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Terms & Conditions for Monitoring Infrastructure Domains in DNSMON

Introduction

This document will stipulate the Terms and Conditions under which the RIPE NCC offers the monitoring of authoritative DNS servers serving the domain of the Zone Operator (hereafter the “Service”).

Article 1 - Definitions

In these Terms and Conditions, the terms below shall be understood to have the following meanings:

RIPE NCC – Réseaux IP Européens Network Coordination Centre, a membership association under Dutch law, with registered office in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. 

RIPE NCC DNSMON Service – A service monitoring the performance of DNS servers serving the domain of the Zone Operator which is built on top of the RIPE Atlas service using RIPE Atlas Anchors as vantage points for its measurements. The results are collected and published in graphical form. These results will be made available to the general public.

RIPE Atlas Service – A RIPE NCC service that provides a measurement platform using RIPE Atlas data collected by active Probes and Anchors around the world. The Terms and Conditions for the RIPE Atlas Service are available online.

Anchor – A hardware device or a virtual machine that performs as a measurement target for the purposes of the RIPE Atlas Service.

Zone Operator – the party that, in accordance with the RIPE Community Guiding Principles, is qualified as eligible to request monitoring of the DNS Servers. 

RIPE community – RIPE (Réseaux IP Européens) is a collective forum open to all parties interested in wide area IP networks in Europe and beyond. The objective of RIPE is to ensure the administrative and technical coordination necessary to enable the operation of a pan-European IP network.

RIPE Community Guiding Principles – the criteria provided by the RIPE community according to which the Zone Operator may request the Service as updated according to the relevant procedures. 

RIPE DNS Working Group - A Working Group within the RIPE community that discusses current DNS related issues in technology and operations.

Measurement Results – Any data produced through the monitoring of authoritative DNS servers serving the domain of the Zone Operator.

Article 2 - General

2.1. The Terms and Conditions come into effect by means of an offer by the RIPE NCC and an acceptance by the Zone Operator.

2.2 The Service is subject to these Terms and Conditions. The Zone Operator by confirming their agreement to these Terms and Conditions by email, they confirm that they have read, understood and agree to be bound to these Terms and Conditions.

2.3 The Zone Operator acknowledges and accepts that the Terms and Conditions may be amended by the RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC will inform the Zone Operator of such amendments at least 30 days before the amendments become effective. If the Zone Operator continues to use the Service after the amendments become effective, the Zone Operator agrees to the amended Terms and Conditions.

2.4. These Terms and Conditions replace any and all existing agreements between the RIPE NCC and the Zone Operator with regard to the Service.

Article 3 – Use of the Service

3.1 The Zone Operator declares that they have the right to request the Service in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

3.2 Upon acceptance of these Terms and Conditions, the RIPE NCC acknowledges that it has to provide the Service to the Zone Operator in accordance with these Terms and Conditions.

3.3 The RIPE NCC will monitor the authoritative DNS servers serving the domain of the Zone Operator, provided that the criteria set out in the RIPE Community Guiding Principles are met.  

3.4 The Zone Operator acknowledges and accepts that the Service is available only to eligible Zone Operators and it shall stop being available to the Zone Operator once it does not meet the requirements set out in RIPE Community Guiding Principles.

3.5 The Service will be available on a best-effort basis and the RIPE NCC may suspend its operation, availability or liability to the Zone Operator for technical, operational, legal, anti-abuse or any other reasons within the scope of managing the operations of the Service.

Article 4 – Eligibility of the Zone Operator

4.1.  The RIPE NCC will evaluate every request for the provision of Service based on the RIPE Community Guiding Principles applicable at the time of the request.

4.2 The RIPE NCC shall be entitled to re-examine the eligibility of the Zone Operator and evaluate whether the Zone Operator is still qualified to receive the Service.

4.3 The RIPE NCC shall be entitled to reject a request for the provision of the Service to a Zone Operator for technical, operational, legal, security, anti-abuse or any other reasons within the scope of managing the operations of the Service.

Article 5 – Management, Maintenance and Support

The Service is operated and maintained under the sole administrative control of the RIPE NCC, including software upgrades, software configuration and system administration. Any changes in this regard will be put forward for deliberation to the RIPE DNS Working Group. The Zone Operator may provide feedback on the Service and suggestions for improvements at the RIPE NCC DNS Working Group.

