Network Working Group                                       J. Ashworth
Request for Comments: 2100                        Ashworth & Associates
Category: Informational                                    1 April 1997


                         The Naming of Hosts

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.

Introduction

  This RFC is a commentary on the difficulty of deciding upon an
  acceptably distinctive hostname for one's computer, a problem which
  grows in direct proportion to the logarithmically increasing size of
  the Internet.

  Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

  Except to TS Eliot.

  And, for that matter, to David Addison, who hates iambic pentameter.

Poetry

   The Naming of Hosts is a difficult matter,
       It isn't just one of your holiday games;
   You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
       When I tell you, a host must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

   First of all, there's the name that the users use daily,
       Such as venus, athena, and cisco, and ames,
   Such as titan or sirius, hobbes or europa--
       All of them sensible everyday names.

   There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
       Some for the web pages, some for the flames:
   Such as mercury, phoenix, orion, and charon--
       But all of them sensible everyday names.

   But I tell you, a host needs a name that's particular,
       A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
   Else how can it keep its home page perpendicular,
       And spread out its data, send pages world wide?




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RFC 2100                  The Naming of Hosts               1 April 1997


   Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
       Like lothlorien, pothole, or kobyashi-maru,
   Such as pearly-gates.vatican, or else diplomatic-
       Names that never belong to more than one host.

   But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
       And that is the name that you never will guess;
   The name that no human research can discover--
       But THE NAMESERVER KNOWS, and will us'ually confess.

   When you notice a client in rapt meditation,
       The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
   The code is engaged in a deep consultation
       On the address, the address, the address of its name:

               It's ineffable,
               effable,
               Effanineffable,
               Deep and inscrutable,
               singular
               Name.

Credits

  Thanks to Don Libes, Mark Lottor, and a host of twisted
  individuals^W^Wcreative sysadmins for providing source material for
  this memo, to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, and a cast of
  thousands (particularly including Terrance Mann) who drew my
  attention to the necessity, and of course, to Thomas Stearns Eliot,
  for making this all necessary.

References

  [1]  Libes, D., "Choosing a Name for Your Computer", Communications
       of the ACM, Vol. 32, No. 11, Pg. 1289, November 1989.

  [2]  Lottor, M. et al., "Domain Name Survey, Jan 1997",
       [email protected]

  [3]  Wong, M. et. al., "Cool Hostnames",
       http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~mengwong/coolhosts.html

  [4]  Stearns, TS, _Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats_.








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RFC 2100                  The Naming of Hosts               1 April 1997


Security Considerations

  Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

  Particularly the cardiac security of certain famous poets.

Author's Address

  Jay R. Ashworth
  Ashworth & Associates
  Advanced Technology Consulting
  St. Petersburg FL 33709-4819

  Phone: +1 813 790 7592

  EMail:  [email protected]



































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