Summary of Smallberg surveys
A summary of weekly Telnet, FTP, and SMTP server surveys from 1982 and 1983.
Westine, A., Smallberg, D., and J. Postel, "Summary of Smallberg surveys", RFC 847, DOI 10.17487/RFC0847, February 1983, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc847>.
@misc{rfc847,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 847,
howpublished = {RFC 847},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0847},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc847},
author = {A. Westine and D. Smallberg and J. Postel},
title = {{Summary of Smallberg surveys}},
pagetotal = 2,
year = 1983,
month = feb,
} RFC text
Network Working Group A. Westine
Request for Comments: 847 D. Smallberg
J. Postel
February, 1983
SUMMARY OF SMALLBERG SURVEYS
This is a summary of the surveys of Telnet, FTP and Mail (SMTP)
servers conducted by David Smallberg in December 1982 and January
and February 1983 as reported in RFC 832-843, 845-846. This memo
extracts the number of hosts that accepted the connection to
their server for each of Telnet, FTP, and SMTP, and compares it
to the total host in the Internet (not counting TACs or ECHOS).
One would not expect the percentage to reach 100, since some
hosts will be down when the surveys are run, but many hosts are
for special purposes and don't offer these services. We estimate
that 37 hosts or 11 percent are in this catagory and the highest
percentage one could reasonably expect is 89.
TELNET
RFC DATE ACCEPT TOTAL PERCENT
--- ---- ------ ----- -------
832 7 Dec 82 83 315 26
833 14 Dec 82 103 314 33
834 22 Dec 82 102 314 32
835 28 Dec 82 95 314 30
836 4 Jan 83 151 315 48
837 11 Jan 83 171 323 53
838 18 Jan 83 172 323 53
839 25 Jan 83 182 323 56
842 1 Feb 83 183 382 48
843 8 Feb 83 187 329 57
845 15 Feb 83 176 329 53
846 22 Feb 83 190 325 56
FTP
RFC DATE ACCEPT TOTAL PERCENT
--- ---- ------ ----- -------
832 7 Dec 82 70 315 26
833 14 Dec 82 90 314 29
834 22 Dec 82 80 314 25
835 28 Dec 82 80 314 25
836 4 Jan 83 132 315 42
837 11 Jan 83 153 323 47
838 18 Jan 83 159 323 49
839 25 Jan 83 165 323 51
842 1 Feb 83 170 328 52
843 8 Feb 83 174 389 45
845 15 Feb 82 169 329 51
846 22 Feb 83 181 325 56
SMTP
RFC DATE ACCEPT TOTAL PERCENT
--- ---- ------ ----- -------
832 7 Dec 82 63 315 20
833 14 Dec 82 82 314 26
834 22 Dec 82 82 314 26
835 28 Dec 82 72 314 23
836 4 Jan 83 124 315 39
837 11 Jan 83 145 323 45
838 18 Jan 83 154 323 48
839 25 Jan 83 159 323 49
842 1 Feb 83 169 328 52
843 8 Feb 83 170 329 52
845 15 Feb 83 169 329 51
846 22 Feb 83 178 325 55
ISO Plain Language
On this page
§1What the Surveys Measured
The memo summarizes surveys David Smallberg conducted in December 1982 and January and February 1983. The individual reports are RFCs 832-843 and 845-846.
For each survey, the tables list how many hosts accepted a connection to a Telnet, FTP, or SMTP server and the total number of hosts counted, excluding TACs and ECHOs.
The surveys tried connecting to Telnet, FTP, and SMTP servers at Internet hosts. This memo brings the counts from the separate reports together.
§1Why the Rate Could Be Below 100 Percent
The memo says the percentage would not be expected to reach 100 because some hosts could be down during a survey and many hosts did not offer these services.
It estimates that 37 hosts, or 11 percent, were for special purposes and did not offer the surveyed services. On that basis, it states that 89 percent was the highest percentage one could reasonably expect.
Some hosts might be unavailable during a survey, and some were not meant to run these services. The memo uses those limits to explain why it did not expect every host to respond.
§1The Survey Tables
There is a table for each service. Each row reports the RFC number, date, hosts accepting a connection, total hosts, and percentage.
For the final listed survey, RFC 846 dated February 22, 1983, the Telnet table shows 190 of 325 hosts, the FTP table shows 181 of 325, and the SMTP table shows 178 of 325.
Each service has its own table, with one row per survey date. The final rows show the number of hosts that accepted a connection and the survey total.