Network Working Group                                        J. Ashworth
Internet-Draft                                     Ashworth & Associates
Intended status: Informational                             April 1, 1997
Expires: October 3, 1997


                          The Naming of Hosts
                                rfc-2100

Status of This Memo

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   This Internet-Draft will expire on October 3, 1997.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 1997 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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1.  Introduction

   This RFC is a commentary on the difficulty of deciding upon an
   acceptably distinctive hostname for one's computer, a problem which
   grows in direct proportion to the logarithmically increasing size of
   the Internet.




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   Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

   Except to TS Eliot.

   And, for that matter, to David Addison, who hates iambic pentameter.

2.  Poetry

   The Naming of Hosts is a difficult matter,
       It isn't just one of your holiday games;
   You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
       When I tell you, a host must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.

   First of all, there's the name that the users use daily,
       Such as venus, athena, and cisco, and ames,
   Such as titan or sirius, hobbes or europa--
       All of them sensible everyday names.

   There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
       Some for the web pages, some for the flames:
   Such as mercury, phoenix, orion, and charon--
       But all of them sensible everyday names.

   But I tell you, a host needs a name that's particular,
       A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
   Else how can it keep its home page perpendicular,
       And spread out its data, send pages world wide?

   Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
       Like lothlorien, pothole, or kobyashi-maru,
   Such as pearly-gates.vatican, or else diplomatic-
       Names that never belong to more than one host.

   But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
       And that is the name that you never will guess;
   The name that no human research can discover--
       But THE NAMESERVER KNOWS, and will us'ually confess.

   When you notice a client in rapt meditation,
       The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
   The code is engaged in a deep consultation
       On the address, the address, the address of its name:









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               It's ineffable,
               effable,
               Effanineffable,
               Deep and inscrutable,
               singular
               Name.

3.  Credits

   Thanks to Don Libes, Mark Lottor, and a host of twisted
   individuals^W^Wcreative sysadmins for providing source material for
   this memo, to Andrew Lloyd-Webber, Cameron Mackintosh, and a cast of
   thousands (particularly including Terrance Mann) who drew my
   attention to the necessity, and of course, to Thomas Stearns Eliot,
   for making this all necessary.

4.  Security Considerations

   Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

   Particularly the cardiac security of certain famous poets.

5.  Informative References

   [1]        Libes, D., "Choosing a Name for Your Computer",
              Communications of the ACM Vol. 32, No. 11, Pg. 1289,
              November 1989.

   [2]        Lottor, M., "Domain Name Survey", January 1997,
              <namedroppers@internic.net>.

   [3]        Stearns, TS., "Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats".

   [4]        Wong, M., "Cool Hostnames",
              <http://www.seas.upenn.edu/~mengwong/coolhosts.html>.

Author's Address

   Jay R. Ashworth
   Advanced Technology Consulting
   St. Petersburg  FL 33709-4819

   Phone: +1 813 790 7592
   Email: jra@scfn.thpl.lib.fl.us







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