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- From: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU (Gene Spafford)
- Newsgroups: news.admin,news.announce.newusers,news.answers
- Subject: How to Get Information about Networks
- Message-ID: <spaf-networks_719471722@cs.purdue.edu>
- Date: 19 Oct 92 05:15:23 GMT
- Expires: 18 Dec 92 17:15:22 GMT
- Reply-To: randall@uvaarpa.virginia.edu
- Followup-To: news.admin
- Organization: Dept. of Computer Sciences, Purdue Univ.
- Lines: 106
- Approved: spaf@cs.purdue.EDU
- Supersedes: <spaf-networks_716962666@cs.purdue.edu>
-
- Archive-name: network-info/part1
- Original-author: Randall Atkinson <randall@uvaarpa.virginia.edu>
- Last-change: 5 May 1992 by spaf@cs.purdue.edu (Gene Spafford)
-
- This is a periodic posting on how to get information about the
- Internet and how to get information about connecting to the (US)
- National Science Foundation's NSFNET through an NSF-affiliated
- regional network, or to get commercial Internet service through a
- commercial service provider.
-
- I. The NSFNET Network Service Center (NNSC) makes current documentation
- on the NSFNET available via a mail server and by anonymous ftp.
-
- Because the contents of the documents are constantly being updated,
- this posting only describes how to obtain a current copy rather than
- providing the data directly.
-
- Using the mail server: Send mail to the address shown below
- (nnsc.nsf.net) and leave the "Subject;" line blank.
- The first line of the message body should contain a "Request:"
- line, followed by a "Topic:" line, as described below. You do not
- need a "Subject:" line, but be sure your mailer puts out a valid
- "From:" line that the server can respond to!
-
- To obtain current contact information on the NSFNET and its affiliated
- regional networks, send the following mail message to the mail-server:
- "info-server@nnsc.nsf.net":
-
- Request: NSFNET
- Topic: NNSC
-
- To obtain information on how to connect to the Internet through the
- NSFNET or an NSF-affiliated network, send the following mail message
- to the mail-server "info-server@nnsc.nsf.net":
-
- Request: NSFNET
- Topic: CONNECTING
-
- To obtain information on the documents currently available on the
- NSFNET from the info-server, send the following mail message to the
- mail server "info-server@nnsc.nsf.net":
-
- Request: NSFNET
- Topic: NSFNET-HELP
-
-
- If you need to contact the people at the NNSC directly, you can either
- send mail or call them. It would be a good idea to read the NSFNET
- documents first though.
-
- Electronic Mail: <nnsc@nnsc.nsf.net>
- Telephone: +1 (617) 873-3400.
-
- II. General Internet information documents are available from the
- DDN Network Information Center (which is part of the Internet).
- There are several "For Your Information (FYI)" documents
- published as part of the Internet "Request For Comments (RFC)"
- series of documents. These can be helpful in getting a better
- understanding of the Internet and its services and organization.
- Experienced, novice, and would-be Internet users can all benefit
- from reading these documents.
-
- Included among these are:
-
- RFC-1208 Glossary of Networking Terms
- RFC-1207 FYI: Answers to commonly asked "experienced Internet user" questions
- RFC-1206 FYI: Answers to commonly asked "new Internet user" questions
- RFC-1178 Choosing a Name for your Computer
- RFC-1150 FYI on FYI: Introduction to the FYI notes
-
- These RFCs can be obtained by anonymous ftp from nic.ddn.mil or via
- email server from nisc.sri.com. To use the RFC email server, send
- an email message to mail-server@nisc.sri.com with the subject line
- blank and the message body indicating the RFC desired. The NIC
- service will email the requested RFC back to you.
-
- For example, to get a copy of RFC-1208 send an email message to
- mail-server@nisc.sri.com with no subject line, and a message body
- containing:
-
- send rfc/RFC1208.txt
-
-
- III. The Internet is composed of many networks, not just those
- sponsored or affiliated with the US Government. There are also
- commercial Internet service providers. Commercial firms that might
- not meet requirements for connecting to a US Government-related
- network can still connect to the TCP/IP Internet via commercial
- service providers not affiliated with the NSFNET or the DDN
- Internet:
-
- UUNET Communications Services (UUNET)
- alternet-info@uunet.uu.net
-
- Performance Systems, Inc. (PSI)
- nisc@nisc.psi.net
-
- You should contact them directly to obtain more information about
- their services. Nothing in this posting is intended or should be construed as
- an endorsement of any commercial service or commercial firm.
-
- --
- Gene Spafford
- Software Engineering Research Center & Dept. of Computer Sciences
- Purdue University, W. Lafayette IN 47907-1398
- Internet: spaf@cs.purdue.edu phone: (317) 494-7825
-