Host/Host Protocol for the ARPA Network
RFC 6529

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• 01

Independent Submission                                       A. McKenzie
Request for Comments: 6529                                    S. Crocker
Category: Historic                                            April 2012
ISSN: 2070-1721

                Host/Host Protocol for the ARPA Network

Abstract

   This document reproduces the Host/Host Protocol developed by the ARPA
   Network Working Group during 1969, 1970, and 1971.  It describes a
   protocol used to manage communication between processes residing on
   independent Hosts.  It addresses issues of multiplexing multiple
   streams of communication (including addressing, flow control,
   connection establishment/disestablishment, and other signaling) over
   a single hardware interface.  It was the official protocol of the
   ARPA Network from January 1972 until the switch to TCP/IP in January
   1983.  It is offered as an RFC at this late date to help complete the
   historical record available through the RFC series.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for the historical record.

   This document defines a Historic Document for the Internet community.
   This is a contribution to the RFC Series, independent of any other
   RFC stream.  The RFC Editor has chosen to publish this document at
   its discretion and makes no statement about its value for
   implementation or deployment.  Documents approved for publication by
   the RFC Editor are not a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6529.

McKenzie & Crocker              Historic                        [Page 1]
RFC 6529         Host-Host Protocol for the ARPA Network      April 2012

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2012 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................3
   2. A Few Comments on Nomenclature and Key Concepts .................4
   3. Host/Host Protocol Document .....................................5
      (with its own table of contents on page 7)
   4. Security Considerations ........................................34

McKenzie & Crocker              Historic                        [Page 2]
RFC 6529         Host-Host Protocol for the ARPA Network      April 2012

1.  Introduction

   The Host/Host Protocol for the ARPA Network was created during 1969,
   1970, and 1971 by the Network Working Group, chaired by Steve
   Crocker, a graduate student at UCLA.  Many of the RFCs with numbers
   less than 72, plus RFCs 102, 107, 111, 124, 132, 154, and 179 dealt
   with the development of this protocol.  The first official document
   defining the protocol was issued by Crocker on August 3, 1970 as
   "Host-Host Protocol Document No. 1" (see citation in RFC 65), which
   was based on RFC 54 by Crocker, Postel, Newkirk, and Kraley.
   Revision of Document No. 1 began in mid-February 1971, as discussed
   in RFC 102.  Although McKenzie is listed as the author of the January
   1972 document, which superseded Document No. 1, it is more correct to
   say McKenzie was the person who compiled and edited the document.
   Most or all of the ideas in the document originated with others.

   At the time "Host-Host Protocol Document No. 1" was issued it was not
   given an RFC number because it was not to be viewed as a "request for
   comments" but as a standard for implementation.  It was one of a set
   of such standards maintained as a separate set of documentation by
   the Network Information Center (NIC) at Stanford Research Institute
   (SRI).  The January 1972 version (NIC 8246) reproduced here also
   followed that approach.  It has been noted by many that all
   subsequent standards were issued as RFCs, and the absence of the
   Host/Host Protocol specification from the RFC series creates a
   curious gap in the historical record.  It is to fill that gap that
   this RFC is offered.

   In 1972, most ARPA Network documents, RFCs and others, were prepared
   and distributed in hard copy.  The Host/Host Protocol document was
   typed on a typewriter (probably an IBM Selectric), which had
   interchangeable print elements, and used both italic and boldface
   fonts in addition to the regular font.  Diagrams were drawn by a
   graphic artist and pasted into the typed document.  Since RFCs are
   constrained to use a single typeface, we have tried to indicate