rfc1580.txt

著名的RFC文档,其中有一些文档是已经翻译成中文的的.

Network Working Group                                         EARN Staff
Request for Comments: 1580                              EARN Association
FYI: 23                                                       March 1994
Category: Informational


                    Guide to Network Resource Tools

Status of this Memo

   This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo
   does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.  Distribution of
   this memo is unlimited.

Table of Contents

    1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  4
    2. GOPHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
      2.1. What is Gopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  5
      2.2. Who can use Gopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      2.3. How to get to Gopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      2.3.1. Local clients  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      2.3.2. Remote clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  6
      2.4. Using Gopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  7
      2.5. VERONICA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
      2.6. Learning more about Gopher . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
    3. WORLD-WIDE WEB . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
      3.1. What is World-Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
      3.2. Who can use World-Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
      3.3. How to get to World-Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      3.3.1. Local clients  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      3.3.2. Remote clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
      3.3.2.1. E-mail access  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15
      3.4. Using World-Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16
      3.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
      3.6. Learning more about World-Wide Web . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
    4. WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
      4.1. What is WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
      4.2. Who can use WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
      4.3. How to get to WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
      4.4. Using WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23
      4.4.1.  E-mail access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
      4.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25
      4.6  Learning more about WAIS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26
    5. ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      5.1. What is ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      5.2. Who can use ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 27
      5.3. How to get to ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28



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RFC 1580            Guide to Network Resource Tools           March 1994


      5.4. Using ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
      5.4.1. Using a local client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29
      5.4.1.1. Archie client command and parameters . . . . . . . . . 29
      5.4.2. Using Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 31
      5.4.3. Using electronic mail  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
      5.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36
      5.6. Learning more about ARCHIE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37
    6. WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
      6.1. What is WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38
      6.2. Who can use WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
      6.3. How to get to WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
      6.4. Using WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39
      6.4.1. Using a local client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40
      6.4.2. Using Telnet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
      6.4.3. Using electronic mail  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
      6.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
      6.6. Learning more about WHOIS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
    7. X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
      7.1. What is X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 45
      7.2. Who can use X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
      7.3. How to get to X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46
      7.4. Using X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
      7.4.1. Using a local client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
      7.4.2. Using Telnet or X.25 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
      7.4.3. Using electronic mail  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
      7.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50
      7.6. Learning more about X.500  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
    8. NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
      8.1. What is NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 53
      8.2. Who can use NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
      8.3. How to get to NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54
      8.4. Using NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
      8.4.1. Local access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
      8.4.2. Remote access  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
      8.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58
      8.6. Learning more about NETFIND  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
    9. TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
      9.1. What is TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
      9.2. Who can use TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60
      9.3  How to get to TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
      9.4. Using TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 61
      9.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
      9.6. Learning more about TRICKLE  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
   10. BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
     10.1. What is BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65
     10.2. Who can use BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
     10.3. How to get to BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
     10.4. Using BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 66



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     10.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 69
     10.6. Learning more about BITFTP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
   11. LISTSERV (Version 1.7f). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
     11.1. What is LISTSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 70
     11.2. Who can use LISTSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
     11.3. How to get to LISTSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
     11.4. Using LISTSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 73
     11.4.1. Commands for LISTS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74
     11.4.2. Commands for FILES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 79
     11.4.3. LISTSERV DATABASE Functions  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 84
     11.4.4. Commands for INFORMATION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
     11.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 85
     11.6. Learning more about LISTSERV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
   12. NETNEWS (USENET) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
     12.1. What is NETNEWS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87
     12.2. Who can use NETNEWS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 88
     12.3. How to get to NETNEWS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
     12.4. Using NETNEWS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 89
     12.5. Examples . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 91
     12.6. Learning more about NETNEWS  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
   13. OTHER TOOLS OF INTEREST  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
     13.1. ASTRA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
     13.1.1. What is ASTRA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 93
     13.1.2. How to get to ASTRA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     13.1.3. Learning more about ASTRA  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     13.2. NETSERV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     13.2.1. What is NETSERV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 94
     13.2.2. How to get to NETSERV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95
     13.2.3. Learning more about NETSERV  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     13.3. MAILBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     13.3.1. What is MAILBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     13.3.2. How to get to MAILBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     13.3.3. Learning more about MAILBASE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 96
     13.4. PROSPERO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
     13.4.1. What is PROSPERO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
     13.4.2. How to get to PROSPERO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
     13.4.3. Learning more about PROSPERO . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
     13.5. IRC  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
     13.5.1. What is IRC  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
     13.5.2. How to get to IRC  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
     13.5.3. Learning more about IRC  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
     13.6. RELAY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
     13.6.1. What is RELAY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
     13.6.2. How to get to RELAY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  100
     13.6.3. Learning more about RELAY  . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  101
   14. Security Considerations  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  101
   15. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  101
   16. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  102



EARN Staff                                                      [Page 3]

RFC 1580            Guide to Network Resource Tools           March 1994


   17. Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  102
   18. Appendix A - Freely available networking software  . . . . .  103
     18.1. Gopher clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  103
     18.2. World-Wide Web clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  104
     18.3. WAIS clients . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  105
     18.4. Netnews - news reader software . . . . . . . . . . . . .  106

1. Introduction

   As the worldwide academic computer network grows and expands far
   beyond its previous confines, so the resources and services available
   on the network evolve and multiply at a dizzying rate. The typical
   user is hardpressed to keep up with this explosive growth.
   Fortunately, a number of tools are available to facilitate the task
   of locating and retrieving network resources, so that users anywhere
   can utilize texts, data, software and information for public access.
   Facilities to explore public domain software repositories, to consult
   mailing list archives and databases, to retrieve directory
   information and to participate in global group discussions are now
   available to all.

