Re: X.400 on the Interent?

[Ned Freed <[e-mail]>]

> Is there any work to create an X.400 e-mail system on the Internet
> similar to the existing SMTP system?  If so, are there any drafts
> or summaries of what the plans are?

Work has been underway to do exactly this for many years, and there is  a
substantial pilot infrastructure in place at the present time.

The groundwork for all this is defined by RFC1327, which defines the basic
formats for X.400 routing tables. This work is being expanded by the MHSDS IETF
Working Group, which has defined mechanisms for storing X.400 routing
information in both X.500 and in the DNS. Various Internet Drafts are available
that cover this topic (ds.internet.net in the internet-drafts directory,
anything with the string "mhsds" in its name).

The X400OPS group is also involved, in that they are specifying operational
requirements for X.400 usage on the Internet. You'll find several of their
documents available as Internet Drafts as well, I believe.

A substantial number of RFCs have also been published in this area. Here's a
partial list:

1649  I    R. Hagens, A. Hansen, "Operational Requirements for X.400  
           Management Domains in the GO-MHS Community", 07/18/1994. 
           (Pages=14) (Format=.txt) 
1648  PS   C. Cargille, "Postmaster Convention for X.400 Operations", 
           07/18/1994. (Pages=4) (Format=.txt) 
1616  I    E. Huizer, J. Romaguera, RARE WG-MSG Task Force 88, "X.400(1988)  
           for the Academic and Research Community in Europe", 05/19/1994.  
           (Pages=44) (Format=.txt) (RTR 10) 
1615  I    J. Houttuin, J. Craigie, "Migrating from X.400(84) to X.400(88)", 
           05/19/1994. (Pages=17) (Format=.txt) (RTR 9) 
1506  I    J. Houttuin, "A tutorial on gatewaying between X.400 and Internet  
           mail", 09/23/1993. (Pages=39) (Format=.txt, .ps) (RTR 6) 
1502  PS   H. Alvestrand, "X.400 Use of Extended Character Sets", 
           08/26/1993.  (Pages=16) (Format=.txt) 
1496  PS   H. Alvestrand, J. Romaguera, K. Jordan, "Rules for downgrading  
           messages from X.400/88 to X.400/84 when MIME content-types are  
           present in the messages", 08/26/1993. (Pages=7) (Format=.txt) 
           (Updates RFC1328) 
1495  PS   H. Alvestrand, S. Kille, R. Miles, M. Rose, S. Thompson, "Mapping  
           between X.400 and RFC-822 Message Bodies", 08/26/1993. (Pages=15) 
           (Format=.txt) (Updates RFC1327) 
1494  PS   H. Alvestrand, S. Thompson, "Equivalences between 1988 X.400 and  
           RFC-822 Message Bodies", 08/26/1993. (Pages=26) (Format=.txt) 
1465  E    D. Eppenberger, "Routing coordination for X.400 MHS services within 
           a multi protocol / multi network environment Table Format V3 for  
           static routing", 05/26/1993. (Pages=31) (Format=.txt) 
1405  E    C. Allocchio, "Mapping between X.400(1984/1988) and Mail-11 (DECnet 
           mail)", 01/20/1993. (Pages=19) (Format=.txt) 
1330  I    ESCC X.500/X.400 Task Force, "Recommendations for the Phase I  
           Deployment of OSI Directory Services (X.500) and OSI Message  
           Handling Services (X.400) within the ESnet Community", 
           05/22/1992.  (Pages=87) (Format=.txt) 
1328  PS   S. Hardcastle-Kille, "X.400 1988 to 1984 downgrading", 
           05/18/1992.  (Pages=5) (Format=.txt) (Updated by RFC1496) 
1327  PS   S. Hardcastle-Kille, "Mapping between X.400(1988) / ISO 10021 and  
           RFC 822", 05/18/1992. (Pages=113) (Format=.txt) (Updates RFC0822) 
           (Obsoletes RFC1148) (Updated by RFC1495) 

This should be enough to get you started. You have quite a few years of work to
catch up on here.

				Ned