__________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ ---------------------------------------------------------- FROM THE EDITOR by Hope Glass, Information & Education Services _________________________________________________________________ >From the Editor Why is there a shopping cart on the front cover of this month's edition of the InterNIC News? Starting this month, registration customers wanting to establish a secure website have access to "one-stop" shopping for both domain name registration and VeriSign Digital Server IDs. Read From Domain Name To Digital ID to see how VeriSign's Digital IDs are enabling companies to communicate securely with their business customers. Referral Whois (RWhois) is a directory services tool developed by Network Solutions that has the support of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Now see why Microsoft is teaming up with Network Solutions to develop other strategic Internet business tools. RWhois, Network Solutions, and Microsoft will help you separate the wheat from the chaff. Last month the InterNIC News ran A Domain Name is Born, our first article in a series exploring the domain name registration process. This month's article, The A, B, T's of Contacts will assist the Registrant in understanding the importance of administrative, billing, and technical contacts in the domain name registration process. The first domain name was registered in January of 1985. In March of 1997, Rebecca and Steven LaBlance, the owners of Bonny View Cottage Furniture in Petoskey, MI, registered bonnyview.com, the one millionth active domain name! Network Solutions, global registrar for .com, .org, .net, .edu, and . gov, was pleased and excited to be a part of this milestone in the history of the Internet. Given the rate at which the Internet is growing, it's anyone's guess as to when we will reach the next one million. Attention domain name holders! Our billing fax number has recently changed to 703-318-9125. This new fax number should be used for all billing-related issues. Domain name registration requests should be sent to (703) 742-9552. Warm Regards, InterNIC News _________________________________________________________________ INTERNIC NEWS _________________________________________________________________ March 1997 - Volume 2, Issue 3 FEATURE ARTICLES: From Domain Name to Digital ID: Network Solutions and Verisign Streamline Path to Secure Transactions Rwhois, Network Solutions & Microsoft(r) The A,B,T's of Contacts One Million Names and Counting... REGULAR ARTICLES: Calendar of Events What's in a Name? A Graphical Look at Registration Information End User's Corner - Anatomy of a Scout Report: Resource Discovery in Information Age, or How We Do It. The 15 Minute Series UPDATE - The latest modules, feedback, and FAQs on the 15 Minute Series Performance Measures: Stats for the most recent month EDITORIAL SECTIONS: User Feedback - Tell us what you'd like to see in the InterNIC News Letters to the Editor Meet the News Staff InterNIC News Awards and Recognition Copyright Notice and Disclaimer Other ways to receive the InterNIC News _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ ----------------------FEATURE ARTICLE--------------------- FROM DOMAIN NAME TO DIGITAL ID: NETWORK SOLUTIONS AND VERISIGN STREAMLINE PATH TO SECURE TRANSACTIONS by Mary Anderson, Director of Channel Marketing for VeriSign Inc. _________________________________________________________________ Taking appropriate security measures is a genuine concern for end users and organizations on the Internet, but figuring out what type and level of security is needed - and how to acquire it - sometimes presents the biggest challenge. Network Solutions, Inc., the company who operates the InterNIC Registration Services, and VeriSign, Inc. have teamed up to make the path to secure Internet transactions much easier. Beginning this month, Network Solutions' customers wanting to establish a secure web site have access to "one-stop shopping" for both domain name registration and a VeriSign server Digital IDSM. VeriSign Digital IDs are an important piece of the security infrastructure; they provide a trusted means of identifying each party involved in transactions or communications on the Internet. In fact, many industry web servers, including servers from Microsoft, Netscape and other leading vendors, are already enabled to support digital authentication. And with this one-stop shopping, related security features such as Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) are easier to activate. Domain name registrants will have the option of enrolling for a secure server Digital ID from VeriSign as part of the domain name registration process. After using any of the web-based domain name registration forms, customers will be presented with the opportunity to enroll for a server Digital ID. Network Solutions' web-based interface is easy to read and understand. Because VeriSign and Network Solutions use much of the same information, they are able to simplify the enrollment process. The information you provide on your domain name registration template can be used to complete the enrollment form - no need to enter it twice. If you choose not to enroll for a server Digital ID when you register your domain name, you still will be able to enjoy the same convenience at a later date. Simply use the VeriSign Digitial ID enrollment form at the Network Solutions' site, and the information needed for the form will be pulled from Network Solutions' Whois database. With streamlined access to Digital IDs, Network Solutions and VeriSign are taking Internet security and electronic communications to the next level. For a limited time, Network Solutions' customers will be able to benefit from special promotional pricing on server Digital IDs. Details are available at https://srs.internic.net/verisign/. SO, WHAT IS A DIGITAL ID? A Digital ID, generically referred to as a digital certificate, is a cryptographically prepared software file that provides a trusted means of authenticating organizations and individuals at either end of an Internet transaction. Digital IDs are used much in the same way that conventional forms of identification, such as a driver's license, passport, or a subscription card, are used . On the organizational side, businesses also have certain mechanisms for establishing their right to use the business name - a business license, articles of incorporation, etc. All of these provide evidence of the owner's or organization's identity. In the physical world, interactions with people and places are trusted because familiar surroundings and face-to-face encounters are reassuring. For example, physically walking into a store - especially one that has a familiar brand and building, signs, and personnel in uniform - is a very recognizable experience, but the same isn't true on the Internet. How do you know that you are really at a particular site? Or that an individual really is who he claims to be? Electronic forms of identification that represent our relationships in the physical world are essential for trusted commerce and communications on the Internet. HOW IT WORKS. Simply put, a Digital ID contains identification information and a public key. How does it work? The party holding the digital ID also holds a pair of matching keys: a public key and a private key. The public key, as its name implies, is made publicly available to anyone; the private key is kept secret and is known only to its holder. The public key can be used to decrypt messages and verify signatures - provided that the messages and signatures were previously encrypted with the corresponding private key. The public key may also be used to encrypt messages, which can , then be decrypted only with the matching private key. Key Access Purpose Public anyone decrypts messages and verifies signatures previously encrypted with the corresponding private key - or - encrypts messages, which can then only be decrypted by the corresponding private key. Private key holder only encrypts messages, which can then only be decrypted with the corresponding public key - or - decrypts messages previously encrypted with the corresponding public key. The Digital ID binds the identity of its holder to the holder's public key. When used in conjunction with the holder's private key, the digital ID provides assurance of the holder's identity to outside parties. With a digital ID certificate, people using the digital ID holder's public key can be confident that the public key belongs to the digital ID holder, that the holder is indeed who he says he is, that the holder's identity has been verified by a neutral and trusted third party, and that communications with the digital ID/public key holder will be secure. Technically, a digital certificate is a data file that includes the name of the holder and other identification information, such as e-mail address, physical mailing address, or other personal information; the name of the Certification Authority; the certificate's validity period; and its public key. All of this information is digitally 'signed-and-sealed' by VeriSign. AND WHO IS VERISIGN? VeriSign, Inc.'s cetification seal VeriSign's role is to be a neutral and trusted third party that authenticates, issues and manages digital certificates on the Internet. This type of " cyber notary" is called a Certification Authority (CA). As a trusted and established CA, VeriSign bases its business on its technology, infrastructure and practices. * Technology: VeriSign's Digital IDs are technologically advanced, incorporating industry standards including RSA cryptography, the Secure Electronic Transaction (SET) specifications, Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) protocol, and the Secure Mulitpurpose Internet Mail Extensions (S/MIME) protocol. VeriSign has also developed the industry's most advanced technology for digital certificate management - a secure, scalable and automated system for web-based registration, authorization, issuance and lifecycle management of Digital IDs. * Infrastructure: To most effectively provide Digital IDs, VeriSign has established secure operations centers in the United States and Japan. Part of the company's physical infrastructure is its state-of-the-art security systems, reliable networks and call centers. Expert customer service is another important aspect of VeriSign's operations. * Practices: At the core of VeriSign's business is the Certification Practice Statement (CPS) - the industry's first comprehensive and published document that sets the de facto performance standards for CAs. The CPS establishes a legal infrastructure and operating metrics for its trusted position