1 Network Working Group K. Harrenstien (SRI)
2 Request for Comments: 952 M. Stahl (SRI)
4 Obsoletes: RFC 810, 608 October 1985
6 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
11 This RFC is the official specification of the format of the Internet
12 Host Table. This edition of the specification includes minor
13 revisions to RFC-810 which brings it up to date. Distribution of this
18 The DoD Host Table is utilized by the DoD Hostname Server maintained
19 by the DDN Network Information Center (NIC) on behalf of the Defense
20 Communications Agency (DCA) [See RFC-953].
22 LOCATION OF THE STANDARD DOD ONLINE HOST TABLE
24 A machine-translatable ASCII text version of the DoD Host Table is
25 online in the file NETINFO:HOSTS.TXT on the SRI-NIC host. It can be
26 obtained via FTP from your local host by connecting to host
27 SRI-NIC.ARPA (26.0.0.73 or 10.0.0.51), logging in as user =
28 ANONYMOUS, password = GUEST, and retrieving the file
29 "NETINFO:HOSTS.TXT". The same table may also be obtained via the NIC
30 Hostname Server, as described in RFC-953. The latter method is
31 faster and easier, but requires a user program to make the necessary
32 connection to the Name Server.
36 1. A "name" (Net, Host, Gateway, or Domain name) is a text string up
37 to 24 characters drawn from the alphabet (A-Z), digits (0-9), minus
38 sign (-), and period (.). Note that periods are only allowed when
39 they serve to delimit components of "domain style names". (See
40 RFC-921, "Domain Name System Implementation Schedule", for
41 background). No blank or space characters are permitted as part of a
42 name. No distinction is made between upper and lower case. The first
43 character must be an alpha character. The last character must not be
44 a minus sign or period. A host which serves as a GATEWAY should have
45 "-GATEWAY" or "-GW" as part of its name. Hosts which do not serve as
46 Internet gateways should not use "-GATEWAY" and "-GW" as part of
47 their names. A host which is a TAC should have "-TAC" as the last
48 part of its host name, if it is a DoD host. Single character names
49 or nicknames are not allowed.
51 2. Internet Addresses are 32-bit addresses [See RFC-796]. In the
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59 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
62 host table described herein each address is represented by four
63 decimal numbers separated by a period. Each decimal number
66 3. If the first bit of the first octet of the address is 0 (zero),
67 then the next 7 bits of the first octet indicate the network number
68 (Class A Address). If the first two bits are 1,0 (one,zero), then
69 the next 14 bits define the net number (Class B Address). If the
70 first 3 bits are 1,1,0 (one,one,zero), then the next 21 bits define
71 the net number (Class C Address) [See RFC-943].
73 This is depicted in the following diagram:
75 +-+------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
76 |0| NET <-7-> | LOCAL ADDRESS <-24-> |
77 +-+------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
79 +---+----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
80 |1 0| NET <-14-> | LOCAL ADDRESS <-16-> |
81 +---+----------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
83 +-----+--------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
84 |1 1 0| NET <-21-> | LOCAL ADDRESS|
85 +-----+--------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
87 4. The LOCAL ADDRESS portion of the internet address identifies a
88 host within the network specified by the NET portion of the address.
90 5. The ARPANET and MILNET are both Class A networks. The NET portion
91 is 10 decimal for ARPANET, 26 decimal for MILNET, and the LOCAL
92 ADDRESS maps as follows: the second octet identifies the physical
93 host, the third octet identifies the logical host, and the fourth
94 identifies the Packet Switching Node (PSN), formerly known as an
95 Interface Message Processor (IMP).
97 +-+------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
98 |0| 10 or 26 | HOST | LOGICAL HOST | PSN (IMP) |
99 +-+------------+--------------+--------------+--------------+
101 (NOTE: RFC-796 also describes the local address mappings for
102 several other networks.)
104 6. It is the responsibility of the users of this host table to
105 translate it into whatever format is needed for their purposes.
107 7. Names and addresses for DoD hosts and gateways will be negotiated
108 and registered with the DDN PMO, and subsequently with the NIC,
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116 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
119 before being used and before traffic is passed by a DoD host. Names
120 and addresses for domains and networks are to be registered with the
121 DDN Network Information Center (HOSTMASTER@SRI-NIC.ARPA) or
124 The NIC will attempt to keep similar information for non-DoD networks
125 and hosts, if this information is provided, and as long as it is
126 needed, i.e., until intercommunicating network name servers are in
129 EXAMPLE OF HOST TABLE FORMAT
131 NET : 10.0.0.0 : ARPANET :
132 NET : 128.10.0.0 : PURDUE-CS-NET :
133 GATEWAY : 10.0.0.77, 18.10.0.4 : MIT-GW.ARPA,MIT-GATEWAY : PDP-11 :
135 HOST : 26.0.0.73, 10.0.0.51 : SRI-NIC.ARPA,SRI-NIC,NIC : DEC-2060 :
136 TOPS20 :TCP/TELNET,TCP/SMTP,TCP/TIME,TCP/FTP,TCP/ECHO,ICMP :
137 HOST : 10.2.0.11 : SU-TAC.ARPA,SU-TAC : C/30 : TAC : TCP :
139 SYNTAX AND CONVENTIONS
141 ; (semicolon) is used to denote the beginning of a comment.
