RIPE NCC Review - Final Report

RIPE NCC Review

R.Blokzijl
M.Sterba
W.Woeber

25 October 1993

ripe-099

1. Summary

After the first 18 months of operation of the RIPE NCC a review of the work performed has been undertaken by RIPE. Input for the review procedure were the following documents:

• RIPE NCC Activity Plan [ref.: ripe-035], which is included as Appendix A in this report.
• The progress reports that are produced quarterly by the RIPE NCC.

The findings of the review panel are:

• The RIPE NCC has performed an excellent job in the first 18 months of operations. Most of the goals defined in ripe-035 have been met.
• A few activities defined in ripe-035 have either not been started, or are lacking progress. These have been reported in due course by the RIPE NCC management; they are discussed in more details in the next sections of this report.
• The RIPE NCC has taken up activities that were never defined in the ripe-035 document. These activities have always had the prior consent of the RIPE community.
• A new definition of the RIPE NCC activity plan is needed. The review panel recommends that RIPE reaches agreement on such a document by January 1994.

In the next sections of this report background information about RIPE and the RIPE NCC is given, followed by a detailed discussion of the workings of the RIPE NCC.

This document has been approved as representing the views of RIPE.

2. Background

2.1 About RIPE

RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens) is a collaborative organisation open to all European Internet service providers. The objective of RIPE is to ensure the necessary administrative and technical coordination to allow the operation of a pan-European IP network. RIPE does not operate a network of its own.

RIPE has been functioning since 1989. Currently more then 60 organisations participate in the work. The result of the RIPE coordination effort is that the individual end-user is presented on his desktop with a uniform IP service, irrespective of the particular network his or her workstation is attached to. In September 1993, more than 450,000 hosts throughout Europe are reachable via networks coordinated by RIPE. The total number of systems reachable worldwide is estimated at close to two million.

2.2 About the RIPE NCC

The RIPE Network Coordination Centre supports all those RIPE activities which cannot be effectively performed by volunteers from the participating organisations. Besides supporting RIPE activities in general, the RIPE NCC provides the following services to network operators:

• network management database containing information about IP networks, DNS domains, IP routing policies and contact information
• delegated Internet registry, a clearing house distributing IP network numbers
• coordinated network statistics gathering
• domain name system (DNS) coordination
• graphical maps of IP networks
• repository for network operations software
• RIPE document store
• interactive information service

The RIPE NCC started operations on April 1st, 1992, and currently has 3 permanent staff members.

The RARE association provides the formal framework for the RIPE NCC. Funding for the first year of operation of the RIPE NCC has been provided by EARN, the national members of RARE, Israel and EUnet.

3. Evaluation of Technical Activities defined in the Activity Plan

3.1 Technical -- Coordination Activities

3.1.1 The RIPE Database

This task is performed by the NCC according to the Activity plan. New objects and attributes have been added as agreed by the RIPE community. New tools for checking, maintaining and distributing the database are being implemented. Reports are handled through the Quarterly Reports in an excellent way.

3.1.2 Distribution of the Database

The distribution of the database is possible, and has occured in a few cases. The central server has proven to be extremely reliable, so demand for this facility is low.

3.1.3 Coordination of Database exchange with other Organisations

This is permanently pursued. In cooperation with the InterNIC and Merit an exchange format has been defined. Good progress has been made, any delay in implementation of the actual exchanges is not attributable to the RIPE NCC.

3.1.4 Keep a record of IP connectivity in Europe

This is progressing, albeit slowly. However we think this activity could be reviewed in the light of recent developments on the organisational background of networking in Europe. A more distributed approach could be advisable, and is being pursued by the RIPE Connectivity WG.

3.1.5 Keep an inventory of IP infrastructures not yet interconnected

Basically this is done via the RIPE DB, though this could be only up to date from the moment the NCC started registering IP networks for Europe.

3.1.6 Keep a record of operational contact points

This has been implemented by way of mailing distribution lists that enable subscribed networks to keep in contact.

