From: gk@kksys.com (Greg Kemnitz)
Subject: Re: How to get connected to MN.org?
Organization: K and K Systems
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 04:15:05 GMT

In article <1992Aug21.131809.11760@walter.cray.com> goldman@cray.com (Matthew D. Goldman) writes:
>I have a friend who would like to get connected to the 'net'
>either uucp or via ip.  Who should they contact and about
>how much would it cost them per month?

One option is to sign up with the MN.ORG domain park.  A copy of the
informational posting regarding MN.ORG follows....



             MN.ORG domain park information and application

		       Draft revision of 1992-04-22.

In 1987 several Minnesota Unix enthusiaists set out to establish the first
Internet Domain Park in the world, the MN.ORG domain park.  This experiment
was a success.  In late 1991 / early 1992, the Unix Users of Minnesota (UUM)
user group assumed responsibility for the operation of the MN.ORG domain park,
adding capacity and stability to this already powerful resource.  Many of your
electronic "neighbors" have chosen to join the Minnesota domain park and claim
their place in the world network community.  We invite you to do the same.

The Internet is a collection of networks that span the globe.  Through
the Internet you can contact virtually anyone at any organization on any
public data network.  Although the Internet does not encompass things
like Genie or Prodigy, it does give you easy email access to EARN, JANET,
BITNET, ARPANET, MILNET, Compuserve, FidoNet and many others.

The best part of being on the internet is that, for sending and
receiving electronic mail, it doesn't matter which network a site is on.
That is what joining the domain park is really all about.  Through a
domain address your site gets a name that is recognized by every one of
these networks.  No longer will people at some obscure site in Korea
have trouble getting mail to you (this may sound like marketing hype to
you, and it is - but only a little).

You could go out and register your own domain through the Network
Information Center on the Internet.  Anyone can do this.  However, you
will have to find your own "forwarder" and "nameserver" on the Internet.
These are sites that are on one of the fully connected networks listed
above and are willing to be your representative in the Internet
community.  While these sites are not impossible to find, they are
becoming increasingly rare as the demand for domain addressing
increases.  By using the domain park you will use the forwarder and
nameservers that are already established for MN.ORG.  There are no
hassles - it just works.

Joining the domain park is very easy, and the benefits can be enormous.
Here are just some of the services that the domain park provides to
members:

      - Mail routing.  Our forwarder will always have an up to date UUCP
        map, and will route all of your mail for you.  In addition,
        since our site is well connected within the region (by
        definition), you are usually at most two hops from most other
        local machines.  Also, since our site is well connected outside of
        the region, you can send all of your outbound mail through
        our site and be assured of its arriving in a timely manner.

      - Source archives.  We attempt to have the most recent news and mail
	routing software sources in our archives.  Other sources may be made
        available on an as-needed basis by sending mail to mailadm@mn.org.

      - Map maintenance.  The domain gateway will maintain the UUCP
        routing maps for all member domains, and make those maps
        available to other non-member sites in the region via the USENET
        news group mn.maps.  Each member site will have the name of
        their gateway machine reserved in the UUCP namespace, although
        internal sites will be hidden from the world.  This is done by
        listing each members map entry in the map file u.usa.mn.2.  This is
	updated automatically when you submit updated map entries to the
	mn.org mail administrator.

      - Routing database generation.  Any domain member can send requests
        to have a mail routing file automatically generated
        based on the current map data.  There are two versions of this -
        global and regional databases.  For many members, a regional
        routing database is more than sufficient.  Mail going out of the
        state is going to go through our forwarder anyway, so it is just
        listed as a smart-host.  For those member sites with connections
        outside of the region, a global paths file may be more useful.


Although it would be preferable to provide these services for nothing,
that has proven to be impossible.  After careful consideration,
a nominal fee of $60 per member per year has been determined
to be sufficient for covering the cost of routing all your mail
into and out of Minnesota.  This actually is very little money,
especially when compared with services like UUNET, which charge $30 per
month plus connect time for this.  As it turns out, the economies of
scale can be pretty impressive.  By combining the mail traffic for many
sites through a single point we have gained efficiency both in overall
routing costs and in turnaround time.  You might think that contention
at a central point would cause mail to be delayed, but with creative
modem/UUCP scheduling, that has proven not to be the case.

If you are interested in joining, just fill out the form below and
return it to the MN.ORG mail administrator (mailadm@mn.org) either
electronically or via U.S. Mail along with your payment of the annual
connection fee.  When your application and first year connection fee are
received, you will be added to the domain park.  Processing time may be
up to 14 days after payment is received.

