RFC 1034
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1034
Up:
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
Up:
Programmed Instruction Course
Up:
Section 2 - Domain Naming
Prev: DNS Theory
Next: DNS Design Goals
RFC 1034
RFC 1034
Recall from Section 1 that Internet standards are specified in documents
called Requests For Comments (RFCs). Although RFCs can be terse and
technical, reading them is critical to understanding Internet operation.
The first RFC we'll look at is RFC 1034,
Domain Names - Concepts and Facilities.
I've reformatted a number of important RFCs to make them more suitable
for Web presentation. If you'd like, click
here to see RFC 1034
as it is distributed by InterNIC. This is a large document (123KB),
and we're not going to view the RFCs in this format, but you
may wish to see what the original documents look like.
In the Encyclopedia's Web format, each RFC has a top page containing
a table of contents that leads to Web pages containing the rest of
the document.
Let's take a look at RFC 1034's top page.
Network Working Group
Request for Comments: 1034
Obsoletes: RFCs 882, 883, 973
P. Mockapetris
ISI
November 1987
DOMAIN NAMES - CONCEPTS AND FACILITIES
1. STATUS OF THIS MEMO
This RFC is an introduction to the Domain Name System (DNS), and omits
many details which can be found in a companion RFC, "Domain Names -
Implementation and Specification" [RFC-1035]. That RFC assumes that the
reader is familiar with the concepts discussed in this memo.
A subset of DNS functions and data types constitute an official
protocol. The official protocol includes standard queries and their
responses and most of the Internet class data formats (e.g., host
addresses).
However, the domain system is intentionally extensible. Researchers are
continuously proposing, implementing and experimenting with new data
types, query types, classes, functions, etc. Thus while the components
of the official protocol are expected to stay essentially unchanged and
operate as a production service, experimental behavior should always be
expected in extensions beyond the official protocol. Experimental or
obsolete features are clearly marked in these RFCs, and such information
should be used with caution.
The reader is especially cautioned not to depend on the values which
appear in examples to be current or complete, since their purpose is
primarily pedagogical. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
Table of Contents
Next: DNS Design Goals
Connected: An Internet Encyclopedia
RFC 1034
| 