Article 6 – Publication of Measurement Results

6.1 The RIPE NCC will make the Measurement Results publicly available.

6.2 Both the Zone Operator and the RIPE NCC may publish the data collected by the Service and make statements about the data (written or oral, press releases and interviews included). All public statements about the data will be subject to the RIPE NCC Copyright Statement. 

Article 7 –Termination of the Service

7.1. The Service will be available on a best-effort basis and the RIPE NCC may suspend or terminate its operation, availability or liability to the Zone Operators for technical, operational, legal, anti-abuse or any other reasons within the scope of managing the operations of the Service.

7.2 The RIPE NCC, upon re-evaluation of the eligibility of a Zone Operator according to Article 4.2, shall be entitled to terminate the provision of the Service to a Zone Operator that is no longer eligible, unless otherwise provided in the RIPE Community Guiding Principles.

7.3 The Service to a Zone Operator may be terminated upon request by this Zone Operator at any time and for any reason, provided that the RIPE NCC is notified in writing via email to atlas@ripe.net.

7.4. Upon termination of the Service, the RIPE NCC shall be entitled to keep all Measurement Results already collected through the Service and to make these Measurement Results available to the general public in accordance with Article 6.1.

Article 8 – Liability

8.1 The RIPE NCC excludes all liability for all aspects of the use of the Service, for any direct or indirect damages, including, but not limited to damages to the Zone Operator’s business, loss of profit, damages to third parties, personal injury or damages to property, except in cases involving wilful misconduct or gross negligence on the part of the RIPE NCC or its management. 

8.2 Although the RIPE NCC shall use reasonable efforts to ensure that the Service is available at any time, the RIPE NCC shall not be liable for any damages caused by a failure to do so.

8.3 In no event does the Service provide a guarantee with respect to the performance of any DNS servers. The RIPE NCC shall not be liable for any damage caused by reduced or non-performance of DNS servers or by any acts or omissions by the Zone Operator in consequence of RIPE NCC performing the Service.

8.4 The RIPE NCC shall, in any event, not be liable for:

  1. Mutilation or loss of Measurement Results or other data during transmission or when stored on Zone Operator’s computers;
  2. The results and consequences of analysis of measurement results undertaken by the RIPE NCC or any third parties;
  3. The consequences of any malfunction of Anchors or other parts of the RIPE NCC DNSMON Service involved in the monitoring of the authoritative DNS servers serving the domain of the Zone Operator.

8.5 Without prejudice to any other provision in this Article, the RIPE NCC shall not be liable for any damage as a result of a failure to meet any obligation under the Terms and Conditions if such failure is due to circumstances for which the RIPE NCC is not considered accountable according to law, contract or trade custom. The RIPE NCC in any event shall not be accountable for failures to perform resulting from interruptions or improper functioning of power or telecommunication services facilities.

 8.6 The RIPE NCC shall not be liable for non-performance or damages due to force majeure, including but not limited to industrial action, strikes, occupations and sit-ins, blockades, embargoes, governmental measures, denial of service attacks, war, revolutions or comparable situations, power failures, defects in electronic lines of communication, fire, explosions, damage caused by water, floods and earthquakes. 8.7 The Zone Operator shall indemnify the RIPE NCC against any and all third party claims filed against the RIPE NCC in relation to any aspects of the use of the Service.

Article 9 - Miscellaneous

9.1 The RIPE Documents referred to in these Terms and Conditions are available on our website. The Zone Operator will regularly take notice of updated RIPE Documents on the website. The RIPE Documents referred to in these Terms and Conditions, as well as any related supplemented agreements signed with the RIPE NCC, may be replaced by new documents or agreements. Without prejudice to Article 2.3, any change to the text will then immediately become a part of these Terms and Conditions. 

9.2 If any provision contained in the Terms and Conditions is held to be invalid by a court of law, this shall not in any way affect the validity of the remaining provisions.

9.3 The RIPE NCC’s intellectual property (agreements, documents, software, databases, website, etc.) may only be used, reproduced and made available to third parties upon prior written authorisation from the RIPE NCC.

Article 10 - Governing Law

These Terms and Conditions shall be exclusively governed by the laws of the Netherlands. The competent Court in Amsterdam shall have exclusive jurisdiction with regard to disputes arising from these Terms and Conditions.