IEN 116                                                        J. Postel
                                                                     ISI
                                                             August 1979
Obsoletes: 89, 61



                          INTERNET NAME SERVER
                          --------------------

INTRODUCTION
------------

This memo defines the procedure to access an Internet Name Server.  Such
a server  provides  the actual  addresses  of hosts in the internet when
supplied  with a host name.   An  Internet  Name  Server  is  a  dynamic
name-to-number translation service.

This server utilizes the User Datagram Protocol (UDP) [2], which in turn
calls on the Internet Protocol (IP) [3].

NAME SYNTAX
-----------

It is strongly  recommended  that the use of host names  in programs  be
consistent  for both input and output across all hosts.  To promote such
consistency of the internet level, the following syntax is specified:

The SYNTAX  of names as presented to the user and as entered by the user
is:

  ! NET ! REST

  where:

    NET is a network name or number as defined in "Assigned Numbers" [1]

  and

    REST is a host name within  that network  expressed  as a  character
    string  or as a number.   When  a number is used, it is expressed in
    decimal and is prefixed with a sharp sign (e.g., #1234).

  Note that this syntax  has minimal  impact  on the allowable character
  strings for host names within a network.  The only restriction is that
  a REST string cannot begin with an exclamation point (!).

  The !NET!  may be omitted when specifying a host in the local network.
  That is "!" indicates the network portion of a name string.





Postel                                                          [page 1]


                                                             August 1979
Internet Name Server                                             IEN 116



BASIC NAME SERVER
-----------------

To aid in the translation  of names to internet  addresses, several name
server  processes will be provided.  The name server process will accept
a name in the above form and will return a name, address pair.

The name server processes will have well-known addresses; addresses that
are constant  over long periods  of time and published in documents such
as "Assigned Numbers" [1].

A request  sent to a name server is sent as a user datagram [2] with the
following content:

    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                            |
    |  NAME  | LENGTH |                NAME STRING                 |
    |        |        |                                            |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+

  where:

    NAME is a one octet code indicating that the following is a name,

    LENGTH  is a one octet  count  of the number  of octets  in the name
    string, and

    NAME STRING is an ASCII character string of the form ! NET ! REST.

A reply  to a successful translation is sent as a user datagram with the
following content:

    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                            |
    |  NAME  | LENGTH |                NAME STRING                 |
    |        |        |                                            |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                   |
    | ADDRESS| LENGTH |         INTERNET ADDRESS          |
    |        |        |                                   |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+









[page 2]                                                          Postel


August 1979
IEN 116                                             Internet Name Server



  where:

    ADDRESS  is a one octet  code indicating  that the following  is  an
    internet address,

    LENGTH  is a one octet  count  (=4)  of the length  of the  internet
    address, and

    INTERNET ADDRESS is the internet address.

Actually  a particular  name might map to several internet addresses, in
this case the response would include a list of internet addresses.

When  a name  is not found,  an error is reported via a user datagram as
follows:

    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                            |
    |  NAME  | LENGTH |                NAME STRING                 |
    |        |        |                                            |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |  ERROR |                                   |
    | ERROR  | LENGTH |  CODE  |       ERROR STRING                |
    |        |        |        |                                   |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+

  where:

    ERROR CODE specifies the error.

    ERROR STRING explains the error.

Error Codes

  The following error codes are defined:

    CODE          MEANING
    ----          -------
     0            Undetermined or undefined error
     1            Name not found
     2            Improper name syntax

Communication with a Name Server Process

  Communication  with a name server process is via user datagrams.  User
  datagrams   do  not  guarantee  reliable  communication.   Thus,  some
  requests or replies may be lost.



Postel                                                          [page 3]


                                                             August 1979
Internet Name Server                                             IEN 116



  The  name  server   process   is  a  transaction   oriented   process;
  furthermore,  the  nature  of  the  transactions  allows  them  to  be
  processed in any order and even to be duplicated.  This allows the use
  of a very simple communication protocol.

  If a request  is made to the name server  process  and no response  is
  received  within a reasonable time, then the requester should make the
  request  again.   This recovers  from communication errors which cause
  the loss of either the request or the reply.

  In order  to use this simple  strategy,  care must be taken  to  allow
  replies to be properly matched with requests.  The name server process
  does this by including in each reply a copy of the entire request.

  The user datagram  protocol  does provide a checksum for the detection
  of errors.

Format

  The requests and replies to and from a name server process are encoded
  as "items".   An item consists  of an item-code an item-length and the
  item-data.   The item-length  includes in its count the item-count and
  the item-length octets.

    Item  :=  Item-Code  Item-Length  Item-Data

    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                            |
    |  Item  |  Item  |               Item                         |
    |  Code  | Length |                      Data                  |
    |        |        |                                            |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+

  A request is typically one item, and a reply is typically two items.


