Hi. After a long time, here is the next incarnation of the SG DNS proposal. This is version 0.4. It will be available on the web at: http://home.pacific.net.sg/~harish/sg-dns.4.html Thanks. ================== This is Version 0.4 of the proposed SG-DNS-NAMES-RFC. Comments sought, please. Summary of changes - from 0.3: a) Dropped sch.sg b) Rearranged responsibilities for the *.edu.sg. c) Added new SLD pob.sg d) Clarified delegation and administration responsibilities for the various domains. Summary: All the salient points from the discussions previously have been considered and I do accept the arguments againt sch.sg. Although I personally feel that it should be kept, I am taking into consideration the general feeling on this matter. On the issue of edu.sg being across the board, I will stand by the need for nus.sg and all *.ac.sg to migrate to edu.sg. I hate confusing domain names. The worst of the lot is a mixture of 2- and 3-letter second LD. It is inconsistent and unnecessary. It should either be 2 or 3. I am adding the pob.sg as a candidate for persistent e-mail and as a tendered- out third level domain. The ideas there come from some work being done at the NCB and also from Dave Conrad's tendering scheme (which I dropped in version 0.3). Regards. ======================================================================= Harish Pillay h.pillay@ieee.org July 10th 1995 SG-DNS-NAMES-RFC Version 0.4 The SG Domain 1.0 Status of this Memo 1.1 This is an alpha version of a proposed SG Internet Domain Naming Scheme. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. 1.2 This memo would eventually take the form of a RFC and would be binding to all Internet access sites under the SG domain. 2.0 Naming Structure 2.1 Singapore being a city-state enjoys a status where we do not have states as a political subdivision. This lets us tag the numerous entities we have to the second tier. This lets the SG domain to be creative in it's structure. 2.2 Additional criteria to the structure are: a) Scalability: The DN must be scalable allowing for growth that is manageable, logical, maintainable and sensible. b) Addition of new 2nd tiers: This DN uses three letters in it's 2nd tier instead of two letters as a trade off to provide a mechanism for new, yet unknown, future additions. c) Pronounceability: This is NOT important and is used only when there is a choice of multiple names. The preference will be given to the one that is pronouceable. d) Identifiability: The domain name should help identify the nature of the domain - be it educational, commercial and so on. This is to allow for the creation of individual, user-centered domain names. 2.3 The SG domain will use 3-letter name tokens in it's 2nd tier level. 2.4 The proposed hierarchy is as follows: com.sg: All commercial organizations - sole proprietorships, private limited companies and public-listed companies. Entries in this group have to be registered with the Registry of Companies and Businesses. This DN could potentially grow to levels that it may not be easily managed. At the state of current technology, when the number of sites reach about 30,000, the com.sg will be closed. The number indicated will be reviewed, upwards in all likelihood, from time to time to account for technical advances. Administered by SGNIC. biz.sg: Same as com.sg. This DNS will not be used until the .com.sg second level is "full" based on the suggested 30,000 names. Administered by SGNIC. edu.sg: This will be the second-level for all educational institutions. These include universities, polytechnics, and institutes of special and technical education junior colleges, secondary and primary schools and kindergartens. This would mean that all current ac.sg sites and nus.sg will have a CNAME record in the primary and secondary nameservers to provide the mapping. At a future date to be determined by the proposed SGNIC, the CNAME translation will be dropped. The delegation of the edu.sg will be held by SGNIC. SGNIC will delegate the following to the respective institutions: nus.edu.sg: National University of Singapore NIC or equivalent ntu.edu.sg: Nanyang Technologial University NIC or equivalent sp.edu.sg: Singapore Polytechnic NIC or equivalent np.edu.sg: Ngee Ann Polytechnic NIC or equivalent tp.edu.sg: Temasek Polytechnic NIC or equivalent nyp.edu.sg: Nanyang Polytechnic NIC or equivalent All schools under the Ministry of Education and including independent, autonomous and privately-run schools will be placed under one of the following: jc.edu.sg, inst.edu.sg, sec.edu.sg, pri.edu.sg, pte.edu.sg The authority for the preceding third-level