on the Internet. It serves as a guide for end users and businesses in determining the level of trust that can be relied upon in an electronic transaction. WHO USES DIGITAL IDS? VeriSign Digital IDs deliver levels of confidence and ease-of-use to Internet users of all kinds, including individuals, organizations and software publishers. Digital IDs for individuals are typically used for Web browsing, secure e-mail and inter-company communications, access to personal financial information, and online Internet transactions such as subscription-based Internet news services. They reside inside the user's browser or e-mail program providing identification, secure e-mail, and serving as a replacement for passwords as a universal log-on tool. Digital IDs guarantee the identities of their holders so that parties on both ends of a transaction can be assured that the other really is who or what it claims to be. For instance, secure e-mail users can digitally sign and encrypt messages to provide proof of identity, confidentiality, and integrity. Also, VeriSign Digital IDs provide a standard and interoperable form of identification to sites so that users won't need to remember and protect a myriad of login user names and passwords for various web sites and online services. The types of online activities permitted vary with the level of assurance the Digital ID carries - Class 1, 2 or 3. The assurance level varies with the amount of due diligence exercised by VeriSign in investigating the applicant's identity before issuing the Digital ID. * A Class 1 Digital ID ensures the uniqueness of name and e-mail address in VeriSign's database, and provide a way for sites to recognize the person each time they visit. VeriSign must be able to verify that the applicant's e-mail address is genuine in order to issue a Class 1 Digital ID. * A Class 2 Digital ID provides a slightly higher level of assurance: VeriSign checks personal identity information against a commercial credit database, provides e-mail and "mail-back" checks, and performs other proprietary validation procedures in order to issue a Class 2 Digital ID. * A Class 3 Digital ID, which is soon to be publicly available, will require the applicant to personally present appropriate identification documents to a notary public or a VeriSign-approved local registration authority. Server Digital IDs, which are the IDs now available with domain name registration, are used by organizations wanting to authenticate web sites, establish secure sessions and enable vertical applications such as Internet Electronic Data Interchange (EDI). Digital IDs make it possible for a web site to assure visitors of its true identity, enabling users to avoid fraudulent or spoofed web sites. Digital IDs for servers also enable web sites to establish secure sessions with visitors - a private connection over the Internet that cannot be penetrated by external parties. Internet EDI allows customers and suppliers to complete their entire business transaction point-to-point without the hub-and-spoke solution of a closed EDI system. The assurance level of all Digital IDs for servers is equivalent to the individual Class 3. VeriSign ensures the applicant's identity and viability with inquiries to databases maintained by Dun & Bradstreet, Network Solutions (InterNIC) and other trusted information sources, combined with additional proprietary validation procedures. Software publisher Digital IDs are available to organizational and individual software publishers. These Digital IDs provide identification of a software publisher, letting users decide on the trust level they have in the publisher prior to downloading software.Software publisher IDs also provide assurance to end users that the software has not been tampered with, modified, or misrepresented by an impostor. This software publisher Digital ID is embedded in the code users download, and can be viewed prior to the download to verify the software provider's identity and authenticity of the software. VeriSign software publisher Digital IDs provide Class 2 authentication for individuals and Class 3 authentication for organizations. FROM DOMAIN NAME TO DIGITAL ID TO ... When you register your domain name with Network Solutions, you are just a click away from the road to secure electronic transactions. With a domain name and a VeriSign server digital ID, you and your website are ready to do business on the Internet. The combined efforts of Network Solutions and VeriSign make it possible to not only establish your Internet identity - but to establish trust in that identity. Setting up electronic shop has never been easier. _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ ----------------------FEATURE ARTICLE--------------------- RWHOIS, NETWORK SOLUTIONS, AND MICROSOFT by Leslie Meador, Directory Services _________________________________________________________________ Early this February, Network Solutions and Microsoft Corporation announced an agreement to mutually develop tools for Referral Whois RWhois) and the Common Indexing Protocol (CIP). The deal is significant for many reasons: for one, it establishes a working connection between Network Solutions, the leader in domain registrations, and Microsoft, the leader in the software industry. The deal also introduces the world to one of the best Internet directory services protocols developed to date and ensures that Network Solutions' protocol advances the Internet as a whole. "This agreement provides Network Solutions the opportunity to work with the leading developer of software products that focus on ease of use and that provide total solutions to customers who want to use the Internet as a strategic business tool," said Raymond Corson, senior vice president for strategic partnerships at Network Solutions. Internet users will be the first to benefit from this next wave of technology that combines Microsoft's friendly interface with Network Solutions' comprehensive infrastructure of directory and database services. WHAT IS RWHOIS? RWhois allows the most effective Internet searches possible today, and engineers here at Network Solutions designed it. RWhois builds on existing protocols to ensure faster, more effective domain name searches and allocations. It will help users find information on a large number of servers rather than on one, centralized possibly out-of-date When the Internet was still fairly new, information resided on centralized servers, but the rapid expansion of the Internet in the past few years meant an equally rapid expansion in the number of servers used to store information. The size and effort necessary for maintaining all of this data requires an alternate, more decentralized way to store and retrieve it than previously used. Network Solutions created RWhois to help store and search for information throughout this large network of servers. While other protocols access a centralized server, RWhois builds on existing search protocols 500, Whois, Whois++, and LDAP offers more complete searches of information varied servers. HOW DOES RWHOIS WORK? The Internet is made up of information stored on servers around the world. When a user searches for information, a domain name or IP address, for example, the directory service server they use looks for the information on these servers. Some of the servers, however, contain information that has been replicated from the server on which it originated, and the user receives error messages or out-of-date information. Often, the server cannot search other servers and must send back an unanswered query. Network Solutions based its protocol on the ideas that information is more effectively maintained on a system of distributed servers with authority over certain information. If a company or group maintains its own server, they make sure the information is current. For example, if the town of Herndon, Virginia, maintained its own server, they could change a list of the names of people in the town as people moved in or out. If the town of Alexandria, Virginia, maintained the list, they might not know when someone moved in or out of Herndon. In this case, the Herndon server maintains an authority area for Herndon, the area about which it can answer with certainty. This concept of authority areas distinguishes RWhois as a directory service protocol. RWhois associates a server with an authority area and says that that server speaks authoritatively about the data within its authority. The server answers queries within its authority with greater certainty that the information is current and correct. Therefore, when a user looks for information using RWhois, the protocol refers the query, or routes it, from one server to another to find the server with authority over whatever data the user needs. When a user looks for information, RWhois checks a server. If the information is not within the authority area of that server, RWhois routes the query to another server and another until the query gets to the server that has authority for the information. RWhois then either transfers the user to that server or gives the user the URL where that information can be found. By going to the server " closest" to the information, RWhois ensures that the user gets the most accurate data available. WHY USE IT? RWhois allows greater precision of response than current whois tools, and RWhois returns more accurate information. In addition, RWhois ensures that the user receives responses that are most pertinent to their search and does so quickly. RWhois can currently handle twenty queries per second. Also, RWhois is simple to use, and engineers can more easily set up RWhois servers. RWhois servers are also less cumbersome to maintain than servers with other technologies in the directory services field. RWhois allows authorized individuals to add, modify, or delete information more easily and with authority to ensure that data remains as current and accurate as possible. RWhois is also flexible; additional servers can be added as needed to handle more information. WHO WILL USE IT? RWhois simplifies the use of the Internet for a wide range of customers, and has the support of the Internet Engineering Task Force IETF), the group that oversees the way the Internet functions. Because it integrates existing protocols, RWhois can be used on servers throughout the Internet. Major Internet Service Providers (ISPs) have already adopted RWhois to enhance the management of IP address space, and our deal with Microsoft means that Network Solutions will gain the support of many others. Additionally, Network Solutions' protocol underlies other advanced directory services that will benefit all Internet users. Finding information on the