# Zen and the Art of the Internet ## Part 6 Book page: https://www.cyberlibrary.org/en/books/zen-and-the-art-of-the-internet-34/index.md The National Research and Education Network (NREN) is a five-year project approved by Congress in the Fall of 1991. It's intended to create a national electronic "super-highway." The NREN will be 50 times faster than the fastest available networks (at the time of this writing). Proponents of the NREN claim it will be possible to transfer the equivalent of the entire text of the Encyclopedia Britannica in one second. Further information, including the original text of the bill presented by Senator Al Gore (D--TN), is available through anonymous FTP to nis.nsf.net, in the directory nsfnet. In addition, Vint Cerf wrote on the then-proposed NREN in RFC-1167, Thoughts on the National Research and Education Network. RFCs for information on obtaining RFCs. A mailing list, nren-discuss@uu.psi.com, is available for discussion of the NREN; write to nren-discuss-request@uu.psi.com to be added. "To talk in publick, to think in solitude, to read and to hear, to inquire, and to answer inquiries, is the business of a scholar." Samuel Johnson Chapter VIII The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia Finding Out More Internet Resource Guide The NSF Network Service Center (NNSC) compiles and makes available an Internet Resource Guide (IRG). The goal of the guide is to increase the visibility of various Internet resources that may help users do their work better. While not yet an exhaustive list, the guide is a useful compendium of many resources and can be a helpful reference for a new user. Resources listed are grouped by types into sections. Current sections include descriptions of online library catalogs, data archives, online white pages directory services, networks, network information centers, and computational resources, such as supercomputers. Each entry describes the resource, identifies who can use the resource, explains how to reach the local network via the Internet, and lists contacts for more information. The list is distributed electronically by the NNSC. To receive a guide, or to get on a mailing list that alerts you to when it is updated, send a message to resource-guide-request@nnsc.nsf.net. The current edition of the IRG is available via anonymous FTP from nnsc.nsf.net, in the directory /resource-guide. Requests for Comments The internal workings of the Internet are defined by a set of documents called RFCs (Request for Comments). The general process for creating an RFC is for someone wanting something formalized to write a document describing the issue and mailing it to Jon Postel (postel@isi.edu). He acts as a referee for the proposal. It is then commented upon by all those wishing to take part in the discussion (electronically, of course). It may go through multiple revisions. Should it be generally accepted as a good idea, it will be assigned a number and filed with the RFCs. The RFCs can be divided into five groups: required, suggested, directional, informational and obsolete. Required RFCs (e.g., RFC-791, The Internet Protocol) must be implemented on any host connected to the Internet. Suggested RFCs are generally implemented by network hosts. Lack of them does not preclude access to the Internet, but may impact its usability. RFC-793, Transmission Control Protocol, is a must for those implementing TCP. Directional RFCs were discussed and agreed to, but their application has never come into wide use. This may be due to the lack of wide need for the specific application (RFC-937, The Post Office Protocol) or that, although technically superior, ran against other pervasive approaches (RFC-891, Hello). It is suggested that, should the facility be required by a particular site, an implementation be done in accordance with the RFC. This ensures that, should the idea be one whose time has come, the implementation will be in accordance with some standard and will be generally usable. Informational RFCs contain factual information about the Internet and its operation (RFC-990, Assigned Numbers). There is also a subset of RFCs called FYIs (For Your Information). They are written in a language much more informal than that used in the other, standard RFCs. Topics range from answers to common questions for new and experienced users to a suggested bibliography. Finally, as the Internet has grown and technology has changed, some RFCs become unnecessary. These obsolete RFCs cannot be ignored, however. Frequently when a change is made to some RFC that causes a new one to obsolete others, the new RFC only contains explanations and motivations for the change. Understanding the model on which the whole facility is based may involve reading the original and subsequent RFCs on the topic. RFCs and FYIs are available via FTP from many sources, including: The nic.ddn.mil archive, as /rfc/rfc-xxxx.txt, where xxxx is the number of the RFC. from ftp.uu.net, in the directory /RFC. They're also available through mail by writing to service@nic.ddn.mil, with a Subject: line of send RFC-xxxx.TXT, again with xxxx being the RFC number. "Knowledge is of two kinds. We know a subject ourselves, or we know where we can find information upon it." Samuel Johnson Letter to Lord Chesterfield February, 1755 a book of quotes said April 18, 1775 .. the book of Johnson's works said it's 1755; I'll go with the latter. Conclusion This guide is far from complete---the Internet changes on a daily (if not hourly) basis. However, this booklet should provide enough information to make the incredible breadth and complexity of the Internet a mite less imposing. Coupled with some exploration and experimentation, every user has the potential to be a competent net citizen, using the facilities that are available to their fullest. You, the reader, are strongly encouraged to suggest improvements to any part of this booklet. If something was unclear, left