rfc1816.txt

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RFC 1816         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names       August 1995


   These entities are strongly encouraged to reregister in the ".US"
   domain but this is NOT mandatory.  No further state and local
   agencies will be registered under .GOV.


   Q.  It is not in anyone's best interest to name things by
   organizational boundaries as these things change. Internet domain
   names and host names, once defined and used, become so widely
   distributed that they become virtually impossible to change.
   Organizational structure changes but not the underlying networking
   structure.

   A.  The policy does not require organizations to change their names
   once established, but individual agency policies may.  The DNS system
   contains some capabilities to assist in name transition - the CNAME
   record provides a capability for cross-domain aliases which can be
   used to ease a transition between one name space and another.  As
   noted in the clarifications, naming and subdomain conventions WITHIN
   an agency or department DNS delegation are solely the province of
   that entity.


   Q.  How can two entities have the same name registered?  How does
   this apply to NIH.GOV, FDA.GOV, and CDC.GOV, all of which are large
   components of DHHS/PHS?  NCIFCRF.GOV is a component of NIH.  Does it
   have to change?  I don't understand how a distinction is made if some
   are grandfathered and some are not.

   A. US-STATE.GOV and STATE.GOV for example.  The problem is actually
   one entity with two names.  NIH.GOV and FDA.GOV represent separate
   entities (albeit within DHHS).  If there were an NIH.GOV and an NIH-
   EAST.GOV for example, NIH would have to eliminate one of them
   (probably moving NIH-EAST.GOV to EAST.NIH.GOV).


   Q.  How much is the taxpayer being asked to spend to alter tens of
   thousands of existing computer and telecommunications systems to
   support RFC 1816?

   A.  There are currently less that half-a-dozen duplicate DNS names at
   the FIPS-95-1 level which will need to be changed.  Given the fact
   that this will be accomplished over the next three years, the costs
   should be minimal.








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RFC 1816         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names       August 1995


CROSS-AGENCY COLLABORATIONS

   Q.  An organization maintains a domain name which represents a
   cross-agency community, IC.GOV, which represents members of the
   intelligence community.  As a cross-agency collaborative effort, does
   the domain have to be reregistered?

   A.  The policy states that "Cross-agency collaborative organizations
   (e.g., "Federal Networking Council", "Information Infrastructure Task
   Force") are eligible for registration under .GOV upon presentation of
   the chartering document and are the only non-FIPS-listed
   organizations eligible for registration under .GOV."  "IC.GOV"
   however, is grandfathered since it is an existing domain.
   Nevertheless, it would be appropriate to provide a copy of the
   chartering document to the FNC for the record.  This would ease
   future changes to the IC.GOV domain if necessary.

FUTURE .GOV REGISTRATIONS

   Q.  Top level domains are roughly equivalent to the cabinet-level
   agencies identified in FIPS-95-1.  What will happen if non-FIPS-95-1
   entities apply for the ".GOV" registration in the future?

   A.  The Internic will use RFC 1816 as guidance and will not grant the
   ".GOV" to any new entity which is not listed in the FIPS-95-1 or
   which has not been granted an exception status by the FNC Executive
   Committee.


   Q.  Suppose NIH were moved to a new Dept. of Science?  Would our
   domain name have to be changed?

   A.  NIH.GOV is grandfathered under the existing policy and would not
   change.  The "Department of Science" under its own policies may
   require you to re-register though.

FNC INTENT

   Q.  It is unclear how this will policy will facilitate access by the
   public to our information, especially since most of the public
   doesn't know our organizational structure or that CDC is part of
   DHHS/PHS.

   A. The policy attempts to avoid confusion as an increasing number of
   entities register under the ".GOV" domain and to transfer authority
   and responsibility for domain name space to the appropriate agencies
   and away from a centralized authority.  For facilitating access,
   various tools and capabilities are coming into use on the Internet



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RFC 1816         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names       August 1995


   all the time.  Most of these tools provide a fairly strong search
   capability which should obviate most concerns of finding resources
   based on domain names.


   Q.  Section 1D of RFC 1816 unfairly constrains the organizations
   within the .gov domain in stark contrast to Section 1F which grants
   .mil domain organizations full freedom to operate subdomains in any
   manner chosen.

   A.  The Federal Networking Council has jurisdiction over the ".GOV"
   domain names; ".MIL" domain names fall within the jurisdiction of the
   Department of Defense.  The .MIL domain has had a written policy
   delimiting which DOD agencies get registered directly under .MIL
   since about 1987 when the DNS first started to come into use.
   Individual agencies under the .MIL domain (e.g., AF.MIL/US Air Force)
   are responsible for setting policy within their domains and for
   registrations within those domains.  This is exactly equivalent to
   the .GOV domain - an individual agency (e.g., Treasury.GOV/Dept of
   Treasury) may and should set policy for subregistrations within their
   domain.


   Q.  Section 1B identifies several law enforcement agencies as being
   "autonomous" for the purposes of domain registration.  What is the
   selection criteria for an "autonomous law enforcement" agency?  For
   instance, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is responsible for law
   enforcement as is the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms (ATF).

   A.  The selection criteria for "law enforcement agency" is based on
   primary mission.  A case could be made for either or both of these
   being law enforcement agencies, although the IRS' primary mission is
   tax revenue collection and has few armed officers relative to its
   size.  An "autonomous" agency is one with mission and role distinct
   and (possibly) separate from its containing department.
   Unfortunately, 95-1 does not do a good job of identifying
   "autonomous" entities.  In the event of problems with registration,
   ask the registrar to get a ruling from the FNC.













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RFC 1816         U.S. Government Internet Domain Names       August 1995


ROUTING QUESTIONS

   Q.  How will Domain Name Service resolution on the Net work?  Instead
   of a root DNS server returning the address of cdc.gov and immediately
   directing inquires to our DNS servers, will the root server return a
   DNS pointer to DHHS, then DHHS will resolve to PHS, then a fourth DNS
   query to get to CDC?  This will add unnecessary traffic to the Net.
   (example is host.CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV)

   A.  The answer is based on how you (personally and agency wide)
   configure your servers.  First, most servers cache previous answers -
   they may have to ask once, but generally remember the answer if they
   need it again. Information directly under .GOV will be fairly long-
   lived which substantially reduces the requirement to query .GOV
   server.  Secondly, multiple levels of the DNS tree MAY reside on the
   same server.  In the above example the information for DHHS.GOV,
   PHS.DHHS.GOV and CDC.PHS.DHHS.GOV could all reside on the same
   server.  Assuming the location of the DHHS.GOV server was not cached,
   it would require 2 queries.  Further queries would cache the location
   of this server and the servers associated with the domains it serves.
   Lastly, the individual agencies may structure their domains as they
   please.  CDC could reside directly under DHHS.GOV as CDC.DHHS.GOV
   subject to HHS's own policies.

Security Considerations

   Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Author's Address

   Federal Networking Council
   4001 N. Fairfax Drive
   Arlington, VA 22203

   Phone: [phone]
   EMail: [e-mail]
   URL:  http://www.fnc.gov














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