misleading use of the connect: field in inetnum: object

Dear all,

(and sorry for a possibly too wide distribution).

We had some instances recently, where operations people were prompted by
users to sort out connectivity problems to a given network that couldn't be
reached.

The most obvious thing to do is to look into the RIPE-DB, of course. The
network(s) were registered, but further investigation revealed that the
network(s) did not yet have full connectivity to the Internet.  However the
information in the connect: field of the network object contained strings
like RIPE, NSF or EASI, but no indication about the more local situation.

For the end-user, and most probably for a lot of operations people as well,
it is definitely not obvious that the connect field is more or less just
a (sometimes very misleading!) comment.

Thus I propose to discuss and agree on a (RIPE) recommendation along the
following lines, at least for registering new networks in the database:

- The Local-IR registers the network with a (local/regional) network or
  service-provider string, but without using any misleading flags in the
  connect: field like RIPE, NSF, EASI... If -for whatever reason- commonly
  used strings are used, then the remarks: field should give a very clear
  indication about expected connection date(s) and service restrictions (like
  dial-up networks, e-mail only links...).
  
- When the network is connected to a service provider to configure routing,
  (Reverse-)DNS, or services like e-mail, etc. the network should be tagged
  with a useful service-provider string. This "state" could and probably
  should be skipped for situations where full connectivity could be expected
  within a few days.
  Examples: ACONET or SURFNET for national academic networks, EUNET-DE for a
            EUnet connection, XLINK and the like
  Note: I'm not proposing to use the LOCAL tag, because this means that no
        connectivity to the outside world is wanted or intended at all!
  
- Only after the point in time where there is really full connectivity, the
  usual strings like RIPE, NSF, etc. should be added to the connect: field,
  out-dated comments removed, DNS and AS-Number information added, and the
  like. In addition to that I propose to list the connect: strings in a kind
  of intuitive "local to global" sequence.
  Examples: "ACONET RIPE NSF" or "ARNES EMPB RIPE NSF" or "EUNET-XX RIPE"
  
Thus we would end up with really useful information in the connect field, and
maybe also with more complete database objects, because information is
available for the second or last update phase that usually cannot be submitted
when registering the network.

Could I have your opinions and comments please?

An example for a network in Western-Nowhere, that is connected to a regional
net that gets connectivity throug ACOnet and EBONE would be:

Phase-1	    connect:	WNWNET			!while setting up the net
						!or eg. e-mail only conn

Phase-2     connect:	WNWNET ACONET RIPE	!after adding...
            bdrygw-l:	ACONET

Phase-3     connect:	WNWNET ACONET RIPE NSF	!after registering NSF-conn.

Wilfried.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wilfried Woeber                :  Wilfried.Woeber at CC.UniVie.ac.at (Internet)
Computer Center - ACOnet       :         Z00WWR01 at AWIUNI11.BITNET (EARN)
Vienna University              :                    29133::WOEBER (SPAN/HEPnet)
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A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe :  Fax: +43 1 436111 170              NIC: WW144
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