661 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
661 lines
34 KiB
Plaintext
==Phrack Inc.==
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Volume Three, Issue 27, File 3 of 12
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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
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<> <>
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<> Introduction to MIDNET <>
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<> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ <>
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<> Chapter Seven Of The Future Transcendent Saga <>
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<> <>
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<> A More Indepth Look Into NSFnet <>
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<> National Science Foundation Network <>
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<> <>
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<> Presented by Knight Lightning <>
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<> June 16, 1989 <>
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<> <>
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<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
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Prologue
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~~~~~~~~
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If you are not already familiar with NSFnet, I would suggest that you read:
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"Frontiers" (Phrack Inc., Volume Two, Issue 24, File 4 of 13), and definitely;
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"NSFnet: National Science Foundation Network" (Phrack Inc., Volume Three,
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Issue 26, File 4 of 11).
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Table Of Contents
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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* Introduction
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* The DOD Protocol Suite
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* Names and Addresses In A Network
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* Telnet (*NOT* Telenet)
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* File Transfer
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* Mail
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Introduction
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~~~~~~~~~~~~
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MIDNET is a regional computer network that is part of the NSFnet, the National
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Science Foundation Network. Currently, eleven mid-United States universities
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are connected to each other and to the NSFnet via MIDnet:
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UA - University of Arkansas at Fayetteville
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ISU - Iowa State University at Ames
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UI - University of Iowa at Iowa City
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KSU - Kansas State University at Manhattan
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KU - University of Kansas at Lawrence
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UMC - University of Missouri at Columbia
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WU - Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri
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UNL - University of Nebraska at Lincoln
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OSU - Oklahoma State University at Stillwater
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UT - University of Tulsa (Oklahoma)
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OU - University of Oklahoma at Norman
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Researchers at any of these universities that have funded grants can access the
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six supercomputer centers funded by the NSF:
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John Von Neuman Supercomputer Center
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National Center for Atmospheric Research
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Cornell National Supercomputer Facility
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National Center for Supercomputing Applications
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Pittsburgh Supercomputing Center
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San Diego Supercomputing Center
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In addition, researchers and scientists can communicate with each other over a
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vast world-wide computer network that includes the NSFnet, ARPAnet, CSnet,
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BITnet, and others that you have read about in The Future Transcendent Saga.
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Please refer to "Frontiers" (Phrack Inc., Volume Two, Issue 24, File 4 of 13)
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for more details.
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MIDnet is just one of several regional computer networks that comprise the
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NSFnet system. Although all of these regional computer networks work the same,
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MIDnet is the only one that I have direct access to and so this file is written
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from a MIDnet point of view. For people who have access to the other regional
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networks of NSFnet, the only real differences depicted in this file that would
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not apply to the other regional networks are the universities that are served
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by MIDnet as opposed to:
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NYSERnet in New York State
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SURAnet in the southeastern United States
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SEQSUInet in Texas
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BARRnet in the San Francisco area
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MERIT in Michigan
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(There are others that are currently being constructed.)
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These regional networks all hook into the NSFnet backbone, which is a network
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that connects the six supercomputer centers. For example, a person at Kansas
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State University can connect with a supercomputer via MIDnet and the NSFnet
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backbone. That researcher can also send mail to colleagues at the University
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of Delaware by using MIDnet, NSFnet and SURAnet. Each university has its own
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local computer network which connects on-campus computers as well as providing
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a means to connecting to a regional network.
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Some universities are already connected to older networks such as CSnet, the
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ARPAnet and BITnet. In principal, any campus connected to any of these
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networks can access anyone else in any other network since there are gateways
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between the networks.
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Gateways are specialized computers that forward network traffic, thereby
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connecting networks. In practice, these wide-area networks use different
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networking technology which make it impossible to provide full functionality
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across the gateways. However, mail is almost universally supported across all
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gateways, so that a person at a BITnet site can send mail messages to a
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colleague at an ARPAnet site (or anywhere else for that matter). You should
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already be somewhat familiar with this, but if not refer to;
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"Limbo To Infinity" (Phrack Inc., Volume Two, Issue 24, File 3 of 13) and
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"Internet Domains" (Phrack Inc., Volume Three, Issue 26, File 8 of 11)
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Computer networks rely on hardware and software that allow computers to
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communicate. The language that enables network communication is called a
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protocol. There are many different protocols in use today. MIDnet uses the
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TCP/IP protocols, also known as the DOD (Department of Defense) Protocol Suite.
