RFC 881 (rfc881) - Page 2 of 10
Domain names plan and schedule
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 881 November 1983
The Domain Names Plan and Schedule
A Catch 22
There is a problem in introducing domain style names: a great deal
of software has to be changed. Some groups would like to start
using domain style names right away, and other groups don't want
to see them or use them for a very long time. Communication
patterns are very complex and as soon as domain style names are
allowed and used by a few groups they will start showing up almost
everywhere. This argues that everyone should be prepared for them
before they are used at all. However, we know that with people
being people and with so many of people involved, the probability
of everyone being ready in any reasonable time period is nearly
zero. The way out of this situation is to set up a reasonable
schedule for experimenting with domain style names and authorizing
their use. People that get ready on schedule should have no
problems with these names.
Evolution of the Table
Nearly all the hosts in the Internet now use some form of host
table based on the master file "HOSTS.TXT" maintained by the
Network Information Center (NIC).
One way to introduce domain style names is to add to the entries
in this table names in the domain style. In particular, make the
first name in each entry the official host name in the ARPA
domain.
For example, the current entry for USC-ISIF is:
HOST : 10.2.0.52 : USC-ISIF,ISIF : DEC-1090T : TOPS20 :
TCP/TELNET,TCP/SMTP,TCP/FTP,TCP/FINGER,UDP/TFTP :
This could become:
HOST : 10.2.0.52 : USC-ISIF.ARPA,USC-ISIF,ISIF : DEC-1090T :
TOPS20 : TCP/TELNET,TCP/SMTP,TCP/FTP,TCP/FINGER,UDP/TFTP :
For some hosts and programs this could be done today with no
disruptions, but for others substantial problems could occur. For
example, with over five hundred entries in the table the addition
of 500 names could exceed the space allocated to store the table
in some programs. (One could argue that these programs are going
to blow up soon anyway as new host entries are added to the
table.) Another problem is that period (or dot, ".") is not now a
legal character in host names and some programs may not be able to
parse these new names.
Postel