RFC 756 (rfc756) - Page 2 of 10

NIC name server - a datagram-based information utility

July 1979                                         NIC Name Server



3 discusses architectural issues, and presents some preliminary
thoughts on how to evolve from the current centralized,
hierarchic service to a distributed Name Server service.



2. THE NIC NAME SERVER

  A Name Server service has been installed on SRI-KA, an Arpanet
DEC-10.  Inquiry-response access is via the Internet Name Server
protocol [5], which in turn employs the DARPA Internet Protocol,
IP4 [7].

  To demonstrate the service a simple interactive facility is
provided to format user input into name server requests--e.g. a
query of the form !ARPANET!FOO-TENEX returns an address such as
"10 2 0 9" (NET=10, HOST=2, LOGICALHOST=0, IMP=9; for details of
host address formats see [8]).

  User access to the name server has been implemented on several
Arpanet DEC-10 TENEX and Packet Radio Network LSI-11 Terminal
Interface Unit (TIU) hosts [9, 10].  While the TENEX program
serves primarily as a demonstration vehicle, the LSI-11 program
provides a valuable augmentation of the TIU's host table.  A
typical scenario is that when the packet radio TIU is initiated
or initialized, it contains only a minimal host table, with the
addresses of a few candidate name servers.  The user queries the
name server with a simple manual query process, and then uses the
address obtained to open a TELNET connection to the desired host.

  The information to support the name server originates from the
NIC's Arpanet host address data base.  An optimized version of
this data base is presented to the name server upon program
initiation as an input file.



3. NAME SERVER ISSUES

  The basic name server provides a simple address-binding service
[5].  In response to a datagram query [7, 11], the name server
returns either an address, a list of similar names if a unique
match is not found, or an error indication.  Several useful
additional functions can be envisioned for the name server such
as service queries and broader access to host-related
information.


3.1. Similar Names

  An important issue to be resolved is that of the interpretation
given to the "similar names" response.  A standard definition
should be given and not be left to implementors' whims.