Network Working Group Peggy Karp
Request for Comments: #247 MITRE
NIC 7688 12 October 1971
Categories: Policy, Telnet
Related: #226,
236,
239,
233,
237Obsoletes: #226
Proferred Set of Standard Host Names
In RFC #226, BBN's TENEX list of Host names was set up as a strawman
set of standard Host names. Comments received since then (an RFC
actually generated comments!!!) have influenced me to propose the
following general rules for forming Host names.
The Host names will be 8 characters in length. The general form is
<site> '-' <machine>
<site> will be at most 4 characters, formed as follows:
(a) Use the keyword in the site name, if not more than
four characters, e.g., NASA Ames, Case Western
Reserve. ---- ----
(b) Use the standard acronym, if not more than four
characters, e.g., UCLA, RADC, NBS.
(c) If a standard abbreviation exists, use it, e.g., Ill.
(d) If none of the above apply, use the first four letters
in the site name, e.g., Burr, Mitr, Harv.
(e) If none of the above is acceptable to the site, the
technical liaison should select the site mnemonic.
<machine> will be at most 4 characters of the form <mfg. #>
<designator>.
Examples of mfg. # are:
IBM 360 2 digit model number
IBM 370 3 digit model number
PDP 1 - 2 digit model number
Burroughs 4 digits
CDC 4 digits
etc.