   The key to exploiting these resources is a server, special software
   on a computer somewhere in the network which accepts requests (or
   queries or commands) and sends a response automatically. The
   requestor does not have to be working on the same computer (or even
   in the same part of the world) in order to use the server. Many
   servers accept requests via electronic mail, so that often the
   requestor needs not even be on the same computer network as the
   server. In many cases, servers are interconnected so that once you
   have established contact with one server, you can easily communicate
   with other servers as well.

   Today, many users have powerful computers on the desktop, with
   advanced graphical, audio and storage capabilities, which are
   connected to the network. This fact has given rise to what is known
   as the client-server model. Users can have special software on their
   local computer called a client which can utilize the capabilities of
   that computer and can also communicate with a server on the network.
   These clients provide an easy-to-use, intuitive user interface, allow
   use of pointing devices such as a mouse, and exploit other local
   features. The client sends the user's requests to a server using a
   standardized format (called a protocol) and the server sends its
   response in a condensed format which the client displays to the user
   in a more readable way.

   Several of the tools described herein have several different
   functions.  However they could be classified in functional areas
   according to their main purpose. Sections two and three cover two



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   services, Gopher and World-Wide Web, which use the client-server
   model to explore the network providing a means of moving through a
   wide range of network sources and resources in a uniform and
   intuitive way.  A tool for searching in a wide range of different
   databases located throughout the network, WAIS, is documented in
   section four. The problem of knowing where to find network resources
   (files and programs) is addressed in section five, which deals with
   archie. Three tools for finding people, computers and their network
   addresses, WHOIS, X.500 and Netfind, are discussed in sections six,
   seven and eight. While just about all of these network tools can be
   used to get files of one sort or another, there are a few servers
   available for getting files easily and efficiently from various
   repositories in the network. Two of these servers, TRICKLE and
   BITFTP, are covered in sections nine and ten. Sections eleven and
   twelve deal with what is perhaps the most popular of all the network
   resources, discussion groups on every imaginable topic. The two tools
   discussed there are LISTSERV and Netnews (Usenet). Section thirteen
   gives brief descriptions and pointers for a number of tools which
   were not mainstream enough to get a full description. Some are still
   in the developmental stage (Prospero), some are relatively unknown
   outside a particular network (ASTRA and Netserv from EARN/Bitnet and
   Mailbase from JANET) and some are meant for chatting rather than work
   (Relay and IRC).

   The purpose of this guide is to supply the basic information that
   anyone on the network needs to try out and begin using these tools. A
   basic knowledge of networking terminology has been assumed, as well
   as familiarity with the basic tools of networking: electronic mail
   (often referred to as e-mail or simply mail throughout this guide)
   and, for those connected to the Internet, FTP (file transfer
   protocol) and Telnet (remote login). It is beyond the scope of this
   guide to describe these basic tools. The example in the BITFTP
   section of this guide shows how one can use BITFTP to get guides to
   these tools over the network.

2. GOPHER

2.1. What is Gopher

   The Internet Gopher, or simply Gopher, is a distributed document
   delivery service. It allows users to explore, search and retrieve
   information residing on different locations in a seamless fashion.

   When browsing it, the information appears to the user as a series of
   nested menus. This kind of menu structure resembles the organization
   of a directory with many subdirectories and files. The subdirectories
   and the files may be located either on the local server site or on
   remote sites served by other Gopher servers. From the user point of



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   view, all information items presented on the menus appear to come
   from the same place.

   The information can be a text or binary file, directory information
   (loosely called phone book), image or sound. In addition, Gopher
   offers gateways to other information systems (World-Wide Web, WAIS,
   archie, WHOIS) and network services (Telnet, FTP). Gopher is often a
   more convenient way to navigate in a FTP directory and to download
   files.

   A Gopher server holds the information and handles the users' queries.
   In addition, links to other Gopher servers create a network wide
   cooperation to form the global Gopher web (Gopherspace).

2.2. Who can use Gopher

   Gopher uses the client-server model to provide access to the Gopher
   web.  You must be on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet)
   in order to use a client on your computer to access Gopher.

2.3. How to get to Gopher

   Users explore the Gopher menus  using various local clients or
   accessing a remote client via an interactive Telnet session.

   2.3.1. Local clients

      Public domain clients for accessing a Gopher server are available
      for: Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, VM/CMS, VMS, NeXT, Unix, X-Windows.
      The clients are available for anonymous FTP from many FTP sites
      (e.g., boombox.micro.umn.edu in the directory /pub/gopher). See
      the list of freely available client software in Appendix A.

   2.3.2. Remote clients