Network Working Group                               K. Harrenstien (SRI)
Request for Comments: 953                                 M. Stahl (SRI)
Obsoletes:  RFC 811                                     E. Feinler (SRI)
                                                           October 1985

                           HOSTNAME SERVER


STATUS OF THIS MEMO

  This RFC is the official specification of the Hostname Server
  Protocol.  This edition of the specification includes minor revisions
  to RFC 811 which brings it up to date.  Distribution of this memo is
  unlimited.

INTRODUCTION

  The NIC Internet Hostname Server is a TCP-based host information
  program and protocol running on the SRI-NIC machine.  It is one of a
  series of internet name services maintained by the DDN Network
  Information Center (NIC) at SRI International on behalf of the
  Defense Communications Agency (DCA).  The function of this particular
  server is to deliver machine-readable name/address information
  describing networks, gateways, hosts, and eventually domains, within
  the internet environment.  As currently implemented, the server
  provides the information outlined in the DoD Internet Host Table
  Specification [See RFC-952].  For a discussion of future developments
  see also RFC-921 concerning the Domain Name System.

PROTOCOL

  To access this server from a program, establish a TCP connection to
  port 101 (decimal) at the service host, SRI-NIC.ARPA (26.0.0.73 or
  10.0.0.51).  Send the information request (a single line), and read
  the resulting response.  The connection is closed by the server upon
  completion of the response, so only one request can be made for each
  connection.

QUERY/RESPONSE FORMAT

  The name server accepts simple text query requests of the form

     <command key> <argument(s)> [<options>]

  where square brackets ("[]") indicate an optional field.  The command
  key is a keyword indicating the nature of the request.  The defined
  keys are explained below.

  The response, on the other hand, is of the form

     <response key> : <rest of response>


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  where <response key> is a keyword indicating the nature of the
  response, and the rest of the response is interpreted in the context
  of the key.

  NOTE:  Care should be taken to interpret the nature of the reply
  (e.g, single record or multiple record), so that no confusion about
  the state of the reply results.  An "ALL" request will likely return
  several hundred or more records of all types, whereas "HNAME" or
  "HADDR" will usually return one HOST record.

COMMAND/RESPONSE KEYS

  The currently defined command keywords are listed below.  NOTE:
  Because the server and the features available will evolve with time,
  the HELP command should be used to obtain the most recent summary of
  implemented features, changes, or new commands.

     Keyword   Response

     HELP      This information.

     VERSION   "VERSION: <string>" where <string> will be different for
               each version of the host table.

     HNAME <hostname>
               One or more matching host table entries.

     HADDR <hostaddr>
               One or more matching host table entries.

     ALL       The entire host table.

     ALL-OLD   The entire host table without domain style names.

     DOMAINS   The entire top-level domain table (domains only).

     ALL-DOM   Both the entire domain table and the host table.

     ALL-INGWAY
               All known gateways in TENEX/TOPS-20 INTERNET.GATEWAYS
               format.

  Remember that the server accepts only a single command line and
  returns only a single response before closing the connection.  HNAME
  and HADDR are useful for looking up a specific host by name or
  address; VERSION can be used by automated processes to see whether a
  "new" version of the host table exists without having to transfer the


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  whole table.  Note, however, that the returned version string is only
  guaranteed to be unique to each version, and nothing should currently
  be assumed about its format.

  Response Keys:

     ERR       entry not found, nature of error follows
     NET       entry found, rest of entry follows
     GATEWAY   entry found, rest of entry follows
     HOST      entry found, rest of entry follows
     DOMAIN    entry found, rest of entry follows
     BEGIN     followed by multiple entries
     END       done with BEGIN block of entries

  More keywords will be added as new needs are recognized.  A more
  detailed description of the allowed requests/responses follows.

QUERY/RESPONSE EXAMPLES

  1. HNAME Query - Given a name, find the entry or entries that match
  the name.  For example:

     HNAME SRI-NIC.ARPA <CRLF>

        where <CRLF> is a carriage return/ linefeed, and 'SRI-NIC.ARPA'
        is a host name

     The likely response is:

     HOST : 26.0.0.73, 10.0.0.51 : SRI-NIC.ARPA,SRI-NIC,NIC :
            DEC-2060 : TOPS20 : TCP/TELNET,TCP/SMTP,TCP/TIME,TCP/FTP,
            TCP/ECHO,ICMP :

     A response may stretch across more than one line.  Continuation
     lines always begin with at least one space.

  2. HADDR Query - Given an internet address (as specified in RFC 796)
  find the entry or entries that match that address. For example:

     HADDR 26.0.0.73 <CRLF>

        where <CRLF> is a carriage return/ linefeed, and '26.0.0.73' is
        a host address.

     The likely response is the same as for the previous HNAME request.




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  3. ALL Query - Deliver the entire internet host table in a
  machine-readable form.  For example:

     ALL <CRLF>   ;where <CRLF> is a carriage return/linefeed

     The likely response is the keyword 'BEGIN' followed by a colon
     ':', followed by the entire internet host table in the format
     specified in RFC-952, followed by 'END:'.

ERROR HANDLING

  ERR Reply - may occur on any query, and should be permitted in any
  access program using the name server.  Errors are of the form

     ERR : <code> : <string> :
       as in
     ERR : NAMNFD : Name not found :

  The error code is a unique descriptor, limited to 8 characters in
  length for any given error.  It may be used by the access program to
  identify the error and, in some cases, to handle it automatically.
  The string is an accompanying message for a given error for that case
  where the access program simply logs the error message.  Current
  codes and their associated interpretations are

     NAMNFD    Name not found; name not in table
     ADRNFD    Address not found; address not in table
     ILLCOM    Illegal command; command key not recognized
     TMPSYS    Temporary system failure, try again later

REFERENCES

  1. Harrenstien, K., Stahl, M., and Feinler, E., "Official DoD
     Internet Host Table Specification," RFC-952, DDN Network
     Information Center, SRI International, October 1985.

  2. Pickens, J., Feinler, E., and Mathis, J., "The NIC Name Server," A
     Datagram-based Information Utility, RFC-756, Network Information
     Center, SRI International, July 1979.

  3. Postel, J., "Address Mappings," RFC-796, Information Sciences
     Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey,
     September 1981.

  4. Postel, J., "Domain Name System Implementation Schedule", RFC-921,
     Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California,
     Marina del Rey, October 1984.


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