RFC 1580
Guide to Network Resource Tools
Pages: 107
FYI 23
FYI 23
Part 2 of 4 – Pages 27 to 53
5. ARCHIE 5.1. What is ARCHIE Archie is an information system. It offers an electronic directory service for locating information in the international TCP/IP network (the Internet). The best known use of archie is for scanning a database of the contents of more than 1000 anonymous FTP sites around the world. Currently, this database contains more than 2,100,000 file names from anonymous FTP sites. This database is known as the archie database. The files made available at anonymous FTP sites are software packages for various systems (Windows, MS-DOS, Macintosh, Unix, etc.), utilities, information or documentation files, mailing list or Usenet group discussion archives. At most FTP sites, the resources are organized hierarchically in directories and subdirectories. The database tracks both the directory path and the file names. The archie database is automatically updated, thereby ensuring that the information is accurate. Using this database, users can easily find the the location of files they need without logging onto several machines. 5.2. Who can use ARCHIE Users on any network can access the archie database by electronic mail. Other means of access are available to users on the Internet (see the section Using ARCHIE below for details). You are requested to respect a few basic rules when you request information from an archie server:
* avoid connecting during working hours; most of the archie
servers are
not dedicated machines, they have local functions as well.
* make your queries as specific as possible; the response will be
quicker and shorter.
* user interfaces installed on your computer contribute to reduce
the
load on the server sites, please use them.
* use the archie server closest to you and, in particularly, don't
overload the transatlantic lines.
5.3. How to get to ARCHIE
The archie database is maintained in the following locations:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| Host Country |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| archie.au Australia |
| archie.edvz.uni-linz.ac.at Austria |
| archie.univie.ac.at Austria |
| archie.uqam.ca Canada |
| archie.funet.fi Finland |
| archie.th-darmstadt.de Germany |
| archie.doc.ic.ac.uk Great-Britain |
| archie.ac.il Israel |
| archie.unipi.it Italy |
| archie.wide.ad.jp Japan |
| archie.kyoto-u.ac.jp Japan |
| archie.hana.nm.kr Korea |
| archie.sogang.ac.kr Korea |
| archie.nz New Zealand |
| archie.rediris.es Spain |
| archie.luth.se Sweden |
| archie.switch.ch Switzerland |
| archie.ncu.edu.tw Taiwan |
| archie.ans.net USA |
| archie.internic.net USA |
| archie.rutgers.edu USA |
| archie.sura.net USA |
| archie.unl.edu USA |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
There are three ways to access the archie database: via a local client, interactive Telnet session or electronic mail. Each type of access is described below in the Using ARCHIE section. 5.4. Using ARCHIE The format of the parameters is given at the end of this section. Angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter; a vertical bar (|) indicates a choice of parameters. Note: A new version of the archie server (3.0) is now available. Some of the commands for interactive access and the e-mail interface are slightly different from previous versions of the server (2.11 and before). Command formats marked with a (+) are valid in version 3.0 only, those marked with a (*) are acceptable only in previous versions. To find out which version is installed at the server you wish to use, issue the version command. 5.4.1. Using a local client: Usage of these clients is encouraged since they provide quick and easy non-interactive access to the archie servers, and thus, better performance of the servers and better response time for the user. Public domain clients for accessing archie servers are available for: Macintosh, MS-DOS, OS/2, VMS, NeXT, Unix and X-Windows. The clients are available for anonymous FTP from the archie sites in the directories /pub/archie/clients or /archie/clients. All these platforms support a simple command line client. In addition, a graphical interface (called xarchie) is available for X-Windows. 5.4.1.1. Archie client command and parameters When using a graphical interface, you access the archie functions by pressing mousse buttons. The results are displayed with selectable fields for further explorations. The basic archie client is a command with parameters that you enter on your local machine. With most versions of the archie client, if you type archie with no parameters, you will get a list of the possible parameters and a short description of each. The format of the command is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| archie <-options> string | pattern |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
where the options are:
o
specifies an output file name to store the results (not
available with all clients).
l
lists the result one match per line. This form is suitable for
parsing by programs.
t
sorts the result inverted by date
m#
specifies maximum number of matches to return (# within the
range 0 to 1000). The default value is 95.
h archie-server
specifies an archie server to send the query to; if this
parameter is not given, then the query will be sent to the
default archie server, if one is defined.
