RFC 9121 | Infrastructure .int domains | April 2023 |
Davies & Baber | Informational | [Page] |
This document deprecates the use of any "int" domain names that weredesignated for infrastructure purposes by the IETF, and it identifiesthem for removal from the "int" top-level domain. Any implementationsthat involve these domains are now deprecated. Thisdocument also changes the status of RFC 1528 and RFC 1706 toHistoric.¶
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is published for informational purposes.¶
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents approved by the IESG are candidates for any level of Internet Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 7841.¶
Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained athttps://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc9121.¶
Copyright (c) 2023 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.¶
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The "int" top-level domain[RFC1591] is a specialized domaindesignated for intergovernmental organizations, which are organizationsestablished by international treaties between or among nationalgovernments.¶
Historically, the "int" domain was also used for purposes related to Internet infrastructure. This practice ended in 2001 when the "arpa" domain wasdeclared the appropriate home for infrastructural identifier spaces[RFC3172]. In conjunction with this change, the eligibility for "int"domains was limited to only intergovernmental treaty organizations.¶
The documented uses of infrastructural identifiers in the "int" domainwere largely experimental and are now, in practice, obsolete. This documentchanges the status of related specifications to Historic, and it removes any associated delegations from the "int" zone in thedomain name system.¶
The following domains were used for infrastructural identifier purposesthat are now considered historic. Although each of these names waseither delegated or documented at one time, the parties administeringthem have long since stopped using them.¶
The atma.int domain was experimentally defined to implement addresslookups for Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), including ATM End SystemAddresses (AESAs)[ANS].¶
The ip4.int domain was described as providing an alternative to thein-addr.arpa domain for mapping host IPv4 addresses to host names. Thein-addr.arpa domain zone continues to be administered for this purpose[RFC1035].¶
The ip6.int domain was originally delegated for mapping host IPv6 addressesto host names. It was subsequently removed from the "int" zone, havingbeen replaced by ip6.arpa[RFC4159].¶
The nsap.int domain name was specified to experimentally map OpenSystems Interconnection (OSI) Network Service Access Points to domainnames[RFC1706].¶
The rdi.int domain name experimentally mapped OSI Inter-Domain RoutingProtocol's Routing Domain Identifiers[ISO10747] to the domain namesystem.¶
IANA has removed the historical "int" domains discussed in this document.¶
Some old systems might have one or more subdomains of these nameshardwired and expect a positive response for at least the second-leveldomain. This is, of course, true for any name in the DNS and should notbe the sole basis for retaining obsolete names.¶
Existing applications should eliminate any reliance upon thesezones. The operator of the "int" domainshould be cautious about any potential re-use of these domains forintergovernmental treaty organizations.¶
This document is the result of a comprehensive inventory of .int domains to accurately establish and record theirpurpose based on historical documentation. As part of this inventory,IANA studied the domains delegated for purposes related to infrastructure identifiers. Query patterns in the DNS for these domains were analyzedand judged to be insignificant; preliminary outreach to the contacts for the associated domains was conducted. The assessment concludedthat these domains are very likely obsolete. This document formalizes that assessment.¶
There are a small number of nominal "int" domains for"international databases" that are not defined by any standardsdocumentation. They are assigned to entities rather than foridentifier purposes. Their dispositions are beyond the scope of thismemo.¶
This document was compiled with help from Ted Hardie and MichelleCotton, with additional input from Jari Arkko, John Klensin, WarrenKumari, Pete Resnick, George Michaelson, and Toerless Eckert.¶