    NWG/RFC 751                                          PDL 10 Dec 78 nnnnn

    Network Working Group                                   P. David Lebling
    Request for Comments: 751                                  (PDL@MIT-DMS)
    NIC: nnnnn                                              10 December 1978

                          SURVEY OF FTP MAIL AND MLFL

    Two surveys of Arpanet Server hosts were run between September 20, 1978
    and December 11, 1978.  The intent was to determine the response of the
    host's Server FTP program to:

    (a) An attempt to mail to an unknown recipient at that host.  The
    purpose of this survey was two-fold.  First, to determine whether the
    host accepts mail for unknown recipients at all, and second, what
    response the host gives if it does not accept such mail.

    (b) An attempt to mail to a known recipient using the MLFL command
    rather than the usual MAIL command.  This survey was undertaken to
    determine the extent of support for the MLFL command among Server hosts,
    and the sort of reply received if the Server does not support MLFL. MLFL
    is potentially a 'better' form of communication than mail as the message
    is sent over a data connection rather than the command connection.
    Using the data connection eliminates the 'end-of-mail' marker and
    'command reader' problems sometimes encountered over the command
    connection.

    The ground rules of the survey were that all sites listed as Servers in
    the MIT/SAIL Host table were surveyed.  In many cases, a host listed as
    a Server would not respond to an ICP at any time during the period of
    the survey.  Once a host responded with what seemed to me to be a
    'definitive' answer, I marked it as such and stopped surveying it.

                                  MLFL Survey

    The algorithm used was to ICP to socket 3 of the server (the standard
    old-FTP socket).  Once a 300 response was received, I sent the MLFL
    command.  Where I had the name of a real mailbox at a site (a
    Header-person, for example) I used that, otherwise the name "**".  If a
    site asked for a password (response 504) after the MLFL command I gave
    "USER NETML" "PASS NETML" and retried the MLFL.  If the server replied
    with a 255 SOCK command, I listened for the data-connection to be
    established.  When it was, I transferred the mail file.  Interestingly
    enough, most sites implement an RFC queueing algorithm that will allow
    the user site to attempt to establish the data-connection from its end.

                                                                    [Page 1]

    NWG/RFC 751                                          PDL 10 Dec 78 nnnnn
    Survey of FTP MAIL and MLFL

    Complete FTP scripts may be found, if you are interested, on MIT-DM,
    file NETDOC;MLFL SURVEY.

    Sites are grouped by the general result they gave.

    -site-          -last ftp reply if lost-                -when-

    1) Sites that lost for various reasons:

    BNL             530 NOT LOGGED IN.                      after MLFL
    HARV-10         431 INVALID ENTRY - Try again           after USER
    LLL-MFE         454 Login please                        after SOCK
    LONDON          000 INDRA FTP Version 2.00  ...         after ICP
    NBS-10          454 Login please                        after SOCK
    WHARTON         454  DATA Connection error ...          after SOCK
    WPAFB-AFAL      454 Login please                        after SOCK

    Note: "when" describes the last action performed by the surveyer before
    the indicated anomalous response.

       after ICP --         surveyer had done ICP to socket 3
       after MLFL --        surveyer had sent MLFL command
       after USER --        surveyer had sent USER NETML in response to
                            "504 Login please"
       after SOCK --        surveyer had attempted to connect to specified
                            data socket

    2) Sites that don't support MLFL and say so:

    AFWL            501 ML<?>FL **
    CCA-SPEECH      501 ML<?>FL **
    EGLIN           501 ML<?>FL **
    LBL             506 Command not implemented.
    LONDON-VDH      500 Command unrecognized
    UCLA-CCN        500 COMMAND UNRECOGNIZED
    WPAFB           501 ML<?>FL **

    3) Sites that support MLFL (or at least go through all the right
    motions):

    AMES-67         MIT-AI          SRI-KL
    BBN-TENEX       MIT-DMS         SU-AI
    BBN-TENEXA      MIT-MC          SUMEX-AIM
    BBN-TENEXD      MIT-ML          UCLA-ATS
    BBN-TENEXE      MIT-XX          UCLA-SECURITY
    BBN-UNIX        NBS-UNIX        USC-ECL
    CCA-TENEX       OFFICE-1        USC-ISI
    CMU-10A         PARC-MAXC       USC-ISIB
    CMU-10B         PARC-MAXC2      USC-ISIC

                                                                    [Page 2]

    NWG/RFC 751                                          PDL 10 Dec 78 nnnnn
    Survey of FTP MAIL and MLFL

    DEC-MARLBORO    RADC-TOPS20     USC-ISIE
    I4-TENEX        RAND-RCC        UTEXAS
    ILL-UNIX        RAND-UNIX
    LL              RUTGERS
    LL-ASG          SRI-KA

    4) Sites that support MLFL but require "USER NETML" "PASS NETML"
    (Multics):

    MIT-MULTICS
    RADC-MULTICS

    5) Others:

    a) Sites that might support it if I could mail to a real user (some of
    these run operating systems that are "known to work", e.g. TENEX):