L
lists known servers and current default server.
The following group of options determines the kind of search
performed on the database. They are mutually exclusive.
s
a match occurs if the file/directory name contains string. The
search is case insensitive.
c
as above, but the search is case sensitive.
e
string must EXACTLY match (including case) the file/directory
name in the database. This is the DEFAULT search method.
r
searches the database using pattern. It contains special
characters which must be interpreted before performing the
search.
There may be some slight differences in the options available with
different clients on different platforms.
The result is a list of FTP site addresses with files or
directories matching the argument, the size of the file, its last
modification date and its directory. By default, the list is
sorted by host address. See the Examples section below for an
example of archie output.
5.4.2. Using Telnet:
To access an archie server interactively, telnet to one of the
existing servers (see the list of servers in the section How to
get to ARCHIE above). At the login: prompt enter archie, the login
procedure ends leaving the user at a archie> prompt. The server is
ready for user requests. The following commands are available:
exit, quit, bye
exits archie.
help <command-name>
invokes the on-line help. If issued with commandname, the help
request is restricted to the specified topic. Pressing the
RETURN key exits from the on-line help.
list <pattern>
provides a list of the sites in the database and the time at
which they were last updated. The optional parameter limits the
list to sites matching pattern. The result is a list of site
names, sites IP address and date of the last update in the
database. The command list with no pattern will list all sites
in the database (more than 1000 sites!). E.g.,
list \.de$
will list all German sites
site(*) site-name
lists the directories and, recursively, the subdirectories, of
site-name in the database. The result may be very long.
whatis string
searches the database of software package descriptions for
string. The search is case-insensitive.
prog string | pattern
find(+) string | pattern
searches the database for string or pattern which represents
the name of the resource to be found in the database. Searches
may be performed in a number of different ways specified in the
variable search (set command) which also decides the
interpretation of the parameter as string or pattern. The
result is a list of FTP site addresses with matching entries,
the size of the resource, its last modification date and the
directory to find it. The number of hits is limited by the
maxhits variable (set command). The result of prog can be
sorted in different ways, depending on the value of the sortby
variable (set command). By default, the variables search,
maxhits and sortby are set to, respectively, exact match search
on string, 1000 hits and unsorted resulting list. Typing the
keyboard interrupt character during a search will abort it. The
results up to that time are displayed. See the Examples section
below for an example of the prog command and its results.
mail <email> <,email2...>
sends the result of the last command in a mail message to the
specified e-mail address(es). If issued with no argument, the
result is sent to the address specified in the variable mailto
(set command).
show <variable>
displays the value of the given variable name. If issued with
no argument, it displays all variables. See the set command
below for the possible variables.
set variable value
sets one of the archie's variables. Values of these variables
affect how archie interacts with the user.
Variables and values are:
compress(+) compress-method
specifies the compression method (none or compress) to be used
before mailing a result with the mail command. The default is
none.
encode(+) encode-method
specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode) to be used
before mailing a result with the mail command. This variable is
ignored if compress is not set. The default is none.
mailto email <,email2 ...>
specifies the e-mail address(es) to mail the result of the last
command when mail is issued with no arguments.
maxhits number
specifies the maximum number of matches prog will generate
(within the range 0 to 1000). The default value is 1000.
search search-value
determines the kind of search performed on the database by the
command: prog string | pattern. search-values are:
sub
a parttial and case insensitive search is performed with
string on the database, e.g.:
"is" will match "islington" and "this" and "poison"
subcase
as above but the search is case sensitive, e.g.:
"TeX" will match "LaTeX" but not "Latex"
exact
the parameter of prog (string) must EXACTLY match (including
case) the string in the database. The fastest search method
of all, and the default.
regex
pattern is interpreted before performing a search on the
database.
sortby sort-value
describes how to sort the result of prog. sort-values are:
hostname
on the FTP site address in lexical order.
time
by the modification date, most recent first.
size
by the size of the found files or directories, largest
first.
filename
on file or directory name in lexical order.
none
unsorted (default)
The reverse sorting orders from those described here are
obtained by prepending r to the sortby value given. (e.g.,
reverse hostname order hostname is rhostname).
term terminal-type <number-of-rows <number-of-columns>>
tells the archie server what type of terminal you are
using, and optionally its size in rows and columns, e.g.:
set term xterm 24 100
5.4.3. Using electronic mail:
Users limited to electronic mail connectivity can access the
archie servers by sending mail to the domain address of one of the
servers listed in the section How to get to ARCHIE (e.g.,
archie@archie.ac.il). The commands are sent in the body part of
the mail.
