RFC 2146 (rfc2146) - Page 1 of 12

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Network Working Group                         Federal Networking Council
Request For Comments: 2146                                      May 1997
Category: Informational
Obsoletes: 1816


                 U.S. Government Internet Domain Names

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community.  This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Abstract

   This memo provides an update and clarification to RFC 1816.  This
   document describes the registration policies for the top-level domain
   ".GOV".  The purpose of the domain is to provide naming conventions
   that identify US Federal government agencies in order to facilitate
   access to their electronic resources.  This memo provides guidance
   for registrations by Federal Agencies that avoids name duplication
   and facilitates responsiveness to the public.  It restricts
   registrations to coincide with the approved structure of the US
   government and the advice of its Chief Information Officers.  Two
   documents are recognized as constituting documentation on the US
   government structure: FIPS 95-1 provides a standard recognized
   structure into which domain registrations for .GOV and FED.US can
   fit; and, the US Government Manual [3], a special publication of the
   Federal Register, provides official documentation of the government
   structure. The latter document may be subject to more timely updates
   than the former.  Either document is suitable for determining which
   entities qualify for second-level domain registration within .GOV and
   FED.US.

   As a side effect, this RFC reduces the number of .GOV and FED.US
   level registrations and reduces the workload on the registration
   authority.  Previous versions of this document did not address the
   FED.US domain.  This document anticipates the migration of the .GOV
   domain into the FED.US domain, in keeping with common practice on the
   Internet today.










Federal Networking Council   Informational
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