3.1.7 DNS Software

Operational issues are coordinated by the RIPE DNS WG. The NCC maintains an archive of relevant software and documentation.

3.1.8 Placement of name servers and backup servers in Europe, and beyond

The RIPE NCC does a monthly analysis of the European DNS space, resulting in the famous hostcounts, and a set of comprehensive error reports for all European domains. It is our opinion that further quality control of the DNS space, is up to the responsible organisations on a top level basis.

3.1.9 Gather traffic statistics and network performance data

Basically no progress has been made in these fields. It is our opinion that these activities belong to various network operators, not a central organisation such as the RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC could provide a store facility for those providers who wish to publish their statistical data on neutral ground. However, the role of the RIPE NCC in gathering quality of service data needs to be discussed by RIPE.

3.2 Technical -- Development Activities

3.2.1 DB Management Tools

The development of more sophisticated DB management tools has been an ongoing activity, resulting in a very stable and able database service. The definition of new tools has been done in close cooperation with the RIPE Working groups on Routing, Local-IR and DB, thus ensuring the fulfillment of user needs.

3.2.2 DB Querying Tools

This has resulted in improved versions of client software that are being used widely. Also the integration with most commonly used information retrieval tools is excellent.

3.2.3 Network Statistics and Performance gathering and presentation tools

Not much progress has been achieved. The need for these tools is clear, but a more precise definition of the role, and the amount of resources, of the RIPE NCC is needed.

3.2.4 DNS Quality Control Tools

Tools are available from the RIPE NCC server.

3.2.5 Tools for drawing network diagrams

A repository and a common naming scheme for network maps have been implemented. No further progress has been made in this area. We do feel that the work should have some priority, but whether it should be done by the RIPE NCC is debatable. A special project might be more appropriate.

3.3 Administrative -- RIPE Activity Support

3.3.1 Keeping the RIPE document store

This has been implemented in an extremely friendly way for the end users: all commonly available information retrieval tools give access to the document store. The document store itself is kept up to date, and has been implemented in a well structured way.

3.3.2 Technical and secretarial support for studies undertaken by RIPE

This has been working quite well. We should probably try to put in place a chasing mechanism for work items issued from RIPE meetings i.e. more follow-up on the WG's and WG chairs.

3.3.3 Organisational support for RIPE meetings

This works extremely well, and has substantially augmented the productivity of the RIPE meetings.

3.4 Administrative - Reporting

3.4.1 Quarterly reports on all activities will be produced for the RIPE participating organisations and the RARE CoA

3.4.2 Quarterly reports on outstanding problems will be produced for the RIPE participating organisations and the RARE CoA

We conclude that excellent quarterly reports have been produced in a timely fashion. They consist of detailed descriptions of the accomplishments of the RIPE NCC, a discussion of outstanding problems, and excellent overviews of the state of the Internet in Europe. They not only serve as administrative reportings, but also as reference material for network administrators and operators.

3.4.3 the NCC reports on its ongoing work and outstanding problems also to each RIPE meeting.

This has been done at each RIPE meeting. Especially presentation of outstanding problems is of importance, since in most cases participation and decision by RIPE is needed to resolve them.

3.4.4 The NCC will produce annual reports

At the time of writing of this report, the first RIPE NCC annual report has just been produced.

4. Evaluation of Technical Activities not defined in the Activity Plan

During the first 18 months of operation of the RIPE NCC several activities that were not defined in the activity plan have been started. The mechanism for starting such activities has been that proposals were put forward, either by a RIPE Working Group or by the RIPE NCC, to RIPE. They have subsequently been discussed within RIPE and, where a positive conclusion was reached, been implemeted by the RIPE NCC.

4.1 European IP registry

In July 1992 the Internet Registry requested that the RIPE NCC handle all IP network number applications from European organisations. After quickly consulting the RIPE chair and the relevant working groups the NCC complied with the request even though there had been no time to get all the necessary procedures fully established. The main rationale for this step was to off-load the IR and improve response times for European organisations as early as possible. From August 1st 1992, all requests received by the Internet Registry from European organisations were forwarded to the RIPE NCC. This included both e-mail and letter applications.