The electronic mail interface to an archie server recognizes a
subset of the commands described in Using Telnet. Most useful
commands and particularities to the e-mail interface are described
below. If an empty message, or a message containing no valid
requests is received, it will be considered to be a help request.
Command lines begin in the first column. All lines that do not
match a valid command are ignored. The Subject: line is processed
as if it were part of the message body.
help
sends you the help file. The help command is exclusive, ie,
other commands in the same message are ignored.
path return-address
set mailto(+) return-address
specifies a return e-mail address different from that which is
extracted from the message header. If you do not receive a
reply from the archie server within several hours, you might
need to add a path command to your message request.
list pattern <pattern2 ...>
provides a list of the sites in the database that match pattern
and the time at which they were last updated. The result is a
list with site names, sites IP address and date of the last
update in the database.
site(*) site-name
lists the directories and, recursively, the subdirectories, of
site-name in the database.
whatis string <string2 ...>
searches the database of software packages descriptions for
each string. The search is case insensitive.
prog pattern <pattern2 ...>
find(+) pattern <pattern2>
searches the database for each interpretation of pattern which
represents the name of a resource to be found in the database.
If multiple patterns are placed on one line, in that case, the
results will be mailed back in one message. If multiple prog
lines appear, then multiple messages will be returned, one for
each prog line. Results are sorted by FTP site address in
lexical order. If pattern contains spaces, it must be quoted
with single (') or double (") quotes. The search is case
insensitive.
compress(*)
causes the result of the current request to be compressed and
uuencoded. When you receive the reply, you should run it
through uudecode. This will produce a .Z file. You can then run
uncompress on this file and get the result of your request
set compress(+) compress-method
specifies the compression method (none or compress) to be used
before mailing the result of the current request. The default
is none.
set encode(+) encode-method
specifies the encoding method (none or uuencode) to be used
before mailing the result of the current request. This variable
is ignored if compress is not set. The default is none.
Note: set compress compress and set encode uuencode would
produce the same result as the former compress command.
quit
nothing past this point is interpreted. Useful when a signature
is automatically appended at the end of your mail messages.
Description of pattern
A pattern describes a character string including characters which
take a special meaning. The special meaning is lost when "\" is
put before the character. The special characters are:
.
(period) this is the wildcard character that replaces any other
character, e.g., "...." will match any 4 character string.
^
(caret) if "^" appears at the beginning of the pattern, then
the searched string must start with the substring following the
"^". If it occurs anywhere else in the pattern it is regarded
as non-special, e.g.:
"^efghi" will match "efghi" or "efghijlk" but not
"abcefghi"
$
(dollar) if "$" appears at the end of the pattern, then the
searched string must end with the substring preceding the "$".
If occurring anywhere else in the pattern, it is regarded as
non-special, e.g.:
"efghi$" will match "efghi" or "abcdefghi" but not
"efghijkl"
5.5. Examples
If you are using an archie client, and enter the command:
archie -s eudora
or if you send, by e-mail or during a Telnet session, the command:
prog eudora
or
find eudora
then archie will send you the following results:
Host ftp.ascii.co.jp (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38 8 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/MAC
DIRECTORY drwxrwxr-x 2048 bytes 00:00 6 May 1992 eudora
Host ftp.ascii.co.jp (133.152.1.1)
Last updated 03:38 8 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/MAC/eudora
FILE -r--r--r-- 281139 bytes 00:00 21 Oct 1991 eudora1.2.2.sit.hqx
Host ftp.ci.ua.pt (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53 9 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
FILE -rw-r--r-- 438 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993 Eudora1.3.readme
Host ftp.ci.ua.pt (192.80.21.201)
Last updated 04:53 9 Aug 1993
Location: /pub/NetNews/comp.binaries.mac
FILE -rw-r--r-- 278912 bytes 12:04 10 Jul 1993 Eudora1.3.sit.bin
etc.
