[anti-abuse-wg] [db-wg] RIPE NCC's proposed implementation of Abuse Contact Management in the RIPE Database

Dear Gert and other colleagues,

After some off list clarification we see the point you are concerned 
with. The simplest case where an organisation manages all the abuse for 
all customers is easy to understand. In the real world this organisation 
has one or more internet resources and within the organisation there is 
a function (or role) that handles abuse complaints. So a real world 
picture is clear. Taking a member organisation as an example:

                    member
                    organisation
                       /     \
                     /         \
             internet          abuse
             resources         role

This maps exactly to the new RIPE Database model:

         member ORGANISATION object
                       /    \
                     /        \
             INET(6)NUM       member abuse
             objects          ROLE object

It is easy to see how to find the abuse handling role for any of these 
internet resources.

The problem appears to be with the vision of what happens lower down in 
a network. After years of modifications the data model of the RIPE 
Database no longer reflects the real world. The relationships between 
objects are less than optimal. If you try to think of anything in terms 
of RIPE Database objects and relationships, it is not always obvious or 
clear. The implementation of the abuse-c proposal takes one small step 
to bringing the RIPE Database model closer to reflecting the real world, 
as outlined in the Database Groups presentation at RIPE 65.

When a customer wants to handle abuse for their part of a network, they 
are taking over part of the management of that internet resource. In 
reality the customer's situation is the same as the member's.

            member ORGANISATION object
                    /         \
                  /            \
             INET(6)NUM        abuse
             objects           ROLE object
              /   \
             /     \
            /       \        customer ORGANISATION object
           /         \       /          \
          /           \     /            \
        other         INET(6)NUM     customer abuse
      customers       object         ROLE object
      INET(6)NUM
      objects

By including the customers ORGANISATION object the same structure is 
modelled at any level. This is the basic structure of any organisation 
that manages internet resources. So now it is easy to see how to find 
this customers abuse handling role and also how to find the abuse 
handling role for any of the other customers. This structure can be 
repeated as many times as necessary at any point in a network. We don't 
have abuse contacts hanging off different object types. The principle of 
finding the abuse contact is always the same. That is what makes the 
model simple in all cases.

Internet resources includes AUT-NUM objects as well, and an organisation 
can have multiple top level INET(6)NUM objects, but to keep the diagram 
simple I ignored them.

I hope this helps to explain the reasoning behind this model. To help 
with practical administration the RIPE NCC will provide some easy to use 
tools initially so a customers details only need to be entered once and 
appropriate objects will be created and the references made. To remove 
this setup for a specific customer just delete the reference to the 
ORGANISATION object. The extended garbage cleanup process will delete 
any cluster of ORGANISATION, MNTNER, ROLE, PERSON objects that are 
unused. We will also provide more extensive tools for managing changes 
to contact data at any level across multiple objects.

Regards,
Denis Walker
Business Analyst
RIPE NCC Database Group


On 10/12/2012 14:42, Gert Doering wrote:
> Hi,
>
> On Wed, Dec 05, 2012 at 11:10:09AM +0100, Denis Walker wrote:
>> If at some point a customer chooses to do their own management of abuse
>> handling for their assigned address space you simply create the
>> ORGANISATION and abuse ROLE objects for this customer and add the "org:"
>> reference to this customers assignment.
>
> I'm not sure if I find this "simple", to be honest.
>
> Being able to specify an abuse-c: in the ASSIGNED inet(6)num: object,
> and having the RIPE DB software honour that on queries - that is: not
> go to the allocation's org->abuse-c - would require less objects to be
> created, and thus, less effort and less opportunity for confusion.
>
> Gert Doering
>          -- NetMaster
>