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Summary

The database of RIPE network management information continues to 

 grow exponentially. The number of entries has roughly tripled in the last seven months with much of the increase due to the inclusion of domain information. The number of registered networks has about doubled in  the same period.
 ________________________________
|___________Nov_1990___June_1991|
| grow:.
               Nov. 1990   Jun. 1991   Jan. 1992   Apr. 1992
persons 643 1270 | | nets 670 1053 | | 2728 3365 networks 670 1053 1792 2242 domains 0 845 | |_______________________________| |_Total_______1313_______3168___| 1254 1360 Total 1313 3168 5774 6967
  • Database usage by NOCs and individuals 
     has noticeably increased. The database is a useful tool.
  • Database information maintenance needs more attention in some parts of RIPE.
  • The connectivity information about networks needs better definition in some areas.
  • The human resources necessary to keep the database operational are increasing.
  • Activities beyond maintenance of the current functionality progress very slowly due to lack of resources.
  • A funded activity to take care of the database is needed before the end of the year.
    • Maintenance and Updates
    The quality of maintenance of the database information varies drastically. This can partly be seen by comparing the number of entries per country with the numbers one might expect due to the size of the respective country's networking activities.
     |
    is still increasing. In the period form March 25th to April 24th 1992 the RIPE NCC whois server was queried 4574 times (including 169 queries from within the NCC itself) which is one query every 10 minutes on average. This is astonishing for a not too widely publicised service.

    The central database is now maintained by the RIPE NCC and no longer by volunteer effort. This means that the frequency of updates and the consistency checking will be improved. A new and improved distribution of the database software is almost ready. Sites willing to -test this release are invited to contact the NCC.

    The EBONE action team has requested to use the RIPE database to store EBONE routing information. This will have a positive effect on the accuracy of database information because network administrators will have to register their networks in order to obtain routing via EBONE. The EAT currently evaluates whether the database extensions proposed by the RIPE routing WG are sufficient for EBONE purposes. If they are not,
    the EAT is to propose further extensions.

    Per Country Statistics | |_Country___Networks___Domains| | AT 12 0 | | BE 4 2 | | CH 192 16 | | CS 1 0 | | DE 219 149 | | DK 5 1 | | ES 4 0 | | FI 15 89 | | FR 314 114 | | GB 59 1 | | GR 2 0 | | HU 0 0 | | IE 3 0 | | IL 0 12 | | IS 1 31 | | IT 31 47 | | NL 75 143 | | NO 7 62 | | PL 2 0 | | PT 16 1 | | SE 84 176 | | TN 1 0 | | YU 6 0 | |_____________________________|

( This table only available in the PostScript version )

Database Maintenance by RIPE members

As can be seen from the per country statistics above, the maintenance quality of the database still differs widely. The NCC will actively seek information in those areas where it is believed that there are many unregistered sites. However this will need the active cooperation of all RIPE members.

I'd like to use this opportunity to remind you  that all updates should be sent to <auto-dbm@ripe.net>. This is a new address since the NCC is now operational. Please use the current templates accessible by anonymous FTP from archive.ripe.net in directory ripe/dbase.

Those who cannot use anonymous FTP can request the templates by electronic mail from <ripe-dbm@ripe.net>.
<ncc@ripe.net>.

Pre-checked bulk updates from NOCs are preferred but information from any source will be accepted.

Currently there are about ten updates or additions per day on average.

Connectivity Information for Networks

The currently valid values of the "connect" field for networks can be seen in the table below. Many of these values have been defined ad-hoc. The set of well defined values currently is:

LOCAL local network. No external connectivity. No routing information should be passed. It is recommended that international routers do not accept routing information for these networks.

RIPE network has connectivity within RIPE. RIPE routers should allow non-transit traffic. It is recommended that international routers advertise European networks internationally only if they show this connectivity value.

NSF network has connectivity with the NSFnet. This means the network is present in the NSFnet policy routing database at MERIT or a request has been submitted to include it.

NORDU network is NORDUnet member.

EU network is an InterEUnet member.

NOCs are encouraged to suggest more well defined values for this field which can be used to implement or verify routing (policies). There are currently two known international routes which filter outgoing routing updates according to the connect field. Good maintenance of the RIPE and LOCAL connectivity values becomes especially important as more international routers are going to filter routing updates based on this value.

__________________________
|   Connect Statistics    |
|_Connectivity____Networks|
| ALT                 0   |
| EU                161   |
| FNET                1   |
| FUNET               2   |
| ICS               103   |
| LOCAL             470   |
| NORDU             106   |
| NIKHEF              5   |
| NLNET               4   |
| NSF               373   |
| RIPE              539   |
| SARA               18   |
| SURF               18   |
| WCW                 4   |
| WIN                23   |
|_________________________|

Miscellaneous

The SRI-NIC and NSFnet database subsets are again available from the RIPE whois server. NSFnet has made the necessary input files available. The SRI-NIC portion only has information about networks with "connected status". It has been brought to the attention of US agencies that it is desirable to have information about all assigned network numbers readily available.

Planning

The current central effort to maintain the database is between 5 and 20 hours per week depending on the amount of updates and software development going on. This is rather more than originally expected. Much of this is due to the quickly increasing number of database entries and the corresponding increase in the number of updates. These activities are not funded and occur mostly in time donated by individuals. This means there is a natural limit on what can be done. A funded activity (such as the NCC) is needed before the end of the year if the RIPE database is to remain useful.

There are also a number things considered useful but which currently cannot be done:

  • The rate of updates somehow increases dramatically in the week before RIPE meetings :-).
  • Add new object types as defined by last RIPE meeting (see appendices).
  • Develop more stringent consistency checks both inside the RIPE database itself and with other databases such as SRI-NIC and MERIT.
  • Investigate and correct inconsistencies. Missing person entries is currently a major problem area.
  • Verify the accuracy of older data and correct if necessary.
  • Compile a new distribution of database software. Especially the refined tools to check format and consistency need to be made available to the NOCs.
  • Make performance improvements for database updates.
  • Test & deploy the distributed update software so that bulk updates by NOCs can be done with less manual intervention.

Acknowledgements

I would like to

For some reason it has become popular to include large amounts of information in the "description" attribute of various database objects. Please note that this object is meant for short descriptions. Especially since the first "description" attribute will be used in tabulations etc.

Acknowledgments

Again I thank all NOCs for their efforts to maintain the RIPE database as a useful tool for everyone within RIPE and

elsewhere. Special thanks go to Piet Beertema who has helped a lot with this work in the last few months. Marten Terpstra and Arnold Nipper have helped with software and collecting domain information respectively.We also thank EUnet/EurOpen who provide

elsewhere.Thanks also go to EUnet/ EurOpen who have provided the machine which houses the database. has housed the database for more than two years.