, and that each name is unique. If your hosts are not directly on the internet we will need an MX record for each host pointing to an internet host for forwarding. 6. How will the US Domain affect hosts in UUCP, CSNET and BITNET Zones? If a host is registered in UUCP, BITNET, or CSNET Zone, it doesn't need to register in the US domain, unless it wants to be registered geographically. Only hosts on the internet can act as forwarding hosts. Hosts on systems such as CSNET, UUCP, BITNET, etc., must register their hosts with an internet host. This is necessary because when messages for your host arrive at the internet host it will need to know where to forward them. MX records are necessary. 7. Can a host be in both the US Domain and another domain (like .EDU or .COM)? No. A host should have a single name. It is possible to have "nicnames" for a brief period while a host name change is in progress. From ncr-sd!hp-sdd!ucsdhub!ucsd!ucbvax!FERNWOOD.MPK.CA.US!geoff Tue Aug 16 10:59:15 PDT 1988 July 1988 US DOMAIN QUESTIONNAIRE FOR HOST ENTRY To register a host in the US domain, the following information must be sent to the US Domain Registrar (WESTINE@ISI.EDU). Questions may be sent by electronic mail to the above address, or by phone at (213-822- 1511). NOTE: The key people must have electronic mailboxes and NIC "handles," unique NIC database identifiers. If you have access to "WHOIS", please check to see if you are registered and if so, make sure the information is current. Include only your handle and any changes (if any) that need to be made in your entry. If you do not have access to "WHOIS", please provide all the information indicated. If you do not have a NIC ident go ahead and apply for one and we will process your US domain application in parallel. (1) The name of the top-level domain to join. For example: US (2) The NIC handle of the administrative head of the organization. Alternately, the person's name, title, mailing address, phone number, organization, and network mailbox. This is the contact point for administrative and policy questions about the domain. In the case of 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 NIC Handle PQS (3) The NIC handle of the technical contact for the entry. Alternately, the person's name, 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 NIC Handle AAA2 (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. [While, from a technical standpoint, domain names can be quite long (programmers beware), shorter names are easier for people to cope with.] For example: NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US (5) If this machine is not directly on the internet, how does it communicate with the Internet. Through UUCP, BITNET, CSNET, etc? Which relay host? For example: How does "Networthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US" talk to "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 RR records and values are to be entered. a. A Internet Address (internet hosts only) b. HINFO Host Information, Machine System (opt. for all hosts) c. WKS Well Known Services, Protocols, Ports (internet hosts only) d. MX Mail Exchanger (required for UUCP, CSNET, BITNET hosts) An example of RRs for a new 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 128.9.3.133. UDP (echo tftp) IN WKS 128.9.3.133. TCP (telnet ftp tftp finger) (8) Where is the IN-ADDR pointer record to be entered. (For internet hosts only.) For example: 123.3.9.128.IN-ADDR.ARPA. PTR NetWorthy.Santa-Clara.CA.US Who is the contact for the zone of the IN-ADDR.ARPA data, where this record will be entered? (9) What TTL? (Time to Live) 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 UUCP and BITNET hosts.) For example: One Week 604800 (10) CNAME Record if any. A nicname to official name entry For example: ANN.MDR.CA.US CNAME WESTINE.ISI.EDU NOTE: In general CNAMES are undesirable, and usually only used temporarily when a host is changing from one official name to another. NOTE: No other RRs are allowed for the name defined by a CNAME record. From ncr-sd!ncrlnk!uunet!jetson!john Sat Oct 22 22:38:13 PDT 1988 In article <3172@hermes.ai.mit.edu>, wisner@zug.AI.MIT.EDU (Bill Wisner) writes: > # Well, from what I hear, there will be a difference in the way smail > # 3.X handles > # fernwood .fernwood.mpk.ca.us > # and > # fernwood = fernwood.mpk.ca.us > > Nooo. You're forgetting that smail (in any incarnation) never looks at > the map files directly. That's pathalias's job. OK, OK. I should have said that there will be a difference in the way smail 3.X handles .fernwood.mpk.ca.us some!path!fernwood!%s and fernwood.mpk.ca.us some!path!fernwood!%s Everything else I said is still true. I did find out some new information about the .US domain, with a lead from Henry Mensch. They are now allowing groups of hosts to be registered as fifth-level domains under a fourth-level domain. They still insist, however, that for the time being, all host names must be given to them: they will not do wildcard MX records. Since this is true, it's not unreasonable to have the UUCP maps follow the same pattern, and list all the fifth-level hosts explicitly. Even if you don't agree with this, I still think you shouldn't say fernwood .fernwood.mpk.ca.us in your pathalias input unless there are registered hosts with domain names under .fernwood.mpk.ca.us. -- John Owens john@jetson.UPMA.MD.US uunet!jetson!john +1 301 249 6000 john%jetson.uucp@uunet.uu.net