[ppml] Directory Services - Take 2

[Leo Bicknell]

In a message written on Mon, May 09, 2005 at 04:07:42PM -0400, Leo Bicknell wrote:
>        ARIN shall publish the APID in the following methods using
>        industry standard practices:
> 
>            - Via the WHOIS protocol.
>            - Via a query form accessible via the HTTP protocol.
>            - Via FTP to users who complete the bulk data form.
>            - Via CDROM to users who complete the bulk data form.
>            - Via the RWHOIS protocol.
> 
>        All users of the APID must agree to the ARIN AUP.  ARIN staff
>        may make the APID available via other methods as conveniant.

I think many people who are asking for various options are missing
the point of this section.

This section sets forth the minimum set of things ARIN staff must
support _NO MATTER WHAT THE COST_.

The last sentence allows ARIN Staff to consider other alternatives.
If enough people ask for LDAP, and/or LDAP reduces ARIN's costs,
then by all means this policy allows them to do just that.

Similarly, if you want it on DVD, and ARIN has a DVD writer and the
meida cost is the same, no problem.  However, not everyone has DVD,
so the minimum set of things must be a CDROM, which has much wider
acceptance.

A lot of people are pushing things that are "new".  I have no
opposition to "new", but ARIN staff can't be required at any cost
to support every new technology that comes down the pike.  I have
no problem adding methods to this list, but if we add IRIS, XML,
LDAP, DVD, SQL, SOAP, and all the other things people might be using
to the must be supported list the ARIN staff is going to stand up
before my next presentation, tell the room how it's going to cost
$500,000 and four more headcount to support this policy, and it's
going to get quickly shot down.

I think all of the methods will still be useable by a wide audience
10 years from now.  Will all the other suggestions?  Will they have
evolved such that new tools don't like the old formats?

More to the point, if I am going to add something to the list, it
needs widespread support.  So far I see two in the XML camp, one
in the LDAP camp, and one in the IRIS camp.  That's neither concensus,
nor a leading candidate.

What troubles me most is that it seems a number of people would be
willing to hold up all of the other reforms in this policy to piggy
back on their favorite technology.  If the technology is widely
desired by the ARIN membership then adding a single line to this
policy later with an additional proposal should be a trival excercise.
Pet protocols should not be pork barreled onto this policy as a way
to ram them through.

-- 
       Leo Bicknell - bicknell at ufp.org - CCIE 3440
        PGP keys at http://www.ufp.org/~bicknell/
Read TMBG List - tmbg-list-request at tmbg.org, www.tmbg.org
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