you with doubts, or wasn't addressed, it should be fixed. If you find any problems, inaccuracies, spelling errors, etc., please report them to: Brendan Kehoe Department of Computer Science Widener University Chester, PA 19013 Internet: guide-bugs@cs.widener.edu UUCP: ...!widener!guide-bugs If you are interested in future updates to this guide (aside from normal new editions), discussion about information to be included or removed, etc., write to guide-request@cs.widener.edu to be placed on a mailing list for such things. @dots is actually `. . . .' "I've seed de first an de last @dots I seed de beginnin, en now I sees de endin." William Faulkner The Sound & The Fury April 8, 1928 Getting to Other Networks Inter-connectivity has been and always will be one of the biggest goals in computer networking. The ultimate desire is to make it so one person can contact anyone else no matter where they are. A number of "gateways" between networks have been set up. They include: AppleLink Quantum Services sells access to AppleLink, which is similar to QuantumLink for Commodore computers and PCLink for IBM PCs and compatibles. It also provides email access through the address user@applelink.apple.com. ATTMail AT&T sells a commercial email service called ATTMail. Its users can be reached by writing to user@attmail.com. BIX Users on BIX (the Byte Information eXchange) can be reached through the DAS gateway at user@cibix.das.net. CompuServe (CI$) To reach a user on the commercial service CompuServe, you must address the mail as xxxxx.xxx@compuserve.com, with xxxxx.xxx being their CompuServe user ID. Normally CompuServe ids are represented as being separated by a comma (like 71999,141); since most mailers don't react well to having commas in addresses, it was changed to a period. For the above address, mail would be sent to 71999.141@compuserve.com. EasyNet Digital sells a service called EasyNet; users that subscribe to it can be reached with the addresses user@host.enet.dec.com or user%host.enet@decwrl.dec.com. FidoNet The FidoNet computer network can be reached by using a special addressing method. If John Smith is on the node 1:2/3.4 on FidoNet, his or her email address would be john.smith@p4.f3.n2.z1.fidonet.org (notice how the numbers fall in place?). MCI Mail MCI also sells email accounts (similar to ATTMail). Users can be reached with user@mcimail.com. PeaceNet Users on the PeaceNet network can be reached by writing to user@igc.org. The Well Users on the service The Well can be reached by writing to user@well.sf.ca.us. The Well is directly connected to the Internet. This table is far from complete. In addition to sites not being listed, some services are not (nor do they plan to be) accessible from the "outside" (like Prodigy); others, like GEnie, are actively investigating the possibility of creating a gateway into their system. For the latest information, consult a list called the Inter-Network Mail Guide. It's available from a number of FTP sites, including UUNET; Anonymous FTP, for more information on getting a copy of it using anonymous FTP. Retrieving Files via Email For those who have a connection to the Internet, but cannot FTP, there do exist a few alternatives to get those files you so desperately need. When requesting files, it's imperative that you keep in mind the size of your request---odds are the other people who may be using your link won't be too receptive to sudden bursts of really heavy traffic on their normally sedate connection. Archive Servers An alternative to the currently well over-used FTPmail system is taking advantage of the many archive servers that are presently being maintained. These are programs that receive email messages that contain commands, and act on them. For example, sending an archive server the command help will usually yield, in the form of a piece of email, information on how to use the various commands that the server has available. One such archive server is service@nic.ddn.mil. Maintained by the Network Information Center (NIC) in Chantilly, VA, the server is set up to make all of the information at the NIC available for people who don't have access to FTP. This also includes the WHOIS service (Whois). Some sample Subject: lines for queries to the NIC server are: Subject: help Describes available commands. Subject: rfc 822 Sends a copy of RFC-822. Subject: rfc index Sends an index of the available RFCs. Subject: netinfo domain-template.txt Sends a domain application. Subject: whois widener Sends WHOIS information on `widener'. More information on using their archive server can be obtained by writing to their server address service@nic.ddn.mil with a Subject: of help. There are different "brands" of archive server, each with its own set of commands and services. Among them there often exists a common set of commands and services (e.g. index, help, etc). Be that as it may, one should always consult the individual help for a specific server before assuming the syntax---100K surprises can be hard on a system. FTP-by-Mail Servers Some systems offer people the ability to receive files through a mock-FTP interface via email. Anonymous FTP for a general overview of how to FTP. The effects of providing such a service varies, although a rule of thumb is that it will probably use a substantial amount of the available resources on a system. The "original" FTP-by-Mail service, BITFTP, is available to BITNET users from the Princeton node PUCC. It was once accessible to anyone, but had to be closed out to non-BITNET users because of the heavy load on the system. In response to this closure, Paul Vixie designed and installed a system called FTPmail on one of Digital's gateway computers, decwrl.dec.com. Write to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with help in the body of the letter for instructions on its use. The software is undergoing constant development; once it reaches a stable state, other sites will be