Over the last few months we have rewritten much of the NA-NET system and moved it to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. It is running on the same machine that serves netlib@ornl.gov. We have added a number of features, such as auto-joining and auto-address changes. The message below describes the current system in place at na-net.ornl.gov. You should switch to using the Oak Ridge NA-NET, na-net.stanford.edu will be turned off soon. The NA-NET originated at Stanford University by Gene Golub. Much of the software we've used up to now was written by Mark Kent. The Oak Ridge NA-NET operation will be under the direction of Jack Dongarra. Bill Rosener of the University of Tennessee has rewritten the software. Cleve Moler will continue to edit the NA-NET News Digest. Beginning January 1, 1991 mail to na-net.stanford.edu will be forwarded to na-net.ornl.gov for reforwarding. MOTIVATION: This mail facility was created to allow numerical analysts (na) an easy method of communicating with one another. The main advantage of the NA-NET is uniformity of addressing. All mail is addressed to the Internet host "na-net.ornl.gov" at Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Hence, members of the NA-NET do not need to remember complicated addresses or even where a member is currently located. As long as moving members change their e-mail address in the NA-NET (see feature 5 below) everything works smoothly. FEATURES: ======================================================================== A. NANET ======================================================================== 1). Individual (unicast) messages ------------------ This is the most frequently used feature. Each member of the NA-NET has a unique na-net name. This nanet name is usually the same as the members last name. However, if there is more than one member with the same last name then the first initial is usually prepended to their last name to form their na-net name. For example, if John Smith and Mark Smith both wanted to join the na-net then mail addressed to "na.jsmith@na-net.ornl.gov" would be used to send mail to John Smith and "na.msmith@na-net.ornl.gov" would be used to send mail to Mark Smith. 2). NA-NET News Digest ------------------ Any mail sent to "na.digest@na-net.ornl.gov" will be considered for distribution to all members of the NA-NET. About once a week the Editor of the NA-NET News Digest will go over the messages which have queued up, pick out the ones that are thought to be of general interest to the numerical analysis and mathematical software community, combine them in a News Digest format, and mail the Digest to everyone on the mailing list. 3). Joining the NA-NET ------------------ To join the NA-NET send mail to "na.join@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the following three fields. Lastname: Firstname: E-mail: The values can be specified in any order. The subject line of your message is ignored. If there is a member of NA-NET with the same lastname, then a message will be sent back to you. If this happens try prepending your first initial to your last name. In this case the "key" which identifies you will not be your lastname. See Appendix A for an example on how to join the na-net. 4). Removing membership ------------------- To remove your membership from the NA-NET send mail to "na.remove@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the following three fields. Lastname: Firstname: Key: The values can be specified in any order. Again the subject line of your message is ignored. A message will be sent to both the deleted address and the address making the request informing you that your name has been removed. See Appendix A for an example on how to remove your membership. 5). Changing e-mail address ----------------------- To change your e-mail address send mail to "na.change@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the following four fields. Lastname: Firstname: New-address: Key: The values can be specified in any order. Again the subject line of your message is ignored. A message will be sent to both the old-address as well as the new-address informing you that the change has taken place. See Appendix A for an example on how to change your e-mail address. 6). Help ---- Questions and comments about the NA-NET should be addressed to: nanet@na-net.ornl.gov A person will read all mail messages within reason to this account. Mail sent to: na.help@na-net.ornl.gov will return the message you are currently reading. 7). Current list of all members --------------------------- Mail sent to the following address will result in a mail message being sent back to you containing all members of the NA-NET. na.sendlist@na-net.ornl.gov ======================================================================== B. WHITEPAGES ======================================================================== The "whitepages" is a new feature which has been added to the NANET. This facility is available to everyone. However, we would especially encourage members of the NANET to join. Like any directory service, it will only work if everybody takes a few moments to join, and then as necessary updates their entry. Below is a short description of the whitepages, and and how to use it. FEATURES: 1). Querying the Database --------------------- To find out information about a person send mail to "na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body or on the subject line specify their firstname and lastname, or just their lastname. The order of firstname and lastname does not matter. See Appendix B for examples. 2). Joining the Whitepages ---------------------- To join the whitepages send mail to "na.join-wp@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the two mandatory fields and as many of the optional fields as you want. Mandatory ============ Last_name: First_name: Optional Fields =================== Middle_name: Other_name: Affiliation: Office_address: City_state_zip: Country: Office_phone: Research: Home_address: Home_phone: Fax: E_mail_address: Other: The fields can be specified in any order. The subject line of your message is ignored. All fields are entered into the database as characters. So spaces can be used for readability. All fields (except first_name, last_name, and middle_name) can be multiple lines. A multiple line field ends when the the next keyword (e.g. "Country:") is found. Place a character at the end of each line. In the rare exception that your first and last name combination is not unique, send mail to "nanet@na-net.ornl.gov". We will manually insert your name into the database despite the duplication. This should not cause any problems for people querying the database for it is set up to return ALL people with a given last name, first name, or combination. A message will be sent back to you confirming the operation was successful. See Appendix B for an example of joining the database. 