Dear All, Some of you may be aware that the RIPE NCC is now handling all requests from European Organisations for IP numbers. We need to make this as widely known as possible, so please point any queries you may recieve regarding IP number requests to the RIPE document store where you will find the letter below together with notes for guidance and a blank template to be completed and returned to either the RIPE NCC or an IP service provider. The document is called: ripe-draft-ipnum-tmpl-v0.txt and can be found in directory: ripe/docs/ripe-drafts/ and is on host ftp.ripe.net. Please note that NIC's and IP service providers who already recieve blocks from the NCC should continue to send their database entries in as normal, when IP numbers are allocated by them. Regards, RIPE NCC staff ------------------------------------------------------- To whom it may concern, The RIPE Network Coordination Centre now handles all requests for IP network numbers from European organisations. Our aim is to provide a rapid and efficient service to all European organisations. As this is a recent initiative, procedures for handling network number requests are in the process of being established. Therefore we apologise in advance for any duplication of effort that may be required by you due to new forms and templates. As the European NIC, we require different information to that required by the US and for it to be presented in a format which is both easy for you to complete and for us to process. Therefore before your application can be processed any further, you will need to complete the template below and return it to the appropriate organisation responsible for issuing IP network numbers. In most cases this will be your IP service provider or the RIPE NCC. An IP service provider is an organisation which provides Wide Area Network (WAN) services external to your organisation. Before completion of the template, please be sure to read the following text and examples carefully which will guide you. A new classless IP addressing scheme called CIDR has recently been adopted to cope with routing table growth and address space exhaustion problems in the Internet (see references at the end of this letter for details of recommended reading). Under this scheme it is beneficial for everyone to get their network numbers allocated via their respective IP service providers. If you are planning to connect your network to other networks oustide your organisation in the forseeable future we strongly urge you to get numbers allocated from your current or prospective IP service provider. Alternatively, if this is not likely, then you will be allocated a number from a different part of the address space by the RIPE NCC. Please pay careful attention to this matter. Class A and B network numbers are a scarce resource and some justification in terms of expected network size and structure will be needed before such a number can be allocated. Class A numbers will only be assigned to networks which technically need more than 65000 hosts to be on one network number. A detailed technical justification is needed, review takes place on a global scale and the allocation process can take several months. Similarily due to class B scarcity, a reasonable number of class C numbers will be assigned over class B. If you can engineer your network to use multiple class C numbers, it is strongly advised. Please note that this is contrary to earlier recommendations where it was recommended to use Bs over multiple Cs due to routing table size constraints. Appended to this letter is a blank template for IP number reqistration, which we would be extremely grateful if you complete and return to the appropriate organisation responsible for issuing IP network numbers. In most cases this will be your IP service provider. It may of course also be the RIPE NCC. If you have any further queries please do not hesitate to contact the NCC. Please note that all queries should, if possible, be made through e-mail and sent to <hostmaster@ripe.net>. If you do not have access to electronic mail, then we prefer to communicate by fax rather than by ordinary mail. RIPE NCC fax: +31 20 592 5090 RIPE NCC phone: +31 20 592 5065 Address: Kruislaan 409 NL-1098 SJ Amsterdam The Netherlands If we do not hear from you in the near future we will assume that you have contacted your IP service provider. Yours sincerely, The RIPE NCC staff - ------------------------------------------------------------------------ BLANK TEMPLATE FOR IP NUMBER REGISTRATION - ----------------------------------------------------------------------- The format of the template below is such that the indented text is by way of example. A clean blank template is appended at the end of this letter for you to complete and return to us. Please be careful to follow the format information contained within the examples. If you are unsure about any of the fields please leave them blank. Please note: Please ensure that you complete as many person templates as there are different persons specified in the network template. Please send the completed template to either your network service provider or the RIPE