encouraged to adopt it and provide the service also. Newsgroup Creation Everyone has the opportunity to make a Call For Votes on the Usenet and attempt to create a newsgroup that he/she feels would be of benefit to the general readership. The rules governing newsgroup creation have evolved over the years into a generally accepted method. They only govern the "world" groups; they aren't applicable to regional or other alternative hierarchies. Discussion A discussion must first take place to address issues like the naming of the group, where in the group tree it should go (e.g. rec.sports.koosh vs rec.games.koosh?), and whether or not it should be created in the first place. The formal Request For Discussion (RFD) should be posted to news.announce.newgroups, along with any other groups or mailing lists at all related to the proposed topic. news.announce.newgroups is moderated. You should place it first in the Newsgroups: header, so that it will get mailed to the moderator only. The article won't be immediately posted to the other newsgroups listed; rather, it will give you the opportunity to have the moderator correct any inconsistencies or mistakes in your RFD. He or she will take care of posting it to the newsgroups you indicated. Also the Followup-To: header will be set so that the actual discussion takes place only in news.groups. If a user has difficulty posting to a moderated group, he or she may mail submissions intended for news.announce.newgroups to the address announce-newgroups@rpi.edu. The final name and charter of the group, and whether it will be moderated or unmoderated, will be determined during the discussion period. If it's to be moderated, the discussion will also decide who the moderator will be. If there's no general agreement on these points among those in favor of a new group at the end of 30 days, the discussion will be taken into mail rather than continued posting to news.groups; that way, the proponents of the group can iron out their differences and come back with a proper proposal, and make a new Request For Discussion. Voting After the discussion period (which is mandatory), if it's been determined that a new group really is desired, a name and charter are agreed upon, and it's been determined whether the group will be moderated (and by whom), a Call For Votes (CFV) should be posted to news.announce.newgroups, along with any other groups that the original Request For Discussion was posted to. The CFV should be posted (or mailed to the news.announce.newgroups moderator) as soon as possible after the discussion ends (to keep it fresh in everyone's mind). The Call for Votes should include clear instructions on how to cast a vote. It's important that it be clearly explained how to both vote for and against a group (and be of equivalent difficulty or ease). If it's easier for you or your administrator, two separate addresses can be used to mail yes and no votes to, providing that they're on the same machine. Regardless of the method, everyone must have a very specific idea of how to get his/her vote counted. The voting period can last between 21 and 31 days, no matter what the preliminary results of the vote are. A vote can't be called off simply because 400 "no" votes have come in and only two "yes" votes. The Call for Votes should include the exact date that the voting period will end---only those votes arriving on the vote-taker's machine before this date can be counted. To keep awareness high, the CFV can be repeated during the vote, provided that it gives the same clear, unbiased instructions for casting a vote as the original; it also has to be the same proposal as was first posted. The charter can't change in mid-vote. Also, votes that're posted don't count---only those that were mailed to the vote-taker can be tallied. Partial results should never be included; only a statement of the specific proposal, that a vote is in progress on it, and how to cast a vote. A mass acknowledgement ("Mass ACK" or "Vote ACK") is permitted; however, it must be presented in a way that gives no indication of which way a person voted. One way to avoid this is to create one large list of everyone who's voted, and sort it in alphabetical order. It should not be two sorted lists (of the yes and no votes, respectively). Every vote is autonomous. The votes for or against one group can't be transferred to another, similar proposal. A vote can only count for the exact proposal that it was a response to. In particular, a vote for or against a newsgroup under one name can't be counted as a vote for or against another group with a different name or charter, a different moderated/unmoderated status, or, if it's moderated, a different moderator or set of moderators. Whew! Finally, the vote has to be explicit; they should be of the form I vote for the group foo.bar as proposed or I vote against the group foo.bar as proposed. The wording doesn't have to be exact, your intention just has to be clear. The Result of a Vote At the end of the voting period, the vote-taker has to post (to news.announce.newgroups) the tally and email addresses of the votes received. Again, it can also be posted to any of the groups listed in the original CFV. The tally should make clear which way a person voted, so the results can be verified if it proves necessary to do so. After the vote result is posted to news.announce.newgroups, there is a mandatory five-day waiting period. This affords everyone the opportunity to correct any errors or inconsistencies in the voter list or the voting procedure. Creation of the Group If, after the waiting period, there are no serious objections that might invalidate the vote, the vote is put to the "water test." If there were 100 more valid YES/create votes than NO/don't create votes, and at least two-thirds of the total number of votes are in favor of creation, then a newgroup control message can be sent out (often by the moderator of