If you send the command list \.de$ by e-mail or in a Telnet session,
then you will get the following results:
alice.fmi.uni-passau.de 132.231.1.180 12:31 8 Aug 1993
askhp.ask.uni-karlsruhe.de 129.13.200.33 12:25 8 Aug 1993
athene.uni-paderborn.de 131.234.2.32 15:21 6 Aug 1993
bseis.eis.cs.tu-bs.de 134.169.33.1 00:18 31 Jul 1993
clio.rz.uni-duesseldorf.de 134.99.128.3 12:10 8 Aug 1993
cns.wtza-berlin.de 141.16.244.4 16:08 31 Jul 1993
etc.
If you send the command whatis compression by e-mail or in a Telnet
session, then you will get the following results:
RFC 468 Braden, R.T. FTP data compression 1973 March 8; 5p.
arc PC compression program
deltac Image compression using delta modulation
spl Splay tree compression routines
squeeze A file compression program
uncrunch Uncompression program
unsqueeze Uncompression programs
5.6. Learning more about ARCHIE
However you communicate with the archie server, on-line help is
available.
If you have any questions about archie, write to the Archie Group,
Bunyip Information Systems Inc. at info@bunyip.com.
Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to archie-group@bunyip.com. In addition, the database administrator at a particular archie server can be contacted at archie-admin@address.of.archie.server, e.g.: archie-admin@archie.ac.il. Mailing list: archie-people@bunyip.com To subscribe send a mail to: archie-people-request@bunyip.com Archie was developed by Alan Emtage, Peter Deutsch, and Bill Heelan from the McGill University Computing Center, Canada. Now archie is supported by Bunyip Information System Inc., Canada. 6. WHOIS 6.1. What is WHOIS WHOIS provides directory service to network users. This service is a way of finding e-mail addresses, postal addresses and telephone numbers. It may also deliver information about networks, networking organizations, domains and sites. The main database of networking-related names (organizations, sites, networks, people, etc.) is maintained by the Internet Registration Service (InterNIC). Actually, the names of the administrative and technical contacts for registered domains are automatically entered into the database when domain or IP number applications are processed by the Internet coordination authority. Each entry of the database has a handle (a unique identifier), a name, a record type, and various other fields depending on the type of record. This database will be used as an example in the descriptions below. Before April 1, 1993, the Network Information Center (NIC) of the Defense Data Network (DDN) was the Internet coordination authority and, therefore, maintained the database (known as the NIC database). The NIC database is now restricted to information about the .mil domain. Many documents still refer to these names. Many academic sites maintain their own database to offer information about their staff members and students. In its current implementation, WHOIS has some limitations which prevent it from becoming an efficient directory service for a large volume of information and numerous requests: the various WHOIS servers have no knowledge of each other, a database is maintained at each server site, and, finally, new functionalities have been implemented locally at various sites and not propagated. A new extended protocol, WHOIS++, is being specified to improve the current
service. WHOIS++ will include local enhancements to the WHOIS service, an improved query syntax and its architecture will allow a real distributed directory service for the entire Internet. This new protocol for directory services will be made available shortly. 6.2. Who can use WHOIS WHOIS is available to users on the international TCP/IP network (the Internet). A WHOIS server is accessible across the network from a user program running on local machines or via an interactive Telnet session to the site which hosts the server. In addition, the InterNIC offers an electronic mail interface to the database it maintains, allowing users not on the Internet or users with electronic mail only to access this information. This type of access is described below in the Using WHOIS section. In general, WHOIS servers should only be used for isolated queries about specific information. Typically, it is not acceptable to make an extended series of queries to obtain large sections of the directory. Such a strategy is unfair both because of excessive consumption of server resources, and because the directory information belongs to individuals. In particular, extracting lists of people for commercial purposes is strictly prohibited. 6.3. How to get to WHOIS There are many WHOIS servers throughout the network and a comprehensive list would be too long to be included here. A WHOIS server offers information about the organization to which it belongs: it doesn't share a common directory with other WHOIS servers and doesn't know either where to find information about other institutions. 6.4. Using WHOIS WHOIS has become the familiar name of the user program for accessing a WHOIS database, although NICNAME is the original name. In the following, angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter.
