- db-wg - mailman.ripe.net

HELP! 'networkupdate' fails
by Markus Bock 11 Sep '96

11 Sep '96

Hello ! Actually I'm testing the ripe-dbase-software (release 2.03). In near future we want to use the ripe-dbase-software to store internal data (i.e. customer data, infrastructure data ...) and to run a secondary of the ripe database at our site. We're running under Solaris 2.5 with the special perl4.036-hack (from here many thanks to Peter Haag) which is avaiable on your ftp-server. Everything is running fine, i.e - all kinds of queries - handling of new, own database objects - running with different sources in split-mode - set-up of the database. For writing database front ends which manipulate and visualisize the stored data we want to use the 'networkupdate' program to have access to the database from different workstations via LAN. But it is not working at our side, it is not possible to forward objects via STDIN to the whoisd after calling the networkupdate programm. 'whoisd -V -D' gives me the following trace: (europa is the server-machine, x11 is the client-machine) # europa: whoisd -V -D # whoisd daemon (6827) - running in debug mode # whoisd daemon (6827) - will connect to port: 43 with protocol: 6 # whoisd daemon (6827) - changing (UID,GID) from: (0,1 14 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 0 1) to: (500,200) # whoisd daemon (6827) - changed (UID,GID) to: (500,200 14 12 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 0 1) # (6832) child connection x11.NIC.DTAG.DE (194.25.1.107) # (6832) got in parse # (6832) left parse, searchstring: # (6832) whoisd called with flags:U:Vnp2.0 # (6832) whoisd lookup: # (6832) whoisupdate(name:'x11.NIC.DTAG.DE',ip:'194.25.1.107',log:'mb localhost') called # (6832) checking 194.25.1.107=~ /194.25.1.107/ # (6832) update from: 194.25.1.107 accepted, regular: 194.25.1.107 # (6832) whoisupdate accepted # (6832) exit connection [194.25.1.107] After calling 'networkupdate - h europa' on the client-machine it terminates immediately! After accepting the whoisupdate the connection is terminated by the whoisd! I checked our ripedb-config file more than one time and I thing that everything inside is correct. Maybe I make something wrong or this effect has something to do with running under Slowaris 2.5 ... ? Or is there a tricky way to setup the possibility for networkupdates ? Is somebody able to help me ? Kind regards Markus

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RE: HELP! 'networkupdate' fails
by Wilfried Woeber, UniVie/ACOnet 09 Sep '96

09 Sep '96

>But it is not working at our side, it is not possible to forward >objects via STDIN to the whoisd after calling the networkupdate >programm. I think there was a brief note somewhere in the release-notes (might have been somewhere else) which hinted at some special actions to enable that functionality. I think there is some address filters somewhere ? I might be barking at the wrong tree, of course. Wilfried. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilfried Woeber : e-mail: Woeber(a)CC.UniVie.ac.at Computer Center - ACOnet : Vienna University : Tel: +43 1 4065822 355 Universitaetsstrasse 7 : Fax: +43 1 4065822 170 A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe : NIC: WW144 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

2 1

RIPE Database Workshop
by Carol Orange 20 Aug '96

20 Aug '96

W O R K S H O P A N N O U N C E M E N T R I P E D A T A B A S E 2.0 ------------------------------ MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1996 9.00 - 12.00 In conjunction with the 25th RIPE Meeting to be held at the Nikhef Institute in Amsterdam, the RIPE NCC will hold a workshop in which the features of the new release of the RIPE Database package will be introduced. The workshop will be held at the RIPE meeting location. Topics to be covered in the workshop include: + Hierarchical authorization + Automatic NIC-handle mechanism + Role objects + Classless update and lookup mechanisms + Reverse lookup of objects + Near real time mirroring Where applicable, examples will be used to illustrate how the features above can best be employed. Common questions regarding the use of each feature will also be discussed. Time will be reserved to address the questions of workshop attendees. The test database will be set up during the meeting with the examples covered in the workshop. Attendees can try things out during the RIPE meeting, and address any questions that may arise to RIPE NCC database support staff. Note that the content of the workshop is distinct from that of the Database WG meeting. The workshop will be of a tutorial nature describing how to work with the new database features. Priorities for further developments will be addressed in the WG as always. REGISTRATION The workshop is open to all members of the RIPE community. Attendees from RIPE NCC contributors will however receive priority. If you plan to attend, please register, using the form at the end of this message, as soon as possible, but before September 16th. This will allow proper planning of workshop logistics. Those who do not register in advance may be turned away if space restrictions arise. Upon completion, send the form should to: <meeting(a)ripe.net> %START PART 1 - Registration %MTG [ dbws1 ] 1) Your name Enter First name, Last name in FULL e.g. John Doe Mary-Beth Walton %NAME [ ] 2) Your Organisation/Institution %ORG [ ] 3) Your e-mail address %EMAIL [ ] 4) Registtry ID The registry ID string of the local IR (if any) e.g. fr.lereseau de.dasnetz uk.thenet. Contributing local IRs will receive priority registration. %REGID [ ] %END

1 0

Newest patches: ripe-dbase.2.0.3 available
by David.Kessens＠ripe.net 19 Aug '96

19 Aug '96

Dear all, The latest release unexpectedly contained a serious flaw in the classless database opening code. The problem was not found before putting things in production due to a non-complete copy of one file into the test database directory (my fault). The new database staff did some emergency measures and consulted me on the phone (The moving company was just packing my computers & modems ;-(). An older version was put back in production which caused the reappearing of some (non fatal) bugs. I want to apologize for the inconvenience this has caused although I hope that you also have some understanding: We were the last three weeks in the inconvenient position that we had to put new code in production while not having the time for an appropriate test period. Postponing the release was not a viable option since I was leaving the RIPE NCC (In fact I already did two weeks ago...), the new people first need some time to get up to speed, and I saw clear signs (in the internals of the database) that we rather should handle fast then slow with introducing the new software. I have prepared a new bug fixed version that also fixes a few other problems (including some older bugs that were already present in the previous release). This version runs now since friday afternoon on our production machine (note the subtle change in the config file: the 'av' attribute added in the 'OBJ an ATSQ' line). The code is available from: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/software/ripe-dbase.2.0.3.tar.gz Kind regards, David K. ---

1 0

bug fixes & upgraded functionality for 2.0 database release
by David.Kessens＠ripe.net 15 Aug '96