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Other networks that use TCP/IP include ARPAnet, CSnet and the NSFnet. In fact,
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all the regional networks that are linked to the NSFnet backbone are required
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to use TCP/IP. At the local campus level, TCP/IP is often used, although other
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protocols such as IBM's SNA and DEC's DECnet are common. In order to
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communicate with a computer via MIDnet and the NSFnet, a computer at a campus
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must use TCP/IP directly or use a gateway that will translate its protocols
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into TCP/IP.
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The Internet is a world-wide computer network that is the conglomeration of
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most of the large wide area networks, including ARPAnet, CSnet, NSFnet, and the
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regionals, such as MIDnet. To a lesser degree, other networks such as BITnet
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that can send mail to hosts on these networks are included as part of the
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Internet. This huge network of networks, the Internet, as you have by now read
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all about in the pages of Phrack Inc., is a rapidly growing and very complex
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entity that allows sophisticated communication between scientists, students,
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government officials and others. Being a part of this community is both
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exciting and challenging.
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This chapter of the Future Transcendent Saga gives a general description of the
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protocols and software used in MIDnet and the NSFNet. A discussion of several
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of the more commonly used networking tools is also included to enable you to
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make practical use of the network as soon as possible.
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The DOD Protocol Suite
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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The DOD Protocol Suite includes many different protocols. Each protocol is a
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specification of how communication is to occur between computers. Computer
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hardware and software vendors use the protocol to create programs and sometimes
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specialized hardware in order to implement the network function intended by the
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protocol. Different implementations of the same protocol exist for the varied
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hardware and operating systems found in a network.
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The three most commonly used network functions are:
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Mail -- Sending and receiving messages
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File Transfer -- Sending and receiving files
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Remote Login -- Logging into a distant computer
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Of these, mail is probably the most commonly used.
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In the TCP/IP world, there are three different protocols that realize these
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functions:
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SMTP -- (Simple Mail Transfer Protocol) Mail
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FTP -- (File Transfer Protocol) sending and receiving files
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Telnet -- Remote login
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How to use these protocols is discussed in the next section. At first glance,
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it is not obvious why these three functions are the most common. After all,
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mail and file transfer seem to be the same thing. However, mail messages are
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not identical to files, since they are usually comprised of only ASCII
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characters and are sequential in structure. Files may contain binary data and
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have complicated, non-sequential structures. Also, mail messages can usually
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tolerate some errors in transmission whereas files should not contain any
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errors. Finally, file transfers usually occur in a secure setting (i.e. The
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users who are transferring files know each other's names and passwords and are
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permitted to transfer the file, whereas mail can be sent to anybody as long as
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their name is known).
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While mail and transfer accomplish the transfer of raw information from one
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computer to another, Telnet allows a distant user to process that information,
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either by logging in to a remote computer or by linking to another terminal.
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Telnet is most often used to remotely log in to a distant computer, but it is
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actually a general-purpose communications protocol. I have found it incredibly
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useful over the last year. In some ways, it could be used for a great deal of
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access because you can directly connect to another computer anywhere that has
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TCP/IP capabilities, however please note that Telnet is *NOT* Telenet.
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There are other functions that some networks provide, including the following:
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- Name to address translation for networks, computers and people
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- The current time
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- Quote of the day or fortune
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- Printing on a remote printer, or use of any other remote peripheral
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- Submission of batch jobs for non-interactive execution
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- Dialogues and conferencing between multiple users
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- Remote procedure call (i.e. Distributing program execution over several
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remote computers)
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- Transmission of voice or video information
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Some of these functions are still in the experimental stages and require faster
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computer networks than currently exist. In the future, new functions will
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undoubtedly be invented and existing ones improved.
