Standard host names
Jon Postel's revised list of standard ARPANET host names, with a short four-character alternate for each.
Postel, J., "Standard host names", RFC 236, DOI 10.17487/RFC0236, September 1971, <https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc236>.
@misc{rfc236,
series = {Request for Comments},
number = 236,
howpublished = {RFC 236},
publisher = {RFC Editor},
doi = {10.17487/RFC0236},
url = {https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc236},
author = {J. Postel},
title = {{Standard host names}},
pagetotal = 2,
year = 1971,
month = sep,
} RFC text
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #236 UCLA-NMC
NIC 7661 Computer Science
Categories: D.3 27 September 71
Related: #226, 229
Obsoletes: 229
STANDARD HOST NAMES
In RFC #226, Peggy Karp suggested that there be a set of standard host names,
that the names be 6 characters in length, and gave a partial list. In RFC
#229, I suggested 8 character names and gave a longer list. Here I present
my list again with some modifications.
I also suggest that as far as possible the Standard host names be consistent
with the site names used by the Network Information Center. It also seems
to me to be a good idea to consult with each host's technical liaison officer
before assigning that host's name.
It has been brought to my attention that programmers are lazy and don't like
to deal with character strings longer than one computer word or containing
characters other than the capital letters A-Z or the digits 0-9. Thus, I
have included an alternate list which is limited to 4 character names using
only the alphanumerics.
Site Standard Name Alternate Name
---- ------------- --------------
1 UCLA-NMC NMC
65 UCLA-CCN CCN
2 SRI-ARC NIC
66 SRI-AI SRAI
3 UCSB UCSB
4 UTAH UTAH
5 BBN-NCC NCC
69 BBN BBN
133 BBN-B BBNB
6 MIT-MLTX MLTX
70 MIT-DMCG DMCG
7 RAND-65 RAND
71 RAND-10 RND1
8 SDC SDC
9 HARV-10 HARV
73 HARV-1 HRV1
137 HARV-11 HRV2
Network Working Group Jon Postel
Request for Comments: #236 UCLA-NMC
27 September 71
Site Standard Name Alternate Name
---- ------------- --------------
10 LL-67 LL67
74 LL-TX2 TX2
11 SU-AI SUAI
75 SU-HP SUHP
12 ILL ILL
13 CASE CASE
14 CMU CMU
15 BUROUGHS BURR
16 AMES-67 AMES
144 AMES-TIP AMET
145 MITR-TIP MTRT
18 RADC RADC
146 RADC-TIP RADT
19 NBS NBS
147 NBS-TIP NBST
148 ETAC-TIP ETAT
21 TINKER OCAF
22 MCLELLAN SMAF
23 USC USC
151 USC-TIP USCT
152 GWC-TIP GWCT
25 NCAR NCAR
153 NCAR-TIP NCAT
158 BBN-TIP BBNT
[ 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 ]
AI ELI5
On this page
§1Earlier Proposals
In RFC 226, Peggy Karp suggested a set of standard host names, 6 characters long, and gave a partial list. In RFC 229, Jon Postel suggested 8 character names and gave a longer list. This RFC presents that list again with some modifications.
Postel suggests that standard names be consistent with the site names used by the Network Information Center as far as possible, and that each host's technical liaison officer be consulted before a name is assigned.
Two people had already suggested name lists. This is a tweaked second try that tries to match the names the information office already uses.
§2The Alternate Short Names
Postel notes that programmers are lazy and do not like character strings longer than one computer word or containing anything other than the capital letters A-Z or the digits 0-9. So he adds an alternate list limited to 4 character names using only those alphanumerics.
For example, site 1 is UCLA-NMC with alternate NMC, and site 2 is SRI-ARC with alternate NIC.
Long names are a pain to type. So each computer also gets a short four-letter name that is easy to work with.
§3The Name Table
The table gives each numbered site a standard name and an alternate name. It runs from site 1 (UCLA-NMC, alternate NMC) through entries such as BBN-NCC, MIT-DMCG, RAND-65 and SU-AI, to site 158, BBN-TIP, with alternate BBNT.
Names ending in TIP are used for terminal IMP sites such as AMES-TIP and NBS-TIP.
The table is a phone book: a number, a long name and a short name for each site.