Dear friends,
in two weeks from now we will ahve the first RIPE meeting this year.
One of the items to discuss, and agree upon, is the new Activity Plan for
the RIPE NCC. Please find a draft text below.
See you,
Rob
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RIPE NCC Activity Plan
R.Blokzijl
1 January 1994
Version 2
1. Introduction
The RIPE NCC has been working since 1 April 1992 on the basis of an
Activity Plan defined by RIPE in 1991. In September 1993 the work of
the RIPE NCC has been reviewed by a RIPE panel; the results of the
review have been approved by RIPE, and have been published as document
ripe-099.
Based upon the review activity, the review pannel recommended that a
new RIPE NCC Activity Plan should be adopted, better reflecting the
actual work of the RIPE NCC. This has resulted in the current document
which constitutes the RIPE NCC Activity Plan for 1994 and 1995.
Sebsequent sections give background information on RIPE and the RIPE
NCC. A full description of RIPE NCC activities is given, together with
reporting mechanisms. Finally, administrative procedures for change
control of the Activity Plan are defined.
2. Background
2.1 About RIPE
RIPE (Reseaux IP Europeens) is a collaborative organisation open to
all European Internet service providers. The objective of RIPE is
to ensure the necessary administrative and technical coordination
to allow the operation of a pan-European IP network. RIPE does not
operate a network of its own.
RIPE has been functioning since 1989. Currently more then 60
organisations participate in the work. The result of the RIPE
coordination effort is that the individual end-user is presented on
his desktop with a uniform IP service, irrespective of the
particular network his or her workstation is attached to. In
December 1993, more than 500,000 hosts throughout Europe are
reachable via networks coordinated by RIPE. The total number of
systems reachable worldwide is estimated at close to two million.
2.2 About the RIPE NCC
The RIPE Network Coordination Centre supports all those RIPE
activities which cannot be effectively performed by volunteers from
the participating organisations. Besides supporting RIPE
activities in general, the RIPE NCC provides the following services
to network operators:
o network management database containing information about IP
networks, DNS domains, IP routing policies and contact
information
o delegated Internet registry, a clearing house distributing
Internet numbers (most importantly address space)
o domain name system (DNS) coordination
o graphical maps of IP networks
o repository for network operations software
o RIPE document store
o interactive information service
The RIPE NCC started operations on April 1st, 1992, and currently
has 3 permanent staff members.
The RIPE NCC is embedded in RIPE. This means that the RIPE NCC
Activity Plan is defined by RIPE, and that the RIPE NCC reports, at
least, to RIPE on a regular basis.
The RARE association provides the formal framework for the RIPE NCC.
3. Technical - Coordination Activities
3.1 Internet Registry for Europe
The RIPE NCC will will act as the European registry for the
delegation of Internet numbers. The RIPE NCC will perform this
function in close cooperation and coordination with
a. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA)
b. The global Internet Registry (currently the Internic)
c. Local Registries of European service providers
In exceptional cases the NCC can act as the Registry of last resort
for European organisations.
3.2 Maintain a database of European IP networks and their management
information.
The database to be maintained will contain several classes of objects.
These objects are described in detail in ripe-13. At the moment the
following object classes have been defined:
a. Networks
b. Responsible persons
c. Domains
d. Routers
e. International lines
f. Name Servers
The NCC will be responsible for the database entries; this includes
a. collection of database entries
b. checking of individual entries
c. checking of consistency and integrity of the database
Quaterly reports on changes in the contents of the database will be
produced, together with statistics about the number of database
entries.
3.3. Distribution of the database.
Secondary copies of the database can be installed at other sites
upon request. It is the responsibility of the NCC to keep track of
such secondaries.
The RIPE NCC will provide assistance to local registries in setting
up secondary database servers.
An up to date record of secondary sites will be maintained on line.
3.4. Coordination of database exchange with other organisations.
The NCC will coordinate and execute the exchange of database informa-
tion with NCC's outside Europe. The result will be that for the end
user of the database one uniform set of global information will be
available.
