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From: DDN Reference <NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA>
Subject: DDN Newsletter # 38
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======================================================================
DDN NEWS 38 DCA DDN Program Mgt Office
8 Mar 85 Published by: Network Info Center
(NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA) 1-800-235-3155
DEFENSE DATA NETWORK
NEWSLETTER
Maximum Distribution Requested. The DDN NEWSLETTER is distributed by
the Network Information Center under DCA contract. For addition to
the online mailing list, contact NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA. Back issues may be
obtained by FTP from the directory DDN-NEWS: at SRI-NIC [26.0.0.73 and
10.0.0.51] using the filename format DDN-NEWS:DDN-NEWS-xx.TXT (where
"xx" is the newsletter number.)
======================================================================
Topic: NETWORK PROTOCOLS - WHAT THEY ARE AND HOW TO FIND THEM
1. 2ND EDITION TCP/IP IMPLEMENTATIONS AND VENDORS GUIDE
AVAILABLE
2. X.25 COMPATIBLE INTERFACE PRODUCTS ON THE WAY
FOR POPULAR MAINFRAMES
3. DDN X.25 PROTOCOL ONLINE AT THE NIC
4. RFCS--A FORUM FOR PROTOCOL DISCUSSION
5. OFFICIAL LIST OF ARPANET PROTOCOLS AVAILABLE
AS RFC 924
6. IENS MERGED WITH RFCS
7. OFFICIAL DOD STANDARDS AVAILABLE FROM NAV PUBS
8. IEEE SPECIAL ISSUE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS
JUST ISSUED
9. CCITT X.400 MESSAGE HANDLING PROTOCOL NOW IN PRINT
10. QUESTIONS FROM THE DDN "HOTLINE" AT THE NIC
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Introduction
Most of you are aware that protocols are rules used to control data
transfer in a computer communications system. Some of you may not be
aware of the process by which proposal ideas develop into network
protocols. We hope that this newsletter gives you an overview of this
process and indicates how to find copies of network protocols. The
NIC welcomes comments and suggestions for this and future newsletter
topics.
*******************************
1. 2ND EDITION TCP/IP IMPLEMENTATIONS AND VENDORS GUIDE AVAILABLE
The TCP/IP IMPLEMENTATIONS AND VENDORS GUIDE has just been updated
and is available from the NIC. This document lists hardware and
software products which implement or are compatible with the TCP and
IP protocols in use on the DDN. Each entry describes the operating
system with which the product or implementation is compatible, the
language in which it is written and the features provided. Contacts
are listed for further information about obtaining public-domain
software or purchasing a product.
The document has been reorganized into two major divisions,
hardware products and software products. Within each division, the
material is arranged in alpha order by manufacturer.
Some new additions to the list are Spartacus products, including
the KNET PC which implements the network standard protocols for
certain microcomputers, and the IBM PC. Six products contained in the
guide indicate that they are DDN X.25 compatible, as well as compatible
with TCP and IP. This reflects the January 1984 decision by DDN that
all new systems must be compatible with DDN X.25.
Inclusion of a vendor's product in this guide does not mean that a
vendor has obtained this code; nor does it imply endorsement by the
NIC or the DDN PMO. The guide is for information purposes only. It is
available online on the SRI-NIC machine in the file named
NETINFO:TCP-IP-IMPLEMENTATIONS.TXT and may be FTP'd by online users.
A hardcopy is also available from the NIC. Call 1-800-235-3155 to
obtain a copy or send an online request to NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA.
**********************************
2. X.25 COMPATIBLE INTERFACE PRODUCTS ON THE WAY FOR POPULAR MAINFRAMES
DDN has contracted with 5 major companies to produce TCP/IP
interfaces. These are the companies and products:
Company Hardware Operating System
******* ******** ****************
CDC Cyber 170/xxx NOS
Gould Software VAX 11/xxx VAX/VMS
Honeywell LEVEL 6, DPS 6 GCOS 6 MOD 400
Network Solutions IBM370,303x,43xx,308x MVS
Internet Systems Sperry 1100/xx OSD/1100
Contracts are being processed as well for the Honeywell DPS8
GCOS8 operating system, the IBM 370 VM system and for the DEC PDP 11
RSX-11M system.
The RFP included the following requirements: 1) Each product must
include the DoD standard for TCP and IP and the ARPANET application
tools of TELNET, FTP and SMTP; 2) the TELNET application is required
to support asynchronous terminals; 3) the product must implement the
ARPANET network access protocols or DDN X.25.
**********************************
3. DDN X.25 PROTOCOL ONLINE AT THE NIC
The NIC has the DDN X.25 Specification online in the file
NETINFO:X25.DOC
This document describes the specific options and features of
CCITT Recommendation X.25 (1980) and the Federal Information
Processing Standard (FIPS) 100/Federal Standard (Fed. Std.) 1041 (July
1983) required of a host X.25 implementation to enable that host to
communicate with a DDN X.25 Interface Message Processor ("IMP"). The
document describes the X.25 interface as it pertains to the DDN. In
several areas where X.25 allows a choice, a single choice appropriate
for DDN is specified; in areas which X.25 leaves unspecified,
(addressing in particular), conventions are specified that are
consistent with the overall architecture of DDN and its
interoperability goals. A copy of the FIPS 100/Fed. Std. 1041 is
attached as Appendix C in this online document.