Internet gets more and more difficult as the Internet expands, so Network Solutions continues to create helpful search tools. Our services include a yellow pages directory based on established domains and hosting services, which allow organizations to establish a directory service presence without building and maintaining a server. By teaming with Microsoft, Network Solutions ensures even more services to come and continued growth. In the future, users will look to Network Solutions' tools to help them find email addresses, organization names, webpages, and many other vital pieces of information. To learn more about RWhois visit our Web site at http://www.rwhois.net. Microsoft is a Registered trademark of the Microsoft Corporation. _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ ----------------------FEATURE ARTICLE--------------------- THE A,B,T'S OF CONTACTS by Robin Murphy and Hope Glass, Information & Education Services _________________________________________________________________ You are well on your way to establishing yourself as an Internet Presence. You've followed the instructions in last month's article, "A Domain is Born: How Ideas become Addresses at the InterNIC," but you drew a blank when the domain name template asked for "contact" information. Who should you pick as your administrative contact? What should you expect your contacts to know about the domain name process? The individuals or organizations that you, as the Registrant, choose as contacts will represent you on matters related to your domain name. Contacts help ensure that the information on a domain name record is always accurate and up-to-date, that domain name servers are up and running, and that the invoices for domain name registration fees are paid on time. It is a very good idea to choose these individuals or organizations carefully. Failure to do so could result in a number of headaches later: inaccurate information in your domain name's record, problems with DNS operations, or deactivations or deletions for unpaid domain name invoices. At Network Solutions, Inc., the company that operates the Registration Services portion of the InterNIC, we recognize how important it is for our customers to understand the registration process. Toward that end, we offer the following overview to help you understand what a contact is and the relationship that contacts have with you and your domain name. How do I choose the contacts for my domain name? Choosing contacts is part of the domain name registration process. The domain name template requires information to be supplied about the Registrant, whether this is you or your organization, as well as the names and addresses of three individuals who can be contacted about administrative, technical, and billing issues for the domain name. So who selects these key people? If you, as the Registrant, fill out the template yourself then you will choose your contacts. It is not uncommon, however, for Registrants to authorize someone to act on their behalf - an "agent". For example, if your Internet Service Provider (ISP) offers assistance with domain name registration, the ISP may act as your "agent" and complete the domain name registration template on your behalf. Consequently, your Internet Service Provider may supply the information for one or more of the contacts for your domain name. In some situations, the ISP may even provide information about you and your organization - remember that it is in your (the Registrant's) best interests to work closely with your ISP to make certain that information supplied on your behalf is correct and kept current. Exactly who chooses the individuals or organizations who serve as contacts for a particular domain name will depend on the Registrant's situation. Regardless of who completes the template, however, the person or organization listed as the "Registrant" is the entity responsible for the domain name. The Registrant is the entity who is legally bound by the terms of the domain name agreement, and has ultimate authority over the domain name. Some contact "basics"... A contact may be a single individual or may be a "role" account. A role account is a group or organization where several individuals act in the same role (e.g. the InterNIC lists a role account - hostmaster@INTERNIC.NET - as the administrative contact for its domain name). By using a role account, organizations are able to avoid tying a particular function to a specific individual. It does not matter whether an individual or a role account is listed as a contact, as long as the contact is able to represent you - the Registrant - in matters relating to your domain name. Contacts are individuals or organizations that you, as the Registrant, authorize to act as "agents" on your behalf in matters relating to your domain name There are three types of contacts: administrative, technical and billing. Each contact is expected to be able to answer questions about a particular aspect of the domain name. It is not necessary, however, to list three separate individuals. The same person or role account may be used for all three contacts, if this is appropriate for your situation. Remember, however, that using one person as all three contacts leaves you - the Registrant - dependent on a single individual in matters related to your domain name. To help you better understand the relationship between a domain name and its administrative, billing, and technical contacts - we offer the following overview of the three types of contacts. Adminstrative, Billing, Technical - the A B T's All contacts are authorized to act on behalf of you, the Registrant. What should you expect from your contacts? * Administrative Contact The administrative contact is expected to be able to answer non-technical questions about the domain name and handle changes to critical information that affects the Registrant and, consequently, the domain name's record. Examples of situations the administrative contact would be likely to handle are: procedures for establishing sub-domains, a change to the Registrant's address, a change from one Internet Service Provider to another, or the need to replace the existing billing contact with a new billing contact. In addition to helping ensure that a domain name's records in the InterNIC's database (the "Whois" database) are maintained and kept up-to-date, the administrative contact is expected to have the Registrant's best interest in mind and be familiar with procedures for changing domain name and contact information. It is strongly recommended that the administrative contact be the Registrant or someone from the Registrant's organization - this will keep you, the Registrant, and your organization involved in the maintenance and updating of your domain name's records. If no technical or billing contact is listed on the domain name registration template, the administrative contact will be listed as filling all three roles Failure on the part of the administrative contact to maintain the domain name's information could result in problems that prevent you, the Registrant, from effectively using your domain name. * Billing Contact The billing contact is expected to handle payment for the domain name's registration and renewal fees. Invoices for registration and renewal fees will be sent to the person (or role account) listed as the billing contact. It is therefore very important that the billing contact be in a position to ensure timely payment. If the information for the billing contact is not kept current, problems could arise which might result in the deactivation or deletion of the domain name for non-payment. For example, if your information was not updated in the database, your billing contact might not receive invoices or other critical notices in time to take the necessary action on your behalf. * Technical Contact The technical contact is expected to be the individual or organization who maintains the domain name's primary and secondary name servers, along with the name servers' resolver software and database files. Name servers are the machines that, along with the resolver software, map a domain name to its corresponding IP address(es). The domain name cannot be used without proper name service. Therefore it is vitally important for the technical contact to be able to keep the name server running and interact with technical people in other domains on technical matters concerning the domain name. Because many Internet Service Providers offer their customers domain name service, an organization's Internet Service Provider often assumes the position of technical contact, usually through a role account (e.g. Internet Service Provider Support Center). If your Internet Service Provider is supplying you with domain name service, your technical contact will most likely be someone (or a role account) at your ISP. If, however, you (the Registrant) are providing your own domain name service, you may list yourself or someone who works for you as your technical contact. Registering contacts - so many templates, so little time Just as domain names are registered, so are contacts. What does "registered" mean? When a domain name registration template is processed, the information that is supplied on the template is used to create a record for the domain name in the InterNIC's Whois database. A domain name is "registered" when a record has been created in the Whois database. Likewise, a contact is registered when information about the contact is provided and a record is created for the contact in the Whois database. Because contacts can have such a significant impact on a domain name, it is important to keep a record of the individuals and organizations who fill these roles. Each individual or role listed as a contact for a domain must have a record in the Whois database. There are two ways to register a contact. The first method is to use the contact template. When an individual or organization completes the contact template and submits it to hostmaster@internic.net, the information supplied on the template is used to create a contact record in the Whois database. Individuals or organizations who serve as contacts for a domain name may be registered with the contact template. Actually, this method of registering a contact also can be carried out independently of the domain name registration process. For example, an individual or organization may register themselves in the InterNIC's Whois database using the contact template regardless of whether they are - or ever expect to be - associated with a domain name. Why would someone register themselves in the Whois database if they do not expect to be associated with a domain name? Because the Whois database