								ripe-62
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	                 RIPE NCC Quarterly Report
	
	
	
	                          Issue 1

	                        1 June 1992
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	
	1.  Introduction
	
	The IP world in Europe is a concatenation of a large number
	of individual networks.  These networks are extremely
	diverse and consist of regional networks, national networks,
	international networks, research networks, commercial net-
	works and a number of commercial organisations.
	
	RIPE is the organisation where these networks meet to dis-
	cuss issues of common interest.  RIPE has been functioning
	since 1989.  Currently over 60 networking organisations par-
	ticipate in the work of RIPE.  The result of the RIPE coor-
	dination effort is that the individual end user is presented
	on his desktop with a uniform IP service all over Europe,
	irrespective of the network his workstation is attached to.
	
	The RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC) formally began in
	April 1992.  It exists both as a support centre and a ser-
	vice centre.  It functions to coordinate and support all
	RIPE activities which cannot effectively be performed by
	volunteers from the participating organisations. Addition-
	ally it functions to provide services to network operators
	throughout Europe.  The activities of the RIPE NCC are
	defined in the "RIPE NCC Activity Plan" (document ripe-w07).
	
	This is the first quarterly report from the RIPE NCC cover-
	ing the second quarter of 1992. Comments and suggestions
	regarding both the content and the format are welcomed.
	
	Please note that a PostScript version of this document con-
	taining graphics not representable in this ASCII version is
	available.
	                           - 2 -
	
	
	2.  Management Summary
	
	A good and quick start
	
	The RIPE NCC formally started operations in April 1992 with
	the NCC man- ager.  He was joined in May by the network
	engineer and the network administrator.  During March, even
	before the official start of activities, the office space
	was organised and the computing equipment was installed.
	This enabled the NCC to provide core services from day one.
	
	The first two months of operation with the full staff com-
	plement were used to quickly establish a comprehensive set
	of services, as specified in the NCC activity plan.  Some of
	these were a continuation of services that hitherto had been
	provided elsewhere.  An orderly and timely transition to the
	NCC of these services was carried out with help of all those
	who had been involved with their provision. Recently, the
	NCC has established a number of new services.  Detailed
	information about all the activities can be found in
	"Activities".
	
	As expected general set-up and training activities also con-
	sumed resources during this phase.  Since these activities
	are operational overheads, they will not be detailed below.
	
	
	Priorities
	
	During this start-up phase, priority was given to establish-
	ing those activities which can be both quickly initiated and
	produce results. Activities needing a longer set-up time
	and/or those which need considerable guidance from RIPE have
	been postponed until a basic service level is achieved and
	recognised by the community.
	
	
	Important Topics
	
	The section on "Important Topics" highlights issues around
	future charging models for NCC services and the mapping
	activity.
	
	
	Outlook
	
	The NCC will use the next three months to consolidate the
	current achievements and to stimulate consensus building in
	RIPE about priorities for the longer term activities.  These
	will then be started in the third quarter of NCC operations
	following the next RIPE meeting.
	                           - 3 -
	
	
	3.  Activities
	
	A key focus for the RIPE NCC is to act as a central point
	for both information gathering and dissemination.  Further-
	more, it is vital that the information held by the NCC is
	easily accessible and easy to use. To this end, the NCC has
	in it's first quarter of operation, a number of successes to
	report.
	
	
	General Set Up
	
	The NCC is located in offices rented at NIKHEF in Amsterdam.
	
	The NCC computing equipment was delivered and set up by late
	March. This enabled the NCC to provide some services from
	day one and to use the computers to support the RIPE meeting
	in April.
	
	The NCC operates 5 SUN ELC machines on a private Ethernet.
	Two machines are located in the NIKHEF computer room.  These
	machines function as the public server host and the NCC file
	server respectively.  The remaining three machines are used
	as personal workstations for NCC staff and are located in
	the NCC office.  Both IP and X.25 network connections were
	installed immediately after delivery of the hardware.  Reli-
	ability of the computing equipment has been excellent.  The
	public server has been available without interruption for
	the last 82 days of the quarter.
	
	
	DNS Coordination
	
	The NCC has taken over the RIPE DNS hostcount which previ-
	ously had been produced on a volunteer basis.  All hosts
	listed in the RIPE part of the DNS (the Internet Directory)
	are counted.  This gives a good indication of the size of
	the RIPE community in terms of machines.The hostcount is
	currently gathered once per month and distributed via the
	RIPE mailing list.
	