In order to achieve a distributed registry system from the start the NCC made an effort to locate as many service providers as possible and to delegate blocks of class C network numbers to them for reassignment. At the same time, country registries were asked to identify themselves as organisations to whom the NCC could further delegate the allocation of class C IP numbers to organisations without an IP service provider.

The distributed registry system is in place now with 60+ service provider registries and 21 non-service provider (country) registries. After one year of operation the European registry system had assigned more than 14000 IP network numbers.

It is the opinion of the review panel that the registry function is extremely well handled by the NCC. Both the timeliness and the accuracy of the daily operations have greatly contributed to the well organised growth of the Internet in Europe.

4.2 Project participation

At the 13th RIPE meeting in September 1992, RIPE decided to coordinate technical development activities with RARE. As a result two such projects have been defined and executed as part of the RARE technical program at the RIPE NCC. The two projects were:

• European Route Server
• Generic Internet Service Description

These projects were executed by additional staff and resources funded independently from the other NCC activities. The RIPE NCC has provided some resources to get the projects going and to manage them. Both projects have been concluded successfully and have benefited greatly from the NCC environment. On the other hand the NCC has benefited from interesting development work being done there.

The Route Server project has lead to the definition of a new project called

• Policy based Routing Implementation and Deployment in Europe which is expected to be managed in a similar manner.

In our opinion the participation of the RIPE NCC in these projects has been implemented in such a way that both the RIPE NCC and the projects have benefitted from this collaboration. We have noticed on the other hand that the daily core activities of the NCC have not been negatively affected by this participation.

4.3 Referral Services

Because of its well known position and coordinating role, the NCC receives requests which need to be referred to other organisations. The most delicate of those are requests for Internet service. In order to remain neutral towards the service providers, no direct referrals are made in these cases. The request including contact details for the requester is re-sent to a mailing list of all service providers who can then get in touch with the prospective customer if they wish.

It is our opinion that the referral service is well received by the community. The effort of the RIPE NCC to preserve its impartiality is well appriciated.

4.4 Presentations

The NCC is regularly asked to give presentations about aspects of its work to service providers and at conferences. The NCC honours many of these requests in order to widely disseminate information about NCC and European Internet procedures.

The mere fact that the NCC keeps receiving these requests is adequate proof that this service is well appreciated.

5. Conclusions

We have concluded that the RIPE NCC has in its first year of operations achieved the goals that were aimed at back in 1991. The flying start of most of the activities within the first few weeks of operations has been extremely impressive. Even more impressive has been the way the RIPE NCC staff has been able to keep up the momentum.

A careful analysis of the original Activity Plan has shown that in a few areas the progress has not been as was foreseen. We recommend that RIPE has a careful look at these areas and decides on their relative importance for the near future.

On the other hand, we have found that certain areas of activity have taken much more resources then was originally foreseen. The activities concern mainly the IP Registry function of the RIPE NCC. It is interesting to notice that this activity is not even explicitly mentioned in the Activity Plan!

Another area that the current activity plan has not foreseen is the involvement of the RIPE NCC in special projects. This requires resources on the management level and on the technical level. Though the projects are formally separately staffed and funded, the fact that they are housed in the RIPE NCC automatically means that some NCC resources go into these projects. This has been intentional, but it is not covered by the Activity Plan.

We conclude that the RIPE NCC has become a focal point for development activities in many areas of Internet technology. We therefore strongly recommend that RIPE defines a new Activity Plan for the RIPE NCC, taking into account the analysis above, and the actual set of activities of the RIPE NCC as they have developed over the first year of operations.

6. Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the following persons for their involvement in preparing this report:

Roland Acra <acra@cisco.com>
Tony Bates <tony@ripe.net>
Blasco Bonito <bonito@nis.garr.it>
Daniele Bovio <hi@frors12.bitnet>
Francis Dupont <francis.dupont@inria.fr>
Gilles Farrache <farrache@frcpn11.in2p3.fr>
Nandor Horvath <horvath@sztaki.hu>
Jean-Michel Jouanigot <jimi@dxcoms.cern.ch>
Daniel Karrenberg <dfk@ripe.net>
Anne Lord <anne@ripe.net>
Mike Norris <mnorris@hea.ie>
Bernhard Stockman <boss@sunet.se>
Marten Terpstra <marten@ripe.net>
Geza Turchanyi <turchanyi@fserv.kfki.hu>
Ruediger Volk <rv@Informatik.Uni-Dortmund.DE>
Vladimir Vrabec <vrabec@cs.felk.cvut.cs>

Appendix A

RIPE NCC

Activity Plan

R. Blokzijl

May 5, 1991

ref.: ripe-35

Introduction

This document describes the activity plan for the proposed RIPE Network Coordination Center (NCC). As such it must be regarded as a technical annex to the document proposing the installation of an NCC (ripe-19).

In the NCC proposal it is recommended to have a separate organisation that is responsible for the execution of a certain number of tasks that are indispensible for the proper management of IP networks on a European scale. The nature of these tasks is such that it has proven to be extremely difficult to execute them as a voluntary effort on an ongoing, regular basis. Also the efficiency of the work would be greatly improved with a centralised execution of the tasks.

The individual work items are described below. It should be stressed that regular reporting (weekly, monthly and yearly) on the progress of the work is foreseen for all work items.

1 Technical - Coordination Activities

1 Maintain a database of European IP networks and their management information. The database to be maintained will contain several classes of objects. These objects are described in detail in ripe-13. At the moment the following object classes have been defined:

(a) Networks

(b) Responsible persons

(c) Domains

(d) Routers

(e) International lines

(f) Name Servers

The NCC will be responsible for the database entries; this includes

(a) collection of database entries

(b) checking of individual entries

(c) checking of consistency and integrity of the database

Weekly reports on changes in the contents of the database will be produced, together with statistics about the number of database entries.

2 Distribution of the database. Secondary copies of the database can be installed at other sites upon request. It is the responsability of the NCC to keep track of such secondaries, and to keep the contents consistent. An up to date record of secondary sites will be maintained on line.

3 Coordination of database exchange with other organisations. The NCC will coordinate and execute the exchange of database information with NCC's outside Europe. The result will be that for the end user of the database one uniform set of global information will be available.

4 Keep a record of existing IP connectivity in Europe, and between Europe and other continents. The record shall consist of a set of maps that catalogue the existing connectivity in Europe. These maps fall into three main categories:

(a) International connectivity inside Europe

(b) Connectivity between Europe and other continents

(c) Connectivity inside European countries and or networks

The last category depends heavily on cooperation with individual NOC's. The maps to be produced will be made available on line in the form of a set of PostScript files for remote retrieval and reproduction. Adequate tools for providing the maps (both hardware and software) must be available.

The updated maps will be published on a monthly basis.

5 Keep an inventory of IP infrastructures not yet interconnected. This information will be kept in the same format as the maps of the interconnected networks. The collection and integration of the information depends heavily on the cooperation of individual NOC's.

The updated maps will be published on a monthly basis.

6 Keep a record of operational contact points. This will consist of a list of NOC's and responsible people that will be used as a reference list for the individual NOC's to be used in case of network related incidents, including security incidents.

Individual NOC's will be able to subscribe to a weekly update service.

7 Maintain a list of recommended DNS software and known bugs. The result will be available on a server in the form of software and reports of known bugs, recommendations, etc.

A subscription service for change and update reports will be maintained.

8 Placement of name servers and backup servers in Europe, and beyond. On a regular basis the interworking between the DNS name servers in Europe, and their connections to name servers outside Europe, must be checked. Detected errors and inconsistencies must be reported to the responsible persons; corrective actions must be followed. The result will be a consistent set of name servers.