will be be with the Ministry of Education NIC or equivalent. Here are some examples of these sites: All Junior Colleges and the following are examples: anderson.jc.edu.sg, anglo-chinese.jc.edu.sg, catholic.jc.edu.sg, hwa-chong.jc.edu.sg, jurong.jc.edu.sg, nanyang.jc.edu.sg, national.jc.edu.sg, serangoon.jc.edu.sg, st-andrews.jc.edu.sg, raffles.jc.edu.sg, tampines.jc.edu.sg, temasek.jc.edu.sg, victoria.jc.edu.sg, yishun.jc.edu.sg. All 3-year pre-university schools (for example): jurong.inst.edu.sg, outram.inst.edu.sg, seletar.inst.edu.sg, townsville.inst.edu.sg. All secondary schools. The names can be either the commonly known initials or a full name to remove ambiguity. The aim is to keep the name identifiable with what is in common use. For example: ri.sec.edu.sg: Raffles Institution sji.sec.edu.sg: St Joseph's Institution asci.sec.edu.sg: ACS (Independent). acs.sec.edu.sg: ACS (Barker Road). temasek.sec.edu.sg: Temasek Secondary School. raffles-girls.sec.edu.sg: Raffles Girls' Secondary School. tkgs.sec.edu.sg: Tanjong Katong Girls' Secondary School. All primary schools - raffles-girls.pri.sch.sg, temasek.pri.edu.sg. All privately-run and special education schools. The private schools have the option of being under com.sg as these are commercially run entities. Administered by SGNIC. net.sg: All networks. So technet.sg would be technet.net.sg (or whatever the new network is to be called), singnet.com.sg would be singnet.net.sg. A distinction needs to be made for what is currently happening. As these two existing sites provide both dialup and leased line services, the aspect of their activity that is dialup shall remain as singnet.com.sg while the leased line component shall be singnet.net.sg. Administered by SGNIC. gov.sg: All government related entities. This is potentially a large domain and would have to be subdivided into a third tier as such: Some suggested examples of such DNS are: mindef.gov.sg: Ministry of Defense. mita.gov.sg: Ministry of Information and the Arts. env.gov.sg: Environment Ministry. moe.gov.sg: Ministry of Education. law.gov.sg: Law Ministry. mha.gov.sg: Ministry of Home Affairs. health.gov.sg: Ministry of Health. mti.gov.sg: Ministry of Trade and Industry. finance.gov.sg: Ministry of Finance. mnd.gov.sg: Ministry of National Development. mincom.gov.sg: Ministry of Communication. mcd.gov.sg: Ministry of Community Development. jud.gov.sg: The Judiciary. parl.gov.sg: The Parliament. pmo.gov.sg: The Prime Minister's Office. prez.gov.sg: The President's Office. www.gov.sg: The Web site for the government. Departments that under a ministry, for example, Public Works Department, has the choice of being pwd.mnd.gov.sg or pwd.gov.sg. This is a policy decision that is not addressed in this RFC. It will be mutually decided upon jointly by the Domain Name Administrators of both gov.sg and mnd.gov.sg. Administered by SGNIC. org.sg: Organizations that are clubs, societies, associations and including political parties. This domain name can have a one more level to indicate entities such as community centers, resident's committees and political parties. cc.org.sg: Community Centers. rc.org.sg: Residents' Committees. po.org.sg: Political Organization. rotary.org.sg: The Rotary Club. lions.org.sg: The Lions Club. twc.org.sg: The Town Councils. Administered by SGNIC. www.sg: A main web server for SG domain. This Web server does not necessarily belong to the government nor it's officers. It is meant to be a common entry point to all Web sites in the SG domain and shall remain neutral. This Second Level DNS does not have subsidiary levels. Administered by SGNIC. nii.sg: The National Information Infrastructure. Administered by SGNIC. pob.sg: The e-mail post office box persistent address mechanism. This is a scheme to provide a persistent e-mail address to users that are independent of their internet access provider/employer/school. This mecahnism will operate via the establishment of third-level domains to whom users can subscribe to. These third LDs will provide just the routing of address to real e-mail addresses. As this domain can become very large and has to be broken down into sections that can be put out for tender/bid/auction valid for say five (5) years. The exact nature of this third LD will be up to SGNIC to propose. Administered by SGNIC. 3.0 Request for DNS Support 3.1 Any entity or individual can request for a domain name under the SG hierarchy. 3.2 An individual or entity is not restricted to her/their choice of an internet access/service provider. If the chosen IAP/ISP is not one that operates under the SG domain, then the requestor will be levied an annual administrative charge to cover the cost of providing the DNS support. 