Quality Audit

The RIPE NCC actively checks the quality and validity of registry data In order to ensure fair address space distribution, making sure that assignment guidelines are applied equally.

Audit activity promotes the consistent and fair application of assignment criteria with regard to the registration and conservation of address space and aggregation of routing information. This activity also helps identify procedures that cause difficulties. Impartiality, quality and confidentiality will be of highest priority.

The RIPE NCC will request a Local Internet Registry under audit to:

• Update information in internal registry file
• Fix overlapping assignments
• Add missing status lines in inetnum objects
• Replace full person names with NIC handles
• Check if status lines are used in inetnum objects
• Check if correct status lines are used in inetnum objects
• Check the validity of netnames

The RIPE NCC will verify:

• That all assignments are within the LIRs Assignment Window.
• That the RIPE NCC has been notified of any possible changes of netnames in the RIPE database
• If address ranges are still in use for the LIR's network infrastructure and/or end users.

A major part of the activity is focused around helping registries to understand and follow the correct policies and procedures. The RIPE NCC will first discuss the issue with the Registry involved and outline the correct procedures and policies. Registries under audit will be given the support needed to align to the current procedures.

In exceptional cases, if the discussions fail, further action will be taken and can result in temporary lowering the LIR's Assignment Window to help them be better acquainted with the current policies as they receive more feedback on their requests. The RIPE NCC may withhold the full allocation of a new block of addresses to a LIR under audit, making only a small allocation, allowing the RIPE NCC to monitor the assignments being made by the LIR.

Results of the Audit

In order to have a better overview of the needs of the Registries the RIPE NCC will maintain statistics on the results of the audits. These statistics include the type of complaints and problems found and will be made public. The statistics however, will only show the types of problems and the solutions taken and not mention any registry by name. This kind of information is kept in strict confidence.

Most Importantly

Be pro-active! The RIPE NCC IP Resource Analyst (IPRA) possess audit tools that can provide you with the output of an audit upon request. LIRs are encouraged to request this information and be aware of database inconsistencies before requesting new address space. This will facilitate and speed up the process of IP address space allocation.