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From: lauren@vortex.UUCP (Lauren Weinstein)
Newsgroups: net.mail
Subject: more on domains
Message-ID: <739@vortex.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 11-Aug-85 20:25:15 EDT
Article-I.D.: vortex.739
Posted: Sun Aug 11 20:25:15 1985
Date-Received: Sun, 1-Sep-85 06:06:01 EDT
Organization: Vortex Technology, Los Angeles
Lines: 22

I should mention that one of my basic rules is that my domain handling
must BREAK NOTHING in the current environment, and must not REQUIRE
cooperating "smart" sites to work.  In fact, I encourage people to
set up their tables to route mail DIRECTLY to a given site (regardless
of what domain it is in) when possible or practical.  Any system
that "warps" traffic patterns for the sake of routing is going to have
trouble--instead, direct and semi-direct hops are to be encouraged
whenever possible.  But as you'll note from my sample table in the
previous message, it's trivial to put in entries that go directly
to a given site or subdomain within a domain rather than relying
on any "domain server" or other very smart host except when
all else fails.  It has the additional advantage of working regardless
of whether the sites around you are smart or dumb.  The users and sites
that talk to your machine can address mail in User@Site.Domain form and
all the magic is taken care of automatically.  They need not be
concerned about whether you will route to other smart sites or through
dumb sites.  And after all, in the final analysis, it's user
convenience that's the point of all this in the first place.

--Lauren--

{ihnp4, decvax, seismo, clyde, trwrb}!vortex!lauren