actually also serves as a directory services tool for individuals and organizations who serve as contacts for networks and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs). The contact template asks for the same information about the contact being registered that the domain name registration template asks for: the contact's name, postal address, phone number, and email address. Once the contact template has been successfully processed, a contact record is created. The contact record is assigned a NIC handle - an alphanumeric character string consisting of up to 10 characters that serves as a unique identifier for the contact record in the Whois database - and then the record is added to the database. The second way to register a contact is to list the individual or organization as one of the three contacts on the domain name registration template. The automated processing system will check the contact information supplied on the domain name registration template against the Whois database. If no records exist in the Whois database for the contacts listed, then contact records are created, they are assigned NIC handles, and the records are added to the InterNIC's Whois database. If a contact already has a contact record in the Whois database, however, there is no need to fill out all of the contact information on the domain name registration template. The Registrant (or whoever completes the registration template) can simply list the NIC handle on the registration template. The NIC handle is sufficient to associate the contact with the domain name. The information will be pulled from the contact's record and will become part of the domain name's record. Use the contact template to: * register new contacts with the InterNIC * change information for existing contacts * delete a contact record from the InterNIC's database Use the domain name registration template to: * register a new contact * replace an existing contact with a new contact Think of the InterNIC's Whois database as massive file cabinet containing records for each individual or organization that registers as a contact. The domain name registration template is the tool used to associate a particular domain name with a particular contact. When the domain name registration template is submitted and processed, the record that is created for the domain name establishes a relationship between between the domain name and its contacts. Keeping contact information current Both the domain registration template and the contact template are important tools for keeping contact information current. Why? The contact template is used to change information for existing contacts. If, for example, the email address of the billing contact were to change, either you (the Registrant) or your billing contact would need to submit a contact template indicating the new email address. The contact template is also used to delete a contact from the InterNIC's Whois database. Changes to existing contacts' information can only be made with the contact template. The domain name registration template is used to replace an existing contact with a new contact. For example, if you (the Registrant) change from one ISP to another provider, your will also probably have a new technical contact. You would use the domain name registration template to associate the new technical contact with your domain name. Replacement of existing contacts can only be accomplished with the domain name registration template. NOTE: All changes should be sent to hostmaster@internic.net. To check to see if contacts have been registered correctly, make use of the InterNIC's Whois database [http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/whois]. More about updating a domain name record, including updating contact information, is coming in a future article in this series. Security and Contact Information Contacts are able to choose one of three levels of security to protect their information. These security options rely on two concepts: authorization and authentication. "Authorization" means that the contact has the authority to make changes to domain name and associated contact records. "Authentication" means that it is possible to verify that a request for such changes is, in fact, coming from the contact, and that contacts are who they say they are. To return to our earlier example, if a billing contact's email address changes, he or she needs to send a contact template to hostmaster@internic.net to notify the InterNIC of the change. The billing contact has the authority to make changes to his or her own information. The security options available at the InterNIC make it easier for our staff to verify that it is indeed the billing contact that is requesting the change in her email address. By utilizing one of these options your contacts can protect their information from unauthorized updates and secure themselves against false representation. Because your contacts can make changes in your domain name's record, it is in your best interest for your contacts to elect a security level that keeps information transactions secure. With the proper security, the InterNIC will be able to insure that your contacts are who they say they are when they contact us. Changes to domain name and contact information will not be processed unless the administrative, technical, or billing contact's request is authenticated using one of the three levels of security. Guardian, the InterNIC's authorization and authentication system, will also be the topic of a future article in this series. Contacts - keepers of your domain As you can see, contacts play an important role in maintaining a domain name. As a domain name Registrant, you will authorize your contacts to make changes to your domain name's record - changes which can have a significant impact on your ability to retain and use your domain name. So to keep your domain name running smoothly, choose contacts carefully and remember your ABT's! _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ ----------------------FEATURE ARTICLE--------------------- ONE MILLION NAMES AND COUNTING... by Rich Landers, Information & Education Services _________________________________________________________________ When was the last time you saw a domain name referenced in a newspaper, a magazine, on TV, or at work? When was the first time that you heard of a "domain name?" It wasn't that long ago that no one knew what a domain name was, much less assigned any importance to such a thing. The Internet, however, has swiftly become a routine part of our lives. Now, it seems as thought you must have an Internet identity to represent your company, your beliefs, your products, and even yourself. Indeed, there are many people who probably put as much thought into selecting a domain name as they do in naming their children. Rebecca and Steven LaBlance certainly know what a domain name is. On Thursday, March 6th, 1997 at 12:07:51 p.m. the LaBlances entered the annals of Internet history when they registered bonnyview.com, the one millionth active domain name registered by Network Solutions, Inc. (InterNIC), the global registrar for .com, .net, .org, .edu, and .gov. The owners of Bonny View Cottage Furniture, which manufactures white hand-crafted furniture in Petoskey, MI, approximately 250 miles north of Detroit, stated that they wanted the domain name so that they could market their furniture via the Internet. "We figured this would help our business grow," said Rebecca LeBlance. This significant event illustrates not only how fast the Internet has grown in recent months, but also how well Network Solutions has handled this extraordinary growth. The challenges that the InterNIC's Registration Services faced over the last 18 months appeared insurmountable at times, but thanks to the hard-working and dedicated professionals who make the Internet Registry function, Network Solutions has been able to leap over obstacles to facilitate the growth of the Internet. "One million active domain names is an important milestone in the history of the Internet," said Gabe Battista, CEO, Network Solutions. "The fact that the millionth registrant is a small business owner is proof of how the Internet has become an integral, widespread part of our economy and our lives. Having a million active domain names today demonstrates the success of an open system, permitting virtually anyone to develop and register a domain name and become active on this exciting new medium." Network Solutions has been providing domain name registration services for .com, .net, .org, .edu, and .gov since 1993, under a cooperative agreement with National Science Foundation. Donald Mitchell, program director, Division of Networking & Communications Research and Infrastructure at the National Science Foundation, recently offered the following remarks regarding Network Solutions' millionth active domain name registration: "Had anyone told us in 1993, when the total population of the domain name database was 4,000 and new registrants were being added at the rate of a few hundred each month, that we would see this number within four years, we would not have believed it. I do not believe there are a large number of organizations that could have handled the scaling problems, and associated issues, as well as Network Solutions. This is a remarkable accomplishment." When Network Solutions assumed the Registration Services role, domain name registration requests took up to four weeks; now, well over 90% of all requests are automatically processed within 24 hours, securely and correctly. The InterNIC's Guardian application has essentially eliminated security problems related to the authentication and authorization of domain name update requests. The original staff of about 28 has grown to over 190 people, and there has been a substantial increase in the number of T-1 lines. Chuck Gomes, Project Manager for InterNIC Registration Services, acknowledges that the ultimate success of the InterNIC lies with the people behind the machines, "It took tremendous work to get to where we are today and compliments are in order for all the staff who contributed because it is that team of people that made it happen. We encountered what often seemed like impossible odds and we will continue to face tremendous challenges in the future, but we will succeed because of the people on our team." Network Solutions will continue to make important advances in domain name registration. In the near future, Network Solutions Registration Services will be moving to a new facility designed specifically for the registry. The company also plans to implement a new, state-of-the-art telephone switch that will allow expanded