RFC 2345 (rfc2345) - Page 1 of 14
Domain Names and Company Name Retrieval
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group J. Klensin
Request for Comments: 2345 MCI
Category: Experimental T. Wolf
Dun & Bradstreet
G. Oglesby
MCI
May 1998
Domain Names and Company Name Retrieval
Status of this Memo
This memo defines an Experimental Protocol for the Internet
community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.
Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested.
Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved.
Abstract
Location of web information for particular companies based on their
names has become an increasingly difficult problem as the Internet
and the web grow. The use of a naming convention and the domain
name system (DNS) for that purpose has caused complications for the
latter while not solving the problem. While there have been several
proposals to use contemporary, high-capability, directory service and
search protocols to reduce the dependencies on DNS conventions, none
of them have been significantly deployed.
This document proposes a company name to URL mapping service based on
the oldest and least complex of Internet directory protocols, whois,
in order to explore whether an extremely simple and widely-deployed
protocol can succeed where more complex and powerful options have
failed or been excessively delayed.
1. Introduction and Context
In recent months, there have been many discussions in various
segments of the Internet community about "the top level domain
problem". Perhaps characteristically, that term is used by different
groups to identify different, and perhaps nearly orthogonal, issues.
Those issues include:
Klensin, et. al. Experimental