Network Working Group S. Williamson

Network Working Group S. Williamson
Request for Comments: 1400 Network Solutions, Inc.
March 1993

Transition and Modernization
of the Internet Registration Service

Status of this Memo

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

Discussion

As a result of the NREN NIS award by National Science Foundation,
non-DDN registration services will soon be transferred from the DDN
NIC to the new Internet Registration Service, which is a part of an
entity referred to as the InterNIC. References in this document to
the InterNIC apply to the Registration Services portion only.

Internet registration services are gradually transitioning to the
InterNIC. We expect that the full transition will be accomplished by
April 1, 1993. During this transitional period, EMail, Fax, and U.S.
mail received at either site will be processed. DDN users will
continue to receive full registration support from the DDN NIC, and
the transition should be transparent to them. DDN users should
continue to send registration requests to [email protected] (IP,
.mil domain, inaddr for 26.x.x.x) or [email protected] (user
registrations or TAC card requests) using the DISA approved
registration forms.

From now through March 31, 1993, non-DDN Internet registration
requests will be handled as follows:

The current DDN NIC registration templates may be filled out and
submitted to either [email protected] or
[email protected] through March 31. The new InterNIC
templates will be accepted effective April 1, 1993, but not until
that time.

Telephone support: 1-800-365-DNIC or
1-703-802-4535 (Washington DC metro area)

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

Mail questions and registration templates to:

Government Systems Inc.
Attn: Network Information Center
14200 Park Meadow Dr.
Suite 200
Chantilly, VA 2200

Effective April 1, 1993, non-DDN Internet requests will be handled as
described below.

New registration requests should be sent to [email protected]
using the new template. Old templates sent to
[email protected] will be returned with the parsing error
messages and the new form attached. Old templates mailed to
[email protected] will be accepted through June 30, 1993.

After that date, templates in the old format will be returned to
the sender with the new template attached.

Telephone support: 1-800-444-4345 or 619-455-4600
1-703-742-4777 (Registration service only)
(Washington DC metro area)

Mail questions and registration templates to:

Network Solutions, Inc.
Attn: InterNIC Registration Service
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 22070

In an effort to keep those who are likely to submit a high volume of
registration requests informed during the transition period,
information regarding Internet registration issues will be
distributed via the mail list [email protected]. Send
subscription requests to:

[email protected].

Information on the location of the new autoreg templates and how to
retrieve them will be sent to those who have subscribed to this list.
Comments are solicited. The new registration templates have been
modified to facilitate automatic processing and to remove all DDN-
specific references.

WHOIS services will be available at both the DDN NIC and InterNIC
sites:

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

whois.nic.ddn.mil (192.112.36.5)
whois.internic.net (198.41.0.5)

Effective April 1, 1993, only DDN information will be available from
whois.nic.ddn.mil. The WHOIS service available from
whois.internic.net will contain all information on IP addresses,
domains, and ASNs. The WHOIS service available from the
whois.internic.net will contain individual user records only for
those who serve as a Point of Contact for an active node. Those who
are interested in establishing a whois service for information on
individual users (e.g., for Internet hosts or campus networks) are
encouraged to participate in one of the many distributed WHOIS-like
information projects.

Root zone files will be available at both sites through March 31,
1993. After that time, the root zone file will be available only
from ftp.rs.internic.net.

After the transition, the host.txt file will be available only from
nic.ddn.mil and hosts.txt will include ONLY MILNET HOSTS. On April
1, 1993, a new root DNS server will be placed in service. It will be
available at ns.internic.net ( 198.41.0.4 ).

The T1 service currently available to the DDN NIC will be
disconnected by June 1, 1993. This will leave only 56K access to the
DDN NIC site. Excessive traffic to this site after that date will
cause congestion. Therefore, it is important that all Internet
registration data be directed to the new InterNIC site. The InterNIC
registration services facility will be connected to SuraNET via T1
around March 10, 1993.

Automated Internet registration services will be available from the
InterNIC registration service host. This new automated system will
allow more accurate and timely processing of registration requests.
The basic functions/features of the new automated registration
process (autoreg) are outlined below:

* Requestor sends a completed new template to
[email protected].

* The mailserver/parser on the InterNIC registration host parses
the template and makes a quick check of all verifiable
information (such as Domain name conflicts). The server
then sends an E-mail verification or rejection with error message
back to the requestor.