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The DOD Protocol Suite is a layered network architecture, which means that
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network functions are performed by different programs that work independently
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and in harmony with each other. Not only are there different programs but
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there are different protocols. The protocols SMTP, FTP and Telnet are
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described above. Protocols have been defined for getting the current time, the
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quote of the day, and for translating names. These protocols are called
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applications protocols because users directly interact with the programs that
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implement these protocols.
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The Transmission Control Protocol, TCP, is used by many of the application
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protocols. Users almost never interact with TCP directly. TCP establishes a
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reliable end-to-end connection between two processes on remote computers. Data
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is sent through a network in small chunks called packets to improve reliability
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and performance. TCP ensures that packets arrive in order and without errors.
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If a packet does have errors, TCP requests that the packet be retransmitted.
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In turn, TCP calls upon IP, Internet Protocol, to move the data from one
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network to another. IP is still not the lowest layer of the architecture,
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since there is usually a "data link layer protocol" below it. This can be any
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of a number of different protocols, two very common ones being X.25 and
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Ethernet.
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FTP, Telnet and SMTP are called "application protocols", since they are
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directly used by applications programs that enable users to make use of the
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network. Network applications are the actual programs that implement these
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protocols and provide an interface between the user and the computer. An
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implementation of a network protocol is a program or package of programs that
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provides the desired network function such as file transfer. Since computers
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differ from vendor to vendor (e.g. IBM, DEC, CDC), each computer must have its
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own implementation of these protocols. However, the protocols are standardized
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so that computers can interoperate over the network (i.e. Can understand and
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process each other's data). For example, a TCP packet generated by an IBM
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computer can be read and processed by a DEC computer.
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In many instances, network applications programs use the name of the protocol.
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For example, the program that transfers files may be called "FTP" and the
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program that allows remote logins may be called "Telnet." Sometimes these
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protocols are incorporated into larger packages, as is common with SMTP. Many
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computers have mail programs that allow users on the same computer to send mail
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to each other. SMTP functions are often added to these mail programs so that
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users can also send and receive mail through a network. In such cases, there
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is no separate program called SMTP that the user can access, since the mail
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program provides the user interface to this network function.
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Specific implementation of network protocols, such as FTP, are tailored to the
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computer hardware and operating system on which they are used. Therefore, the
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exact user interface varies from one implementation to another. For example,
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the FTP protocol specifies a set of FTP commands which each FTP implementation
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must understand and process. However, these are usually placed at a low level,
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often invisible to the user, who is given a higher set of commands to use.
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These higher-level commands are not standardized so they may vary from one
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implementation of FTP to another. For some operating systems, not all of these
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commands make equal sense, such as "Change Directory," or may have different
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meanings. Therefore the specific user interface that the user sees will
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probably differ.
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This file describes a generic implementation of the standard TCP/IP application
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protocols. Users must consult local documentation for specifics at their
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sites.
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Names and Addresses In A Network
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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In DOD Protocol Suite, each network is given a unique identifying number. This
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number is assigned by a central authority, namely the Network Information
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Center run by SRI, abbreviated as SRI-NIC, in order to prevent more than one
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network from having the same network number. For example, the ARPAnet has
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network number 10 while MIDnet has a longer number, namely 128.242.
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Each host in a network has a unique identification so other hosts can specify
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them unambiguously. Host numbers are usually assigned by the organization that
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manages the network, rather than one central authority. Host numbers do not
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need to be unique throughout the whole Internet but two hosts on the same
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network need to have unique host numbers.
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The combination of the network number and the host number is called the IP
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address of the host and is specified as a 32-bit binary number. All IP
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addresses in the Internet are expressible as 32-bit numbers, although they are
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often written in dotted decimal notation. Dotted decimal notation breaks the
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32-bit number into four eight-bit parts or octets and each octet is specified
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as a decimal number. For example, 00000001 is the binary octet that specifies
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the decimal number 1, while 11000000 specifies 192. Dotted decimal notation
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makes IP addresses much easier to read and remember.
