On Thu, 31 Aug 2000, Marco Davids wrote:
Date: Thu, 31 Aug 2000 16:31:27 +0200 (MET DST) From: Marco Davids <marco@sara.nl> To: lir-wg@ripe.net Cc: db-wg@ripe.net Subject: Is this normal behaviour?
Hello,
A routine check on as-macro AS-EURONET on the RIPE-database returned an unexpected result.
The same check on the RADB whoisd (whois.raddb.net) however, returned the expected result together with two unexpected ones.
Investigation learned us that someone deleted an unprotected as-macro on the RIPE-database. It seems it is fixed now.
But what I would like to know is to what extend the several whois databases a synchronised, in other words; how reliable is the information retrieved from it? And... is the as-set object supposed to be unique or not?
as-sets (and all objects) are unique _within one registry_. When a given object is registered in multiple registries, synchronization is the responsibility of whoever register those multiple instances because when they reach servers like whois.radb.net (which mirrors multiple registries) they are kept as distinct objects. When you query whois.radb.net you will see all instances of a given object (eg. AS-GLOBALCENTER that's registered in four different registries). The problem with inconsistent objects is that unlike a whois client (which returns all objects found on a given server), tools that builds BGP filters from the IRR will only consider the first instance found for an as-set; the search order beeing dependant on the whois server admin. Another aspect of synchronization is mirroring, which, under normal conditions, is never too far behind on well managed servers like whois.radb.net. (There are exceptions though [even on whois.radb.net]: some registries - like CW, ARIN, etc. - do not offer real time mirroring possibilities; they can only be mirrored from checkpoint files that are made available for ftp only once a day.) Cheers. __ Pierre Thibaudeau | e-mail: <prt@Teleglobe.net> TELEGLOBE CANADA | e-page: <prt@txt.bellmobilite.ca> 1000, rue de La Gauchetiere ouest | Montreal, QC H3B 4X5 | Tel: +1-514-868-7257 Canada | fax: +1-514-868-8446
-- Marco Davids / SARA - Academic Computing Services Amsterdam
Today's tip: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/rfc/rfc1925.txt