Call Center support. Network Solutions will also begin work on a new billing database designed to support the future growth associated with continued registrations and new services. New payment procedures are also on the horizon. To give you an idea of how the size of the domain name space has exploded recently, consider that 18 months ago, Network Solutions had registered just over 137,000 domain names; a year ago that number had climbed to over 306,000 - a number that was considered staggering at the time by all accounts. By February of 1997, however, Network Solutions was approaching the one millionth domain name, registering over 90,000 domain names in that month alone. At that rate it really won't be long before the number of active domains hits the two million mark. See for yourself how fast the Internet grows by looking at the domain registration statistics that we provide in our two regular monthly features:Performance Statistics and What's in a Name. By far the most popular top-level domain is the .com TLD - we had completed 875,907 total .com registrations as of January 31, 1997. Next is .org with 58,148 registrations, and .net is not far behind with 51,214 registrations. It is anyone's guess how long it will be before Network Solutions (InterNIC) registers the two millionth domain name. There is no doubt that the Network Solutions is ready to meet the challenge of registering another one million names. One million and one...one million and two... _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________REGULAR ARTICLE______________________ END USER'S CORNER: ANATOMY OF A SCOUT REPORT: RESOURCE DISCOVERY IN THE INFORMATION AGE, OR HOW WE DO IT by Jack Solock, Special Librarian _________________________________________________________________ Resource discovery in the networked environment can sometimes seem arbitrary or haphazard, and sometimes it is. However, at Net Scout ( http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/) we combine simple research techniques, and the serendipity that is sometimes crucial to research, with a set of rigid information quality guidelines, to bring our clientele the best of what is new and newly discovered on the Internet every week. Our flagship publication, The Scout Report (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/), is what is referred to in the library world as a current awareness readers advisory. That means that we try to keep our readers up to date on new and newly discovered Internet resources of interest to the U.S. research and education community (our primary clientele), but also to any interested Internauts. Susan Calcari (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/team.html#scal) created the Scout Report and personally produced it for some two and a half years. Recently, after being a contributor to the Report, I was promoted to Editor. Since the report has a broad subject focus, we (other Net Scout staff contribute one or two annotations a week) try to balance it in three ways so that it will contain items of interest to the largest possible audience. The first is to balance the subject content across six broad categories (arts & humanities, business & economics, law, medicine & health, science & mathematics, and social science), as well as two other categories we call network tools and weekend scouting. Network tools are resources specific to hardware, software, and content related to the Internet. Weekend scouting annotations should be visited by researchers and educators only during their leisure time. :) The second balance to achieve each week is between new and newly discovered resources. The "new" items maintain one of the report's original goals of being a "town crier" of the Internet. On the other hand, "newly discovered" resources can be those that have been available for a long while or more recently, but ones that are content rich and contain quality information. We know that some of our readers may already be aware of these resources, but many of them aren't. We also include resources in the report with one eye on the Scout Report Archive, (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/) as we feel strongly that when users search it, or browse our bimonthly compilations (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/bimonth/) or forthcoming Library of Congress subject tree, they should find the very best resources in their field. Finally, we attempt to provide a balance between resources that are titles (full text books, monographs, journals, or articles), other types of original content, and meta-sites (sites that point to other sites). We annotate a small number of K-12 sites, as well as notifying the network community of important grant opportunities. As a specific response to a user survey, we have become more sensitive to the need to include business oriented sites. With this in mind, this column will take you on a tour of the creation of one Scout Report. The tour will illustrate how we use some simple techniques (along with the serendipity that comes with all research), combined with some rigid quality information standards (see the November 1996 End User's Corner [http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/nov96/enduser.html]) to produce the 14-18 annotations that go into a report. We use three techniques to produce a report: information trawling, information scouting, and user submissions. Information trawling lets the experts in many subject fields bring us quality resources. In order to do this, we monitor some 70 mailing lists and various Usenet Newsgroups. In addition, we monitor Gleason Sackman's legendary Net Happenings, (http://www.mid.net:80/NET/) and not so legendary, but equally valuable NEWSLTR Digest (see the Scout Report for November 29,1996 -- [http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-961129.html#18] for subscription information), for resources. Since Gleason monitors some 150 lists and newsgroups himself, this adds terrifically to our resource base. We also monitor major news sources such as the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Washington Post, Christian Science Monitor, PBS, and National Public Radio, among others. These resources are our "sea" of hundreds, and sometimes thousands of resources to trawl. Trawling is very useful, but only part of the job. As there are several librarians on staff, we spend some time "scouting," that is, searching the Internet for quality resources. The technique we use here is "site-ation" pearl growing, (see the June 1996 End User's Corner [http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/archive/june96/ enduser.html]) where we find sites by searching known quality information meta-sites. We usually begin with sites such as the Argus Clearinghouse ( http://www.clearinghouse.net/), the W3C Virtual Library (http://www.w3.org/hypertext/DataSources/bySubject/Overview.html) or BUBL (the Bulletin Board for Libraries) (http://www.bubl.bath.ac.uk/BUBL/Tree.html) and proceed from there. However, we also use many other quality meta-sites, as you will see below. In this way, we find sites, sometimes new, sometimes not so new, but all with quality information. Finally, we use some of the sites submitted to us by readers. Although there are no user submissions included for the report we chose to examine closely below, we have found some terrific sites that way, including Northwestern University's magnificent Oyez Oyez Oyez Supreme Court Oral Arguments site, (January 26, 1996 Scout Report-- [http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-960126.html#2]) New Ideas in Pollution Regulation, (January 24, 1997 Scout Report-- [http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-970124.html#5]), and Robert Beard's great Web of Online Grammars meta-site (January 3, 1997 Scout Report-- [http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-970103.html#5]), among others. Now lets take the tour. Here is the anatomy of the Scout Report released on February 21, 1997. (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-970221.html) 1. Interactive and Viewable Atlases This was a double annotation. The Perry-Casteneda Map Library was a site Aimee Glassel, Net Scout's Internet Cataloger (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/team.html#aglassel) found from one of her favorite meta-sites, the Berkeley, California Public Library's Index to the Internet (http://www.ci.berkeley.ca.us/bpl/bkmk/index.html). She found it in late January, under the "What's New" section. Unfortunately, at that time, we had just done two map sites, so we backlogged this one. During the week of Feb. 21, 1997, I received a message from Bill Thayer's RomanSites-L mailing list (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-960517.html#7), an excellent but rather obscure listing of new sites about Roman history, that mentioned that there were some good Roman images at th University of Oregon Historical and Cultural Atlas resource. I back tracked the URL to find one of the most imaginative interactive historical atlas resources I had ever seen. So we found one site by scouting and one by trawling, a combination arts & humanities and social science subject blend. Neither site was new, but both were excellent. 2. "All" Engineering Resources on the Internet--EELS Our major source of funding is the National Science Foundation, which funds science and engineering. We hadn't done any engineering resources recently, so I decided to scout one out. I used the W3C Virtual Library engineering pages to find EELS, one of the oldest and best known engineering meta-sites. I must admit that I didn't know about it, but a little research showed me how well known it was. EELS had added an automated, subject-specific search feature recently, so this was a science & mathematics site that, while not new, had a fairly new feature. 3. Robbins Algebras Are Boolean When the story of Argonne National Laboratory's Dr. William McCune solving a 60 year old problem by use of a "thinking computer" appeared in the New York Times in December, 1996, I searched through the Argonne National Laboratory pages and found nothing. I usually put current events on my white board in order to remind myself to look for sites related to them, but quite honestly, I had forgotten about this one. Later I was looking for government information and was searching through Department of Commerce sites from a meta-page of executive branch servers maintained by the Federal Information Exchange (http://www.fie.com/www/exec.htm). I was hoping to find some new meaty information from the Bureau of Economic Analysis (I have an agricultural economics background), but there wasn't anything there. After searching the National Marine Fisheries Service (agricultural economics again), I went to the National Institute of Standards and Technology and again came up empty. I decided to look at their links and found a link to NIST labs, of which Argonne came up high on the list. Something in the back of my mind "clicked," and within a few clicks, I found the Argonne Algebra site I had been looking for earlier. Matt Livesey, (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/team.html#mlivesey) our production editor, a Ph.D. candidate in his own right, and by far my superior in math, did the honors of annotating the resource. Scouting, and more than a little luck, combined with the fact that I read the New York Times, provided this new science & mathematics resource. 