Standard host names
A proposal for eight-character names for hosts on the ARPA Network.
Postel, J., "Standard host names", RFC 229, DOI 10.17487/RFC0229, September 1971, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc229>.
@misc{rfc229,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 229,
howpublished = {RFC 229},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0229},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc229},
author = {J. Postel},
title = {{Standard host names}},
pagetotal = 3,
year = 1971,
month = sep,
} RFC text
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 UCLA-NMC
NIC 7646 Computer Science
Categories: D.3 22 September 71
Related: #226
Obsoletes: None
STANDARD HOST NAMES
I suggest 8 character names and the following list:
Site Standard Name Alternate Name
---- ------------- --------------
1 UCLA-NMC SEX
65 UCLA-CCN CCN
2 SRI-ARC NIC
66 SRI-AI
3 UCSB
4 UTAH
5 BBN-NCC NCC
69 BBN-A BBN
133 BBN-B
6 MIT-MLTX MULTICS
70 MIT-DMCG DMCG
7 RAND-65
71 RAND-10
8 SDC
9 HARV
73 HARV-1
137 HARV-11
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 22 September 71
Site Standard Name
---- -------------
10 LL-67
74 LL-TX2
11 STAN
12 ILL
13 CASE
14 CMU
15 BUROUGHS
16 AMES-67
144 AMES-TIP
145 MITRE
18 RADC
146 RADC-TIP
19 NBS
147 NBS-TIP
148 ETAC
21 TINKER
22 MCLELLAN
23 USC
151 USC-TIP
152 GWC
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #229 22 September 71
Site Standard Name
---- -------------
25 NCAR
153 NCAR-TIP
158 BBN-TIP
[ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
[ into the online RFC archives by BBN Corp. under the ]
[ direction of Alex McKenzie. 12/96 ]
ISO Plain Language
On this page
§1A Shared Set of Host Names
The memo says a standard set of names was needed for NCPs and Telnets to identify hosts, and for identifying a person's affiliation in hardcopy. Several sets of names were already in use.
Jon Postel suggests using names of 8 characters and provides a table of host names and network addresses. The memo is a proposal, not a protocol specification.
Different names were being used for network hosts. This proposal offers one list of names that NCPs and Telnets could recognize.
§2Names and Network Addresses
The table pairs site numbers with standard names and, in some cases, alternate names. For example, site 1 is listed as UCLA-NMC with alternate name SEX; site 65 is UCLA-CCN with alternate name CCN; and site 2 is SRI-ARC with alternate name NIC.
The list includes entries for research and government sites, as well as Terminal IMPs. Several entries have no alternate name shown.
Look up a site number to find its proposed host name. A few sites also have a shorter alternate name listed.
§3Status of the Proposal
The RFC is a suggested naming list. Its title section identifies RFC 226 as related, and it contains no implementation rules for how a host must use the names.
The unit metadata records RFC 236 as the document that later obsoleted RFC 229.
This was a naming proposal rather than a required naming standard. A later RFC replaced it.