[dbwg] erx transfers & whois

Mon Oct 20 12:17:13 EDT 2003

I'm curious on what arin does or is supposed to do when entire /8 is transfered
to different registrar and how that reflects on whois searches. For 
example I noticed that several days ago 145.0.0.0/8 has been transfered 
to RIPE:

[whois.arin.net]
OrgName:    RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID:      RIPE
Address:    Singel 258
Address:    1016 AB
City:       Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode:
Country:    NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net

NetRange:   145.0.0.0 - 145.255.255.255
CIDR:       145.0.0.0/8
NetName:    NET145
NetHandle:  NET-145-0-0-0-0
Parent:
NetType:    Early Registrations, Maintained by RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS.RIPE.NET
NameServer: NS.LACNIC.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET
NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
Comment:
RegDate:    1993-05-01
Updated:    2003-10-10

OrgTechHandle: RIPE-NCC-ARIN
OrgTechName:   RIPE NCC Hostmaster
OrgTechPhone:  +31 20 535 4444
OrgTechEmail:  search-ripe-ncc-not-arin at ripe.net

Subdelegations for NET-145-0-0-0-0:

However doing whois apparently still shows nothing (i.e. above record and 
redirect to RIPE is not shown):

[root at cwhois2 ]# whois -h whois.arin.net 145.0.0.1
[Querying whois.arin.net]
[whois.arin.net]

No match found for 145.0.0.1.

# ARIN WHOIS database, last updated 2003-10-16 19:15

On the other hand for another transfered block 141/8 the ARIN whois looks 
like this:

[whois.arin.net]
OrgName:    RIPE Network Coordination Centre
OrgID:      RIPE
Address:    Singel 258
Address:    1016 AB
City:       Amsterdam
StateProv:
PostalCode:
Country:    NL

ReferralServer: whois://whois.ripe.net

NetRange:   141.0.0.0 - 141.255.255.255
CIDR:       141.0.0.0/8
NetName:    RIPE-ERX-141
NetHandle:  NET-141-0-0-0-0
Parent:
NetType:    Early Registrations, Maintained by RIPE NCC
NameServer: NS.RIPE.NET
NameServer: TINNIE.ARIN.NET

NameServer: SEC1.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SEC3.APNIC.NET
NameServer: SUNIC.SUNET.SE
NameServer: NS3.NIC.FR
NameServer: NS.LACNIC.NET
Comment:    These addresses have been further assigned to users in
Comment:    the RIPE NCC region.  Contact information can be found in
Comment:    the RIPE database at http://www.ripe.net/whois
RegDate:    1993-05-01
Updated:    2003-09-19

OrgTechHandle: RIPE-NCC-ARIN
OrgTechName:   RIPE NCC Hostmaster
OrgTechPhone:  +31 20 535 4444
OrgTechEmail:  search-ripe-ncc-not-arin at ripe.net

Subdelegations for NET-141-0-0-0-0:
RIPE Network Coordination Centre RIPE-ERX-141-0-0-0 (NET-141-0-0-0-1) 141.0.0.0- 141.85.255.255
Fortschritt Erntemaschinen GmbH EMN-NET (NET-141-86-0-0-1) 141.86.0.0 - 141.86.255.255
RIPE Network Coordination Centre RIPE-ERX-141-87-0-0 (NET-141-87-0-0-1) 141.87.00 - 141.100.255.255
The Boeing Company TBC-141-B (NET-141-102-0-0-1) 141.102.0.0 - 141.102.255.255
Asia Pacific Network Information Centre APNIC-ERX-141-103-0-0 (NET-141-103-0-0-1) 141.103.0.0 - 141.103.255.255
Virginia Department of Education VAK12ED-NET (NET-141-104-0-0-1) 141.104.0.0 - 141.104.255.255
Medical College of Wisconsin MCW-NET (NET-141-106-0-0-1) 141.106.0.0 - 141.106.255.255
USAREUR ODCSIM, Office of Command,Control, and Communications Systems UTACCS-NET (NET-141-107-0-0-1) 141.107.0.0 - 141.107.255.255
RIPE Network Coordination Centre RIPE-ERX-141-108-0-0 (NET-141-108-0-0-1) 141.108.0.0 - 141.108.255.255
St. Francis Xavier University XNET (NET-141-109-0-0-1) 141.109.0.0 - 141.109.255.255
Ohio Network for Information Exchange ONET1 (NET-141-110-0-0-1) 141.110.0.0 - 141.110.255.255
Los Alamos National Laboratory LANL-GREEN (NET-141-111-0-0-1) 141.111.0.0 - 141.111.255.255
Bull Worldwide Information Systems BULLPHXNET (NET-141-112-0-0-1) 141.112.0.0 -141.112.255.255
RIPE Network Coordination Centre RIPE-ERX-141-113-0-0 (NET-141-113-0-0-1) 
141.113.0.0 - 141.113.255.255

So basicly eventhough the main block is indicated as transfered to RIPE, 
many of the previous records and retained and all the ip blocks that are 
transfered and are now at RIPE are listed separately in the way it is done 
for other ERX blocks where ARIN remains the primary RIR. This means if 
somebody looks up ip which is not directly at ARIN, the whois server will 
display one of those ERX redirects (i.e. like for 141.113.0.1.

What is the standard way (if any) that ARIN is or will use for /8 IP 
blocks transfered to other RIRs where ARIN is no longer primary RIR for 
that ip block. Is there actually a method described that will allow RIRs 
to "share" responsbility for those blocks without any one in particular 
beeing "primary RIR" and allowing for whois to properly work for all 
blocks no matter what RIR record is looked at?

---
William Leibzon
Elan Networks
william at elan.net