6.4.1. Using a local client: Unix computers have a native whois command. On non-Unix machines, ask your system administrator whether your computer has it or not. This command searches the database on the specified site for entry which contains identifier. The format is: +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | whois <-h site-name> identifier | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ where: site-name is the domain address of the site which hosts the database you want to query (e.g., whois.internic.net). On some installations, the default value is still set to the old NIC database site (nic.ddn.mil). identifier is a name (person, host, domain or network), an IP number or a handle. Special characters may be used in identifier to specify the search: . before identifier will cause a name-only search. ! before identifier will cause a handle-only search. ... or . after identifier will cause a partial search: everything starting with identifier will match. @ in identifier will cause a search on the e-mail addresses. * before identifier will return the entire membership list of the entry that matches identifier (e.g., a site and its registered users).
%
before identifier will return only the membership list of the
entry that matches identifier (e.g., the registered users of a
site).
The special characters may be used together.
The results are displayed in one of 2 ways:
* a full detailed display for a single match,
* a list of summary lines for multiple matches.
In both cases, the handle is shown in parentheses after the name.
6.4.2. Using Telnet:
To access the InterNIC database interactively, telnet to the
InterNIC site (whois.internic.net). No login is required.
Other WHOIS databases may have a Telnet access and offer most of
the functions below (e.g., whois.ripe.net which hosts the WHOIS
database of the European IP Networks).
In the following, CAPITAL letters indicate acceptable
abbreviation; angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter.
WHOIS
invokes the information retrieval program.
?
displays a short on-line help.
HElp
accesses the full on-line help.
Q, QUIT, RETURN key
exits WHOIS
<keyword> identifier
searches the database for an entry which contains identifier.
The default action is to do a broad search, looking for matches
in many fields: handle, name, nicknames, hostname, IP number,
etc, and finding all record types. keyword may be used to
narrow the search to a specific record type.
keyword may be one of:
PErson
limits the search to persons.
DOmain
limits the search to domains (e.g., DO EARN.NET).
HOst
limits the search to hosts (e.g., HO PRINCETON).
NEtwork
limits the search to networks (e.g., NE EBONE).
Organization
limits the search to organizations (e.g., O CREN).
NAme
same as leading '.' in identifier.
HAndle
same as '!' in identifier.
PArtial
same as trailing '.' in identifier.
Mailbox
same as '@' in identifier.
EXPand
same as '*' in identifier.
SUBdisplay
same as '%' in identifier.
Full or '='
shows detailed display for each match.
SUMmary or '$'
shows summary always, even if just one match.
Special characters may be used in identifier to specify the
search:
.
before identifier will cause a name-only search.
!
before identifier will cause a handle-only search.
... or .
after identifier will cause a partial search: everything
starting with identifier will match.
@
in identifier will cause a search on the e-mail addresses.
*
before identifier will return the entire membership list of the
entry that match identifier (e.g., a site and its registered
users).
%
before identifier will return only the membership list of the
entry that matches identifier (e.g., the registered users of a
site).
~
before identifier will return the entry that matches identifier
only, no membership list.
The special characters may be used together.
Except if Full or SUMmary are specified, the results are
displayed in one of 2 ways:
* a full detailed display for a single match,
* a list of summary lines for multiple matches.
In all cases, the handle is shown in parenthesis after the name.
6.4.3. Using electronic mail:
Users limited to electronic mail connectivity can send requests to
the database maintained at the InterNIC by sending mail to
mailserv@internic.net. The commands are sent in the Subject:
field. The body part of the mail is ignored except if the Subject:
line is empty. In that case, only the first line is interpreted.
This electronic mail interface recognizes all commands described
in Using Telnet. Requests should be prefixed with the word WHOIS.
Requests are processed automatically once a day.