news.announce.newgroups). If the 100-vote margin or the two-thirds percentage isn't met, the group has failed and can't be created. If the proposal failed, all is not lost---after a six-month waiting period (a "cooling down"), a new Request For Discussion can be posted to news.groups, and the whole process can start over again. If after a couple of tries it becomes obvious that the group is not wanted or needed, the vote-taker should humbly step back and accept the opinion of the majority. (As life goes, so goes Usenet.) Glossary This glossary is only a tiny subset of all of the various terms and other things that people regularly use on The Net. For a more complete (and very entertaining) reference, it's suggested you get a copy of The New Hacker's Dictionary, which is based on a VERY large text file called the Jargon File. Edited by Eric Raymond (eric@snark.thyrsus.com), it is available from the MIT Press, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02142; its ISBN number is 0-262-68069-6. Also see RFC-1208, A Glossary of Networking Terms. :-) This odd symbol is one of the ways a person can portray "mood" in the very flat medium of computers---by using "smilies." This is `metacommunication', and there are literally hundreds of them, from the obvious to the obscure. This particular example expresses "happiness." Don't see it? Tilt your head to the left 90 degrees. Smilies are also used to denote sarcasm. Network addresses are usually of two types: the physical or hardware address of a network interface card; for ethernet this 48-bit address might be 0260.8C00.7666. The hardware address is used to forward packets within a physical network. Fortunately, network users do not have to be concerned about hardware addresses since they are automatically handled by the networking software. The logical or Internet address is used to facilitate moving data between physical networks. The 32-bit Internet address is made up of a network number, a subnetwork number, and a host number. Each host computer on the Internet, has a unique address. For example, all Internet addresses at Colorado State have a network number of 129.82, a subnet number in the range of 1-254, and a host number in the range of 1-254. All Internet hosts have a numeric address and an English-style name. For example, the Internet address for UCC's CYBER 840 is 129.82.103.96; its Internet name is csugreen.UCC.ColoState.EDU. address resolution Conversion of an Internet address to the corresponding physical address. On an ethernet, resolution requires broadcasting on the local area network. administrivia Administrative tasks, most often related to the maintenance of mailing lists, digests, news gateways, etc. anonymous FTP Also known as "anon FTP"; a service provided to make files available to the general Internet community---Anonymous FTP. ANSI The American National Standards Institute disseminates basic standards like ASCII, and acts as the United States' delegate to the ISO. Standards can be ordered from ANSI by writing to the ANSI Sales Department, 1430 Broadway, New York, NY 10018, or by telephoning (212) 354-3300. archie A service which provides lookups for packages in a database of the offerings of countless of anonymous FTP sites. archie for a full description. archive server An email-based file transfer facility offered by some systems. ARPA (Advanced Research Projects Agency) Former name of DARPA, the government agency that funded ARPAnet and later the DARPA Internet. ARPAnet A pioneering long haul network funded by ARPA. It served as the basis for early networking research as well as a central backbone during the development of the Internet. The ARPAnet consisted of individual packet switching computers interconnected by leased lines. The ARPAnet no longer exists as a singular entity. asynchronous Transmission by individual bytes, not related to specific timing on the transmitting end. auto-magic Something which happens pseudo-automatically, and is usually too complex to go into any further than to say it happens "auto-magically." backbone A high-speed connection within a network that connects shorter, usually slower circuits. Also used in reference to a system that acts as a "hub" for activity (although those are becoming much less prevalent now than they were ten years ago). bandwidth The capacity of a medium to transmit a signal. More informally, the mythical "size" of The Net, and its ability to carry the files and messages of those that use it. Some view certain kinds of traffic (FTPing hundreds of graphics images, for example) as a "waste of bandwidth" and look down upon them. BITNET (Because It's Time Network) An NJE-based international educational network. bounce The return of a piece of mail because of an error in its delivery. btw An abbreviation for "by the way." CFV (Call For Votes) Initiates the voting period for a Usenet newsgroup. At least one (occasionally two or more) email address is customarily included as a repository for the votes. See Newsgroup Creation for a full description of the Usenet voting process. ClariNews The fee-based Usenet newsfeed available from ClariNet Communications. client The user of a network service; also used to describe a computer that relies upon another for some or all of its resources. Cyberspace A term coined by William Gibson in his fantasy novel Neuromancer to describe the "world" of computers, and the society that gathers around them. datagram The basic unit of information passed across the Internet. It contains a source and destination address along with data. Large messages are broken down into a sequence of IP datagrams. disassembling Converting a binary program into human-readable machine language code. DNS (Domain Name System) The method used to convert Internet names to their corresponding Internet numbers. domain A part of the naming hierarchy. Syntactically, a domain name consists of a sequence of names or other words separated by dots.