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4. RFCs--A FORUM FOR PROTOCOL DISCUSSION
A proposal for a new protocol often begins as an RFC (Request For
Comments), a document submitted to the network community for the
purpose of wide dissemination and discussion. RFCs are maintained
online on the SRI-NIC machine, in the directory RFC: with pathnames
RFC:RFCnnn.txt, where "nnn" equals the RFC number. An RFC may
eventually become an official ARPANET standard, and, after appropriate
review, a DoD standard to be implemented netwide on the DDN. On the
other hand, it may remain just an idea or a suggestion which may or
may not develop into a full blown protocol. If you are interested in
the development of protocols you may wish to be on distribution for
announcements of new RFCs. To be added to the online distribution
list, send a message to NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA. If an RFC is not very long,
we can also send it to you in a mail message. 38 RFCs have been
issued since June of last year. Those of you without FTP capability
may request hardcopies from NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA.
********************************
5. OFFICIAL LIST OF ARPANET PROTOCOLS NOW AVAILABLE AS RFC 924
RFC 924 contains the most recent review of RFCs that have been
adopted by the Internet community as official ARPANET protocols. This
file may be FTP'd from the NIC machine, SRI-NIC, with the filename
RFC:RFC924.TXT
Entitled "Official ARPA-Internet Protocols", this RFC was released in
October of 1984 by Jon Postel. It updates the last status report
which was RFC 901 and contains the official ARPANET Protocols
organized by level of network function, e.g., network, host or
application level.
************************************
6. IENS MERGED WITH RFCS
The Internet Experimental Notes, IENs, are no longer being issued
as a separate technical note series. Instead, items which used to be
issued as IENs will now be issued as RFCs. This consolidation will
bring the technical notes into one place, thus making them easier for
users to find. All IENs are still available from SRI-NIC. They cover
a time span from 1977 to 1982, during which time, 209 IENs were issued.
************************************
7. OFFICIAL DOD STANDARDS AVAILABLE FROM NAV PUBS
Protocols that have been adopted as official DoD standards are
issued as MIL STDs. Below is a list of network protocols now
available as official MIL STDs. We have included a table of
corresponding RFCs. Please note that the MIL STDs are the official
DoD versions and are the ones that should be used for implementation
on the DDN. The RFC versions may differ slightly and are more
descriptive in nature.
MILSTD/RFC NUMBER CHART
-----------------------
Protocol Name MILSTD. No. RFC No.
------------- ----------- -------
Internet Protocol (IP) MIL-STD-1777 791, 814-817
Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) MIL-STD-1778 813-814, 816-17
879, 889, 896
File Transfer Protocol (FTP) MIL-STD-1780 678, 765
Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (SMTP) MIL-STD-1781 821, 822
Telnet Protocol and Options (TELNET) MIL-STD-1782 854
Military standards may be ordered from
Naval Publication and Forms Center, Code 3015
5801 Tabor Ave.
Philadelphia, PA 19120
215-697-3321
************************************
8. IEEE SPECIAL ISSUE ON TELECOMMUNICATIONS STANDARDS JUST PUBLISHED
To learn more about the review process for protocols and military
standards, we recommend the article "The Development of Communication
Standards in the DoD" written by Philip S. Selvaggi of the Defense
Communications Engineering Center (DCEC). This article appears in
IEEE Communications Magazine, Vol. 23 No. 1, (Jan. 1985). The article
gives a detailed overview of procedures in the military standards-
making process. Also included in the issue are articles on CCITT,
ISO, IEC, and other standards bodies. It is an excellent review of
the U.S. and international protocol standardization process.
********************************
9. CCITT X.400 MESSAGE HANDLING PROTOCOL NOW IN PRINT
Many of you will be interested to know that the CCITT X.400
Message Handling Systems protocol is now available in print. Copies
of this standard, which includes eight parts, may be ordered as Data
Communication Networks X.400-X.430, ISBN 92-61-02361-4. It is Vol.
VIII.7 of the CCITT RED BOOK, Malaga-Torre Molinos 1984, is 270 pages,
and costs $36.00.
Please note that this is NOT an official DoD protocol; however,
many people are interested in its functionality. To order from the
source, send your request to:
International Telecommunication Union
General Secretariat - Sales Section
Place des Nations / CH - 1211 GENEVA 20
SWITZERLAND
Alternately, it is available from
Omnicom, Incorporated
501 Church St., NE. Suite 206
Vienna, VA 22180 USA
TEL: 703-281-1135
TELEX: 904059 WSH
*********************************
10. QUESTIONS FROM THE DDN "HOTLINE" AT THE NIC
How do I get a list of all the RFCs?
All protocols are listed in a file entitled RFC:RFC-INDEX.TXT
by date, author, number and title. If you FTP the file to
your site, you could do a search on the term 'gateways'
to find which RFCs apply to this subject and then FTP those
specific RFCs to your facility. Or you could choose to order
them in hardcopy from the NIC by sending your request to
NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA or calling the NIC hotline number,
1-800-235-3155.
How do I get on the RFC distribution list?
To receive online announcements of new RFCs as they become
available send a message to NIC@SRI-NIC.ARPA. User mailbox
addresses are added to the distribution list as requests are
received. Announcements of new RFCs are mailed to the
distribution list and include a brief summary of the topic.
How do I get on an online distribution list for the discussion of TCP
and IP protocol standards and products?
To join an online exchange among TCP developers and maintainers,
send requests to be added to the TCP-IP mailing list to
TCP-IP-REQUEST@SRI-NIC.ARPA. TCP-IP is an unmoderated,
unedited mailing list and you will receive all messages at the
time contributors mail them.
How do I find RFCs on gateways?
The latest protocols issued on the gateway implementation are
RFC904 and RFC911. Check the RFC Index for other related
protocols.
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