15 Aug '96

Dear all, I have fixed a few small bugs. I also added functionality for automatically adding the current date to the last 'changed:' attribute field in your update when no date is present. Apply the included patches or get a new distribution from: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/software/ripe-dbase-2.0.2.tar.gz Kind regards, David K. --- *** encmp.old Wed Aug 14 17:38:53 1996 --- encmp.pl Wed Aug 14 17:45:34 1996 *************** *** 1,9 **** # encmp - compare two associative arrays # # $RCSfile: encmp.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.0 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/08 10:47:30 $ # # This routine takes two objects and compares them case insensitive # Returns 1 if objects are equal, else returns 0; --- 1,11 ---- + # encmp - compare two associative arrays + # 'syntax sugar' is removed before comparing! # # $RCSfile: encmp.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.1 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/14 15:45:19 $ # # This routine takes two objects and compares them case insensitive # Returns 1 if objects are equal, else returns 0; *************** *** 88,103 **** # we do a compare after the syntactic sugar has been removed. if ($key eq "ae") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)exclude\s+(AS\d+)\s+to\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)exclude\s+(AS\d+)\s+to\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "ai") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+(AS\d+\s+\d+)\s+accept\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+(AS\d+\s+\d+)\s+accept\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "ao") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)to\s+(AS\d+)\s+announce\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)to\s+(AS\d+)\s+announce\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "it") { $a=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+($match)\s+($\s*pref[\=\s\S]+$)?accept\s+/$1$2 $3/go; --- 90,105 ---- # we do a compare after the syntactic sugar has been removed. if ($key eq "ae") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)exclude\s+(as\d+)\s+to\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)exclude\s+(as\d+)\s+to\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "ai") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+(as\d+\s+\d+)\s+accept\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+(as\d+\s+\d+)\s+accept\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "ao") { ! $a=~ s/(^|\n)to\s+(as\d+)\s+announce\s+/$1$2 /g; ! $b=~ s/(^|\n)to\s+(as\d+)\s+announce\s+/$1$2 /g; } elsif ($key eq "it") { $a=~ s/(^|\n)from\s+($match)\s+($\s*pref[\=\s\S]+$)?accept\s+/$1$2 $3/go; *************** *** 117,119 **** --- 119,122 ---- } 1; + *** syntax.old Wed Aug 14 17:39:05 1996 --- syntax.pl Wed Aug 14 17:45:59 1996 *************** *** 1,8 **** ! # # $RCSfile: syntax.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.2 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/09 12:55:04 $ # # ARGUMENTS: *ASSOC object # RETURNS: INTEGER object_status --- 1,8 ---- ! # $RCSfile: syntax.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.3 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/14 15:45:49 $ # # ARGUMENTS: *ASSOC object # RETURNS: INTEGER object_status *************** *** 311,317 **** # } else { ! if ($itmp=~ /^ac|ah|tc|zc|cy|mb|ml$/) { local($val, $msg) = &dosyntax($itmp, $object{$itmp}, *object); # print STDERR "checksyntax - before attr: $itmp rtcode: $rtcode val: $val msg: $msg\n" if ($opt_V); if (defined($val)) { --- 311,317 ---- # } else { ! if ($itmp=~ /^ac|ah|ch|tc|zc|cy|mb|ml$/) { local($val, $msg) = &dosyntax($itmp, $object{$itmp}, *object); # print STDERR "checksyntax - before attr: $itmp rtcode: $rtcode val: $val msg: $msg\n" if ($opt_V); if (defined($val)) { *************** *** 711,759 **** # Try to do something clever with the changed field # # ch - changed # ! if ($key eq "ch") { ! print STDERR "dosyntax - checking ch\n" if $opt_V; ! local($date)=""; ! if ($value=~ / /) { ! $value=~ s/ +(\S+)$//; ! $date=$1; ! } ! # print STDERR "*", $date, "*", $value, "\n"; ! if (!(&isemail($value))) { ! return $O_ERROR, "syntax error in e-mail part of \"$ATTL{$key}\""; } ! if (!$date) { ! return $O_ERROR, ! "No date specified in \"$ATTL{$key}\" attribute"; ! } ! if ($date!