The US Domain
RFC 1386
Document | Type |
RFC - Informational
(December 1992; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 1480
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Authors | |||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Legacy stream | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized (tools) htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | Legacy state | (None) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
RFC Editor Note | (None) | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1386 (Informational) | |
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group A. Cooper Request for Comments: 1386 J. Postel December 1992 The US Domain 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. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................ 2 1.1 The Internet Domain Name System......................... 2 1.2 Top Level Domains....................................... 3 1.3 The US Domain .......................................... 4 2. Naming Structure ............................................ 4 2.1 State Codes ............................................ 5 2.2 City Codes or Locality Names............................ 5 2.3 Examples of Names....................................... 5 3. Registration ................................................ 8 3.1 Requirements ........................................... 8 3.2 Direct Entries ......................................... 9 3.2.1 UUCP Hosts .......................................... 9 3.2.2 Non-IP Hosts ........................................ 10 3.3 Delegated Subdomains ................................... 12 3.3.1 Schools ............................................. 12 3.3.2 State Agencies ...................................... 14 3.3.3 Federal Agencies .................................... 14 3.3.4 Delegation Requirement............................... 14 3.3.5 Delegation Procedures ............................... 15 3.3.6 Subdomain Contacts................................... 18 4. Database Information......................................... 19 4.1 Name Servers ........................................... 19 4.2 Zone files ............................................. 20 4.3 Resource Records ....................................... 21 4.3.1 A Records ........................................... 22 4.3.2 CNAME Records ....................................... 22 4.3.3 MX Records .......................................... 22 4.3.4 HINFO Records ....................................... 23 4.3.5 PTR Records ......................................... 23 4.4 Wildcards .............................................. 23 5. References .................................................. 24 6. Security Considerations ..................................... 25 7. Author's Address ............................................ 25 Appendix-I: US Domain Names BNF................................. 26 Appendix-II: US Domain Questionnaire for Host Entry.............. 28 Cooper & Postel [Page 1] RFC 1386 The US Domain December 1992 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 The Internet Domain Name System The Domain Name System (DNS) provides for the translation between host names and addresses. Within the Internet, this means translating from a name such as "venera.isi.edu", to an IP address such as "128.9.0.32". The DNS is a set of protocols and databases. The protocols define the syntax and semantics for a query language to ask questions about information located by DNS-style names. The databases are distributed and replicated. There is no dependence on a single central server, and each part of the database is provided in at least two servers. The assignment of the 32-bit IP addresses is a separate activity. IP addresses are assigned by the Network Information Center (Hostmaster@NIC.DDN.MIL). In addition to translating names to addresses for hosts that are on the Internet, the DNS provides for registering DNS-style names for other hosts reachable (via electronic mail) through gateways or mail relays. The records for such name registration point to an Internet host (one with an IP address) that acts as a mail forwarder for the registered host. For example, the host "bah.rochester.ny.us" is registered in the DNS with a pointer to the mail relay "relay1.uu.net". This type of pointer is called an MX record. This gives electronic mail users a uniform mail addressing syntax and avoids making users aware of the underlying network boundaries. The reason for the development of the domain system was growth in the Internet. The host name to address mappings were maintained by the Network Information Center (NIC) in a single file, called HOSTS.TXT, which was FTPed by all the hosts on the Internet. The network population was changing in character. The timeshared hosts that made up the original ARPANET were being replaced with local networks ofShow full document text