In message <D2400E01-2F25-441C-BFB9-F8A40E2DB483@ripe.net>, Edward Shryane <eshryane@ripe.net> wrote:
Once this daily limit for querying personal data is reached, the IP address is temporarily blocked for the rest of that day. If an IP address repeatedly reaches its daily limit, then it is permanently blocked.
By default when querying whois, related objects are also returned (including person and role objects). The '-r' flag can be used to not return related objects, or the '--no-personal' flag to not return person or role objects.
Thanks for your response. Would you agree that _even after_ some IP address has "reached its daily limit", that there is no real point in blocking further queries which _do_ use the -r option?
For bulk access to the RIPE Database, split files (per object type) are published on the RIPE FTP site: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/dbase/split/
Thank you. I didn't know about this resource and it should be most helpful, going forward. I'm just curious though... Where might I find brief descriptions of what's in each of the files at the above URL? The contents of many/most of the files in that directory are really obvious, like ripe.db.aut-num.gz and ripe.db.inetnum.gz. But others are less so. For example, what's the difference between three three: -rw-r--r-- 1 ftp ftp 28491 Nov 18 00:26 ripe.db.as-block.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 ftp ftp 1610549 Nov 18 00:26 ripe.db.as-set.gz -rw-r--r-- 1 ftp ftp 7248902 Nov 18 00:26 ripe.db.aut-num.gz Reards, rfg P.S. I' sure that I will derive hours of enjoyment from the contents of the ripe.db.poem.gz file. So thanks for that too. I had no idea that RIPE members were so... um... literary.