RFC 702 UNKNOWN TELNET · SURVEY

September, 1974, survey of New-Protocol Telnet servers

A September 1974 headcount of which ARPANET hosts ran the new Telnet protocol and which options they supported.

On rfc-editor.org ↗
PUBLISHED
September 1974
AUTHORS
D.W. Dodds
STREAM
Legacy
BUILDS ON
RFC 701 — August, 1974, survey of New-Protocol Telnet servers
UPDATED BY
RFC 669 — November, 1974, survey of New-Protocol Telnet servers
TOTAL SERVER HOSTS
34
WITH A NEW-PROTOCOL SERVER
13 (38%)
WITHOUT ONE
21 (62%)
SURVEY DATA AS OF
23 September 1974
DOI
10.17487/RFC0702

RFC text

Original text · RFC Editor View on rfc-editor.org ↗
Network Working Group                                 D.W. Dodds
RFC # 702                                             BBN-TENEXA
                                                      September 25, 1974


         SEPTEMBER, 1974, SURVEY OF NEW-PROTOCOL TELNET SERVERS


LAST MONTH'S SURVEY PRODUCED A GRATIFYING AMOUNT OF FEEDBACK CLARIFYING
THE STATUS OF SEVERAL SITES; HOWEVER THERE HAVE BEEN VERY FEW CHANGES IN
THE STATUS OF HOST SERVERS.  THE CHANGES IN THIS MONTH'S LIST, IN
NUMERICAL ORDER (HOST NUMBER THROUGHOUT ARE OCTAL):

UCLA-NMC IS NO LONGER A SERVER;
HOST 205 IS NOW BBN-TENEXD, A NEW SYSTEM (BBNB) IS NOW HOST 61;
RAND-RCC WAS ACCIDENTALLY OMITTED FROM THE PREVIOUS LIST;
SDC-LAB HAS BEEN TEMPORARILY ELIMINATED FROM THE LIST UNTIL IT RETURNS
    TO THE NET;
I4-TENEXA (117) IS NOT A SERVER--KI4B-TENEX (217) IS, AND HAS BEEN ADDED
    TO THE LIST;
AMES-67 FIXED A BUG, REVEALING TO THE WORLD THE NEW-PROTOCOL SERVER (NO
    OPTIONS) THAT WAS THERE ALL ALONG;
ISI-DEVTENEX (226) AND USC-ECL (327) HAVE BEEN ADDED.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS AN UPDATE OF THE SUMMARY AND TABULATION THAT APPEARED
LAST MONTH.*  THERE IS STILL A LONG WAY TO GO TO 100% NEW-PROTOCOL
IMPLEMENTATION.

        TOTAL SERVER HOSTS            34             100%
        NO NEW-PROT SERVER            21              62%
        TOTAL NEW-PROT IMPLEM.        13              38%
          NEW-PROT ON SOCKET 27,
          OLD ON SOCKET 1 (2)          6              18%
          NEW-PROT ON 1 AND 27 (3)     6              18%
          NEW-PROT ON 1 ONLY           1               3%

NOTES:
*   ALL DATA IN THIS REPORT WERE GATHERED VIA A SURVEYING PROGRAM RUN AT
    VARIOUS TIMES, PLUS A FEW MANUAL CHECKS TO FILL OUT THE DATA.  WHAT
    IS REPORTED HERE IS THE WAY THE VARIOUS SERVERS WORK AS SEEN BY THE
    NEW-PROTOCOL USER TELNET AT BBNA, AS OF 23 SEPT. 1974.
(2) THESE ARE THE SITES WHOSE OPERATION IS 100% CORRECT ACCORDING TO ALL
    PROTOCOL AND CONVENTIONS, AS I UNDERSTAND THEM.
(3) WE REALIZE THAT SOME OF THE SERVERS THAT APPEAR HERE AS NEW-PROTOCOL
    SERVERS ON SOCKET 1 ARE ACTUALLY SERVERS WHICH ATTEMPT TO
    COMMUNICATE WITH BOTH OLD- AND NEW-PROTOCOL USER TELNETS ACCORDING
    TO WHAT CONTROL SEQUENCES ARE RECEIVED.

           TABULATION OF SERVER STATUS FOR ALL SERVER SITES:


HOST    HOST            SOCKET         SOCKET    NEW-PROT, OPTIONS
 NO.    NAME              1             27       IMPLETMENTED(IF ANY)