~ /^(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)$/) { ! return $O_ERROR, "date part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" not in YYMMDD format"; ! } ! # 1988 is the start of the world. This is where we test for proper ! # date values of YYMMDD ! if (($1 < 88) || ($2 > 12) || ($3 > 31)) { ! return $O_ERROR, "date part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" is not a valid YYMMDD value"; ! } ! if ($date>$DATE) { ! $object{$key} =~ s/$date/$DATE/g; ! return $O_WARNING, ! "date in \"$ATTL{$key}\" ($date) is in the ". ! "future - changed to $DATE"; ! } ! $object{$key}=~ s/ +/ /g; - return $O_OK; - } # --- 711,804 ---- # Try to do something clever with the changed field # # ch - changed + # wd - withdrawn # ! if ($key=~ /^ch|wd$/) { ! print STDERR "dosyntax - checking ch,wd ($key)\n" if $opt_V; ! local($returncode)=$O_OK; ! local($date); ! local(@newchanged)=(); ! local(@changedvalues)=split(/\n+/, $value); ! # ! # add current date if needed to last specified attribute ! if ($changedvalues[$#changedvalues]!~ / \d{6,6}$/) { ! ! $changedvalues[$#changedvalues].=" ".$DATE; ! ! &addwarning(*object, "added current date to ".$ATTL{$key}." field"); ! ! $returncode=$O_WARNING; ! } + + # + # sort values on date + + @changedvalues=sort sortchangedfield @changedvalues; + + #print STDERR join("\n", "values:", @changedvalues); + + foreach $value (@changedvalues) { + + $date=""; + + if ($value=~ / /) { + $value=~ s/ +(\S+)$//; + $date=$1; + } + + # print STDERR "*", $date, "*", $value, "\n"; + + if (!(&isemail($value))) { + return $O_ERROR, "syntax error in e-mail part of \"$ATTL{$key}\""; + } ! if (!$date) { ! return $O_ERROR, "No date specified in \"$ATTL{$key}\" attribute"; ! } ! ! if ($date=~ /^(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)$/) { ! ! # ! # 1988 is the start of the world. This is where we test for proper ! # date values of YYMMDD ! if ($1<88) { ! return $O_ERROR, "date ($date) part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" is older then the database itself!"; ! } ! ! if (($2<1) || ($2>12) || ($3>31) || ($3<1)) { ! return $O_ERROR, "date ($date) part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" is not a valid YYMMDD value"; ! } ! ! } ! else { ! ! return $O_ERROR, "date part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" not in YYMMDD format"; ! } ! ! if ($date>$DATE) { ! ! &addwarning(*object, "date in \"$ATTL{$key}\" ($date) is in the future - changed to $DATE"); ! $date=$DATE; ! $returncode=$O_WARNING; ! ! } ! ! push(@newchanged, $value." ".$date); ! } ! ! $object{$key}=join("\n", @newchanged); ! ! return $returncode; } # *************** *** 1752,1758 **** # # check if the ID is not already used ! return $O_ERROR, "error in \"$ATTL{$key}\", auto NIC handle assignment\nidentification code ($1.$2) already used in other object" if ($NICID{$object{"so"}, $1.$2}); # # find initials if not already specified --- 1797,1803 ---- # # check if the ID is not already used ! return $O_ERROR, "error in \"$ATTL{$key}\", auto NIC handle assignment\nidentification code ($1.$2) already used in other object" if ($NICID{$object{"so"}, $prefix}); # # find initials if not already specified *************** *** 1768,1776 **** $object{$key}=$prefix.$initials; $prefix=~ /\-(\d+)$/; - $NICID{$object{"so"}, $1}=1; return $O_OK; } --- 1813,1827 ---- $object{$key}=$prefix.$initials; + # + # check if the ID is not already used + $prefix=~ /\-(\d+)$/; + return $O_ERROR, "error in \"$ATTL{$key}\", auto NIC handle assignment identification code ($1) already used in other object\nplease use another number then $1" if ($NICID{$object{"so"}, $prefix}); + + $NICID{$object{"so"}, $prefix}=1; + return $O_OK; } *************** *** 2170,2204 **** return $O_OK; } - - # - # wd - withdrawn - # - if ($key eq "wd") { - - print STDERR "dosyntax - checking wd ($key)\n" if $opt_V; - - if ($value !~ /^(\d\d)(\d\d)(\d\d)$/) { - return $O_ERROR, - "date part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" not in YYMMDD format"; - } - - # 1988 is the start of the world. This is where we test for proper - # date values of YYMMDD - - if (($1 < 88) || ($2 > 12) || ($3 > 31)) { - return $O_ERROR, - "date part of \"$ATTL{$key}\" is not a valid YYMMDD value"; - } - - if ($value gt $DATE) { - return $O_ERROR, - "date in \"$ATTL{$key}\" ($1$2$3) is in the future"; - } - - return $O_OK; - } - # # These are not checked and not used, just in here for clarity # --- 2221,2226 ---- *** misc.old Wed Aug 14 17:38:41 1996 --- misc.pl Wed Aug 14 17:46:14 1996 *************** *** 2,13 **** # misc - miscellaneaous functions # # $RCSfile: misc.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.0 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/08 10:47:30 $ # require "defines.pl"; sub ReplaceGlobalVars { local(*text)=@_; --- 2,45 ---- # misc - miscellaneaous functions # # $RCSfile: misc.pl,v $ ! # $Revision: 2.1 $ # $Author: ripe-dbm $ ! # $Date: 1996/08/14 15:46:06 $ # require "defines.pl"; + + sub sortchangedfield { + + $a=~ /(\d{6,6})$/; + local($date1)=$1; + + $b=~ /(\d{6,6})$/; + + # print STDERR "-$a-$b-$date1-$1-\n"; + + if ((!$date1) && (!$1)) { + + return 0; + + } + elsif (!$date1) { + + return -1; + + } + elsif (!$1) { + + return 1; + + } + else { + + return $date1 <=> $1; + + } + + } sub ReplaceGlobalVars { local(*text)=@_;

