RFC 921 (rfc921) - Page 2 of 13

Domain name system implementation schedule - revised

RFC 921                                                     October 1984
Domain Implementation Schedule - Revised


         elements (or components) of the structured names are separated
         with periods, and the elements are written from the most
         specific on the left to the most general on the right.

            For example:  USC-ISIF.ARPA

      The Initial and Temporary Domain

         The introduction of these hierarchical names has been very
         limited.  Every current name in this new system has the form
         "old-simple-name.ARPA".  That is, the all the hosts are in a
         domain called "ARPA".  This is a temporary situation.  The
         current intention is for the ARPA domain to cease to exist.
         This means that all hosts will change their names as the domain
         style names come into full use.

   Name to Address Lookup

      Every host in the Internet is expected to have a way of
      translating the name of any other host into its Internet address.

      By and large, the name to address translation is done by looking
      up the information in a table of all hosts.

      The maintenance of this table is centralized at the Network
      Information Center (NIC).  Each host is expected to obtain a
      current copy of the table on a timely basis.  This table is called
      "HOSTS.TXT" [8] and is normally accessed via the Hostnames
      Server [9].

   Interface to the World

      A great deal of mail moves between the Internet and other
      "systems" that somehow transport mail among computers.  This is
      currently done by hiding some sort of "other-system" addressing
      information in the local-part of the mail address and using a
      mail-relay host in the host-part of the mailbox.

      For example,

         OBERST%A
         A







Postel