On 18 Jun 2021, at 08:32, Hank Nussbacher <hank@interall.co.il> wrote:

On 18/06/2021 08:36, Hank Nussbacher wrote:

As I delve deeper I am more confused. I went to:
https://www.ripe.net/manage-ips-and-asns/db/support/querying-the-ripe-database#4--query-multiple-databases-with-the-global-resource-service
and wanted to search not just RIPE but all RIRs.

This section of the documentation is not clear. There are two ways to search all databases:

(1) The "--resource" flag, you don't need to specify all database names, but the search key must be a resource (i.e., an IP prefix/range or an AS number).

(2) The "--sources" flag, you do need to specify each database name, and the search key can be a text string (e.g. an organisation name).

So I started with a simple search like:
https://apps.db.ripe.net/db-web-ui/query?bflag=true&dflag=false&rflag=true&searchtext=marlink&source=RIPE&types=organisation

1 hit. Very nice. Easy peasy.

The query page searches the RIPE database only by default (the "--sources RIPE" query flag is always specified), and doesn't use the "--resource" flag.

So I now try all RIRs:
https://apps.db.ripe.net/db-web-ui/query?bflag=true&dflag=false&rflag=true&searchtext=marlink&source=GRS&types=organisation
No hits. Shouldn't I have had at least 1 hit from RIPE for this search?

Choosing the "Search resource objects in all available databases" radio button on the query page, forces the "--resource" flag, and not the "--sources" flag.

So you can't search all databases for a text string, only for a resource, because the "--resources" flag is used for all databases, and not the ""--sources" flag.

As a workaround, you can include the "--sources" flag yourself in the input field, e.g.

https://apps.db.ripe.net/db-web-ui/query?searchtext=marlink&types=organisation&rflag=true&source=RIPE&source=APNIC-GRS&source=AFRINIC-GRS&source=ARIN-GRS&source=LACNIC-GRS&bflag=true

To be clear, we should improve this behaviour to allow searching all databases for text, not only for a resource.

Regards

Ed Shryane

RIPE NCC

Regards,
Hank