2 1

bug fix for 2.00 release
by RIPE Database Manager 10 Aug '96

10 Aug '96

Dear all, I found this morning a bug that could case the software not to remove the lockfile when doing a database cleanup when indexing files with a full path name. Please substitute your 'donetdbm.pl' file by the included one or pick up a new distribution from: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/software/ripe-dbase-2.0.1.tar.gz Kind regards, David K. -------- # $RCSfile: donetdbm.pl,v $ # $Revision: 2.1 $ # $Author: david $ # $Date: 1996/08/10 15:53:32 $ require "defines.pl"; require "dbopen.pl"; require "dbclose.pl"; require "enread.pl"; require "enwrite.pl"; require "addkey.pl"; require "enkeys.pl"; require "enukey.pl"; # # exit cleanly when asked to ... sub quitdonetdbm { unlink(@DONETDBMFILES); print "\n$PROGRAMNAME terminated by signal.\n"; exit; } sub flushkeys { local(*database, *normalkeys)=@_; # print STDERR "do flush to disk for normal keys (happens every $MAXLISTLENGTH keys) ..."; local($oldoffsets,$key,$value,$length); # # old overflow files local(@toobig)=(); # # new overflow files local(@toobignewkeys)=(); local(@toobignewvalues)=(); # # normal keys local(@addkeys)=(); local(@addvalues)=(); while (($key,$value)=each(%normalkeys)) { $length=length($key); $key=~ s/^.{$OVERFLOWSIZE-1,$OVERFLOWSIZE-1}.*$/$1/ if ($length>=$OVERFLOWSIZE); # # check if the key already existed, that makes life # more complicated if (($oldoffsets=$database{$key})) { # # add to overflow file if ($oldoffsets=~ s/^$OVERFLOWPREFIXREGULAR//o) { push(@toobig, $oldoffsets, $value); next; } $value=join("\,", $oldoffsets, $value); } # # do a value addition $length+=length($value); if ($length>=$OVERFLOWSIZE) { push(@toobignewkeys, $key); push(@toobignewvalues, $value); } else { push(@addkeys, $key); push(@addvalues, $value); } } # # clean up the memory %normalkeys=(); # # add data to old overflow files local($dbfile)=$database[1].$OVERFLOWEXTENSION; if (@toobig) { while (@toobig) { if (open(OVERFLOWADD, ">>".$dbfile.shift(@toobig))) { print OVERFLOWADD "\,", shift(@toobig); close(OVERFLOWADD); } else { &fatalerror("in donetdbm flushkeys: cannot open for addition $dbfile.$_ value: ".shift(@toobig)." code: $!"); } } } # # create new overflow files if (@toobignewkeys) { local($filenumber)=$database{$OVERFLOWKEY}; local(@overflowvalues)=(++$filenumber .. ($filenumber+scalar(@toobignewkeys)-1)); push(@addkeys, $OVERFLOWKEY); push(@addvalues, $overflowvalues[$#overflowvalues]); #print STDERR join(" ", @toobignewkeys), "\n"; #print STDERR join(" ", @toobignewvalues), "\n"; #print STDERR join(" ", @overflowvalues), "\n"; foreach (@overflowvalues) { if (open(OVERFLOWNEW, ">".$dbfile.$_)) { print OVERFLOWNEW shift(@toobignewvalues); close(OVERFLOWNEW); } else { &fatalerror("in donetdbm flushkeys: cannot open for creation $dbfile.$_ value: ".shift(@toobignewvalues)." code: $!"); } } push(@addkeys, @toobignewkeys); push(@addvalues, (@overflowvalues=grep($_=$OVERFLOWPREFIX.$_, @overflowvalues))); } # # add all keys to the physical database in one single command !!! @database{@addkeys}=@addvalues; # print STDERR " done\n"; return 0; } sub flushclkeys { local($basename, $i, *list, *notexistingprefixes)=@_; #print STDERR "do flush to disk prefix \/$i (happens every $MAXSTRINGCOMPONENTS prefixes) ..."; local($file)=$basename.$i; push(@DONETDBMFILES, $file) if (grep($_ ne $file, @DONETDBMFILES)==scalar(@DONETDBMFILES)); open(FLUSHCLKEYS, ">>".$file); print FLUSHCLKEYS $list[$i]; close(FLUSHCLKEYS); #print STDERR " done\n"; $list[$i]=""; $notexistingprefixes[$i]=0; return 0; } sub donetdbm { local($filename, $todir, $options)=@_; local($type,$uniquekey,$offset,$prefix); local($NEWDIR, $newfilename); local($classless)=$options & $CLASSLESSOPTION; local($cleaning)=$options & $CLEANOPTION; local(%entry); local($objseen) = 0; local($processed)=0; local(@clalist)=(); local(@classlesslist)=(); local(@nrofentries)=(); local(%normalkeys)=(); local(@notexistingprefixes)=(1) x 129; local(@keys,@otherkeys,@pointsto,@otherpointsto,@classless); local($basename); local($newdb)='newdb'; local(%newdb,@newdb); local(%nothing)=(); local($lockfile); # print STDERR "donetdbm - file: $filename classless: $classless cleaning: $cleaning\n"; if ($cleaning) { ($NEWDIR, $newfilename)= $filename=~ /$SPLITFILENAME/o; $lockfile=$CLEANLOCK.$newfilename; # We will create a temporary directory to build the new database and # indexes. $NEWDIR.=$newfilename."-newindex.".$$; $newfilename=$NEWDIR."\/".$newfilename; &fatalerror("Temporary directory \"$NEWDIR\" already exists!") if (-d $NEWDIR); if (!mkdir($NEWDIR, 0750)) { &fatalerror("Failed to create temporary directory ($!): $NEWDIR"); } &dbopen(*newdb, *nothing, 1, $newfilename ) || &fatalerror("Cannot open $newfilename"); seek($newdb,0,2); } else { &delormoveindices($filename, "", $classless); } local(%dummyobject)=(); local($db)='db'; local(%db,@db); &dbopen(*db,*dummyobject,1,$filename) || &fatalerror("$0: error opening database: $filename"); seek($db,0,0); if ($cleaning) { &fatalerror("lockfile: $lockfile already exists") if (-e $lockfile); push(@DONETDBMFILES, $lockfile); open(LOCKFILE, ">".