3.3 The SGNIC or some such entity will decide on the charges for such administrative activities. The cost should not be prohibitive and must be reasonable. The SGNIC or some such entity will have to right to waive such administrative charges on a case by case basis. 3.4 Support for an entity under the SG domain does not imply that such an organization is physically located in the political and geographical entity of Singapore. Being under the SG domain is a logical association rather than a physical one. This is exactly what is the case when an entity is registered under the Top Level Domain of .com, .org, .int and .net. 3.5 Such a scheme allows for organizations that belong to a SG entity - for example, the Singapore Embassy in Manila - to be under the DNS embassy-manila.mfa.gov.sg even though they are physically located in Manila. 3.6 Domain names requested for shall be names that are not commonly regarded as words that are derogatory or potentially offensive. The language used to determine will be English and transliterations of words into English from other common languages. The SGNIC will reject all such requests. The requestor whose domain name request was denied shall appeal to the Chief Administrator of SGNIC for reconsideration. The Chief Administrator of SGNIC decision on this issue shall be final. 4.0 Resolution of Name Conflicts 4.1 All requests for a domain name will be accepted on a first come, first served basis. 4.2 Should there be a conflict of names, the second and all subsequent requestors will be told of such (see also 5.0 below) and asked to pick a new one. 4.3 DNS registration requests will be provided on a form modelled after what is used by APNIC and Internic - modified as appropriate for terminology and context. 4.4 Entities registering under the com.sg/biz.sg/*.org.sg shall provide to the SGNIC or some such entity proof of their existence by way of a business certificate or a copy of a government gazette indicating that they are indeed legally constituted entities. Failing to provide such proof puts the application on hold and the requestor will be duly notified. After one week of being notified, the application will be rejected if nothing is forthcoming and the application sent back to the requestor. 4.5 Should a domain name be granted and subsequently found to be a tradename or copyrighted by some other entity, the SGNIC or some such entity that granted the domain name will not be liable for any legal action. It is upto the holder of the legal tradename or copyright to settle the right of use and ownership with the holder of the domain name. 5.0 Reclaiming Domainnames 5.1 Reclaiming of domainnames will be done only when there is a request for registration of an existing domain name. When such a request is made, the SGNIC will inform the current holders of the requested domain name to indicate if the domain name is active and in use. If the domain name holder does not indicate that the domain name is in use or active, the SGNIC will reclaim the domain name and re-issue it to the new requestor. 5.2 In order that this reclamation is done fairly, SGNIC will with due diligence and in good faith, inform the current known holder of the domain name using all normal means of communication including electronic mail, postal mail, fax and phone calls. 5.3 A period of one month shall be provided to let the current holder of a domain name to respond. Failing which, the SGNIC will consider that the domain name has been given up and re-issue it to the new requestor. 6.0 Adding New Second Level Domains 6.1 The SG domain structure is designed to be extended at the second level when needed. 6.2 A second level domain (SLD) shall be created when there is an obvious need for one. It shall be proposed to the SGNIC by anyone from the Internet community in Singapore or could have been brought up by the SGNIC on it's own. 6.3 A public discussion period of at least one month is needed to determine if there really is a need for such a SLD. 6.4 After the one month period, the SGNIC will decide after considering all the arguments stated for and against such a request. This decision will be made in good faith and with the intention to make the SG domain structure clear and consistent. =============== -- Harish Pillay | harish@csah.com, h.pillay@ieee.org Senior Technical Consultant | http://www.csah.com/~harish CSA Pte Ltd, 221 Henderson Rd #05-03, | +(65)-371-9820 (work), 276-4968 (fax) Singapore 0315, Republic of Singapore. | ++++ Ask me about Linux ++++