* After receiving the verification form for review, the requestor
should ensure that the information was interpreted correctly by the

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

parser. If the information is correct, the requestor returns the
verify form to [email protected]. If the information is not
correct, the requestor should make the necessary corrections before
returning the form. If a rejection was received the requesstor
must make the necessary adjustments and resend the registration
request to [email protected] for processing.

* On receipt of a corrected verification form from the original
requestor, the data will be rechecked and a new verification form
will be sent. Once a good verification has been received by
Registration Services, the request will be released for final
processing by the InterNIC registration staff.

NOTE: If the requestor does not return the verification form to the
InterNIC within seven days after it is mailed, the original
registration request will expire, and it must be resubmitted.

Information on the status of all registration requests will be
available to users via two methods. The first method employs the
"finger" utility. The finger utility is executed specifying the
"trouble ticket" (tt) number returned with the registration request
verification/ confirmation message.

Example: finger [email protected]

Users will also be able to obtain status information by connecting to
rs.internic.net via telnet and executing the "status <ticket number>"
command. Status information will appear as follows.

[BEGIN SCRIPT]__________________________________________________________

> finger [email protected]
[rs.internic.net]
Retrieving information on Ticket 930303.1034. Please wait...

Ticket Number: 930303.1034 Ticket Status: pending
Ticket Type: reg/domain Ticket Source: email
Ticket Scope: Site/Line:

Ticket Owner: autoreg Problem Fixer: duanes

Ticket Opened: 03/03/93 14:47

Problem Description:
register internic.net

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

Problem Solution:

For more information, please contact the InterNIC Registration
Center at [email protected] or (703) 742-4777. Thanks!

[END SCRIPT]____________________________________________________________

Other services will also be available via telnet to rs.internic.net.
The interface is similar to the telnet service currently offered by
the DDN-NIC. However, the commands used on the InterNIC system are
slightly different. The services that will be available via telnet
are: WHOIS, Gopher, wais, finger, and status.

Below is a short scripted session on the new InterNIC Registration
host.

[BEGIN SCRIPT]__________________________________________________________

% telnet rs.internic.net
Trying 198.41.0.5 ...
Connected to rs.internic.net.
Escape character is '^]'.

SunOS UNIX (rs) (ttyp4)

************************************************************************
* -- InterNIC Network Registration Center --
*
* For gopher, type: GOPHER <return>
* For wais, type: WAIS <return>
* For the *original* whois type: WHOIS <return>
* For the X.500 whois DUA, type: X500WHOIS <return>
*
* For user assistance call (800) 444-4345 or (703) 742-4777
* Please report system problems to [email protected]
************************************************************************

Cmdinter Ver 1.3 Wed Mar 10 11:23:05 1993 EST
InterNIC > ?
Command, one of the following
DATE FINGER HELP KERMIT LOGIN
LOGOUT STATUS WHOIS GOPHER WAIS
X500WHOIS
InterNIC > date
Wed Mar 10 11:23:09 EST 1993

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

InterNIC > whois
Connecting to the rs Database . . . . . .
Connected to the rs Database
InterNIC WHOIS Version: 1.0 Wed, 10 Mar 93 11:23:19

Whois: !internic-dom
Network Solutions, Inc. (INTERNIC-DOM)
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 22070

Domain Name: INTERNIC.NET

Administrative Contact:
Zalubski, John (JZ7) [email protected]
(703) 802-8462
Technical Contact, Zone Contact:
Kosters, Mark A. (MAK21) [email protected]
(703) 802-8484

Record last updated on 10-Feb-93.

Domain servers in listed order:

REG.INTERNIC.NET 192.153.247.80
NOC.CERF.NET 192.153.156.22

Whois: quit
InterNIC > quit

Wed Mar 10 11:24:54 1993 EST
Connection closed by foreign host.
%

[END SCRIPT]____________________________________________________________

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RFC 1400 Transition of Registration Services March 1993

Summary of InterNIC registration services information:

rs.internic.net 198.41.0.5
ns.internic.net 198.41.0.4

General telephone support: 1-800-444-4365
Registration support: 703-742-4777

Mail address:
Network Solutions Inc.
ATTN: InterNIC Registration Services
505 Huntmar Park Dr.
Herndon, VA 22070

[email protected] Registration information mail list
[email protected]

[email protected] Registration questions and Manual
registration
[email protected] Automatic registration mailbox

finger [email protected] To check status of registration
request

Security Considerations

Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

Scott Williamson
Network Solutions, Inc.
505 Huntmar Park Drive
Herndon, VA 22070

Phone: (703) 742-4820
EMail: [email protected]

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