$lockfile) || &fatalerror("cannot create $lockfile"); print LOCKFILE "$$\n"; close(LOCKFILE); } if ($classless) { local($prefixfilename); if ($filename=~ /^.*\/([^\s\/]+)\s*$/) { $prefixfilename=$2; } else { $prefixfilename=$filename; } $basename=$TMPDIR."/prefixdata.".$$.".".$prefixfilename; # # remove any possible left over files... local(@files)=(); for $i (0..128) { push(@files, $basename.$i) if (-f $basename.$i); } unlink(@files) if (@files); } # # exit clean on a signal (except for the cleaning files, I am sorry # no time for the real fancy stuff) $SIG{'INT'}='quitdonetdbm'; $SIG{'KILL'}='quitdonetdbm'; $SIG{'TERM'}='quitdonetdbm'; @OPENNETDBMFILES=(); # # start gathering the keys... while ($type=&enread($db, *entry, -1)) { next if (!$OBJATSQ{$type}); # print STDERR "type: $type\n"; # $objseen++; # if ($objseen % 400 == 0) { # print STDERR "donetdbm - indexed $objseen\n"; # } # print STDERR "entry ($type): ", $entry{$type}, "\n"; # print STDERR "\noffset: ", $entry{"offset"}; # print STDERR "\nuniquekey: $uniquekey\n"; if ($cleaning) { $offset=&enwrite($newdb,*entry); } else { $offset=$entry{"offset"}; } &enkeys(*entry, $OBJKEYS{$type}, *keys, *otherkeys, *pointsto, *otherpointsto, *classless, $classless); $processed+=grep((($normalkeys{$_}) && ($normalkeys{$_}=join("\,", $normalkeys{$_}, $offset))) || ($normalkeys{$_}=$offset), ($uniquekey=&enukey(*entry, $type)), @keys, @otherkeys, @pointsto, @otherpointsto); if ($cleaning) { $processed=&flushkeys(*newdb, *normalkeys) if ($processed>$MAXLISTLENGTH); } else { $processed=&flushkeys(*db, *normalkeys) if ($processed>$MAXLISTLENGTH); } if ($classless) { foreach (@classless) { /^(.+)\/(\d+)$/; $classlesslist[$2]=join("", $classlesslist[$2], $1, "\%", $uniquekey, "\%"); $nrofentries[$2]=&flushclkeys($basename,$2,*classlesslist,*notexistingprefixes) if (++$nrofentries[$2]>$MAXSTRINGCOMPONENTS); } } } # # note: we do the wait for a child flush *after* the classless indexing # it might save us some extra time! if ($cleaning) { &flushkeys(*newdb, *normalkeys); } else { &flushkeys(*db, *normalkeys); } # # now we start with the classless indices if ($classless) { undef %normalkeys; print STDERR "docldbm - start inserting prefixes\n" if $opt_V; if ($cleaning) { &dbclopen(*dummyobject,1,$newfilename); } else { &delormoveindices($filename.$CLASSLESSEXT, "", $classless); &dbclopen(*dummyobject,1,$filename); } $objseen = 0; local($entry); local($p,$i,$cla,$newcla); # # we need to read entries separated by '%' characters # # trickey: we don't need to reset it for: # # flushclkeys, getvalues, addkey since # they are not affected. local($/)="\%"; for $i (1..128) { print STDERR "try $basename$i\n" if ($opt_V); # # flush first the remaining prefixes... &flushclkeys($basename, $i, *classlesslist, *notexistingprefixes) if ($nrofentries[$i]); next if ($notexistingprefixes[$i]); undef $nrofentries[$i]; if (open(FLUSHCLKEYS, "<".$basename.$i)) { print STDERR "opened $basename$i\n" if ($opt_V); $entry=1; while ($entry) { print STDERR "read from $basename$i\n" if ($opt_V); $processed=0; undef @clalist; while (($processed<$MAXLISTLENGTH) && ($entry=<FLUSHCLKEYS>)) { $key=<FLUSHCLKEYS>; chop($entry); chop($key); push(@clalist,$entry,$key); $processed++; } while ($prefix=shift(@clalist)) { # print STDERR $prefix, "\n"; if (&addkey(*mspnxl, ($cla=join("\/", $prefix, $i)), shift(@clalist))) { for ($p=$i-1; ($p>0) && (($notexistingprefixes[$p]) || (!defined($mspnxl{($newcla=join("\/", &iprightzeromask($prefix,$p), $p))}))); $p--) {}; # print STDERR $p, " ",$i, " ", $newcla, "\n"; &addkey(*mspnxl, $p>0?$newcla:"0\/0", $cla); } } } close(FLUSHCLKEYS); push(@DONETDBMFILES, $basename.$i); } else { &fatalerror("Couldn\'t open prefix file: $basename$i ($!)"); } } unlink(@DONETDBMFILES) if (@DONETDBMFILES); # # make the not existing prefixes array $mspnxl{$NOTEXISTINGPREFIXESKEY}=join(" ", @notexistingprefixes); &dbclclose(); } # # we might still have a child process for the normal keys... # wait; # print STDERR "closing\n"; if ($todir) { ($NEWDIR, $newfilename)= $filename=~ /$SPLITFILENAME/o; $lockfile=$CLEANLOCK.$newfilename; &fatalerror("lockfile: $lockfile already exists") if (-e $lockfile); # # we don't accept termination of the program from here @DONETDBMFILES=(); $SIG{'INT'}='IGNORE'; $SIG{'KILL'}='IGNORE'; $SIG{'TERM'}='IGNORE'; open(LOCKFILE, ">".$lockfile) || &fatalerror("cannot create $lockfile"); print LOCKFILE "$$\n"; close(LOCKFILE); $todir.="\/" if ($todir!~ /\/\s*$/); &dbclose(*db); &delormoveindices($filename.$CLASSLESSEXT, $todir.$newfilename.$CLASSLESSEXT, $classless) if ($classless); &delormoveindices($filename, $todir.$newfilename, 0); unlink($lockfile); } elsif ($cleaning) { &dbclose(*newdb); &dbclose(*db); # # we don't accept termination of the program from here @DONETDBMFILES=(); $SIG{'INT'}='IGNORE'; $SIG{'KILL'}='IGNORE'; $SIG{'TERM'}='IGNORE'; &delormoveindices($newfilename.$CLASSLESSEXT, $filename.$CLASSLESSEXT, $classless) if ($classless); &delormoveindices($newfilename, $filename, 0); unlink($lockfile); warn "could\'t remove directory ($NEWDIR) errorcode: $!\n" if (!rmdir($NEWDIR)); } else { # print STDERR "close db\n"; &dbclose(*db); # print STDERR "done db\n"; } # print STDERR "done -$/- db\n"; return; #print STDERR "done db\n"; } 1; --------