3). Removing your entry ------------------- To remove your entry from the NA-NET database send mail to "na.remove-wp@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the following two fields. Last_name: First_name: The values can be specified in any order. Again the subject line of your message is ignored. For security purpose, a confirmation message will be sent to both the address requesting the removal, and also to the address listed in the whitepages database. See Appendix B for an example of removing your entry. 4). Changing fields ----------------------- To change the value of a field or add to new field - send mail to "na.change-wp@na-net.ornl.gov". In the message body specify the following two fields plus the fields to be added or changed. Last_name: First_name: The values can be specified in any order. Again the subject line of your message is ignored. You cannot change your name. If you wish to do so, first remove your entry and then rejoin with the new name. If you wish to clear the value of a field, simply include the field with no value. A message will be sent back to you confirming the operation was successful. See Appendix B for an example on how to change or add a field. ========================================================================== Appendix A (NANET) ========================================================================== Below are some real examples to give you an idea of how the NA-NET works. 1). For example, to mail to Gene Golub. mail to: na.golub@na-net.ornl.gov 2). Mail sent to a nonexistent na-net name. For example, mail sent to: na.abcde@na-net.ornl.gov will result in the following message being returned to you. ----------------------------------------------------------- NA-NET key not found. Message returned. . . . ------------------------------------------------------------ 3). Mail sent to a non-unique na-net name. For example, mail sent to: na.fox@na-net.ornl.gov will result in the following message being returned to you. ----------------------------------------------------------- Ambiguous key: try one of the following fox, david = na.dfox fox, phyl = na.pfox fox, x = na.cfox . . . ------------------------------------------------------------ 4). An example of how Gene Golub would join the na-net. mail na.join@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Lastname: golub Firstname: gene E-mail: golub@patience.stanford.edu 5). An example of how Mike Foobar would remove his membership in the na-net. mail na.remove@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Lastname: foobar Firstname: mike key: foobar 6). An example of how Mike Fox would change his e-mail address. mail na.change@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Lastname: fox Firstname: mike New-address: mfox@new.address key: mfox ============================================================================ Appendix B (WHITEPAGES) ============================================================================ Below are some real examples to give you an idea of how the whitepages works. 1). For example, to find out more about Bill Rosener. The software has been written to understand many different forms. The following are some of the acceptable forms. --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" Bill Rosener --------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" Rosener Bill --------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" whois Rosener Bill --------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: bill rosener NUll body --------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: whois bill rosener NUll body --------------------------------------- OR --------------------------------------- mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" last-name: rosener first-name: bill --------------------------------------- A message similar to the following will then be returned. ========================================================== Last Name: Rosener First Name: Bill Middle Name: J. Affiliation: University of Tennessee Office Address: Dept. of Computer Science; 107 Ayres Hall City State Zip: Knoxville, TN 37996-1301 Country: U.S.A. Office Phone: (615) 974-3647 Research: Highly-interactive, direct manipulation, << MULTIPLE-LINES >> 3D graphical interfaces. Home Address: 1403 White Ave; Knoxville TN, 37916 Fax: 615-974-8296 E-mail Address: rosener@cs.utk.edu Other: graduate student Correct as of: Jun 1991 ---------------------------------------------------------------- 2). For example, to find out more information on all people whose last name is "smith". mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" smith 3). For example, to find out more information on all people who are interested in "parallel". This does a string comparison on all fields other than the name fields searching for the pattern "parallel". mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" Keyword: parallel 4). For example, to find out more information on all people who live in "Knoxville". This does a string comparison on all fields other than the name fields searching for the pattern "Knoxville". mail to: na.whois@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: "blank" Keyword: Knoxville 5). An example of how Bill Rosener would join the whitepages. mail na.join-wp@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Last_name: Rosener First_name: Bill Middle_name: J. Affiliation: University of Tennessee Office_address: Dept. of Computer Science; 107 Ayres Hall City_state_zip: Knoxville, TN 37996-1301 Country: U.S.A. Office_phone: (615) 974-3647 Research: Highly-interactive, direct manipulation, 3D graphical interfaces. Home_address: 1403 White Ave; Knoxville TN, 37916 E_mail_address: rosener@cs.utk.edu Other: graduate student Note; The optional fields "Fax", "Home_phone", and "Other_name" were not given. So people querying Bill Rosener will not find this information. 6). An example of how Mike Foobar would remove his entry from the whitepages. mail na.remove-wp@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Last_name: foobar First_name: mike 7). An example of how Mike Fox would change his E-mail address and Fax number while also clearing his Home Phone number in the whitepages. mail na.change-wp@na-net.ornl.gov Subject: anything Last_name: fox First_name: mike E_mail_address: fox@new.address Home_phone: Fax: (764) 285-4239 Jack Dongarra University of Tennessee and Oak Ridge National Laboratory dongarra@cs.utk.edu