[ARIN-consult] Community Consultation on Change to Whois Output for Certain /8 Records

[Andrew Dul]

Could ARIN staff or someone produce a set of sample queries showing the
current state and the proposed new state.   That might help the discussion.

To clarify this change would only effect traditional whois not the new
restful queries? Correct?

Thanks,
Andrew

On 4/4/2013 12:02 PM, ARIN wrote:
> ARIN would like to solicit community input on a recent suggestion,
> 2013.4: Change Whois Output for Certain /8 records. The request asked
> that ARIN suppress the RIR /8 output in a Whois query when a more
> specific Direct Allocation (DA) or Direct Assignment (DS) record exists,
> and instead, display the DA or DS record only.
>
> Command-line Whois clients rely on ARIN's Whois to provide referral
> server information where it exists, so that the IP address query can be
> properly referred and resolved. This includes not only ISP Rwhois server
> information, but also other RIRs' Whois server information.
>
> Queries for IPv4 addresses within /8's that ARIN is fully authoritative
> for are properly referred. For example, if you look up an IPv4 address
> in an ARIN /8, ARIN's Whois will provide the direct registration record,
> as well as referral server information. The Whois clients pick up on
> this data, and refer queries as appropriate.
>
> The issue is that queries of address records residing within /8s for
> which another RIR is authoritative for (also referred to as "ERX space")
> will not make the proper referral to limitations of the Rwhois
> referrals. When you query for an IPv4 address in one of these ranges,
> ARIN Whois currently provides two answers:
>
>    *   the /8 record of the authoritative RIR; and
>    *   the direct allocation or direct assignment record for the ARIN
> client
>
> This behavior breaks the referral mechanism of Whois clients.
>
> ARIN has two choices regarding the behavior described above and would
> like the community¹s feedback on which one is the best course of action,
> seeking input on the two proposed solutions below:
>
>    *   Change today's behavior so that if a DA or DS record exists in
> ARIN's Whois, ARIN will publish only the DA or DS record. If the query
> does not produce a DA or DS record, ARIN will publish the /8 record of
> the authoritative RIR and the referral to that RIR's Whois server.
>    *   Continue today's behavior, ensuring that all IP address queries
> are
> responded to with the proper RIR information. But the referral server
> problem described here will continue to be a problem for ARIN-issued
> registrations in these ERX /8s.
>
> Discussion on arin-consult at arin.net will close on 3 May 2013. ARIN seeks
> clear direction through community input, so your feedback is
> important. If you
> have any questions, please contact us at info at arin.net.
>
> Regards,
>
> Communications and Member Services
> American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
>
>
>
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