6.5. Examples If you are using a local client, and enter the command: whois \!EARN... (remark: "\" is an escape character) or if you send by e-mail the command: whois !EARN... then you will get the following results: EARN (EARN-HST) SEINE.EARN.NET 193.52.216.1 European Academic Research Network (EARN-DOM) EARN.NET To obtain detailed information on the second item, enter or send the command: whois EARN-DOM then you will get the following result: European Academic Research Network (EARN-DOM) EARN Office PSI - Batiment 211 91405 Orsay CEDEX FRANCE Domain Name: EARN.NET Administrative Contact: Bovio, Daniele (DB355) hi@EARNCC.EARN.NET +33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683 Technical Contact, Zone Contact: Grange, Nadine (NG4) grange@EARNCC.EARN.NET +33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683 Record last updated on 15-Dec-93. Domain servers in listed order: SEINE.EARN.NET 193.52.216.1 DNS.NIS.GARR.IT 192.12.192.5,131.114.2.5 LUMIERE.CIRCE.FR 130.84.8.14 For a partial search, enter: whois hi@ear...
then you will get the following result:
Bovio, Daniele (DB355) hi@EARNCC.EARN.NET
EARN
EARN Office
PSI - BP Batiment 211
91405 ORSAY CEDEX, France
FR
+33 1 6941 2426 (FAX) +33 1 6941 6683
6.6. Learning more about WHOIS
The WHOIS service is documented in an Internet Request For Comments
(RFC 1400).
If you have any questions about WHOIS write to action@internic.net.
Bug reports, comments, suggestions, etc. should be mailed to
action@internic.net.
7. X.500
7.1. What is X.500
X.500 is an OSI (Open System Information) based directory services
protocol designed by the CCITT (International Telegraph and Telephone
Consultative Committee).
X.500 provides distributed directory services to network users. The
X.500 directory specifies a model for connecting directory services
to form one distributed global directory. Each directory service
holds a part of the global database and the directory information is
made available via a server (called a Directory System Agent - DSA).
The database is maintained locally. From the user point of view, the
entire directory is accessible from the local server.
While most of the information available today via X.500 is about
people and organizations, the design of the X.500 directory is also
suitable for storing information about other entities (or objects),
such as network resources, applications or hardware. Several projects
are underway which utilize these directory capabilities (e.g., the
Internet RFCs (Request For Comments) are listed in the global
directory).
Each item (entry) in the X.500 directory describes one object (e.g.,
a person, a network resource, an organization) and has a
Distinguished Name - DN (a unique identifier). It consists of a
collection of attributes (e.g., last name, organization name, e-
mail,...- for a person). The information held in the X.500 directory (or Directory Information Base - DIB) is arranged hierarchically. This organization is called the Directory Information Tree (DIT). At the top-level is the root entry (the World), then the country level, then the organization level, and, eventually, the people, the resources, etc., at the bottom-level of the hierarchy. 7.2. Who can use X.500 Although X.500 is part of the OSI standard definition, OSI access is not necessary to use the directory services. Many X.500 services are available on the Internet. In addition, users on any network can access the X.500 directory by electronic mail. See the section Using X.500 below for details. 7.3. How to get to X.500 There are three ways to access the X.500 services: via a local client, interactive session (Telnet or X.25 access) or electronic mail. Each type of access is described below in the Using X.500 section. In addition, other network tools (e.g., WWW and Gopher) provide access to X.500 directory services through gateways. Accessing a remote client is an easy way to start querying the X.500 directory. Some sites allow public access via Telnet or X.25 to a client. Public access user interfaces are available at:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | | | Telnet (login) Public X.25 (login) Country | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ | jethro.ucc.su.oz.au (fred) Australia | | elem4.vub.ac.be (dua) 222100611 Belgium | | login.dkuug.dk (ds) Denmark | | nic.funet.fi (dua) Finland | | 20800603053201 France | | (login: dua, password: ucom.x) France | | 26245050230303 Germany | | ashe.cs.tcd.ie (de) Ireland | | jolly.nis.garr.it (de or fred) 22225010083212 Italy | | zoek.nic.surfnet.nl (zoek) Netherlands| | elc1.mat.torun.edu.pl (de or dish) Poland | | chico.rediris.es (directorio) 2142160234013 Spain | | hypatia.umdc.umu.se (de) 240374810306 Sweden | | nic.switch.ch (dua) 22847971014540 Switzerland| | paradise.ulcc.ac.uk (dua) 23421920014853 Paradise | | | +---------------------------------------------------------------+ Paradise is a European project to encourage the use of X.500 in European countries. To connect to one of these sites, select an access method (Telnet or X.25) and at the login: prompt type the specified login, if required. 7.4. Using X.500 X.500 supports data management functions (addition, modification and deletion of entries) and powerful lookup capabilities. The use of X.500 is primarily for its lookup capabilities, ie, querying a database for information on a person (postal address, telephone number, e-mail address, etc.). The basic fields for searching are the person's name, the name of the person's organization (and department within the organization) and the country. In the following, angle brackets (<>) indicate an optional parameter; a vertical (|) indicates a choice of parameters. 7.4.1. Using a local client: In the X.500 world, a local client is called a Directory User Agent (DUA) Public domain and commercial DUAs are available for numerous platforms ranging from mainframes to personal computers. For a comprehensive list of DUAs, their description and where to
find them, consult the Internet document RFC 1292 - A Catalog of
Available X.500 Implementations.