                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |ItemCode|Item Len|... Item Data ...|
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 | ......... Item Data cont ........ |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 | Item Data cont. |ItemCode|Item Len|
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 | ........... Item Data ........... |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+





[page 4]                                                          Postel


August 1979
IEN 116                                             Internet Name Server



Item Code Value Assignments:

  NAME    = 1

  ADDRESS = 2

  ERROR   = 3

Example

  a typical request:


                 +-----------------+--------+--------+
                 |   1    |   12   |   !    |   A    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   R    |   P    |   A    |   !    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   I    |   S    |   I    |   B    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+

  and the reply:


                 +-----------------+--------+--------+
                 |   1    |   12   |   !    |   A    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   R    |   P    |   A    |   !    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   I    |   S    |   I    |   B    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   2    |   6    |   10   |   3    |
                 +--------+--------+--------+--------+
                 |   0    |   52   |
                 +--------+--------+















Postel                                                          [page 5]


                                                             August 1979
Internet Name Server                                             IEN 116



EXTENDED NAME SERVER
--------------------

Several  extensions  have been  proposed  [4],  the  following  two  are
adopted:  partially specified names, and a service field.

In the first extension  partially  specified  names are allowed  and are
indicated by the use of "wild card" fields or characters.

Wild Card Field         Meaning
---------------         -------
      *                 All
      ~                 Local (Same as that of the requestor)

Wild Card Character     Meaning
---------------         -------
      *                 Any substring

Examples:

  !~!*      all hosts on the net of the requestor.

  !*!SRI*   all hosts with names whose first three characters
            are SRI on all nets

In general,  there  are three cases for each of the net and host fields.
Using  the symbols  N for named network and H for named host the 9 cases
are:

  !~!~   local net, local host

  !~!*   local net, all hosts

  !~!H   local net, named host

  !*!~   all nets,  local host

  !*!*   all nets,  all hosts

  !*!H   all nets,  named host

  !N!~   named net, local host

  !N!*   named net, all hosts

  !N!H   named net, named host




[page 6]                                                          Postel


August 1979
IEN 116                                             Internet Name Server



When such a request  is processed  and  the  result  is  more  than  one
name/address pair, the response is all the pairs.

Examples:

  1)

    request:

      !ARPA!ISI*

    response:

      !ARPA!ISIA  10 1 0 22

      !ARPA!ISIB  10 3 0 52

      !ARPA!ISIC  10 2 0 22

      !ARPA!ISID  10 3 0 22

      !ARPA!ISIE  10 1 0 52

  2)

    request:

      !~!SRI-R2D2

    response:

      !ARPA!SRI-R2D2    10 3 0 51

      !SF-PR-1!SRI-R2D2  2 0 0 11

  3)

    request:

      !*!ISIA

    response:

      !ARPA!ISIA  10 1 0 22

The second  extension is that a third field may be appended to the name.
This is the SERVICE field.



Postel                                                          [page 7]


                                                             August 1979
Internet Name Server                                             IEN 116



  ! NET ! HOST ! SERVICE

To reply  to a request  of this form the name server  must  provide  the
internet  address  (net and host),  the protocol  number,  and the  port
number.

    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                            |
    |  NAME  | LENGTH |                NAME STRING                 |
    |        |        |                                            |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+---\\---+
    |        |        |                                   |
    | ADDRESS| LENGTH |         INTERNET ADDRESS          |
    |        |        |                                   |
    +--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------+
    |        |        |        |
    |PROTOCOL|       PORT      |
    |        |        |        |
    +--------+--------+--------+

Examples:

  1)

    request:

      !ARPA!ISIA!TELNET

    response:

      !ARPA!ISIA!TELNET  10 1 0 22 6 0 23

  2)

    request:

      !ARPA!*!NAME-SERVER

    response:

      !ARPA!SRI-KL!NAME-SERVER  10 1 0 2 17 42









[page 8]                                                          Postel


August 1979
IEN 116                                             Internet Name Server
References



References
----------

[1]     J. Postel. "Assigned Numbers," IEN 117, USC/Information Sciences
        Institute, August 1979.

[2]     J. Postel.  "User Datagram  Protocol,"  IEN 88,  USC/Information
        Sciences Institute, May 1979.

[3]     J. Postel.   "Internet   Protocol,"   IEN 111,   USC/Information
        Sciences Institute, August 1979.

[4]     J. Pickens, E. Feinler, and J. Mathis. "The NIC Name Server -- A
        Datagram  Based Information  Utility," Proceedings of the Fourth
        Berkeley  Conference on Distributed Data Management and Computer
        Networks, pp. 275-283, August 1979.



Acknowledgments
---------------

John Pickens contributed the ideas for the Extended Name Server.


























Postel                                                          [page 9]

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