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Computers in the Internet are also identified by hostnames, which are strings
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of characters, such as "phrackvax." However, IP packets must specify the
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32-bit IP address instead of the hostname so some way to translating hostnames
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to IP addresses must exist.
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One way is to have a table of hostnames and their corresponding IP addresses,
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called a hosttable. Nearly every TCP/IP implementation has such a hosttable,
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although the weaknesses of this method are forcing a shift to a new scheme
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called the domain name system. In UNIX systems, the hosttable is often called
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"/etc/hosts." You can usually read this file and find out what the IP
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addresses of various hosts are. Other systems may call this file by a
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different name and make it unavailable for public viewing.
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Users of computers are generally given accounts to which all charges for
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computer use are billed. Even if computer time is free at an installation,
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accounts are used to distinguish between the users and enforce file
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protections. The generic term "username" will be used in this file to refer to
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the name by which the computer account is accessed.
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In the early days of the ARPAnet which was the first network to use the TCP/IP
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protocols, computer users were identified by their username, followed by a
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commercial "at" sign (@), followed by the hostname on which the account
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existed. Networks were not given names, per se, although the IP address
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specified a network number.
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For example, "knight@phrackvax" referred to user "knight" on host "phrackvax."
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This did not specify which network "phrackvax" was on, although that
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information could be obtained by examining the hosttable and the IP address for
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"phrackvax." (However, "phrackvax" is a ficticious hostname used for this
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presentation.)
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As time went on, every computer on the network had to have an entry in its
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hosttable for every other computer on the network. When several networks
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linked together to form the Internet, the problem of maintaining this central
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hosttable got out of hand. Therefore, the domain name scheme was introduced to
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split up the hosttable and make it smaller and easier to maintain.
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In the new domain name scheme, users are still identified by their usernames,
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but hosts are now identified by their hostname and any and all domains of which
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they are a part. For example, the following address,
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"KNIGHT@UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU" specifies username "KNIGHT" on host "UMCVMB".
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However, host "UMCVMB" is a part of the domain "MISSOURI" " which is in turn
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part of the domain "EDU". There are other domains in "EDU", although only one
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is named "MISSOURI". In the domain "MISSOURI", there is only one host named
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"UMCVMB".
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However, other domains in "EDU" could theoretically have hosts named "UMCVMB"
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(although I would say that this is rather unlikely in this example). Thus the
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combination of hostname and all its domains makes it unique. The method of
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translating such names into IP addresses is no longer as straightforward as
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looking up the hostname in a table. Several protocols and specialized network
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software called nameservers and resolvers implement the domain name scheme.
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Not all TCP/IP implementations support domain names because it is rather new.
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In those cases, the local hosttable provides the only way to translate
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hostnames to IP addresses. The system manager of that computer will have to
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put an entry into the hosttable for every host that users may want to connect
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to. In some cases, users may consult the nameserver themselves to find out the
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IP address for a given hostname and then use that IP address directly instead
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of a hostname.
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I have selected a few network hosts to demonstrate how a host system can be
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specified by both the hostname and host numerical address. Some of the nodes I
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have selected are also nodes on BITnet, perhaps even some of the others that I
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do not make a note of due a lack of omniscent awareness about each and every
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single host system in the world :-)
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Numerical Hostname Location BITnet
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--------- -------- -------- ------
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18.72.0.39 ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Mass. Institute of Technology) ?
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26.0.0.73 SRI-NIC.ARPA (DDN Network Information Center) -
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36.21.0.13 MACBETH.STANFORD.EDU (Stanford University) ?
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36.21.0.60 PORTIA.STANFORD.EDU (Stanford University) ?
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128.2.11.131 ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Carnegie Mellon University) ANDREW
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128.3.254.13 LBL.GOV (Lawrence Berkeley Labrotories) LBL
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128.6.4.7 RUTGERS.RUTGERS.EDU (Rutgers University) ?
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128.59.99.1 CUCARD.MED.COLUMBIA.EDU (Columbia University) ?
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128.102.18.3 AMES.ARC.NASA.GOV (Ames Research Center [NASA]) -
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128.103.1.1 HARVARD.EDU (Harvard University) HARVARD
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128.111.24.40 HUB.UCSB.EDU (Univ. Of Calif-Santa Barbara) ?
