Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Posting-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!henry
From: henry@utzoo.UUCP (Henry Spencer)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: Re: Mail Addressing [2 of 4] Semantics
Message-ID: <5867@utzoo.UUCP>
Date: Sat, 10-Aug-85 22:28:30 EDT
Article-I.D.: utzoo.5867
Posted: Sat Aug 10 22:28:30 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 10-Aug-85 22:28:30 EDT
References: <9607@ucbvax.ARPA>
Organization: U of Toronto Zoology
Lines: 47
Keywords: mail, addresses, semantics

> Now domains do have some problems.  There has to be someone to
> co-ordinate names in each domain (some "authority")... volunteer
> labour isn't easy to get to do this task... No-one has ever said that
> the naming authority must be a "human".  The task to be performed isn't
> overly onerous, and creating a program to [handle name registration]
> is not something I would feel to be beyond my capabilities.  Neither is
> it a perpetual task...

This actually just shifts the issue, to finding a volunteer to provide the
machine time for the job.  For name registration, this probably isn't too
much of a problem (although Lauren could probably tell you some interesting
stories about the legal aspects, e.g. pinheads who feel they have a divine
right to use some specific name and threaten to sue the registry when they
find the name is taken already...[I kid you not]).  It brings in a more
troublesome issue, however.

What does random site X do when a user there (or a machine it connects to)
asks for mail transmission to site foo.bar, which X doesn't know about?
Right:  it punts the mail to the domain-administration site.  Given the
explosive growth rate of the network, how long will it be before that site
is swamped and its sponsors get fed up and pull the plug?

Having multiple administration sites for each domain only postpones the
problem slightly.

Of course, site X "ought" to know about any site it talks to frequently,
so that it doesn't need to hit the domain administrator every time.  But
this assumes that the dissemination of such knowledge can keep pace with
the growth of the network, which is an *assumption*, not a self-evident
fact.  I'm afraid I have little confidence in it.

One idea which almost nobody has discussed, but which might really help,
is to take the position that site X must *not* just forward the mail to
the domain administrator.  It must ask the domain administrator for the
routing information, and then use that information *itself*.  This has
the disadvantage that it slows down mail traffic considerably, but the
advantage that it gives X considerable incentive to do the work locally
if at all possible -- incentive that is lacking otherwise.  If we really
want domains to work, it is vitally important to do everything possible
to limit the load on the administering sites.

Perceptive observers may have noticed that utzoo is a fairly obvious
candidate as one of the domain-administration sites for eastern Canada,
and that utzoo has not yet volunteered to do it.  Don't hold your breath.
-- 
				Henry Spencer @ U of Toronto Zoology
				{allegra,ihnp4,linus,decvax}!utzoo!henry