142 Any text on a given line following a ';' is a
143 comment, and not part of the host table.
145 NET keyword introducing a network entry
147 GATEWAY keyword introducing a gateway entry
149 HOST keyword introducing a host entry
151 DOMAIN keyword introducing a domain entry
153 :(colon) is used as a field delimiter
155 ::(2 colons) indicates a null field
157 ,(comma) is used as a data element delimiter
159 XXX/YYY indicates protocol information of the type
162 where TRANSPORT/SERVICE options are specified as
164 "FOO/BAR" both transport and service known
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173 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
176 "FOO" transport known; services not known
178 "BAR" service is known, transport not known
180 NOTE: See "Assigned Numbers" for specific options and acronyms
181 for machine types, operating systems, and protocol/services.
183 Each host table entry is an ASCII text string comprised of 6 fields,
186 Field 1 KEYWORD indicating whether this entry pertains to
187 a NET, GATEWAY, HOST, or DOMAIN. NET entries are
188 assigned and cannot have alternate addresses or
189 nicknames. DOMAIN entries do not use fields 4, 5,
192 Field 2 Internet Address of Network, Gateway, or Host
193 followed by alternate addresses. Addresses for a
194 Domain are those where a Domain Name Server exists
197 Field 3 Official Name of Network, Gateway, Host, or Domain
198 (with optional nicknames, where permitted).
202 Field 5 Operating System
204 Field 6 Protocol List
206 Fields 4, 5 and 6 are optional. For a Domain they are not used.
208 Fields 3-6, if included, pertain to the first address in Field 2.
210 'Blanks' (spaces and tabs) are ignored between data elements or
211 fields, but are disallowed within a data element.
213 Each entry ends with a colon.
215 The entries in the table are grouped by types in the order Domain,
216 Net, Gateway, and Host. Within each type the ordering is
219 Note that although optional nicknames are allowed for hosts, they are
220 discouraged, except in the case where host names have been changed
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230 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
233 and both the new and the old names are maintained for a suitable
234 period of time to effect a smooth transition. Nicknames are not
235 permitted for NET names.
237 GRAMMATICAL HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
241 <entry> ::= <keyword> ":" <addresses> ":" <names> [":" [<cputype>]
242 [":" [<opsys>] [":" [<protocol list>] ]]] ":"
243 <addresses> ::= <address> *["," <address>]
244 <address> ::= <octet> "." <octet> "." <octet> "." <octet>
245 <octet> ::= <0 to 255 decimal>
246 <names> ::= <netname> | <gatename> | <domainname> *[","
248 | <official hostname> *["," <nicknames>]
250 <gatename> ::= <hname>
251 <domainname> ::= <hname>
252 <official hostname> ::= <hname>
253 <nickname> ::= <hname>
254 <protocol list> ::= <protocol spec> *["," <protocol spec>]
255 <protocol spec> ::= <transport name> "/" <service name>
256 | <raw protocol name>
260 <entry-field> ::= <entry-text> [<cr><lf> <blank> <entry-field>]
261 <entry-text> ::= <print-char> *<text>
262 <blank> ::= <space-or-tab> [<blank>]
263 <keyword> ::= NET | GATEWAY | HOST | DOMAIN
264 <hname> ::= <name>*["."<name>]
265 <name> ::= <let>[*[<let-or-digit-or-hyphen>]<let-or-digit>]
266 <cputype> ::= PDP-11/70 | DEC-1080 | C/30 | CDC-6400...etc.
267 <opsys> ::= ITS | MULTICS | TOPS20 | UNIX...etc.
268 <transport name> ::= TCP | NCP | UDP | IP...etc.
269 <service name> ::= TELNET | FTP | SMTP | MTP...etc.
270 <raw protocol name> ::= <name>
271 <comment> ::= ";" <text><cr><lf>
272 <text> ::= *[<print-char> | <blank>]
273 <print-char> ::= <any printing char (not space or tab)>
277 1. Zero or more 'blanks' between separators " , : " are allowed.
278 'Blanks' are spaces and tabs.
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287 DOD INTERNET HOST TABLE SPECIFICATION
290 2. Continuation lines are lines that begin with at least one
291 blank. They may be used anywhere 'blanks' are legal to split an
296 1. Feinler, E., Harrenstien, K., Su, Z. and White, V., "Official DoD
297 Internet Host Table Specification", RFC-810, Network Information
298 Center, SRI International, March 1982.
300 2. Harrenstien, K., Stahl, M., and Feinler, E., "Hostname Server",
301 RFC-953, Network Information Center, SRI International, October
304 3. Kudlick, M. "Host Names Online", RFC-608, Network Information
305 Center, SRI International, January 1973.
307 4. Postel, J., "Internet Protocol", RFC-791, Information Sciences
308 Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey,
311 5. Postel, J., "Address Mappings", RFC-796, Information Sciences
312 Institute, University of Southern California, Marina del Rey,
315 6. Postel, J., "Domain Name System Implementation Schedule", RFC-921,
316 Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California,
317 Marina del Rey, October 1984.
319 7. Reynolds, J. and Postel, J., "Assigned Numbers", RFC-943,
320 Information Sciences Institute, University of Southern California,
321 Marina del Rey, April 1985.
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