101     UCLA-CCN        OLD             X
201     UCLA-CCBS       OLD             X
  2     SRI-ARC         OLD             X
102     SRI-AI          OLD             X
  3     UCSB-MOD75      OLD             X
  4     UTAH-10         OLD             X
105     BBN-TENEX       OLD             NEW      I1, 3, 6; O3
205     BBN TENEXD      OLD             NEW      I1, 3, 6; O3
305     BBN-TENEXA      OLD             NEW      I1, 3, 6; O3
106     MIT-DMS         NEW             NEW      I1, 3; O3
206     MIT-AI          OLD             X
306     MIT-ML          OLD             X
  7     RAND-RCC        OLD             X
 11     HARV-10         NEW             X        I1, 3; O3
 12     LL-67           OLD             X
112     LL-TX-2         OLD             X
 13     SU-AI           NEW*            NEW*     I1, 3
 15     CASE-10         OLD             X
 16     CMU-10B         NEW             NEW      I1, 3; O3
116     CMU-10A         NEW             NEW      I1, 3; O3
 17     I4-TENEX        OLD             X
217     KI4B-TENEX      OLD             X
 20     AMES-67         NEW             NEW      NONE
126     USC-ISI         OLD             X
226     ISI-DEVTENEX    OLD             X
 27     USC-44          OLD             X
327     USC-ECL         OLD             X
 32     SDAC-44         OLD             X
 37     CCA-TENEX       OLD             X
 40     PARC-MAXC       OLD             NEW     I1,3,6; O3
 43     UCSD-CC         OLD             NEW     I0(!), 3; O0, 3
 53     OFFICE-1        OLD             X
 54     MIT-MULTICS     NEW             NEW     NONE
 61     BBN-TENEXB      OLD             NEW     I1, 3, 6; O3

KEY TO SERVER STATUS TABLE:

        X       NO SERVER AT THIS SOCKET

        I#      OPTION # IMPLEMENTED INCOMING TO USER
                    (SERVER SAYS "WILL #")

        O#      OPTION # IMPLEMENTED OUTGOING FROM USER
                    (SERVER SAYS "DO #")
                (# IS OPTION NUMBER IN NEW PROTOCOL.  ALL OPTIONS
                IMPLEMENTED BY ANYONE ARE:
                        0       TRANSMIT-BINARY
                        1       ECHO
                        3       SUPPRESS-GO-AHEAD
                        6       TIMING-MARK)


NOTE: * THERE APPEARS TO BE A MINOR BUG IN SU-AI'S SERVER: IT SEEMS TO
        SEND AN IMPROPER RESPONSE TO A REQUEST FOR OPTION 0.










       [ This RFC was put into machine readable form for entry ]
       [ into the online RFC archives by Alex McKenzie with    ]
       [ support from GTE, formerly BBN Corp.            11/99 ]

AI ELI5

On this page
PROBLEMThe network was moving from the old Telnet protocol to a new one, and people needed to know which server hosts had made the change.
MECHANISMA surveying program run at various times, plus a few manual checks, tested each server from the new-protocol user Telnet at BBNA as of 23 September 1974 and tabulated the results.
STATUS TODAYOf 34 server hosts, 13 (38%) had a new-protocol server and 21 (62%) did not, so there was still a long way to go to 100% implementation.

§1Changes Since Last Month

The previous survey produced a gratifying amount of feedback clarifying the status of several sites, but there were very few changes in the status of host servers. The report lists them in numerical order, with host numbers in octal.

UCLA-NMC is no longer a server, and host 205 is now BBN-TENEXD. SDC-LAB is temporarily off the list, I4-TENEXA (117) is not a server while KI4B-TENEX (217) is, and AMES-67 fixed a bug that revealed a new-protocol server with no options. ISI-DEVTENEX (226) and USC-ECL (327) were added.

First comes a short list of who joined, who left and who fixed something since the last check.

§2The Tally

The summary counts 34 total server hosts. Of these, 21 (62%) have no new-protocol server and 13 (38%) implement it. Within the 13, six hosts run the new protocol on socket 27 and the old one on socket 1, six run the new protocol on both socket 1 and socket 27, and one runs it on socket 1 only.

The six old-on-1, new-on-27 sites are the ones whose operation is 100% correct as the author understands the protocol and conventions. Some servers listed on socket 1 actually try to talk to both old and new user Telnets depending on the control sequences received. SU-AI appears to have a minor bug, sending an improper response to a request for option 0.

About one in three computers had the new version ready and the rest were still on the old one. A few were mixed, and one had a small slip.

§3Reading the Server Table

The tabulation lists each host number and name, its status on socket 1 and socket 27, and the new-protocol options implemented. X means no server at that socket, I# means option # is implemented incoming to the user (the server says WILL #), and O# means it is implemented outgoing from the user (the server says DO #).

The options implemented by anyone are 0 (TRANSMIT-BINARY), 1 (ECHO), 3 (SUPPRESS-GO-AHEAD) and 6 (TIMING-MARK). Hosts such as BBN-TENEX list I1, 3, 6; O3, while AMES-67 and MIT-MULTICS list none.

The table is a report card with a row per computer and a few letters and numbers telling which extra features each one knows.

NEW-PROTOCOL OPTIONS IMPLEMENTED BY ANY SURVEYED SERVER
  • 0TRANSMIT-BINARY — Option 0 in the new protocol.
  • 1ECHO — Option 1 in the new protocol.
  • 3SUPPRESS-GO-AHEAD — Option 3 in the new protocol.
  • 6TIMING-MARK — Option 6 in the new protocol.