RFC 811 (rfc811) - Page 1 of 4
Hostnames Server
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Ken Harrenstien RFC-811
Vic White 1 March 1982
Elizabeth Feinler
Network Information Center
SRI International
HOSTNAMES SERVER
INTRODUCTION
The NIC Internet Hostnames Server is an NCP/TCP-based host
information program and protocol running on the SRI-NIC
machine. It is one of a series of ARPANET/Internet name
services maintained by the Network Information Center (NIC) at
SRI International on behalf of the Defense Communications
Agency (DCA). The function of this particular server is to
deliver machine-readable name/address information describing
networks, gateways, hosts, and eventually domains, within the
internet environment. As currently implemented, the server
provides the information outlined in the DoD Internet Host
Table Specification (RFC 810).
QUERY/RESPONSE FORMAT
The name server accepts simple text query requests of the form
[]
where square brackets ("[]") indicate an optional field. The
command key is a keyword indicating the nature of the request.
The defined keys are explained below.
The response, on the other hand, is of the form
:
where is a keyword indicating the nature of the
response, and the rest of the response is interpreted in the
context of the key.
COMMAND/RESPONSE KEYS
The currently defined keywords are:
Command Keys:
HNAME (find entry with given name)
HADDR (find entry with given address)
ALL (return entire host table)