1 0

Announcement: Release of RIPE datase software 2.00
by RIPE Database Manager 09 Aug '96

09 Aug '96

Dear all, This message is to announce the new 2.00 release version of the RIPE database. Many new features and bug fixes have been added since the previous beta release. The software is available from: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/software/ripe-dbase-2.00.tar.gz The following lists the most interesting new features since the previous non-beta release (you can do 'whois -h whois.ripe.net HELP' to get the RIPE database HOWTO that includes more detailed information on the new features): - AUTO NIC handle assignment support. The (slow) finger tool is not needed any more (see the HOWTO for more details on how to use this new feature). - hierarchical authorization for creation of 'inetnum' and 'domain' objects. Use a 'mnt-lower: YOUR-MAINTAINER' attribute for these objects to use the authorization of YOUR-MAINTAINER for the creation of objects direct below in the hierarchy your object with the 'mnt-lower:' line. - role object support. Get a template by doing 'whois -h whois.ripe.net -t role'. All attributes are already known, except for the 'trouble:' attribute that can contain any free text. Note: references to the role object may not be used in the 'admin-c:' attribute, however the use of the object in 'tech-c:' & 'zone-c:' is fine. - prefix notation for 'inetnum:' updates & classless range support for whois lookups - extended 'country:' attribute syntax implemented, more then one country on a line and more 'country:' attributes per object are allowed now. - the special RIPE whois client is now fully supported and included in the distribution. - much stronger syntax checking (=as strong as specified by the original database specification) for NIC handles, phone numbers, E-mail addresses, domain names (Some people might not like this ;-)). - network updates, a method for directly updating objects by use of the program 'networkupdate'. The use of this method is restricted by an accesslist and currently only intended for the maintenance people of the database. - BSD DB dbm package is fully supported. This dbm package is a fast, platform independant and reliable dbm package. - No limitations on the number of hits (no matter what indexing package you use): a query like 'David' will give you an answer and person names like 'John George' will be found - new and more intelligent indexing program 'indexdb' that can do a raw index or a clean index (-c option) and automatically detects if it is dealing with a classless index. netdbm & cleandb are now obsoleted. Indexing speed has been improved by a factor of at least two on average although the number of indexed values is more then twice the previous number. RAM memory consumption is also limited to about 6 Mb depending on your architecture. - reverse lookup of objects (whois -i option), this enables you to find for example the routes with a given origin by doing: whois -h whois.ripe.net -i origin AS3333 - Nearly real time mirroring of the RIPE database. This feature is fully supported but has a few shortcomings that will involve a bit more administration work until the 'stored/processed' attribute and better crash recovery routines are implemented. - experimental inet6num support for ipv6 network objects, including support for -L, -m, -M queries! Note: this is not an approved object whatsoever. It is intended for testing ipv6 indexing but can serve as a good starting point for further discussion. Get a template by doing: 'whois -h whois.ripe.net -t inet6num' and many more small changes and fixes. Please read the release notes at the bottom of this message for more information and discussion about these topics. Please send bug reports/fixes directly to <ripe-dbm(a)ripe.net> and I will fix the problem but be fast since I will move to new job at ISI very soon. And finally: Thanks for all your help, patience with bugs, bug reports and patches! Kind regards, David K. --- ***Warning*** for upgraders: A reindex (indexdb -c -s SOURCE) is necessary since the internal index formats changed! RELEASE NOTES (RIPE database version 2.00): - AUTO NIC handle assignment support. The (slow) finger tool is not needed any more (see the HOWTO for more details on how to use this new feature). Gabor Kiss provided be with some very usefull patches for part of the work. - hierarchical authorization for creation of 'inetnum' and 'domain' objects. Use a 'mnt-lower: YOUR-MAINTAINER' attribute for these objects to use the authorization of YOUR-MAINTAINER for the creation of objects direct below in the hierarchy your object with the 'mnt-lower:' line. - role object support. Get a template by doing 'whois -h whois.ripe.net -t role'. All attributes are already known, except for the 'trouble:' attribute that can contain any free text. Note: references to the role object should and may not be used in the 'admin-c:' attribute, however the use of the object in 'tech-c:' & 'zone-c:' is fine. - Nearly real time mirroring support: What is it: The database software now keeps serial numbers of all updates. If you have been added to an accesslist, it it possible to retrieve all the changes to the database. A program 'syncdb' has been added to the distribution that can retrieve these changes and update your mirror database automatically. This program is intended to be put in a cronjob. The whois erver has an access list so you first need to ask the site to be mirrored to add your host to the access list. Please let me now at <ripe-dbm(a)ripe.net> if you are interested in trying out this feature, and I will add the IP number of your site to the access list. Short discussion: Note that this is the first version, it currently uses seperate files internally for every update. We plan to change this since this is not really what we want with 2000 (atomic) updates on some days. Furthermore, we use currently an ever increasing integer serial number. A proposal (stored/processed attribute) on how to this right has already been circulated to the RIPE database working group and discussed on the RIPE meeting. Implementation of this attribute will also allow for a better crash recovery behavior. - No limitations on the number of hits (no matter what indexing package you use): a query like 'David' will give you an answer and person names like 'John George' will be found - New and more intelligent indexing program 'indexdb' that can do a raw index or a clean index (-c option) and automatically detects if it is dealing with a classless index (from the config file). netdbm & cleandb are now obsoleted. The indexing speed has also been improved. - BSD berkeley DB support: The database software can now use the Berkeley DB dbm package. According to many people this package is superior to most other dbm packages that perl can use (unlimited size of keys/values, platform independent db files). We have put the current sources for this package at ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/db.1.85.tar.gz It should be possible with the BSD DB package to increase the OVERFLOWSIZE and as result get rid of (most) of the overflow files. However, it is not clear if this is desirable since it doesn't seem to make the software more memory/space/speed efficient. - a new help and HOWTO use the RIPE database file is available use 'whois -h whois.ripe.net HELP' to get the most recent version. The document gives a short introduction on the database, tells you how to create/update/delete objects, contains a section with tips and common problems and gives pointers to other documentation about the database. - BSDI/perl memory leak problems Due to a memory leak with perl on BSDI machines we needed to make the code more memory conscious. enread.pl has been rewritten completely and uses now less memory and as an (intended) side effect became faster when reading big objects. Also the special input routine for reading in an object from an E-mail has undergone the same optimizations. - Most patches (for greater speed and less memory consumption) that I received from Curtis Villamizar <curtis(a)ans.net> have been included. Thanks Curtis! - The direct network updating method is now fully supported. Currently this method is only intended for use by the registry itself, however it is possible to add support in the maintainer objects if desired by the RIPE community. You can now do you updates very rapidly by giving the command 'networkupdate' and input your object via STDIN. Of course, this is also protected with an access list. - The special magic to overrule the maintainer protection needs a password now. Syntax will be published after the main registries support this... - All support for the historical 'guarded' objects have been removed. The guardian attribute can be obsoleted if the database working group wishes to. Present guardian attributes will act as a 'notify:' attribute. - the special RIPE whois version is now fully supported and included in the distribution. - cryptpw is a new (small) program that encrypts a password with a choosen salt for use in the maintainer objects. - dbupdate -T Makes it very easy to install your own test database. The only difference with a normal update is that it doesn't need manual authorization for creation of maintainer objects and that it will add a warning to your acknowlegment message that this is not the normal behavior... - status: attribute as described in ripe-127 fully supported - whoisd changes: -D runs in daemon mode otherwise in 'inetd' mode ('inetd' mode is untested) The number of disk accesses have been further minimized and should result in a better performance. - line continuation by use of a "\" character at the end of an attribute line in your update message. The database software will then automatically concatenate the next line with the previous one. - prefix notation for 'inetnum:' updates & whois lookups - extended 'country:' attribute syntax implemented. You can now specify multiple countries in a 'country:' attribute line. - much stronger syntax checking for NIC handles, phone numbers, E-mail addresses, domain names (Some people might not like this ;-)). The syntax was too relaxed and follows our own specifications more closely. - perl5 patches. perl5 is still not supported. However, the biggest problems should be gone now (the software runs with perl5 at home with Linux & perl5.001m). The Makefiles have been changed to support perl5 and some of the database tools as 'whois' can be configured to run with perl5 by default (and work with it!). See the Makefiles on how to configure this. You are welcome to experiment with perl5 and we are interested in your comments! - Tony Bates <Tony.Bates(a)mci.net> recent patch for a problem with the maintainer notifications. Thank you Tony. - databases and serial number files that don't exist are now autogenerated. - Config file has been simplified by removing some options that can be determined by the database software itself. Of course, also a few new options appeared. Everything is documented in the config file itself. - The Makefiles have been rewritten to allow for easier installation and more logical behavior when doing make [[un]install]. - many small fixes and clean up of the code to make above changes possible. - bug that caused problems when deleting objects with(out) syntactic sugar - bug that caused a crash when one tries to delete an object that cannot be updated (object is mirrored from other database) - List of OS's that we know the RIPE database works with: - SUNOS - BSDI - Linux (Please inform me with you own results so that I can update this list!) Automatic on the fly patches implemented in the new Makefiles should make it possible to run the database on Solaris. This is untested for now and you will need a special perl4 that is available from ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/perl4.036-for-solaris.tar.gz. Peter Haag has made the perl version and patches available to me. Thanks! What didn't make it in this release: - checking for relations between objects: - disallow deletion of referenced object - disallow creation of objects that reference non exiting objects - the list of current proposals (soon to be reposted to the <db-wg(a)ripe.net> maillist.