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128.115.14.1 LLL-WINKEN.LLNL.GOV (Lawrence Livermore Labratories) -
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128.143.2.7 UVAARPA.VIRGINIA.EDU (University of Virginia) ?
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128.148.128.40 BROWNVM.BROWN.EDU (Brown University) BROWN
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128.163.1.5 UKCC.UKY.EDU (University of Kentucky) UKCC
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128.183.10.4 NSSDCA.GSFC.NASA.GOV (Goddard Space Flight Center [NASA])-
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128.186.4.18 RAI.CC.FSU.EDU (Florida State University) FSU
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128.206.1.1 UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU (Univ. of Missouri-Columbia) UMCVMB
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128.208.1.15 MAX.ACS.WASHINGTON.EDU (University of Washington) MAX
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128.228.1.2 CUNYVM.CUNY.EDU (City University of New York) CUNYVM
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129.10.1.6 NUHUB.ACS.NORTHEASTERN.EDU (Northeastern University) NUHUB
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131.151.1.4 UMRVMA.UMR.EDU (University of Missouri-Rolla) UMRVMA
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192.9.9.1 SUN.COM (Sun Microsystems, Inc.) -
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192.33.18.30 VM1.NODAK.EDU (North Dakota State Univ.) NDSUVM1
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192.33.18.50 PLAINS.NODAK.EDU (North Dakota State Univ.) NDSUVAX
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Please Note: Not every system on BITnet has an IP address. Likewise, not
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every system that has an IP address is on BITnet. Also, while
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some locations like Stanford University may have nodes on BITnet
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and have hosts on the IP as well, this does not neccessarily
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imply that the systems on BITnet and on IP (the EDU domain in
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this case) are the same systems.
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Attempts to gain unauthorized access to systems on the Internet
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are not tolerated and is legally a federal offense. At some
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hosts, they take this very seriously, especially the government
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hosts such as NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, where they do
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not mind telling you so at the main prompt when you connect to
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their system.
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However, some nodes are public access to an extent. The DDN
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Network Information Center can be used by anyone. The server and
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database there have proven to be an invaluable source of
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information when locating people, systems, and other information
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that is related to the Internet.
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- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
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Telnet
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~~~~~~
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Remote login refers to logging in to a remote computer from a terminal
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connected to a local computer. Telnet is the standard protocol in the DOD
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Protocol Suite for accomplishing this. The "rlogin" program, provided with
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Berkeley UNIX systems and some other systems, also enables remote login.
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For purposes of discussion, the "local computer" is the computer to which your
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terminal is directly connected while the "remote computer" is the computer on
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the network to which you are communicating and to which your terminal is *NOT*
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directly connected.
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Since some computers use a different method of attaching terminals to
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computers, a better definition would be the following: The "local computer" is
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the computer that you are currently using and the "remote computer" is the
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computer on the network with which you are or will be communicating. Note that
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the terms "host" and "computer" are synonymous in the following discussion.
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To use Telnet, simply enter the command: TELNET
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The prompt that Telnet gives is: Telnet>
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(However, you can specify where you want to Telnet to immediately and bypass
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the the prompts and other delays by issuing the command: TELNET [location].)
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There is help available by typing in ?. This prints a list of all the valid
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subcommands that Telnet provides with a one-line explanation.
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Telnet> ?
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To connect to to another computer, use the open subcommand to open a connection
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to that computer. For example, to connect to the host "UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU",
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do "open umcvmb.missouri.edu"
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Telnet will resolve (i.e. Translate, the hostname "umcvmb.missouri.edu" into an
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IP address and will send a packet to that host requesting login. If the remote
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host decides to let you attempt a login, it prompts you for your username and
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password. If the host does not respond, Telnet will "time out" (i.e. Wait for
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a reasonable amount of time such as 20 seconds) and then terminate with a
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message such as "Host not responding."