4. Black Images of Freedom--MSBET This was an easy one. February being Black History month, along with the well publicized fact that Microsoft and Black Entertainment Television had collaborated on a web site, led us to the MSBET home page. This new arts & humanities site was one click away. We scouted for it, but it actually dropped into our laps. 5. Teaching Reading: A Balanced, Comprehensive Approach to Teaching Reading in Prekindergarten through Grade Three--California Department of Education This annotation started as a K-12 astronomy meta-site (which may appear in the report by the time this article is published). When the lineup for the report was ready, I thought that it leaned too much to the sciences, so I went scouting for a K-12 humanities site. I used the S.C.O.R.E. (Schools of California On-Line Resources For Education) language arts meta-site, one of a group of excellent, distributed K-12 meta-sites (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-961122txt.html#6). This new social science K-12 resource was pointed to from the home page. 6. Legal Current Awareness Eyes and Ears--Cornell Legal Information Institute This was an annotation that had moldered in our backlog for weeks, because when I originally found it (a simple trip to Cornell's Legal Information Institute, [http://www.law.cornell.edu/] one of the best legal resources on the Internet, procured these two great resources), we were suddenly inundated with a barrage of new legal resources. Since this was not as new, it could wait until now. 7. bionet.genome.gene-structure--A new Usenet Newsgroup We like to announce new services that are not web-based when we can, because the Internet is more than just the web. The formation of this group was originally announced back in December, 1996 in the bionet.announce Usenet news group. We often use this group to locate new biological web sites and news groups. And though bionet.genome.gene-structure didn't actually come online until late January-early February, 1997, when it did, we were ready for it. 8. EPA Global Warming This was a new science and social science site I found in January while scouting through the EPA main site ( http://www.epa.gov/). It got lost in the shuffle, but when we had space for it, I had Terry Boomsma, (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/team.html#tboomsma) our resident Webmaster and also a recent zoology and conservation graduate of the University of Wisconsin, do the honors. 9. Mayo Health O@sis This medicine & health site came to us via trawling, as it appeared on many new listings lists in early January of 1997, including the inet-news mailing list, the gsunet-l mailing list, Liz Tompkins' NBNewsletter (which is one of Gleason Sackman's NEWSLTR Digest selections), and Net-Happenings. I wasn't exactly sure how new it was, but its quality was never in doubt. 10. ExploraNet This was a science & math golden oldie that we had never done before Susan had done a part of it back in July, 1995, ( http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-950721.html#NAGASAKI) and when Terry, who knew all about the site, annotated it and showed us it wasn't in the archive, we had a valuable addition. 11. Three Short Spike Lee Joints--Timecast See Below, under RealPlayer 4.0 Beta. 12. The Sporting News Baseball This weekend scouting site was well publicized on the Net when I first heard of it in January. Net-Happenings, i-net news, and NBNewsletter were just a few of the places it was mentioned. I wanted to emphasize the baseball aspect of the magazine. To any real baseball fan, that's what The Sporting News is all about. So I waited until the beginning of spring training camp to annotate the site. 13. I-Advertising--Internet advertising/marketing discussion list We use the NEW-LIST (http://www.lsoft.com/SCRIPTS/WL.EXE? SL1=NEW-LIST&H=LISTSERV.NODAK.EDU) mailing list as one of our major sources of new mailing lists. We almost always trawl for mailing lists, and NEW-LIST is the pre-eminent mailing list announcement list. Since this was also an Internet business related site, it fit the report nicely. 14. RealPlayer 4.0 Beta from Progressive Networks On Friday, February 14, 1997, Matt came strolling into my office to show me how great the stereo sound was on the RealAudio 3.0 player. We didn't have 3.0 installed on our Windows NT machine, so we decided to download it. When we went to the site, we found that RealPlayer 4.0 Beta was available. And when I looked at the small print on the page, there was a pointer to Spike Lee's films. A Spike Lee resource on the Internet was a must, especially after we saw how good the films were, and how well they were transmitted across the net. It was too late to get these annotations into the February 14 edition, so we got them in as quickly as we could. 15. The Internet: Bringing Order from Chaos--Scientific American This was a new site I found by trawling, and it appeared on many lists, most notably the Web4Lib (http://wwwscout.cs.wisc.edu/scout/report/archive/ scout-960308.html#6) librarians mailing list. It was a natural, another example of a wonderful resource being delivered to my e-mail door. 16. UNIXNT-L--UNIX & NT server discussion list This came from NEW-LIST. It had easily accessible archives, so I was able to read some of the discussions. Summary: In the February 21, 1996 Scout Report nine sites were found by trawling and eight by scouting. We used four well known meta-sites. The subject breakout was: Science & Mathematics: 5 Social Science: 3 Arts & Humanities: 3 Business & Economics: 1 Health & Medicine: 1 Law: 1 Weekend Scouting: 2 Network Tools: 3 Note that some annotations have been counted in more than one category. 13 of the sites were new or fairly new. Five were golden oldies. Of the web based sites, nine contained original content, three were titles, and two were meta-sites. In all cases, we used well known and reliable sources to glean our annotations. Then we spent a good deal of time analyzing the sites for quality and richness of content. A few of the sites we included were, frankly, unavailable to those without the fastest connections and most powerful computers. We try to keep an eye on that and provide sites and access methods that are available to all of our users. Providing a current awareness service can at times seem a haphazard and serendipitous enterprise, but in most cases, because of our methods, we are able to report on the best new and newly discovered network resources. While our aim is still to be a "town crier" for this magnificent information medium, we also try to be a guide to some of its loftier sites. We hope we succeed in doing this, and we greatly enjoy trying. _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________REGULAR ARTICLE______________________ 15 MINUTE SERIES UPDATE by Anna Carts, Information & Education Services _________________________________________________________________ New Modules Ten of the twenty modules currently under development are near the final editorial stage. These 10 modules will be released soon, so check the 15 Minute Series site often! (http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/15min/) 1. What is the Domain Name System? 2. What is Domain Name Service? 3. What is a name server? 4. What is a top level domain? 5. What is MIME? 6. What are standard features of e-mail programs? 7. Who is Reaseaux IP Europeens? 8. Who is the Asian-Pacific Network Information Center? 9. Who is the International Ad Hoc Committee? 10. What is electronic commerce? The following modules are slated for development and release in the coming months. 1. What is an Intranet? 2. Where can I find Internet statistics? 3. What is a Web server? 4. How do I evaluate Web resources? 5. What are bytes and bits? 6. What is a router? 7. What is compression/decompression? 8. What is an RFC? 9. What is an FYI? 10. What is encryption? _________________________________________________________________ Modules up for review... Perhaps one of the most important features of the 15 Minute Series is its currency. As technology breaks new ground, training materials and trainers need to keep up to date. In order to maintain the currency of the 15 Minute Series modules, we formally review them 6 months after they have been added to the collection. The first set of modules, released on August 30, 1996, are due for their 6 month review. This review process ensures that the training modules reflect current developments and trends in networking technology, and that this information is presented in an accurate manner. Any modules that undergo changes will be indicated with a "revision date" that can be seen in the index containing that module. _________________________________________________________________ Copyright Information We receive many inquiries from users of 15 Minute Series regarding copyright issues. Our modules are available for download as either HTML files or PowerPoint presentations. The modules can then be used "as is" for training purposes. In addition, trainers are welcome to download the templates we provide in HTML http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/15min/templates/HTMLtemp.html or PowerPoint ftp://rs.internic.net/NIC-support/15min/templates/PPtemp.zip and create additional slides that include information relevant to their users' local environment. With all of these options, it is no wonder that copyright questions arise. In this section we hope to clarify what our users need to know about the 15 Minute Series copyright. BACKGROUND First, we'd like to start by presenting the copyright notice and statement that appears on the 15 Minute Series Web site. Our copyright notice and disclaimer statement reads as follows: Copyright 1996, 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. 505 Huntmar Park Drive, Herndon, Virginia 20170. Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the 15 Minute Series, provided that appropriate credit is given and the copyright notice is retained. The 15 Minute Series modules and their contents may not be sold for profit or incorporated without the written permission of the copyright holder. This material is based on work sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-9218749. The Government has certain rights in this material. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, Network Solutions, Inc., or AT&T. In addition, the following copyright statement appears at the bottom of each slide in the modules: Copyright &1996 (or 1997) Network Solutions, Inc. This material may be quoted or reproduced provided appropriate credit is given and copyright notice is retained. SOME SCENARIOS If you download the modules and use them as they are, you must retain the copyright notice that appears at the bottom of every slide. If you extend a module by creating your own slides and adding them to a module, the new slides that you create do not need our copyright information. For example, if you add a slide to the "What is Electronic Mail?" module, that outlines how to obtain an e-mail account at your institution, our copyright statement does not need to appear on your new slide. However, the original slides that make up the "What is Electronic Mail?" module still need to retain the copyright statement. If you want to take a portion of the 15 Minute Series and incorporate it into a larger work, such as a book that you are publishing, you must receive written permission from Network Solutions, Inc. This can be achieved by sending your request to 15min@internic.net. If you have plans to use the 15 Minute Series in a particular way, and are unsure what the copyright ramifications are, please write to us via e-mail at 15min@internic.net. In your message, please include how you plan to use the 15 Minute Series. _________________________________________________________________ 15 Minute Kudos! At this time, we'd like to thank all of you who have provided feedback to the 15 Minute Series. It is satisfying to hear your suggestions and words of praise! If you have a comment you'd like to share with us, you can send e-mail to 15min@internic.net, or you can use the feedback form ( http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/15min/form.html). Following are some of the comments we've received recently. * "I have used your series in the past for staff training and found them to be very informative and to the point." * "I congratulate you for such an excellent site. The idea of offering such resources for educators is very useful and helpful. The format is clear and the presentation is very organized." * "This was very helpful to me. I have used computers for @15 years and am just now getting around the surfing scene. A lot of the terminology was foreign to me and this really cleared things up a bit." * "You have a wonderful and informative page." * "I've been looking into the 15 Minute Series for Internet training, and find it real useful; one of its greatest strengths is being generic enough to be applicable widely, and also being up-to-date." * "I have looked at your 15 Minutes Series, this is about the best I have seen so far. Great Show!" * "I was delighted to find your 15 Minute Series for Internet Trainers. I think the presentations are user friendly and succinct, and look forward to utilizing them in the future." * "I think that the service you offer is WONDERFUL!!!" * "Thanks for putting such a great resource on the Internet. I have volunteered to teach a class to teachers on how to use the Internet and am very excited about these presentations!" * "I have used several of your training series for an Exploring the Internet class I am teaching. They are quite helpful and I appreciate your allowing access to them." * "Your 15 Minute Series is an excellent offering, and I thank you for it." _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________REGULAR ARTICLE______________________ CALENDAR OF EVENTS by Ashleigh Dockery, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ MARCH, 1997 CALENDAR OF EVENTS _________________________________________________________________ ACM Association for Computing: The Next 50 Years of Computing March 1-5, 1997 San Jose, CA 10th International Unicode Conference and Global Computing Showcase March 10-12, 1997 Mainz, Germany http://www.reuters.com/unicode/iu10/ [IMAGE] 7th Conference on Computers, Freedom, & Privacy March 11-14, 1997 Burlingame, CA http://www.cfp.org [IMAGE] Spring Internet World '97 March 12-14, 1997 Los Angeles, CA http://www.iworld.com/events/ Museums and the Web Sponsored by: The Getty Information Institute March 16-19, 1997 Los Angeles, CA http://www.archimuse.com 17th Annual Microcomputers in Education Conference: Mastering the Electric Classroom March 17-19, 1997 Tempe, AZ http://MEC.ed-asu.edu/97 Internet & Electronic Commerce Expo March 17-20, 1997 New York, NY Computer Services Management Symposium: Thriving in New Realities Sponsored by: ACM/SIGUCCS March 19-21, 1997 St. Louis, MO http://www.wisc.edu/cms97 Internet World Asia '97 March 19-21, 1997 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia http://www.iworld.com/events Computer Storage Devices and Media for Electronic Recordkeeping Sponsored by: Information Management Seminars March 20-21, 1997 Orlando, FL Cost Analysis for Electronic Document Imaging Sponsored by: Information Management Seminars March 20-21, 1997 Orlando, FL Security & Access for Multimedia Services March 21-22, 1997 Florence, Italy The Educator's Information Highway Sponsored by: American Educational Research Association March 23-24, 1997 Chicago, IL http://aera.net/meeting/train.html InterOp DotCom San Jose March 24-26, 1997 San Jose, CA Canadian National Internet Show March 28-31, 1997 Toronto, Ontario, Canada http://www.cyberplex.com/CyberPlex/cnis/CNIShome.html _________________________________________________________________ APRIL, 1997 CALENDAR OF EVENTS _________________________________________________________________ 5th Annual Information Access Conference Sponsored by: University of South Carolina College of Library and Information Science April 3-4, 1997 Columbia, SC http://www.libsci.sc.edu/iac97.htm INFO '97 April 6-10, 1997 Tel-Aviv, Israel http://teldan.com 38th IETF Meeting April 7-11, 1997 Memphis, TN http://www.ietf.org/meetings/Memphis.html 6th International WWW Conference April 7-11, 1997 Santa Clara, CA http://www6conf.slac.stanford.edu/ ACRL Annual Meeting Sponsored by: Association of College and Research Libraries April 11-14, 1997 Nashville, TN http://ala.org/acrl/prendex.html Conference on Electronic Publishing '97 Sponsored by: ICCC/IFIP April 14-16, 1997 University of Kent at Canterbury http://www.ukc.ac.uk/library/ICCC/index.html 8th National Conference on College Teaching & Learning/Teaching, Learning & Technology: Creative Uses for the WWW April 16-19, 1997 Jacksonville, FL http://wwwl.fccj.cc.fl.us DCI Internet Expo April 22-24, 1997 Chicago, IL http://www.dciexpo.com/brochure/intchi/default.htm Electronic Commerce for Content II Sponsored by: Interactive Multimedia Assn/US Copyright Office April 28-29, 1997 Washington, DC http://www.ima.org Connected Classroom Conference April 30 - May 3, 1997 Valley Forge, PA http://www.classroom.net/connected/VALLEYFORGE97/default.html Ongoing Events Classroom Connect Training Seminars Various Locations http://www.classroom.net/classroom/conf.html _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________REGULAR ARTICLE______________________ REGISTRATION SERVICES PERFORMANCE MEASURES FOR JANUARY, 1997 by Rich Landers, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ PURPOSE The following performance measures are provided in accordance with the requirements of Amendment 4 to Cooperative Agreement No. NCR-9218742, Network Information Services Manager(s) for NSFNET and the NREN:INTERNIC Registration Services. PERFORMANCE Communication Received by InterNIC Registration Services Type Number of contacts E-mail to hostmaster@internic.net 249,667 Phone 33,444 Information Server Performance Type Connections Retrievals Gopher 6526 27269 WAIS 34,775 20,612 FTP 100,306 189,593 Mailserv n/a Telnet 76,248 HTTP n/a WHOIS Queries Client Server 1,845,598 9,161,684 Second-Level Domain Registration Summary These figures are cumulative from August 1993 through January,1997 Top-level domain Number COM 875,907 EDU 3,395 ORG 58,148 NET 51,214 GOV 559 Other 197 TOTAL 989,420 Registration processing time frames As of January 31, 1997, the backlog for manually processed requests was: + Domains - 1 Day + Hostmaster Questions - 5 days + Contact Templates - 2 days + Host Templates - 1 day + Billing email questions - 7 days + Faxes - 1 day + Notify - 3 days + Transfers - 4 days _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________REGULAR ARTICLE______________________ WHAT'S IN A NAME? by Tom Newell, Manager, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ Each month the InterNIC develops this column to share interesting, and hopefully useful, demographic information related to the domain name system and the registration process. We will include here in table and graphic format, indications of the size of the "name space" available for Internet trainers to use in curriculum development. In this month's column, we provide: + Cumulative Registration Numbers + New Registrations by Month + Domain Name Update Requests by Month + Root Name Server Information If a particular demographic would be of interest, let us know and we will work to include the information in future columns. Suggestions for future material may be sent to meter@internic.net. _________________________________________________________________ CUMULATIVE REGISTRATIONS The figures below describe the total second-level names from the Top Level Domains of .COM, .NET, .ORG, .GOV, and .EDU as well as the two-letter country codes. The numbers reflect the total registrations at that point in time. The number of active domains for the TLD's indicated is actually lower accounting for name deletions (non-payment, requested deletions, etc.). Information cut-off date: 1/31/97 Feb-96 263,760 Mar-96 306,347 Apr-96 351,786 May-96 400,903 Jun-96 456,456 Jul-96 513,018 Aug-96 579,504 Sep-96 654,790 Oct-96 740,867 Nov-96 825,642 Dec-96 897,662 Jan-97 989,420 _________________________________________________________________ NEW DOMAIN REGISTRATIONS BY MONTH The figures below describe the total second-level names from the Top Level Domains of .COM, .NET, .ORG, .GOV, and EDU as well as the two-letter country codes. The numbers reflect the total registration actions completed for the given month. Information cut-off date: 1/31/97 Feb-96 37,571 Mar-96 42,587 