Available DUAs range from simple line commands to sophisticated
graphical user interfaces which require a pointing device.
7.4.2. Using Telnet or X.25:
3 categories of user interfaces might be available at the remote
site:
* line-oriented: de, dish, fred
* menu-driven: sd (formerly known as widget)
* X-Windows-based: Xdi, Xlookup (or xlu), pod
Capabilities of these DUAs range from basic search facilities to
full X.500 functionality.
de (directory enquiries) is recommended for novice users since it
is a very simple user-interface. It has been designed to run as a
public access DUA and is accessible from any kind of terminal. It
supports the basic X.500 functions: read, search, list. The Simple
query mode is suitable for those who are new to querying the X.500
directory.
de
invokes the X.500 interrogation user-interface.
q
exits de.
?<topic>
displays the on-line help on the specified topic or general
help.
^C
(Ctrl-C) is the interrupt character. It aborts a search in
progress or resets the current query specification.
*
(asterisk) will list all entries of the specified field. It is
also the wildcard character and can replace any other character
in a name. It can appears anywhere in the name, e.g.: smit* or
*smit* are valid string formats.
-
resets the default value to a blank string.
When de is invoked, the user is requested to fill in 4 fields to
specify a request. In all fields, the value from the previous
request is the default value. Press the RETURN key to accept it,
or enter a new value. All searches are case insensitive.
The four fields to be filled in are:
Person's name
Wildcard characters may be used anywhere in the name. All
matching names will be listed. Typing only "*" will match all
people of the specified department or organization. If this
field is blank, the search will be on department or
organization only.
Department name
the name (or an acronym) of the department in the organization
where the person works. Wildcard characters may be used
anywhere in the name. Typing only "*" will match all
departments. If no person's name has been entered, details on
the department are displayed, otherwise, the search is carried
out with the selected name. If no department name is given, all
departments will be searched. This field could be omitted in
small organizations.
Organization name
the name (or an acronym) of the organization where the
person works. Wildcard characters may be used anywhere in
the name. Typing only "*" will match all organizations. If no
person's name or department name has been entered, details on
the organization are displayed, otherwise, the search is
carried out with the selected name.
Country name
the name of the country where the person works. Typing "*" will
list all countries. The country name could be the 2-letter
country code (e.g., DK stands for Denmark), the name or a part
of it without wildcards (e.g., nether instead of The
Netherlands).
If a large number of matching entries are found, they are listed
so that the user can select one entry to get further details.
7.4.3. Using electronic mail:
The Norwegian networking organization (UNINETT) offers an e-mail
interface to X.500. To use it, send a mail message to:
Directory@UNINETT.NO with the word find in the Subject: field. The
body part contains the search request, one per message.
The format of the search request is:
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
| |
| find <person-name> <: org-name <; country-name>> | |
| <; country-name> |
| |
+---------------------------------------------------------------+
If org-name and country-name are omitted, the sender's
organization name and country name are used as default values. The
mail interface guesses these values from the From: field of your
mail, so the results can be surprising if your address ends with
.bitnet!