The areas in angle brackets <>'s should be filled in by you.
(remove the <>'s as appropriate)
-------------------------------- cut here -----------------------------

		MN.ORG Domain Park Membership Application
			    Updated 04/22/92.


   1)  The name of the domain applied for (<your domain>.MN.ORG).

	<                  >.MN.ORG

   2)  Forwarder

	<                          >  (normally tcnet.MN.ORG)

   3)  Organization

            Organization  	<                                   >
            Mail Address 	<                                   >
                         	<                                   >

   4)  Type of Organization (what your organization does, or who it serves)

	<                                                           >

   5) The administrative head of the organization.

         Administrator

            Organization  	<                                   >
            Name         	<                                   >
            Title         	<                                   >
            Mail Address 	<                                   >
                         	<                                   >
            Phone Number  	<                > (work)
                          	<                > (home)
                          	<                > (page)
            Net Mailbox  	<                                   >

   6) Technical contact(s).

         Technical Contact

            Organization  	<                                   >
            Name         	<                                   >
            Title         	<                                   >
            Mail Address 	<                                   >
                         	<                                   >
            Phone Number  	<                > (work)
                          	<                > (home)
                          	<                > (page)
            Net Mailbox  	<                                   >

         Alternate Technical Contact

   7)  Gateway machine (<your machine>.<your domain>.MN.ORG).
           (machine name should be 8 characters max, <=6 preferred.  In
	    most cases, the machine name is the same as the domain name)

	<                >.<                >.MN.ORG


   8)  Other machines in your domain (same location only)

	<                >.<                >.MN.ORG
	<                >.<                >.MN.ORG
	<                >.<                >.MN.ORG
	<                >.<                >.MN.ORG

   9)  Gateway machine connection information
   
            UUCP type	  	<         >     old (L.sys) / HDB-BNU (Systems)
            Login we should use <                   > (Suggested: tcnet)
	    Password            <                   >

         Primary modem

	    Telephone number    <                   >
	    Speeds supported    <                   > 1200 / 2400 / V.32
	    					     V.32bis / PEP / SuperPEP
         Additional modem(s)

	    Telephone number    <                   >
	    Speeds supported    <                   > 1200 / 2400 / V.32
	    					     V.32bis / PEP / SuperPEP

   10) Directory form.  This is published periodically for contact and routing
   information in the groups mn.map and comp.mail.maps.  Detailed instructions
   for filling out this form are available from mailadm@mn.org.

#N	.<domain name>, <your machine>
#F	MN.ORG
#O	<Your Organization>
#C	<Contact 1>, <Contact 2>
#E	<Contact 1 Email>, <Contact 2 Email>
#T	<Telephone number of contact 1>
#P	<Post office address>
#L	<HH MM SS N/S longitude / HH MM SS E/W latitude>
#U	<Usenet News feed machine>
#R	applied
#W	<Who updated this entry, in the form:>
	ahby@bungia.mn.org (Shane P. McCarron); Fri Aug 28 14:20:37 CDT 1987
<your machine>	<domain name>
<your machine>	<list of machines you talk to, in pathalias input format>

   11) Other information you feel might be relevant:
   
      <                                                              >
      <                                                              >

   12) I understand that this registration cannot be processed without
   appropriate dues payment to UUM, and have arranged for a connection
   fee of $60 per year to be paid.  I am sending a check payable to
   Unix Users of Minnesota to:

		Unix Users of Minnesota - MN.ORG Administrator
		c/o PO Box 47804
		Plymouth, MN  55447

   I also understand that it will take up to 2 weeks to fully process this
   application, and that we cannot use our domain name as a return address
   in outgoing mail until registration has been completed.

	(signed) <                           >  <          >
		      Administrator name	    date

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -
(the following section is to be filled out by the MN.ORG domain administrator)

  Date received:     <                >  Effective date:   <                >
  Login assigned:    <                >  Payment recieved: <                >
  Password Assigned: <                >
-- 
Greg Kemnitz / K and K Systems / PO Box 47804 / Plymouth, MN 55447-0804
Internet: gk@kksys.com  / Voice: +1 612 475 1527 / Fax: +1 612 449 0488
Alternate Internet: gk@kksys.mn.org   /   ICBM:  44 59 20 N, 93 28 22 W
Newsgroups: mn.general