NIC.DDN.MIL - DDN Network Information Center _A_d_d_r_e_s_s: DDN Network Information Center Suite 200 14200 Park Meadow Drive Chantilly, VA 22021 _E_m_a_i_l: NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL (for general user questions) _P_h_o_n_e: 1-800-365-DNIC (703) 802-4535 FAX: (703) 802-8376 _D_e_s_c_r_i_p_t_i_o_n The Network Information Center (NIC) is located in Chan- tilly, VA, and is managed by Network Solutions of Herndon, VA (as sub-contractors to Government Services, Inc.) The NIC host computer is a SUN 470 which runs the SUN 4.2 operating System. The NICs hostname is NIC.DDN.MIL and its Internet address is 192.112.36.5. The NIC provides general user ser- vices via telephone, electronic mail, and U.S. postal mail. The NIC operates a toll free telephone service Monday through Friday from 7AM to 7PM Eastern Standard Time. In addition to the telephone service, the NIC maintains several role mail boxes to answer user questions via E-mail. The telephone numbers and mail boxes are listed below: Toll-Free: 1-800-365-3642 International: 1-703-802-4535 NIC's Role Mailbox Accounts: NIC@NIC.DDN.MIL General user assistance, document requests REGISTRAR@NIC.DDN.MIL User registration and whois updates HOSTMASTER@NIC.DDN.MIL Host, domain, network changes and updates _________________________ The information in this section is provided in accor- dance with the copyright notice appearing at the front of this guide. July 8, 1992 NNSC Section 6.2, Page 1 ACTION@NIC.DDN.MIL NIC Computer Operations SUGGESTIONS@NIC.DDN.MIL Comments on NIC Services SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL Automatic mail service SCC@NIC.DDN.MIL General Security related informa- tion and support The NIC works closely with network Host Administrators, Node Site Coordinators, domain administrators, network coordina- tors, network protocol groups, vendors, contractors, govern- ment agencies, and military sponsors to assist new users and potential subscribers in obtaining pertinent network infor- mation. The NIC provides databases and information servers of interest to network users, including the WHOIS "white pages" registry, the NIC/Query browsing system, TACNEWS, and the official DoD Host Name Service. The NIC is the source for official DDN protocol documents (other than the MIL-STDs), as well as other DDN documents, and maintains the RFC (Request for Comments) collection. Many of the online files are available through the NIC's automatic mail service, SERVICE@NIC.DDN.MIL. The NIC registers hosts and domains, assigns IP network numbers and Autonomous System Numbers, and provides hostname translation tables and domain name system server files to the DDN Internet. The NIC also registers network users and issues MILNET TAC access cards. ONLINE FILES The NIC maintains many online files that are available to network subscribers via the file transfer protocol (FTP) or Kermit. These files contain information about protocols, site personnel, hosts, and other subjects relevant to net- work users. See the file netinfo/00netinfo-index.txt for an index to the files in the netinfo directory. See also the DDN New User Guide or contact the NIC User Assistance ser- vice for more information. Other publicly accessible direc- tories include PROTOCOLS, RFC, IEN, SCC, and DDN-NEWS. Each of these directories has an index in the format 00directory-index.txt or directory-index.txt in order to allow users to quickly identify the files they need. REGISTRATION SERVICES The NIC is responsible for the registration of users, hosts, July 8, 1992 NNSC Section 6.2, Page 2 domains, IP network numbers, and autonomous systems numbers (ASNs) for organizations connected to the DDN Internet. To register a new user with the NIC, send a request to registrar@nic.ddn.mil, the NIC's role mailbox for user registrations. The template for user registration data can be found in the online file netinfo/user-template.txt. The NIC registers users from the Military Community, primarily by accepting and processing templates from MILNET host administrators. These requests often involve TAC Access-- i.e., dialup access to a MILNET host via a Terminal Access Controller. The NIC issues and distributes TAC Access Cards to users who require the service. In general, the NIC registers users from the Internet community only if they are POCs for a domain or a network. To include a new host in the DDN Internet Host Table, an administrator must complete the template found in netinfo/ihost-template.txt file and return it to HOSTMASTER@NIC.DDN.MIL. To be included in the Host Table, a host must act as a domain or IN-ADDR server, be a gateway, or be essential for mail routing. Twice weekly, host information is generated into the DDN Internet Host Table as netinfo/hosts.txt, which is a listing of the hosts, gateways, and networks attached to the Inter- net and registered with the NIC. From this file, two addi- tional files are generated: hosts.txt.Z, a UNIX compressed version of the hosts.txt file; and mil-hosts.txt, a complete listing of MILNET hosts from the hosts.txt file. Domains are registered via the domain template found in the NIC online file netinfo/domain-template.txt. New domain information is installed in the seven DNS root servers twice weekly. Information on the root servers is kept in netinfo/root-servers.txt. The domains registered with the NIC are listed in netinfo/domain-info.txt. A listing of the netaddresses of the domain servers for individual top-level domains can be found in netinfo/domains.txt. To obtain an IP network number assignment, a network POC must complete the template in netinfo/internet-number- template.txt and returns the template to HOSTMASTER. The file netinfo/networks.txt contains a complete list of government-sponsored networks. Address-to-hostname inverse resolution is accomplished via IN-ADDR domains, which are registered in the domain root July 8, 1992 NNSC Section 6.2, Page 3 servers via an IN-ADDR template sent to the HOSTMASTER mail- box. This template is located in the file netinfo/inaddr- template.txt. To obtain an autonomous system numbers (ASNs) assignment, a user must complete the template found in netinfo/asn- template.txt and submit it to HOSTMASTER@NIC.DDN.MIL. Assigned ASNs are listed in netinfo/asn.txt. POC information on individuals who are not already registered with the NIC is extracted from domain, network, and ASN templates and automatically placed in the WHOIS database. _W_h_o _C_a_n _U_s_e _t_h_e _R_e_s_o_u_r_c_e Anyone who is connected to the Internet can use the NIC's WHOIS services or obtain its public netinfo files via FTP. _M_i_s_c_e_l_l_a_n_e_o_u_s The NIC maintains various mailing lists. Information can be obtained from its User Assistance personnel as described above. _S_u_p_p_l_e_m_e_n_t_a_r_y _D_o_c_u_m_e_n_t_s _o_n _n_n_s_c._n_s_f._n_e_t WHAT-THE-NIC-DOES.TXT available in the netinfo directory. References Available on the Internet: The NIC has Requests For Comment (RFCs), Internet Engineer- ing Notes (IENs), For Your Information (FYI) documents, and other miscellaneous network resource and reference files available in its netinfo, rfc, and ien directories. July 8, 1992 NNSC Section 6.2, Page 4