1 0

HELP! finger handle... out of order
by hostmaster＠xlink.net 09 Aug '96

09 Aug '96

Hello, please give me the chance again, to get RIPE-Handles for person via the finger- or an other service. We use RIPE-Handles in our internal customer-database, the use of AUTO-Handle needs a rewriting of several tools, if possible at all. At the ripe-meeting in Berlin, it was said, that the auto-assign will be an _addional_ feature. Yours, Wilhelm -- Wilhelm Buehler email: 'see reply-to:' NTG Netzwerk und Telematic GmbH / fax: +49 721 9652 210 Geschaeftsbereich Xlink \/ phone: +49 721 9652 211 Vincenz-Priessnitz-Str. 3 /\ link http://www.xlink.net/~wb/ D-76131 Karlsruhe, Germany /_______ Freiheit verbindet. Weltweit.

2 2

FYI: new database code in production
by David.Kessens＠ripe.net 31 Jul '96

31 Jul '96

Dear all, Hereby, I want to announce that we have put the new RIPE database release 2.00 in production. Since this version is a major upgrade, we certainly expect a few problems (unfortunately we already found some and fixed them already ;-)). Please take a close look at your updates and send me (<ripe-dbm(a)ripe.net> only) your bug reports so that I can fix any possible problems. I am still finalizing the documentation (with more detailed information on the new features) and the software distribution package. You can expect a separate announcement from me on this later this week. And finally: I want to apologize for the late announcement of this upgrade and the confusion that might have been caused by this. If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to contact me, Kind regards, David K. ----- *****Preliminary release notes*****: Dear all, This message is to announce the new 2.00 release version of the RIPE database. Many new features and bug fixes have been added since the the previous beta release. The following lists the most interesting new features since the previous non-beta release: - AUTO NIC handle assignment support - hierarchical authorization for creation of 'inetnum' and 'domain' objects. - role object support - prefix notation for 'inetnum:' updates is supported and IP range notation for whois lookups - extended 'country:' attribute syntax implemented, more then one coutry on a line and more 'country:' attributes per object are allowed now. - the special RIPE whois client is now fully supported and included in the distribution. - much stronger syntax checking (=as strong as specified by the original database specification) for NIC handles, phone numbers, E-mail addresses, domain names (Some people might not like this ;-)). - network updates, a method for directly updating objects by use of the program 'networkupdate'. The use of this method is restricted by an accesslist and intended for the maintenance people of the database. - BSD DB dbm package is fully supported. This dbm package is a fast, platform independant and reliable dbm package. - No limitations on the number of hits (no matter what indexing package you use): a query like 'David' will give you an answer and person names like 'John George' will be found - new and more intelligent indexing program 'indexdb' that can do a raw index or a clean index and automatically detects if it is dealing with a classless index. netdbm & cleandb are now obsoleted. - reverse lookup of objects (whois -i option), this enables you to find for example the routes with a given origin as by doing: whois -h whois.ripe.net -i origin AS3333 - Nearly real time mirroring of the RIPE database. This feature is fully supported but has a few shortcomings that will involve a bit more administration work until the 'stored/processed' attribute and better crash recovery routines are implemented. - experimental inet6num support for ipv6 network objects, including support for -L, -m, -M queries. and many more small changes and fixes. Please read the release notes at the bottom of this message for more information and discussion about these topics. Please send bug reports/fixes directly to <ripe-dbm(a)ripe.net> and I will fix the problem but be fast since I will move to another job at ISI in August! Thanks for all your help, Kind regards, David Kessens RIPE NCC software maintainer ------- RELEASE NOTES (RIPE database version 2.00): - Nearly real time mirroring support: What is it: The database software now keeps serial numbers of all updates. If you have been added to an accesslist, it it possible to retrieve all the changes to the database. A program 'syncdb' has been added to the distribution that can retrieve these changes and update your mirror database automatically. This program is intended to be put in a cronjob. The whois erver has an access list so you first need to ask the site to be mirrored to add your host to the access list. Please let me now at <ripe-dbm(a)ripe.net> if you are interested in trying out this feature, and I will add the IP number of your site to the access list. Short discussion: Note that this is the first version, it currently uses seperate files internally for every update. We plan to change this since this is not really what we want with 2000 (atomic) updates on some days. Furthermore, we use currently an ever increasing integer serial number. A proposal (stored/processed attribute) on how to this right has already been circulated to the RIPE database working group and discussed on the RIPE meeting. Implementation of this attribute will also allow for a better crash recovery behavior. - No limitations on the number of hits (no matter what indexing package you use): a query like 'David' will give you an answer and person names like 'John George' will be found - New and more intelligent indexing program 'indexdb' that can do a raw index or a clean index and automatically detects if it is dealing with a classless index (from the config file). netdbm & cleandb are now obsoleted. The indexing speed has also been improved. - BSD berkeley DB support: The database software can now use the Berkeley DB dbm package. According to many people this package is superior to most other dbm packages that perl can use (unlimited size of keys/values, platform independent db files). We have put the current sources for this package at ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools/db.1.85.tar.gz It should be possible with the BSD DB package to increase the OVERFLOWSIZE and as result get rid of (most) of the overflow files. However, it is not clear if this is desirable since it doesn't seem to make the software more memory/space/speed efficient. - a new help and HOWTO use the RIPE database file is available use 'whois -h whois.ripe.net HELP' to get the most recent version. The document gives a short introduction on the database, tells you how to create/update/delete objects, contains a section with tips and common problems and gives pointers to other documentation about the database. - BSDI/perl memory leak problems Due to a memory leak with perl on BSDI machines we needed to make the code more memory conscious. enread.pl has been rewritten completely and uses now less memory and as an (intended) side effect became faster when reading big objects. Also the special input routine for reading in an object from an E-mail has undergone the same optimizations. - Most patches (for greater speed and less memory consumption) that I received from Curtis Villamizar <curtis(a)ans.net> have been included. Thanks Curtis! - The direct network updating method is now fully supported. Currently this method is only intended for use by the registry itself, however it is possible to add support in the maintainer objects if desired by the RIPE community. You can now do you updates very rapidly by giving the command 'networkupdate' and input your object via STDIN. Of course, this is also protected with an access list. - The special magic to overrule the maintainer protection needs a password now. Syntax will be published after the main registries support this... - All support for the historical 'guarded' objects have been removed. The guardian attribute can be obsoleted if the database working group wishes to. Present guardian attributes will act as a 'notify:' attribute. - the special RIPE whois version is now fully supported and included in the distribution. - cryptpw is a new (small) program that encrypts a password with a shoosen salt for use in the maintainer objects. - dbupdate -T Makes it very easy to install your own test database. The only difference with a normal update is that it doesn't need manual authorization for creation of maintainer objects and that it will add a warning to your acknowlegment message that this is not the normal behavior... - status: attribute as described in ripe-127 fully supported - whoisd changes: -D runs in daemon mode otherwise in 'inetd' mode ('inetd' mode is untested) The number of disk accesses have been further minimized and should result in a better performance. - line continuation by use of a "\" character at the end of an attribute line in your update message. The database software will then automatically concatenate the next line with the previous one. - prefix notation for 'inetnum:' updates and IP range notation for whois lookups is supported - extended 'country:' attribute syntax implemented. You can now specify multiple countries in a 'country:' attribute line. - much stronger syntax checking for NIC handles, phone numbers, E-mail addresses, domain names (Some people might not like this ;-)). The syntax was too relaxed and follows our own specifications more closely. - perl5 patches. perl5 is still not supported. However, the biggest problems should be gone now (the software runs with perl5 at home with Linux & perl5.001m). The Makefiles have been changed to support perl5 and some of the database tools as 'whois' can be configured to run with perl5 by default (and work with it!). See the Makefiles on how to configure this. You are welcome to experiment with perl5 and we are interested in your comments! - Tony Bates <Tony.Bates(a)mci.net> recent patch for a problem with the maintainer notifications. Thank you Tony. - databases and serial number files that don't exist are now autogenerated. - Config file has been simplified by removing some options that can be determined by the database software itself. Of course, also a few new options appeared. Everything is documented in the config file itself. - The Makefiles have been rewritten to allow for easier installation and more logical behavior when doing make [[un]install]. - many small fixes and clean up of the code to make above changes possible. - bug that caused problems when deleting objects with(out) syntactic sugar - bug that caused a crash when one tries to delete an object that cannot be updated (object is mirrored from other database) - List of OS's that we know the RIPE database works with: - SUNOS - BSDI - Linux (Please inform me with you own results so that I can update this list!) Automatic on the fly patches implemented in the new Makefiles should make it possible to run the database on Solaris. This is untested for now and you will need a special perl4 that will be made available from ftp://ftp.ripe.net/tools. Peter Haag has made the perl version and patches available to me. Thanks! - The auto nic handle generation support (Gabor Kiss helped me with some patches) - Role object What didn't make it in this release: - checking for relations between objects: - disallow deletion of referenced object - disallow creation of objects that reference non exiting objects

