Registering Your Network

Before you assign IP addresses to the machines on your Solaris network, you must obtain a network number from the InterNIC. Moreover, if you plan to use administrative domains, you should register them with the InterNIC.

InterNIC and InterNIC Registration Services

The InterNIC was created in 1993 to act as a central body where users of the Internet could go for information, such as:

• What the Internet's policies are

• How to access the Internet, including training services

• What resources are available to Internet users, such as anonymous FTP servers, Usenet user groups, and so on

The InterNIC also includes the InterNIC Registration Services, the organization with which you register your TCP/IP network. The InterNIC Registration Services provide templates for obtaining a network number and for registering your domain. Two points to remember about registration are:

• The InterNIC assigns network numbers.

Do not arbitrarily assign network numbers to your network, even if you do not plan to attach it to other existing TCP/IP networks.

Subnet numbers are not assigned by the InterNIC. Rather, they are composed partly of the assigned network number and numbers that you define, as explained in "What Is Subnetting?".

• You--not InterNIC--determine the domain name for your network and then register it with the InterNIC.

How to Contact the InterNIC

You can reach the InterNIC Registration Services by:

• Mail

  Write to:

  Network Solutions 
  Attn: InterNIC Registration Services
  505 Huntmar Park Drive 
  Herndon, Virginia 22070

• Telephone

  The phone number is 1-703-742-4777. Phone service is available from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Eastern Standard Time.

• Electronic mail

  Send email regarding network registration to: Hostmaster@rs.internic.net

• Anonymous FTP or Telnet inquiries, through the Gopher and WAIS interfaces.

  Connect to rs.internic.net. (Anonymous FTP and Telnet are outside the scope of this book; however, books on these subjects are available in computer bookstores.)