	In addition the DNS output which is used to produce the
	hostcount, is archived in the RIPE document store.  This
	output also contains error messages, which can be retrieved
	from the document store by DNS managers, to check their part
	of the DNS tree for errors.
	
	Also archived in the document store, is a graph showing the
	growth of the IP network in Europe, in terms of DNS
	registered hosts.  This graph shows an exponential growth.
	
	The following table gives a historical view of the number of
	hosts counted:
	                           - 4 -
	
	
	                    1990   Oct    26141
	                           Nov    33665
	                           Dec    29226
	
	                    1991   Jan    43799
	                           Feb    44000
	                           Mar    44506
	                           Apr    46948
	                           May    52000
	                           Jun    63267
	                           Jul    67000
	                           Aug    73069
	                           Sep    92834
	                           Oct   104828
	                           Nov   129652
	                           Dec   133000
	
	                    1992   Jan   141308
	                           Feb   161431
	                           Mar   167931
	                           Apr   170000
	                           May   182528
	                           Jun   196758
	
	
	
	RIPE Network Management Database
	
	Smooth cutover
	
	After being operated by EUnet for more than two years the
	RIPE database was moved to the NCC server machine by late
	March.  EUnet personnel have been extremely helpful in
	achieving a totally seamless cutover which was invisible for
	the database users.  The table below shows the development
	of the RIPE database in terms of objects registered since
	the first formal report to RIPE in November 1990.
	
	
	             Month    Nets   Persons   Domains
	
	             Nov 90    643      670         0
	             Jun 91   1270     1053       845
	             Jan 92   2728     1792      1254
	             Apr 92   3365     2242      1360
	             Jun 92   3797     2736      1422
	
	
	This shows that the increase in the number of domain objects
	is relatively low.  The main reason for this is that there
	is no direct incentive to register in the RIPE database in
	addition to the DNS.  The rationale for the domain object in
	the RIPE database was that certain information like an
	organisation's full name and contact person's phone number
	                           - 5 -
	
	
	could not be included in the DNS.  Since RFC1183 specifies
	how to code contact information for domains in the DNS, the
	RIPE DNS working group should review the usefulness of this
	object.
	
	Better updates and improved consistency
	
	After the move, users now enjoy better response times on
	WHOIS queries and more frequent update runs.  The current
	frequency of update run is once per working day.  This
	ensures that users perceive the database update process as
	predictable.  During the reporting period the NCC has pro-
	cessed 12549 object updates, an average of 139 per day.  The
	number of updates received per month varies widely with
	peaks usually occurring just before RIPE meetings.
	
	The updates consist of additions and changes as well as so
	called "NOOPs".  NOOPs are updates received which do not
	differ from the information already recorded in the data-
	base.  The NCC accepts such requests because it makes bulk
	updates from secondary NICs easier: secondary NICs can just
	send in their whole database without having to select just
	the records which changed since the last bulk update was
	sent to the NCC.  The NCC started to keep statistics of the
	different kinds of update in June:
	
	
	                    Updated    286   16%
	                    Added      483   27%
	                    NOOP      1005   57%
	
	
	Tools to check the consistency of the database have been
	improved.  The availability of full time staff at the NCC
	has made it possible to apply these tools more frequently
	and to actively follow up any inconsistencies detected.
	Previously this was outside the resources of the volunteer
	staff who maintained the database.
	
	Network in DNS registered in RIPE database.
	
	This table shows per country, the percentage of the IP net-
	works found in the DNS that also feature in the RIPE data-
	base.  For network management purposes it is desirable that
	all networks found in the DNS are registered in the RIPE
	database.  With the help of local NICs/NOCs the RIPE NCC
	will take actions to increase coverage where needed.  An
	explanation of domain names and other categories used in
	tables can be found in "Appendix D".
	
	
	      Country   Nets in DNS   Nets in DB   Percentage
	      BE              8            8          100
	      CS              6            6          100
	                           - 6 -
	
	
	      HU              3            3          100
	      TN              1            1          100
	      YU              3            3          100
	      FR            286          273           95
	      CH             87           81           93
	      IE             11           10           91
	      PL             10            9           90
	      ES             18           16           89
	      IT             74           61           82
	      NL             94           76           81
	      DE            287          231           80
	      PT             30           24           80
	      IL             21           15           71
	      UK            171          116           68
	      GR             12            8           67
	      AT             47           30           64
	      NO             41           24           59
	      IS              2            1           50
	      LU              2            1           50
	      SE            150           74           49
	      DK             20            8           40
	      FI            350           24            7
	
	
	WHOIS client under development
	
	A RIPE version of the WHOIS client program for Unix is under
	development at the NCC.  This client program will make it
	possible to access the RIPE database as default rather than
	the DDN NIC database.  It will also provide a more con-
	venient interface to the various options the RIPE database
	provides while maintaining backwards compatibility with ear-
	lier versions of Unix WHOIS clients.  This client program
	will also allow for the selection of the "nearest" secondary
	copy of the RIPE database.  The WHOIS client will be avail-
	able before the next RIPE meeting.
	
