Hello all, I've enclosed below a document which proposes changes to the syntax for the as-macro and community names. I invite your comments. -Brian ================================================================= Proposed Modifications to AS Macro and Community Attribute Syntax ABSTRACT This document describes proposed modifications to the syntax of the as-macro and community attributes. This amends the as-macro syntax described in RIPE-181, Appendix C and the community syntax described in RIPE- 181, Appendix B. 1. Introduction Some ISPs would like to use longer names or structured names for their as-macro and community attribute values. They find these names difficult to read when they use only monocase alphabetic letters. (The syntax specified for these attributes in RIPE-181.) The following extensions to the RIPE-181 syntax provide a richer character set for these attributes. 2. AS-Macro Attribute 2.1. Syntax for as-macro Attribute The revised description and syntax for the as-macro is: as-macro: The name of a macro containing at least two Autonomous Sys- tems grouped together for ease of administration. Format: AS-<string> The <string> must satisfy the following constraints: + It must be at least one character long. + It must contain only upper case letters, lower case letters, digits, underscores (_) or dashes (-). + It must start with an upper case letter or a lower case letter. Note that all comparisons will be case insensitive, so that the database software will consider the as-macro "AS-EBONE" to be the same as the as-macro "as-ebone" 2.2. Examples: as-macro: AS-EBONE as-macro: as-ebone as-macro: AS-ISP-Backbone as-macro: AS-WEST_COAST_POP_1 2.3. Discussion Points Some issues which seem to require further discussion: <string> length Should we require the <string> to be more than one character long? That is, should as-macro names such as "AS-A" be illegal? If we require more characters, how many more should we require? Alternatively, we could rely on commun- ity pressure to discourage meaningless names. ending characters Should we require as-macro names to end in an alphabetic letter or digit? That is, should names such as "AS-ISP_" be illegal? Alternatively, we could rely on community pressure to discourage such apparently badly formed names. case sensitivity Should the comparisons of as-macro names be case insensi- tive? That is, should the database software consider the as-macro name AS-EBONE to be the same as the as-macro name as-ebone? 3. Community Attribute 3.1. Syntax for community Attribute The revised description and syntax for the community is: community: The name of the community. The name of the community should be descriptive of the community it describes. Format: <community-name> The <community-name> must satisfy the following con- straints: + It must be at least one character long. + It must contain only upper case letters, lower case letters, digits, underscores (_) or dashes (-). + It must start with an upper case letter or a lower case letter. + It must not start with the any upper or lower case permutations of the character "A" followed by the character "S". That is, the pattern "[Aa][Ss]" is not legal at the start of a community name. + It must not be the same as any of the routing pol- icy expression keywords. (See RIPE-181, Appendix A for a complete list of these keywords.) The keywords that the IETF Routing Policy System (RPS) working group defines for RPSL will be added to this list of keywords. Note that all comparisons will be case insensitive, so that the database software will consider the community WCW to be the same as the community wcw. 3.2. Examples: community: WCW community: ISP-Transit-1 3.3. Discussion Points Some issues which seem to require further discussion: community name length Should we require the community names to be to be more than one character long? That is, should community names such as "x" be illegal? If we require more characters, how many more should we require? Alternatively, we could rely on community pressure to discourage meaningless names. ending characters Should we require community names to end in an alphabetic letter or digit? That is, should names such as "ISP- Backbone_" be illegal? Alternatively, we could rely on com- munity pressure to discourage such apparently badly formed names. case sensitivity Should the comparisons of community names be case insensi- tive? That is, should the database software consider the community name WCW to be the same as the community name wcw?