[db-wg] New NWI for geofeed?

Colleagues

** corrected version getting the attribute names right **

The chairs agree that there is a consensus to set up an NWI to create
the "geofeed:" attribute in the RIPE Database. We therefore ask the
RIPE NCC to set up "NWI-13 Create a "geofeed:" attribute in the RIPE
Database" Using the 'Problem statement' below. After the RIPE NCC
completes it's impact analysis we can finalise the 'Solution
definition'. The RIPE NCC can address any of the questions raised in
this discussion that they feel are relevant to the basic creation of
this attribute.

cheers
denis
co-chair DB-WG


Problem statement

Associating an approximate physical location with an IP address has
proven to be a challenge to solve within the current constraints of
the RIPE Database. Over the years the community has chosen to consider
addresses in the RIPE Database to relate to entities in the assignment
process itself, not the subsequent actual use of IP addresses after
assignment.

The working group is asked to consider whether the RIPE Database can
be used as a springboard for parties wishing to correlate geographical
information with IP addresses by allowing structured references in the
RIPE Database towards information outside the RIPE Database which
potentially helps answer Geo IP Location queries

The IETF is currently discussing an update to RPSL to add a new
attribute "geofeed: url". The url will reference a csv file containing
location data. Some users have already started to make use of this
feature via the "remarks: geofeed: url". It is never a good idea to
try to overload structured data into the free format "remarks:"
attribute. This has been done in the past, for example with abuse
contact details before we introduced the "abuse-c:" attribute. There
is no way to regulate what database users put into "remarks:"
attributes. So even if the new "geofeed:" attribute is not agreed, the
url data will still be included in the RIPE Database.

Currently there are 24,408 INETNUM and 516,354 INET6NUM objects
containing a "geoloc" attribute in the database. These have 7,731
distinct values in the INETNUMs and 1,045 distinct values in the
INET6NUMs. There are about 150 objects in the RIPE Database with a
"remarks: geoloc url" attribute.

On Mon, 12 Apr 2021 at 17:56, denis walker <ripedenis at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Colleagues
>
> The chairs agree that there is a consensus to set up an NWI to create
> the "geoloc:" attribute in the RIPE Database. We therefore ask the
> RIPE NCC to set up "NWI-13 Create a "geoloc:" attribute in the RIPE
> Database" Using the 'Problem statement' below. After the RIPE NCC
> completes it's impact analysis we can finalise the 'Solution
> definition'. The RIPE NCC can address any of the questions raised in
> this discussion that they feel are relevant to the basic creation of
> this attribute.
>
> cheers
> denis
> co-chair DB-WG
>
>
> Problem statement
>
> Associating an approximate physical location with an IP address has
> proven to be a challenge to solve within the current constraints of
> the RIPE Database. Over the years the community has chosen to consider
> addresses in the RIPE Database to relate to entities in the assignment
> process itself, not the subsequent actual use of IP addresses after
> assignment.
>
> The working group is asked to consider whether the RIPE Database can
> be used as a springboard for parties wishing to correlate geographical
> information with IP addresses by allowing structured references in the
> RIPE Database towards information outside the RIPE Database which
> potentially helps answer Geo IP Location queries
>
> The IETF is currently discussing an update to RPSL to add a new
> attribute "geofeed: url". The url will reference a csv file containing
> location data. Some users have already started to make use of this
> feature via the "remarks: geofeed: url". It is never a good idea to
> try to overload structured data into the free format "remarks:"
> attribute. This has been done in the past, for example with abuse
> contact details before we introduced the "abuse-c:" attribute. There
> is no way to regulate what database users put into "remarks:"
> attributes. So even if the new "geofeed:" attribute is not agreed, the
> url data will still be included in the RIPE Database.
>
> Currently there are 24,408 INETNUM and 516,354 INET6NUM objects
> containing a "geoloc:" attribute in the database. These have 7,731
> distinct values in the INETNUMs and 1,045 distinct values in the
> INET6NUMs. There are about 150 objects in the RIPE Database with a
> "remarks: geoloc url" attribute.
>
> On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 at 04:29, denis walker <ripedenis at gmail.com> wrote:
> >
> > HI Massimo
> >
> > I just checked the numbers Ed gave me and I misread the message. These
> > are the numbers of objects with a "geoloc:" attribute not geofeed :(
> >
> > cheers
> > denis
> > co-chair DB-WG
> >
> > On Wed, 7 Apr 2021 at 02:56, Massimo Candela <massimo at us.ntt.net> wrote:
> > >
> > > Hi Denis,
> > >
> > >
> > > On 07/04/2021 02:02, denis walker wrote:
> > > > Your data does not match the data I got from the RIPE NCC...
> > > >
> > > >  From the RIPE NCC:
> > > >
> > > > Currently there are 24,408 INETNUM and 516,354 INET6NUM objects
> > > > containing a "remarks: geofeed: url" attribute in the database. These
> > > > have 7,731 distinct values in the INETNUMs and 1,045 distinct values
> > > > in the INET6NUMs.
> > >
> > >
> > > I cannot reproduce what you did.
> > > Even if I just "grep -i geofeed" in ripe.db.inetnum.gz from the ripe ncc
> > > ftp [1], I obtain only 132 items. And 39 in ripe.db.inet6num.gz. The
> > > same if I use the complete dump [2].
> > >
> > > Is the data in the FTP wrong? Am I doing something wrong?
> > >
> > > Ciao,
> > > Massimo
> > >
> > > [1] https://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/split/
> > > [2] https://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/ripe.db.gz