	Database Software development
	
	The long needed revision of the database software is still
	in progress. The software has been restructured considerably
	in order to improve consistency.The new objects agreed at
	the last RIPE meeting still have to be integrated as well as
	additional instrumentation which is needed for secondary
	database servers.  This work is expected to be finished in
	July after which a beta test period of about one month will
	precede a general release.  At the same time the tools for
	bulk database updates from local NICs will be revised.
	Valuable input has been received from the DE-NIC.
	
	Worldwide Database Coordination
	
	Discussions with the DDN and MERIT NICs about coordination
	and alignment of the various databases have been
	                           - 7 -
	
	
	intensified.  Interchange formats and procedures to resolve
	inconsistencies are currently under discussion.
	
	New ways to access the database
	
	An additional interface to query the database has been pro-
	vided in the form of a WAIS server.  This makes it possible
	to search the database based on any text string and not only
	on key strings as is the case with the standard WHOIS inter-
	face.  This enables questions like "Who is doing internet-
	working in Dresden?" to be answered quickly.  For more
	details about the WAIS server see the section on the "Docu-
	ment Store" on page 8. Indirectly the WAIS server also pro-
	vides access to the database via the GOPHER interface.  Both
	of these interfaces can be accessed via the IIS.  For more
	details, please refer to the section on the "Interactive
	Information Server" and "Appendix C".
	
	
	Document Store
	
	One of the coordinating activities of the RIPE NCC is to act
	as a focal point for the store of information, which is of
	interest and useful to network service providers, NICs, NOCs
	alike.  The documents stored relate to a wide variety of
	networking topics.  For example, information can be obtained
	about the activities EBONE, the Internet Engineering Task
	Force (IETF) and the Internet Engineering Steering Group
	(IESG), RARE, and not least, documents relating to RIPE
	itself. In addition the document store contains information
	relating to Internet drafts, RFC's and FYI's.
	
	In total the document store contains approximately 2000
	documents.  By volume, it accounts for over 120 Mbytes.  A
	breakdown of the composition of the document store is shown
	below:
	
	
	                   Area         Files   KBytes
	             rfc                 542    39055
	             internet-drafts     366    25306
	             tools                76    18835
	             nsfnet              112    17055
	             ripe                261    14304
	             ietf                564     6861
	             rare                 64     5792
	             iesg                 32      338
	             ebone                 6      112
	             internet-society     13       75
	
	
	Over 12% of these documents (by volume and by number of
	documents) are RIPE documents.
	                           - 8 -
	
	
	Accessing the Document Store
	
	The NCC document store can be accessed through a variety of
	methods.  It can be accessed via anonymous ftp to
	ftp.ripe.net and by using GOPHER and WAIS clients to
	gopher.ripe.net or wais.ripe.net respectively. Additionally
	the NCC document store can be accessed through the NCC
	Interactive Information Server.  A summary on how to use the
	Interactive Information Server are described in detail in
	"Appendix C".
	
	
	FTP Usage Statistics
	
	The most popular archive sections of the RIPE document store
	for the second quarter of 1992, are tabulated below.  This
	displays the top 15 most popular sections which were
	accessed using ftp.  The most popular section is the ripe
	database, with approximately 210 Mbytes transferred.  The
	second and third most popular sections were RFC`s and RIPE
	documents respectively:
	
	
	Archive Section   Files Sent   Bytes Sent   % Files   % Bytes
	ripe/dbase            485      212886712     14.40     51.63
	rfc                  1041       77700761     30.91     18.84
	ripe/docs             484       26847213     14.37      6.51
	nsf                   123       14441267      3.65      3.50
	tools/www              63       13504120      1.87      3.27
	ripe/hostcount        233       12141912      6.92      2.94
	ripe/maps             266       11776004      7.90      2.86
	tools/wais             54       10670219      1.60      2.59
	internet-drafts        96        8479672      2.85      2.06
	rare/monograph          8        4573052      0.24      1.11
	ripe/info             109        4058826      3.24      0.98
	tools/gopher           51        3836890      1.51      0.93
	nsf/recompete           8        3220242      0.24      0.78
	ebone                  92        1900608      2.73      0.46
	rare/RTR                3        1575247      0.09      0.38
	