NCC, whichever is appropriate. Many thanks. RIPE NCC - ----------------- Network template: - ----------------- inetnum: Please state class of request. Capital letter to indicate class followed by a by the word request. See example below. Example: inetnum: C-request number: Please indicate how many network numbers you are asking for. Example: number: 3 Class C netname: Appropriate network name if there is one. Format: capitals, numerals and "-" only, starting with capital Example: netname: TBIT-BUGS descr: Postal address is not needed, this can be found via the contacts, but a description of the organisation. The country is given in the country field below. Format: free text, one line per entry, multiple lines in sequence. Example: descr: Network Bugs Feeding Facility descr: Terabit Labs Inc. descr: Northtown country: Format: ISO3166 two letter code. We know this gives problems for networks crossing national boundaries. Choose most appropriate country in this case, probably the location of the admin-c. Example: country: IE admin-c: If the person name is ambiguous, use the nic handle. Format: <firstname> <initials> <lastname> Example: admin-c: John E. Doe tech-c: Name of technical contact person. connect: If you have an IP Service Provider, please put their name here, otherwise complete with LOCAL. If you are unsure, please leave blank. Example: LOCAL changed: Who and when changed this last. Format: <email-address> YYMMDD Example: changed: johndoe@terabit-labs.nn 900401 source: RIPE Source of the information. This is used to separate information from different sources kept by the same database software. Format: RIPE - ----------------------------------------------------------- Person template: - ---------------- person: Full name. This must be the same as the corresponding contact attributes. Format: first names first, no commas etc. Example: person: John E. Doe address: Postal address Include everything necessary for paper mail to be delivered. Format: multiple lines of text City and post code on a single line. Country on the last line. Example: address: Terabit Labs Inc. address: Industrial Estate North address: North Perpendicular Road 12 address: NN-1234 Northtown address: Northern Nowhere phone: Telephone Multiple numbers in the desired order please (secretariats etc.). Format: International +<country-code> <city> <subscriber> If no direct inward dialing is available, please append "ext." and extension number. Example: phone: +31 20 12334676 phone: +44 123 987654 ext. 4711 fax-no: Telefax see phone e-mail: Electronic mail address. Format: Valid domain address please (if possible no !, %, ::) Example: e-mail: johndoe@terabit-labs.nn nic-hdl: NIC handle. An identifier used by SRI-NIC to unambiguously refer to Internet people. Format: NIC format Example: nic-hdl: JD0401 Optional but strongly suggested for those who have a NIC handle. changed: Who and when changed this last. Format: <email-address> YYMMDD Example: changed: johndoe@terabit-labs.nn 900401 source: RIPE Source of the information. This is used to separate information from different sources kept by the same database software. Format: RIPE - ---------------------------------------------------------------- ADDTIONAL INFORMATION REQUIRED 1. Do you plan to connect to the Internet: Y/N? (or, do you plan to have connectivity *external* to your organisation?) 2. Estimation of number of hosts and subnets: (by 'host' we mean every piece of equipment that needs an IP network number) Initially: Within one year: Within two years: Within five years: 3. Network size and structure: Please submit a description of your network plans. It is essential to include details here if you are applying for a Class B address. If this application is made on behalf of an organisation, please indicate to whom the template should be returned: name: Organisation: e-mail: phone: fax: - ----------------------------------------------------------- Recommended Reading: 1. rfc 1338.txt - CIDR Addressing Scheme 2. draft-rekhter-ipaddress-guide-02.txt - Global Address Requirement 3. rfc1347.ps (postscript format) - Further Reading 4. rfc1347.txt (ascii format) - " " The documents you require are all contained within the RIPE document store. Reference 1, 3 and 4 can be found in the rfc/ directory. Reference 2 can be found in the internet-drafts/ directory. The RIPE document store can be accessed in a number of ways: 1. telnet info.ripe.net 2. using IXI type: pad 020430459300031 3. via the Public Data Network type: pad 0204129004331 4. anonymous FTP from host ftp.ripe.net - ------------------------------------------------------------ BLANK IP TEMPLATE - ----------------------------------------------------------- To: hostmaster@ripe.net From: Network template: inetnum: number: netname: descr: country: admin-c: tech-c: connect: changed: Person template: person: address: address: address: address: phone: fax-no: e-mail: nic-hd: changed: source: Person template: (necessary if more than one person is mentioned) person: address: address: address: address: phone: fax-no: e-mail: nic-hd: changed: source: - --------------------------------------------------------- end.