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If your computer does not have an entry for a remote host in its hosttable and
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it cannot resolve the name, you can use the IP address explicitly in the telnet
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command. For example,
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TELNET 26.0.0.73 (Note: This is the IP address for the DDN Network Information
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Center [SRI-NIC.ARPA])
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If you are successful in logging in, your terminal is connected to the remote
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host. For all intents and purposes, your terminal is directly hard-wired to
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that host and you should be able to do anything on your remote terminal that
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you can do at any local terminal. There are a few exceptions to this rule,
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however.
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Telnet provides a network escape character, such as CONTROL-T. You can find out
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what the escape character is by entering the "status" subcommand:
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Telnet> status
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You can change the escape character by entering the "escape" subcommand:
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Telnet> escape
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When you type in the escape character, the Telnet prompt returns to your screen
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and you can enter subcommands. For example, to break the connection, which
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usually logs you off the remote host, enter the subcommand "quit":
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Telnet> quit
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Your Telnet connection usually breaks when you log off the remote host, so the
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"quit" subcommand is not usually used to log off.
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When you are logged in to a remote computer via Telnet, remember that there is
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a time delay between your local computer and the remote one. This often
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becomes apparent to users when scrolling a long file across the terminal screen
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nd they wish to cancel the scrolling by typing CONTROL-C or something similar.
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After typing the special control character, the scrolling continues. The
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special control character takes a certain amount of time to reach the remote
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computer which is still scrolling information. Thus response from the remote
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computer will not likely be as quick as response from a local computer.
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Once you are remotely logged on, the computer you are logged on to effectively
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becomes your "local computer," even though your original "local computer" still
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considers you logged on. You can log on to a third computer which would then
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become your "local computer" and so on. As you log out of each session, your
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previous session becomes active again.
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File Transfer
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~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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FTP is the program that allows files to be sent from one computer to another.
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"FTP" stands for "File Transfer Protocol".
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When you start using FTP, a communications channel with another computer on the
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network is opened. For example, to start using FTP and initiate a file
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transfer session with a computer on the network called "UMCVMB", you would
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issue the following subcommand:
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FTP UMCVMB.MISSOURI.EDU
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Host "UMCVMB" will prompt you for an account name and password. If your login
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is correct, FTP will tell you so, otherwise it will say "login incorrect." Try
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again or abort the FTP program. (This is usually done by typing a special
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control character such as CONTROL-C. The "program abort" character varies from
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system to system.)
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Next you will see the FTP prompt, which is:
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Ftp>
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There are a number of subcommands of FTP. The subcommand "?" will list these
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commands and a brief description of each one.
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You can initiate a file transfer in either direction with FTP, either from the
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remote host or to the remote host. The "get" subcommand initiates a file
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transfer from the remote host (i.e. Tells the remote computer to send the file
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to the local computer [the one on which you issued the "ftp" command]). Simply
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enter "get" and FTP will prompt you for the remote host's file name and the
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(new) local host's file name. Example:
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Ftp> get
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Remote file name?
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theirfile
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local file name?
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myfile
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ou can abbreviate this by typing both file names on the same line as the "get"
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subcommand. If you do not specify a local file name, the new local file will
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be called the same thing as the remote file. Valid FTP subcommands to get a
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file include the following:
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get theirfile myfile
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get doc.x25
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The "put" subcommand works in a similar fashion and is used to send a file from
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the local computer to the remote computer. Enter the command "put" and FTP
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will prompt you for the local file name and then the remote file name. If the
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transfer cannot be done because the file doesn't exist or for some other
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reason, FTP will print an error message.
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There are a number of other subcommands in FTP that allow you to do many more
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things. Not all of these are standard so consult your local documentation or
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type a question mark at the FTP prompt. Some functions often built into FTP
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include the ability to look at files before getting or putting them, the
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ability to change directories, the ability to delete files on the remote
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computer, and the ability to list the directory on the remote host.
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An intriguing capability of many FTP implementations is "third party
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transfers." For example, if you are logged on computer A and you want to cause
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computer B to send a file to computer C, you can use FTP to connect to computer
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B and use the "rmtsend" command. Of course, you have to know usernames and
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passwords on all three computers, since FTP never allows you to peek into
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someone's directory and files unless you know their username and password.