9 Gather traffic statistics and network performance data. Traffic statistics will be gathered in an orderly way from a set of well defined routers. The result will be regular reports on traffic volumes and network performance.

2 Technical - Development Activities

NICs and NOCs and the NCC need special purpose software tools for their work. While some of these tools are available commercially others will have to either be obtained from the public domain or specially developed to suit local needs. The NCC will collect, develop, document and test such tools in order to make them available to the RIPE community. While some basic support will be given the NCC will not provide full support for these tools.

1 Database management tools. Tools for management of the database and their maintenance are an important work item for the NCC. The result will be the availability of a consistent database.

2 Database querying tools. Development and maintenance of the whois utility. The result will be a program, available from a file server, that permits remote interrogation of the database.

3 Tools for gathering and presenting network usage statistics and performance data. Software has to be collected, developed and maintained for gathering statistical data. The result will be a set of tools, available from a file server, together with documentation and recommendations for use. This will enable the RIPE community to gather and present statistics in a uniform way.

4 DNS quality control tools. Utilities for quality control of the interworking of the DNS name servers will be developed and maintained. The result will be a set of software and documentation, available from a server.

5 Tools for drawing network diagrams. Network diagrams have become complicated objects nowadays, and the amount of work needed to draw them is no longer negligible. Some effort should be dedicated to study the possibility to generate them in a more automatic way from existing databases. The result will be more up to date and more accurate network diagrams.

3 Administrative - RIPE Activity Support

The NCC will give the following support to the RIPE activities:

1 Keeping the RIPE document store. The NCC will keep RIPE documents online and easily accessible to the RIPE community.

2 Technical and secretarial support for studies undertaken by RIPE. The NCC will provide technical and clerical support for RIPE studies and task forces in order to enhance continuity and coordination of the work between RIPE meetings.

3 Organisational support for RIPE meetings. RIPE meeting attendance is expected to be on the order of 40 persons in the near future. The NCC will provide clerical support to organise these meetings in order to keep them productive.

4 Administrative - Reporting

The NCC will follow the following general reporting procedures:

1 quarterly reports an all activities will be produced for the RIPE participating organisations and the RARE CoA.

2 quarterly reports on outstanding problems will be produced for the RIPE participating organisations and the RARE CoA.

3 the NCC reports on its ongoing work and outstanding problems also to each RIPE meeting. These meetings take currently place three times a year.

4 The NCC will produce annual reports. These will be available on the 31st of January following the year to be reported on.

5 Requirements for an NCC

The following requirements for the running of the RIPE NCC have been identified:

• staff:
  • 1.0 FTE NCC manager with proven skills in:
    • Internet network technology, applied to large scale networks
    • Management and communication
    • Working in an international environment
    • The NCC manager must be willing to take the position for a period of at least 3 years.
  • 1.0 FTE NCC technical staff with proven skills in:
    • Internet network technology, applied to large scale networks
    • Working in an international environment
    • The NCC technical officer must be willing to take the position for a period of at least 1 year.
  • 1.5 FTE Administrative staff, with proven skills in:
    • Administrative work
    • Using advanced computing equipment
    • Working in an international environment
    • The NCC administrative officer must be willing to take the position for a period of at least 2 years.
• equipment:
  • work-stations with X-windows capability for staff
  • an adequate minicomputer to support the work-stations and to house the data bases
  • excellent IP networking access, both European and intercontinental
  • excellent mail connectivity
  • support for OSI based services
• office space:
  • 2 offices with the normal operational overheads
  • communication costs allocation
• location:
  It is essential that the actual place where the NCC is located, is close to an operating NOC and other RIPE activities. This will make it possible to keep the number of NCC staff limited, while still providing fertile grounds where NCC activities will florish.
• travel budget:
  It is foreseen that NCC staff will have to make at least the following travels on a yearly basis:
  • attend all RIPE meetings
  • attend 6 meetings in Europe
  • attend 4 meetings outside Europe