3.5. Keep a record of operational contact points.
This will consist of a list of NOC's and responsible people that
will be used as a reference list for the individual NOC's to be used
in case of network related incidents, including security incidents.
Individual NOC's will be able to subscribe to a weekly update service.
3.6. Placement of name servers and backup servers in Europe, and beyond.
On a regular basis the interworking between the DNS name servers in
Europe, and their connections to name servers outside Europe, must be
checked.
Detected errors and inconsistencies must be reported.
Corrective actions must be followed in case of severe problems.
The result will be a consistent set of name servers.
3.7. Referral Services.
The RIPE NCC will perform a Referral Service for Internet Service
providers. The NCC will do this in a fair and impartial way.
3.8 Coordination with Local Registries.
The RIPE NCC will keep close contact with Local Registries in
Europe. The RIPE NCC will assist such registries in setting up
and maintaining their services.
This activity may include presentations on the work of the
RIPE NCC for broader audiances, such as relevant conferences and
workshops. It may also include coordinated development of common
tools.
4. Technical - Development Activities
NICs and NOCs and the NCC need special purpose software tools for their
work. While some of these tools are available commercially others will
have to either be obtained from the public domain or specially developed
to suit local needs. The NCC will collect, develop, document and test such
tools in order to make them available to the RIPE community. While some
basic support will be given the NCC will not provide full support for these
tools.
4.1. Database management tools.
Tools for management of the database and their maintenance are an im-
portant work item for the NCC. The result will be the availability of
a consistent database.
4.2. Database querying tools.
Development and maintenance of the whois utility. The result will be a
program, available from a file server, that permits remote
interrogation of the database.
4.3. DNS quality control tools.
Utilities for quality control of the interworking of the DNS name
servers will be developed and maintained. The result will be a set
of software and documentation, available from a server.
On an ad hoc basis special projects are taking place inside the RIPE
NCC. These projects are funded seperately, but the NCC may give
administrative, management and technical support. Therefore the
following activity is defined:
4.4. Special projects.
The RIPE NCC can participate in special projects that have been
approved by at least the RIPE community. The nature of the
participation can be administrative, managerial or technical. The
total amount of NCC participation should not exceed 20% of the NCC
resources.
Results of the special projects will be publicly available.
5. Administrative - RIPE Activity Support
The NCC will give the following support to the RIPE activities:
5.1. Keeping the RIPE document store.
The NCC will keep RIPE documents online and easily accessible to the
RIPE community. Copies of other document stores relevant to the
RIPE community, such as the repository of RFCs, will equally be
provided.
Modern document retrieval utilities will be installed and maintained
to facilitate access to the document store.
5.2. Technical and secretarial support for studies undertaken by RIPE.
The NCC will provide technical and clerical support for RIPE studies
and working groups in order to enhance continuity and coordination
of the work between RIPE meetings.
5.3. Organisational support for RIPE meetings.
RIPE meeting attendance is expected to be on the order of 80 persons, meeting three times a year.
The NCC will provide clerical support to organise these meetings in
order to keep them productive.
6. Administrative - Reporting
The NCC will follow the following general reporting procedures:
6.1. Quarterly reports an all activities will be produced for the RIPE
participating organisations and the RIPE NCC funding
organisations.
6.2. Quarterly reports on outstanding problems will be produced for the
RIPE participating organisations and the RIPE NCC funding
organisations.
6.3. The NCC reports on its ongoing work and outstanding problems also
to each RIPE meeting. These meetings take currently place three
times a year.
6.4. The NCC will produce annual reports. These will be available on the
31st of January following the year to be reported on.
The annual report will contain a summary of the activities and an
overview of the finacial situation.
All reports produced by the RIPE NCC will be publicly available.
7. Review and Change Control
The functioning of the RIPE NCC based on the current activity plan
shall be reviewed in the fourth quarter of 1995. The review panel will
consist of at least the Chairs of RIPE and the RIPE Working Groups.
The current Activity Plan can be amended on request by a full RIPE
meeting which includes the organisations that are funding the RIPE NCC.