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The "cd" subcommand changes your working directory on the remote host. The
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"lcd" subcommand changes the directory on the local host. For UNIX systems,
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the meaning of these subcommands is obvious. Other systems, especially those
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that do not have directory-structured file system, may not implement these
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commands or may implement them in a different manner.
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The "dir" and "ls" subcommands do the same thing, namely list the files in the
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working directory of of the remote host.
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The "list" subcommand shows the contents of a file without actually putting it
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into a file on the local computer. This would be helpful if you just wanted to
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inspect a file. You could interrupt it before it reached the end of the file
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by typing CONTROL-C or some other special character. This is dependent on your
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FTP implementation.
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The "delete" command can delete files on the remote host. You can also make
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and remove directories on the remote host with "mkdir" and "rmdir". The
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"status" subcommand will tell you if you are connected and with whom and what
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the state of all your options are.
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If you are transferring binary files or files with any non-printable
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characters, turn binary mode on by entering the "binary" subcommand:
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binary
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To resume non-binary transfers, enter the "ascii" subcommand.
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Transferring a number of files can be done easily by using "mput" (multiple
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put) and "mget" (multiple get). For example, to get every file in a particular
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directory, first issue a "cd" command to change to that directory and then an
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"mget" command with an asterisk to indicate every file:
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cd somedirectory
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mget *
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When you are done, use the "close" subcommand to break the communications link.
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You will still be in FTP, so you must use the "bye" subcommand to exit FTP and
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return to the command level. The "quit" subcommand will close the connection
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and exit from FTP at the same time.
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Mail
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~~~~
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Mail is the simplest network facility to use in many ways. All you have to do
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is to create your message, which can be done with a file editor or on the spur
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|
of the moment, and then send it. Unlike FTP and Telnet, you do not need to
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|
know the password of the username on the remote computer. This is so because
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you cannot change or access the files of the remote user nor can you use their
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account to run programs. All you can do is to send a message.
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There is probably a program on your local computer which does mail between
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users on that computer. Such a program is called a mailer. This may or may
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|
not be the way to send or receive mail from other computers on the network,
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although integrated mailers are more and more common. UNIX mailers will be
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used as an example in this discussion.
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Note that the protocol which is used to send and receive mail over a TCP/IP
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network is called SMTP, the "Simple Mail Transfer Protocol." Typically, you
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will not use any program called SMTP, but rather your local mail program.
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UNIX mailers are usually used by invoking a program named "mail". To receive
|
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new mail, simply type "mail".
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There are several varieties of UNIX mailers in existence. Consult your local
|
|
documentation for details. For example, the command "man mail" prints out the
|
|
manual pages for the mail program on your computer.
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To send mail, you usually specify the address of the recipient on the mail
|
|
command. For example: "mail knight@umcvmb.missouri.edu" will send the
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following message to username "knight" on host "umcvmb".
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You can usually type in your message one line at a time, pressing RETURN after
|
|
each line and typing CONTROL-D to end the message. Other facilities to include
|
|
already-existing files sometimes exist. For example, Berkeley UNIXes allow you
|
|
to enter commands similar to the following to include a file in your current
|
|
mail message:
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|
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r myfile
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In this example, the contents of "myfile" are inserted into the message at this
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|
point.
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Most UNIX systems allow you to send a file through the mail by using input
|
|
redirection. For example:
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|
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mail knight@umcvmb.missouri.edu < myfile
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|
|
In this example, the contents of "myfile" are sent as a message to "knight" on
|
|
"umcvmb."
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|
|
Note that in many UNIX systems the only distinction between mail bound for
|
|
another user on the same computer and another user on a remote computer is
|
|
simply the address specified. That is, there is no hostname for local
|
|
recipients. Otherwise, mail functions in exactly the same way. This is common
|
|
for integrated mail packages. The system knows whether to send the mail
|
|
locally or through the network based on the address and the user is shielded
|
|
from any other details.
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"The Quest For Knowledge Is Without End..."
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_______________________________________________________________________________
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