	
	
	The number of Mbytes transferred using ftp per top level
	domain is shown below:
	
	
	 Domain Name   Files Sent   Bytes Sent   % Files   % Bytes
	 at                43         2384595      1.28      0.58
	 au                 1          609476      0.03      0.15
	 be                21         2937684      0.62      0.71
	 ca                10         1454072      0.30      0.35
	 ch               742        92328758     22.03     22.39
	 cs                 4          105822      0.12      0.03
	 de               309        36983427      9.17      8.97
	                           - 9 -
	
	
	 dk                 9           52658      0.27      0.01
	 es                23         4685192      0.68      1.14
	 fi               148        41946375      4.39     10.17
	 fr               262        18611521      7.78      4.51
	 gr                 3           42465      0.09      0.01
	 hu                35          457700      1.04      0.11
	 ie                82         4804181      2.43      1.17
	 il                 7         1868925      0.21      0.45
	 it                63         8635249      1.87      2.09
	 jp                10          354711      0.30      0.09
	 lu                 4           13992      0.12      0.00
	 nl               313        72864029      9.29     17.67
	 no                21         2707938      0.62      0.66
	 pl                98         5169234      2.91      1.25
	 pt                43         1189547      1.28      0.29
	 se                37         3461152      1.10      0.84
	 tw                 2          158817      0.06      0.04
	 uk               277        18843629      8.22      4.57
	 yu                 3           56994      0.09      0.01
	 com               21         2672085      0.62      0.65
	 edu              188        23452925      5.58      5.69
	 gov                3          201605      0.09      0.05
	 mil                4         1486335      0.12      0.36
	 net              141        30667990      4.19      7.44
	 org               10          322253      0.30      0.08
	 unresolved       431        30833465     12.80      7.48
	
	
	The total number of Mbytes transferred for the quarter is
	412.  The unresolved category refers to where there is no
	match found between the IP address and the Domain Name.
	
	Interactive Information Server
	
	In accordance with its role as disseminator of information,
	the NCC has developed an Interactive Information Server
	(IIS).  The goal of the IIS is to enable users with minimal
	hardware and/or software support to access information
	stored by the NCC.  At the same time it caters for those
	occasional users who do not choose to run or learn the local
	WAIS, GOPHER etc.  clients.  The IIS is also the most con-
	venient method to access the RIPE document store from net-
	works which are not IP based.  It is possible to access the
	information in the document store using both telnet and pad
	connections.  In addition the server provides an interface
	to a number of clients enabling a wide range of information
	to be accessed in a number of different ways.  Currently
	these comprise WAIS, Gopher and WHOIS.  Details on how to
	use the IIS can be found in "Appendix C".
	
	General Service Usage Statistics
	
	Statistics for the use of the various NCC services were col-
	lected for the second quarter of 1992.  The table below
	                           - 10 -
	
	
	shows the total number of connections made for each service
	(Whois, IIS, Wais, Ftp and Gopher) contacted either directly
	from a user client or from the NCC Interactive Information
	Service.  The breakdown is given as total number of connec-
	tions per month:
	
	
	                Service   Apr    May    Jun
	                Whois     3014   5093   4520
	                IIS        230    530    602
	                Wais        14    159   1005
	                FTP        201    436    770
	                Gopher       0     89    577
	
	
	Due to technical problems GOPHER logging has commenced in
	mid May.
	
	The number of connections to the various servers at the NCC
	broken down by the source of the request is shown in the
	table below.
	
	
	        Source    Whois   IIS    Wais   Ftp    Total
	        IIS        1654      0    580      0    2234
	        IXI           2     73      0      0      75
	        LOCAL       460    208     68     43     779
	        NCC-X25      17     50      0      0      67
	        PSPDN         0      9      0      0       9
	        UNKNOWN     259    160     16     99     534
	        at          105     47      2     37     191
	        au            6     16      8      1      31
	        be           19     15      6     18      58
	        ca           19      8      3      8      38
	        ch          157     34     32    141     364
	        cl            0     23      0      0      23
	        com          33     36    294     38     401
	        cs           34      1      0      4      39
	        de         3053     79     24    146    3302
	        dk           77     22      0     10     109
	        edu        1651     81     38     94    1864
	        es           65     43      0     26     134
	        fi           66     13      0     50     129
	        fr         1061     39     13     84    1197
	        gov          69      8     10      4      91
	        gr           80      6      0      3      89
	        hk            0      0      0      1       1
	        hu          114     66      0     15     195
	        ie          148     27      0     65     240
	        il           16     19      0     10      45
	        it          259     12      0     55     326
	        jp           13     14      0      5      32
	        lu            4      0      0      3       7
	        mil           3     18     26      4      51
	                           - 11 -
	