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Re: another lookup problem
by Wilfried Woeber, UniVie/ACOnet 24 Jul '96

24 Jul '96

=> What's the *inherent technology* difference between a registration => lookup and a general white pages service? = =Registration lookup deals with hierarchical namespaces, thus enabling =delegation of authority. True for (part of the) IP-Addresses and certainly for Domains. Not true for (at least) AS numbers and communities (and inet-rtr). I think the RIPE registry and DB-SW has never made an (explicit or implicit) assumption about a hierarchical structure of regsitry data. This was (for the address space and routing) introduced by the Class-C-Blocks, CIDR and Reg/Local-Registries approach, and the rwhois. > A general whitepages service deals with flat >namespaces which are much uglier to deal with, particularly as the >database scales. > >In addition, registration lookups (should) result in a boolean result, >it is either there or it isn't. A general whitepages service can >result in multiple hits, requiring additional resolution. Agreed. [....] => Then I don't understand why we have the recursive lookup for person => objects... = =Because person objects are indexed (or did I misunderstand the =question)? Partly, I think. I understood your reasoning to eventually propose removal of the person lookup as contacts for the (hierarchical) objects. Or to include the contacts directly with the objects? Otherwise, if you want to keep that functionality to find out about contacts, how would you do it without indexing? I seem to be missing something, maybe an implementation fact... Or have you been thinking about the *reverse* lookup? => Those of us who have to work with end-users have to process a lot of => requests that involve dealing with person objects. Whether they are => directly indexed or just referenced doesn't make a big difference. = =I understand. As I'm not a complete fanatic (:-)), I wouldn't throw =out the person name indexing without providing a replacement that =would allow people to lookup their names (I've been playing around =with LDAP -- seems OK, particularly given some browsers are now =appearing with LDAP clients). In the white pages record would be an =(optional) entry for NIC handle(s). So what's your proposal? To eventually run a whitepages server alongside the other software and to gradually move the person information to that other server and implement the linking by way of the handles? Or to rely on a whitepages service provided by third parties? => I want to find out whether some guy or gal is already in the DB - full => stop. And it's more comfortable to do that with a wildcard replacing a => "sharp s" or an umlau than being "radical" and try all the different => possibilities that I can imageine. = =This is a hard problem. My concern is that if you throw in stuff that =would allow fuzzy searches, you'll end up making the code more =complex, slower, and the resulting index files will likely get (much) =bigger. As I said at the beginning of this thread, introducing this functionality would need some major discussion and decision. Whether it would make the code more complex and slower and increase the size of the index files is then a question of implementation. > An alternative solution, already proposed by David (:-)) >would be to mirror the appropriate database files and use grep (or >more reasonably, given the requirements, glimpse or agrep). While >somewhat lacking in elegance, it'd probably be faster (given network >latency). Well, I never insist on a *specific* implementation, you know :-) And yes, that approach is already available. Even with the opportunity for setting up a "realtime" mirror DB. Whether we expect all the registry staff to use that approach is a different issue... But as long as nobody else speaks up, I think it's not a real issue, anyway. Cheers, Wilfried. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wilfried Woeber : e-mail: Woeber(a)CC.UniVie.ac.at Computer Center - ACOnet : Vienna University : Tel: +43 1 4065822 355 Universitaetsstrasse 7 : Fax: +43 1 4065822 170 A-1010 Vienna, Austria, Europe : NIC: WW144 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

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