    BBN-TENEXB      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    CCA-SDMS        450 User Unknown
    CCTC            451 User Not Recognized
    CMU-10D         507  USER NOT FOUND: **
    DTI             451 User Not Recognized
    LL-11           450 User Unknown
    LL-XN           450 User Unknown
    NCSC            451 User Not Recognized
    NOSC-CC         451 User Not Recognized
    NOSC-SDL        451 User Not Recognized
    NTIA-ITS        451 User Not Recognized
    OFFICE-2        450 No such mailbox at this site.
    RADC-XPER       451 User Not Recognized
    SDAC-44         431 User name invalid
    SDAC-UNIX       451 User Not Recognized
    SRI-UNIX        451 User Not Recognized

    b) Sites that either never responded to an ICP to socket 3, or were not
    accepting FTP users:

    ANL             I4B-TENEX       NOSC-SECURE1
    ARPA-DMS        ISI-SPEECH11    NSWC-WO
    CMU-CMMP        LBL-UNIX        NUSC
    CTO-DDS         LLL-COMP        NUSC-NPT
    DTNSRDC         MOFFET-ARC      NWC
    FNWC            NADC            NYU
    GUNTER-UNIX     NDRE            PENT-UNIX

                                                                    [Page 3]

    NWG/RFC 751                                          PDL 10 Dec 78 nnnnn
    Survey of FTP MAIL and MLFL

                                  MAIL Survey

    The mechanics of the MAIL survey were similar to those of the MLFL
    survey.  The command was "MAIL Fzorkness" (an account unlikely to exist
    on any host).  The responses are grouped into a few general categories.

    Complete FTP results may be found on MIT-DM, file NETDOC;MAIL SURVEY.

    -site-          -last response-

    1) Sites that lost completely.

    LONDON          000 INDRA FTP Version <>.00  ...

    2) Sites that accept mail to an unknown recipient.

    BNL             MIT-ML          USC-ISI
    MIT-AI          RAND-RCC        USC-ISIB
    MIT-DMS         UCLA-CCN        USC-ISIC
    MIT-MC          USC-ECL         USC-ISIE

    3) Sites that refuse mail to an unknown recipient (grouped by response).

    SDAC-44         431 User name invalid

    BBN-TENEX       450 No such mailbox at this site.
    BBN-TENEXA      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    BBN-TENEXB      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    BBN-TENEXD      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    BBN-TENEXE      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    BBN-UNIX        450 User Unknown
    CCA-SDMS        450 User Unknown
    CCTC            451 User Unknown
    EDN-UNIX        450 User Unknown
    I4-TENEX        450 No such mailbox at this site.
    ILL-UNIX        450 User unknown
    LL              450 No such mailbox at LL
    LL-ASG          450 User unknown
    LL-XN           450 User unknown
    MIT-MULTICS     450  Cannot locate mailbox for \Fzorkness\
    MIT-XX          450 No such mailbox at this site.
    NBS-UNIX        450 User Unknown
    NCSC            450 User Unknown
    NOSC-CC         450 User Unknown
    NOSC-SDL        450 User Unknown
    NTIA-ITS        450 User Unknown
    OFFICE-1        450 No such mailbox at this site.
    OFFICE-2        450 No such mailbox at this site.
    PARC-MAXC       450 No such mailbox at this site.

                                                                    [Page 4]

    NWG/RFC 751                                          PDL 10 Dec 78 nnnnn
    Survey of FTP MAIL and MLFL

    PARC-MAXC2      450 No such mailbox at this site.
    RADC-XPER       450 User Unknown
    RADC-MULTICS    450  Cannot locate mailbox for \Fzorkness\
    RADC-TOPS20     450 No such mailbox at this site.
    RAND-UNIX       450 User Unknown
    RUTGERS         450 No such mailbox at this site.
    SDAC-UNIX       450 User Unknown
    SRI-KA          450 No such mailbox at this site.
    SRI-KL          450 No such mailbox at this site.
    SU-AI           450 I don't know anybody named Fzorkness
    SUMEX-AIM       450 No such mailbox at this site.
    UCLA-ATS        450 User Unknown
    UCLA-SECURITY   450 User Unknown
    UTEXAS          450 User Unknown

    CCA-TENEX       451 No such mailbox at this site.

    AFWL            501 MA<?>IL Fzorkness
    CCA-SPEECH      501 MA<?>IL Fzorkness
    EGLIN           501 MA<?>IL Fzorkness
    WPAFB           501 MA<?>IL Fzorkness

    AMES-67         503 COMMAND \MAIL FZORKNESS\ IGNORED: UNKNOWN USER

    LBL             506 Command not implemented.

    CMU-10A         507 % USER NOT FOUND: FZORKNESS
    CMU-10B         507 % USER NOT FOUND: FZORKNESS
    CMU-10D         507 % USER NOT FOUND: FZORKNESS
    HARV-10         507  No such user as FZORKNESS
    LLL-MFE         507  No such user as FZORKNESS
    NBS-10          507  No such user as FZORKNESS
    WHARTON         507  No such user as FZORKN
    WPAFB-AFAL      507  No such user as FZORKNESS

    4) Sites to which I was never able to connect, or which were not
    accepting users.

    ANL             I4B-TENEX       NOSC-SECURE1
    ARPA-DMS        ISI-SPEECH11    NSWC-WO
    CMU-CMMP        LBL-UNIX        NUSC
    CTO-DDS         LL-11           NUSC-NPT
    DEC-MARLBORO    LLL-COMP        NWC
    DTI             LONDON-VDH      NYU
    DTNSRDC         MOFFETT-ARC     SRI-UNIX
    FNWC            NADC            SU-ISL
    GUNTER-UNIX     NDRE

                                                                    [Page 5]