"*" (asterisk) is the wildcard character and can replace any other
characters in any name. It can appear anywhere in the name.
The result of the query is sent back in a mail message. The search
is case insensitive.
Note: To avoid overloading the directory service, users are not
allowed to search for a person without selecting an organization.
To receive a help file, send the word help instead of a find
command.
7.5. Examples
Using de, you can search for the Anthropoloy department of the
University College of London in United Kingdom, with the following
request:
Person's name, q to quit, * to browse, ? for help
:-
Department name, * to browse, ? for help
:- a*
Organisation name, * to browse, ? for help
:- ucl
Country name, * to browse, ? for help
:- uk
A few entries match the selected department, all are listed for
further selection:
United Kingdom
University College London
Got the following matches. Please select one from the list
by typing the number corresponding to the entry you want.
United Kingdom
University College London
1 A.U.T. Office
2 American Institute for Foreign Study
3 Anatomy and Developmental Biology
4 Anthropology
5 Audio Visual Centre
Department name, * to browse, ? for help
:- 4
United Kingdom
University College London
Anthropology
Telephone Number +44 71-387-7050 x2455
fax +44 71 380 7728
If you are looking for Erik Lawaetz from UNI-C in Denmark, you can
enter the following request (default values come from a previous
request):
Person's name, q to quit, * to browse, ? for help
:- law*
Department name, * to browse, <CR> to search all depts, ?
for help
:-
Organisation name, * to browse, ? for help
:- uni-c
Country name, * to browse, ? for help
:- dk
One entry matches the selected criteria, details are displayed:
Denmark
UNI-C
Erik Lawaetz
postalAddress UNI-C
DTH
Bygning 305
DK-2800 Lyngby
Telephone Number +45 45 93 83 55
+45 42 88 39 99 x2018
fax +45 45 93 02 20
electronic mail Erik.Lawaetz@uni-c.dk
If you send mail to Directory@UNINETT.NO with the request:
find geir ped* : *oslo ; no
you'll get the following result:
-----------------------------------------------------------------
This message is in response to your request to the directory to
find
geir ped* : *oslo ; no
This is interpreted as a request to find a person with a name
matching "geir ped*" in an organisation with name matching
"*oslo" in a country with a name matching "no".
There were 8 organisations with a name matching the
organizational name you specified. Within those organisations
there were 7 persons that had a name matching the personal name
you specified. Directory information for the located persons is
shown below.
Geir Pedersen : Universitetet i Oslo ; Norway
Alternate Geir Kenneth Pedersen
Alternate Geir K. Pedersen
E-Mail (RFC) Geir.Pedersen@usit.uio.no
E-Mail (X.400) /G=geir/S=pedersen/OU=usit/O=uio/PRMD=uninett/
ADMD= /C=no/
Postal Address Postboks 1059 - Blindern
0316 Oslo 3
NORWAY
Phone +47-22-852478
Phone +47-22-852470 (front-office)
Fax-phone +47-22-852730
Description Project leader for UNINETTs X.500 projects
User ID geirp
Favorite Drink Farris
Street Address Gaustadalleen 23
Home Address Gaustadveien 17A
0372 Oslo 3
NORWAY
See also Geir Pedersen : UNINETT ; Norway
Entry updated Tue Jun 15 11:51:31 1993
-----------------------------------------------------------------
and 6 other entries.
7.6. Learning more about X.500
Several Internet RFC documents deal with X.500:
RFC 1292 A Catalog of Available X.500 Implementations.
RFC 1308 Executive Introduction to Directory Services Using the
X.500 Protocol,
RFC 1309 Technical Overview of Directory Services Using the
X.500 Protocol,
The official source of information on X.500 is the X.500
recommendation published by the CCITT (Blue Book, Volume VIII -
Fascicle VIII.8, Data Communication Networks Directory,
Recommendations X.500-X.521, CCITT, 1988, ISBN 92-61-03731-3). This
document is also available electronically: send the command GET
ITU-5233 to itudoc@itu.ch or consult the ITU document store via
Gopher to gopher.itu.ch. This is not intended for the casual user!
(page 53 continued on part 3)