Apr-96 45,439 May-96 49,117 Jun-96 55,553 Jul-96 56,562 Aug-96 66,486 Sep-96 75,286 Oct-96 86,077 Nov-96 84,725 Dec-96 72,020 Jan-97 91,758 _________________________________________________________________ DOMAIN NAME UPDATE REQUESTS BY MONTH The figures below describe the monthly request rate for modification of information for the second-level names of the Top Level Domains of .COM, .NET, .ORG, .GOV, and .EDU as well as the two-letter country codes. Information cut-off date: 1/31/97 Feb-96 15,265 Mar-96 17,961 Apr-96 18,222 May-96 19,950 Jun-96 33,005 Jul-96 25,095 Aug-96 35,192 Sep-96 43,624 Oct-96 141,893 Nov-96 128,024 Dec-96 152,816 Jan-97 303,376 _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR by Hope Glass, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ LETTERS TO THE EDITOR Letters to the Editor is intended as a question and answer section for InterNIC-related questions of a general nature. Specific questions related to the status of a registration request should be sent to hostmaster@internic.net. _________________________________________________________________ Rob Mitchell writes: What was the first domain name registered? I'm trying to discover the "oldest" domain name. Thanks. Response from InterNIC News: The earlier dates may be subject to correction. They were originally maintained in another database system at SRI International. But the search below indicates NORDU.NET was the first non-top-level domain created. *********************************************** domainame activation_date *********************************************** " 01-Jan-85 ARPA 01-Jan-85 COM 01-Jan-85 EDU 01-Jan-85 GOV 01-Jan-85 MIL 01-Jan-85 NET 01-Jan-85 ORG 01-Jan-85 NORDU.NET 01-Jan-85 US 15-Feb-85 SYMBOLICS.COM 15-Mar-85 BBN.COM 24-Apr-85 BERKELEY.EDU 24-Apr-85 UCLA.EDU 24-Apr-85 PURDUE.EDU 24-Apr-85 RICE.EDU 24-Apr-85 CMU.EDU 24-Apr-85 RUTGERS.EDU 25-Apr-85 MIT.EDU 23-May-85 THINK.COM 24-May-85 CSS.GOV 20-Jun-85 HARVARD.EDU 27-Jun-85 MITRE.ORG 10-Jul-85 MCC.COM 11-Jul-85 CORNELL.EDU 15-Jul-85 UIUC.EDU 18-Jul-85 UK 24-Jul-85 GB 24-Jul-85 AC.UK 24-Jul-85 UDEL.EDU 24-Jul-85 UMD.EDU 31-Jul-85 UTEXAS.EDU 13-Aug-85 USC.EDU 20-Aug-85 WISC.EDU 30-Sep-85 UCI.EDU 30-Sep-85 DEC.COM 30-Sep-85 STANFORD.EDU 04-Oct-85 UMICH.EDU 07-Oct-85 IL 24-Oct-85 NORTHROP.COM 07-Nov-85 Regards, Duane L. Stone InterNIC Registration Services _________________________________________________________________ Gene Porfido writes: Thanks for the excellent Mac article in last month's InterNIC News. It's about time Apple got some truthful press by someone who knows what he's talking about instead of some extermely biased PC user who wants to see Apple fail. And to Internic...please continue to publish honest and factual articles like this. It can only serve to help the computer industry and its users as a whole. Once the "yellow journalism" dies down, perhaps all computer users can continue doing whatever it is we enjoy doing best...and on our choice of platform. Keep it up! Gene Porfido _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ GET THE INTERNIC NEWS by Hope Glass, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ The InterNIC News will be published monthly. You may visit the InterNIC Support Services Web Site (http://rs.internic.net/nic-support) to see the latest issue (http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/) and to peruse back issues (http://rs.internic.net/nic-support/nicnews/archive/). The newsletter will also be made available in a plain-text version, for access at the InterNIC's FTP site (ftp://rs.internic.net/NIC-support/newsletter/) and for distribution via an electronic mailing list. To subscribe to the newsletter distribution list, you may either use our Web-based interface at http://rs.internic.net/cgi-bin/lwgate/NEWSLETTER/, or simply send e-mail to listserv@internic.net with the command SUBSCRIBE NEWSLETTER [YOUR NAME] in the body of the mail message. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ MEET THE STAFF OF THE INTERNIC NEWS by Hope Glass, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ WHO'S WHO ON THE INTERNIC NEWS STAFF Hope Glass is the Editor of the InterNIC News. She is in charge of all editorial activities of the publication. _________________________________________________________________ Dan Rinzel is Delivery Manager for the InterNIC News and Webmaster for the InterNIC Information and Education group, with responsibility for maintenance and development of all aspects of the user interface of the InterNIC external and internal Web Sites. _________________________________________________________________ Ashleigh Dockery, as Event Coordinator for NSI, is responsible for coordinating NSI/InterNIC's involvement in industry tradeshows, as well as designing, implementing, and managing NSI conferences and meetings. _________________________________________________________________ Dabe Murphy is a UNIX Systems Administrator and acts as the technical "jack-of-all-trades" for the InterNIC Information and Education group. _________________________________________________________________ Peter Crowe is a digital artist for the InterNIC Information and Education group and functions as a traditional graphic artist. He is also a PC systems specialist with an emphasis in software\hardware troubleshooting, networking and a healthy interest in 3D modeling and animation. _________________________________________________________________ Rich Landers is the Special Projects Coordinator for the InterNIC Information and Education group. He is also a regular contributor to the InterNIC News. _________________________________________________________________ Anna Carts is the Training Materials Specialist for the InterNIC Information and Education group. She supports the development of the 15 Minute Series training modules. _________________________________________________________________ Jack Solock is a Special Librarian with InterNIC Net Scout Services at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He is regularly featured in the End User's Corner of the InterNIC News. _________________________________________________________________ Agnes Tatarka is the new "Lead Webmaster." She and members of the web team will be providing technical and graphic support to the Information and Education Services group. _________________________________________________________________ Robin Murphy serves as the project manager for the 15 Minute Series. She also conducts community outreach and provides project management and product development for a range of InterNIC services aimed at the research and education community. She is a regular contributor to the InterNIC News. _________________________________________________________________ As Manager of the InterNIC Information and Education Services Group, Tom Newell coordinates all customer information and education programs, including Internet-based information services, WWW resources and tools development, research and education liaison activities, community liaison activities, electronic mailing list administration, and tradeshow, conference, and events planning. Tom also serves as the contract liaison for the Net Scout Services project of the InterNIC, hosted at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Finally, Tom coordinates project integration efforts for the InterNIC and NSI which have a WWW component. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ AWARDS AND RECOGNITION by Hope Glass, Information & Education Services _________________________________________________________________ The InterNIC News has been the recipient of the following awards and commendations: * A Four-star rating and "Gold Site" award from NetGuide: " [****] " - see http://www.netguide.com/server-java/NGPage/ SearchBrowseResultsDetail?SiteApp.SiteID=84362 * A Looksmart Editor's Choice Award from the Looksmart Search Engine: * A "Way Cool Site" Award from Your Webscout _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. For full copyright notice and disclaimer, please see Copyright notice and disclaimer. _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ USER FEEDBACK by Tom Newell, Manager, InterNIC Information and Education Services _________________________________________________________________ WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE INTERNIC NEWS? Our goal is to produce an interesting, informative publication that addresses the needs of the Internet's diverse population, both information providers and information seekers. Tell us what you'd like to see in future issues of the InterNIC News How can we address your information needs? We also welcome any contributions you are willing to make to the InterNIC News. The InterNIC staff looks forward to working closely with you to inform the Internet community about your R&E projects, technological developments, and user services. You may contact the editor of the InterNIC News via e-mail at editor@internic.net. In addition to story ideas or contributions, we sincerely appreciate your comments and suggestions on how we can make this newsletter a publication that satisfies the needs of the Internet community. Please note that we can only respond to questions and comments that are acompanied by a valid e-mail address. Thank you for your input. Tom Newell Manager, Information and Education Services liaison@internic.net _________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________ / _/__ / /____ ____/ |/ / _/ ___/ / |/ /__ _ _____ _/ // _ \/ __/ -_) __/ // // /__ / / -_) |/|/ (_-< /___/_//_/\__/\__/_/ /_/|_/___/\___/ /_/|_/\__/|__,__/___/ _____________________EDITORIAL SEGMENT____________________ USING MATERIAL FROM THE INTERNIC NEWS _________________________________________________________________ Permission is granted to quote, copy, or otherwise reproduce the materials in the InterNIC News, provided that the following copyright notice is retained on each and every copy: (c) Copyright 1997 Network Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved. The InterNIC News and its contents may not be sold for profit or incorporated without the written permission of the copyright holder, Network Solutions, Inc. InterNIC News and its accompanying logos are trademarks of Network Solutions, Inc. This material is based on work sponsored by the National Science Foundation under Cooperative Agreement #NCR-9218742. The Government has certain rights in this material. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation, Network Solutions, Inc., or AT&T. Questions concerning this notice or the material in InterNIC News should be directed to editor@internic.net. _________________________________________________________________