From oslo.cfc.net!smj Wed Apr 3 18:23:13 1996 Return-Path: Received: by SDF.LONESTAR.ORG (Smail3.1.29.1 #1) id m0u4bt8-0000W9C; Wed, 3 Apr 96 18:22 CST Received: from oslo.cfc.net (oslo.cfc.net [204.189.112.10]) by egsner.cirr.com (8.7.1/8.7.1/$Revision: 1.11 $) with SMTP id QAA11650 for ; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 16:22:05 -0600 (CST) Received: (from smj@localhost) by oslo.cfc.net (8.6.12/8.6.9) id QAA10950 for smj@sdf.lonestar.org; Wed, 3 Apr 1996 16:22:14 -0600 Date: Wed, 3 Apr 1996 16:22:14 -0600 From: "Stephen M. Jones" Message-Id: <199604032222.QAA10950@oslo.cfc.net> To: smj@sdf.lonestar.org Status: RO Path: oslo.cfc.net!life.cfc.net!imci3!imci4!imci5!pull-feed.internetmci.com!news.internetMCI.com!newsfeed.internetmci.com!news.texas.net!news1.best.com!nntp1.best.com!thvv.vip.best.com!user From: thvv@best.com (Tom Van Vleck) Newsgroups: alt.os.multics Subject: Multics Site History: DOCKMASTER Date: Tue, 02 Apr 1996 20:24:14 -0800 Organization: Multicians Lines: 74 Message-ID: NNTP-Posting-Host: thvv.vip.best.com X-url: http://www.best.com/~thvv/multics.html Les Gotch , site analyst at DOCKMASTER, has kindly provided us with this history of the site. I will add it to the web pages as well. (I encourage others to contribute the stories of their sites too.) Location: US National Security Agency, Linthicum, Maryland (at the Friendship Annex site) to support the mission of the National Computer Security Center. First Installed: DPS 8/70(M) in July, 1984 as a basic 1 CPU system. Expanded to a 3 cpu, 2 SCU, 2 IOM system in 1986. Configuration: (1986) 3 DPS8/70M CPUs, 2 IOMs, 3 DN355 front-end processors, 8K 36-bit words MOS memory, 4 MW paging device (bulk store), 3 MSU451 disk drives, 22 MSU501 disk drives, 3 tape drives, 2 printers, ARPANet connection (ABSI). Application Areas: DOCKMASTER's major responsibility is to serve as a resource facility for Computer Security. It provides many services including electronic mail and forum for the NSA, its vendors, academia, and other government agencies. One of its missions is to provide assistance in the evaluation of commercial products using the Trusted Computer System Evaluation Criteria (Orange Book). Salesman: The initial purchase was through Federal Systems Division of Honeywell, Inc. Site Analysts: There have been three major analysts assigned to DOCKMASTER including Ed Tomasch (1984 - 1986), Les Gotch (1984 - present), and Tony Thibodeaux (1986 - present). Additional short term assistance was provided by Allen Grider, Joe Paradiso, and Patrick Graham. All worked for Honeywell's Federal Systems Division and its subsequent names as the company went through a variety of buyouts and sell-offs. System Administrators: The site analysts listed in the previous category have been the primary system administrators through the years. There have been a few (to remain unnamed) government employees that have filled system adminstration roles through the years as well. Notable Developments: Expanded the Access Isolation Mechanism (AIM) of Multics to use the full 72 bits available. The extra 18 bits were used to designate over 40,000 extra mutually exclusive categories by using bit patterns of 18 bits - nine at a time. Each mutually exclusive bit pattern is used to define a category used by vendors to protect their data. The 18 bits supplied in the normal Multics system were not enough to support the evaluation of the large number of commercial products supplied by vendors to be evaluated by the Agency. DOCKMASTER also incorporated the use of token one-time password devices into the I&A procedures when logging in. Final Shutdown: DOCKMASTER is scheduled to be shutdown late in the 1996 calendar year. Anecdotes: On the origin of the name: All NSA systems are required to get a covername for themselves. It is an internal practice so that people can refer to each system as a covername. It makes it easy to know what system people are talking about in reports and conversations. So we picked that name off the available list of names.