	
	        net        1253     39      0     94    1386
	        nl          940     93     48    247    1328
	        no           43      7      3      6      59
	        nz            3     10      0      6      19
	        org          82      0      1      3      86
	        pl           13      0      0     15      28
	        pt          466     12      0     22     500
	        se          237     18      0     18     273
	        tw            0      0      0      2       2
	        uk          141     54      6     28     229
	        us            5      0      0      1       6
	        yu            0      2      0      1       3
	        Total     12627   1362   1178   1407   16574
	
	
	In total there were 1362 connections to the Interactive
	Information Server, which is queried, on average, 22 times
	per working day.
	
	
	Information Leaflets
	
	To promote an awareness of the RIPE NCC, two information
	leaflets have been prepared, titled `Network Management
	Database' and `Interactive Information Service' respec-
	tively.  Both leaflets are of a general nature but aim to
	provide the prospective user with understanding of the
	nature of information stored by the NCC, details on how to
	access the information and guidelines on basic navigation
	within and around it.
	
	Seven hundred hard copies were printed initially.  These
	were distributed by NCC staff at a number of recent interna-
	tional conferences and meetings e.g.  JENC '92, INET'92,
	CCIRN and IEPG.
	
	There has been a favourable response and considerable
	interest expressed in the leaflets: JANET recently asked for
	1000 copies of each leaflet.Unfortunately demand has now
	outstripped supply and there are none left!  However the
	original leaflets are in need of revision. Since the initial
	drafting and printing, the NCC has added new documents to
	the document store.  Additional information leaflets
	describing the services and facilities offered by the NCC
	are also planned for the near future.
	
	Copies of the leaflets can be obtained from the RIPE Docu-
	ment Store (see the section titled "Document Store" for
	details on various methods of access).  The leaflets are
	held in postscript format in the subdirectory ripe/info and
	titled leaflet-info.ps and leaflet-dbase.ps.
	                           - 12 -
	
	
	Presentations
	
	It is a priority of the NCC to inform as many users as pos-
	sible, as clearly as possible, what the role of the NCC is
	in relation to the multitude of networking organisations.
	Clearly the larger the audience, the easier this task is.
	To this end the NCC will give presentations about its
	activities wherever appropriate and possible.  It is
	stressed that all those organisations wishing to convey the
	work of the RIPE NCC to others are invited to contact the
	NCC with a request for a presentation.
	
	JENC '92 Innsbruck
	
	The RIPE NCC held a "birds of a feather" session for the
	delegates of the JENC '92 conference in May held in
	Innsbruck.  The RIPE Chairman, Rob Blokzijl presented an
	overview of the last RIPE meeting which took place in April
	and the role of the RIPE NCC.  Daniel Karrenberg, the
	manager of the RIPE NCC, followed with a status report on
	the first month activities of the NCC.  Both presentations
	were well received and clarified the role of the NCC, its'
	relationship to RIPE, and its' current status.
	
	EUnet Backbone Meeting
	
	On Sunday 28th June, Daniel Karrenberg gave a short presen-
	tation on the activities of the RIPE NCC to the EUnet Back-
	bone meeting delegates.
	
	DIGI Meeting, Germany
	
	Similar presentations are planned for the meeting of the
	German Internet Interest Group (DIGI) which is to be held in
	Munchen on 11-12th November.
	
	
	RIPE Support Activities
	
	
	RIPE meetings
	
	RIPE meetings provide a vital forum for both formal and
	informal information gathering, exchange and debate.  In
	particular it provides an opportunity for the members of the
	working groups to meet, discuss and progress their work.
	
	From its initiation on April 1st 1992, the RIPE NCC has been
	chartered to provide support for all RIPE meetings.  This
	included the 12th RIPE meeting, (although not all the NCC
	staff members were yet formally employed) which took place
	on April 27th-29th at NIKHEF, Amsterdam where the NCC
	offices are located.
	                           - 13 -
	
	
	At the last RIPE meeting, the NCC provided both administra-
	tive and technical support for 56 attendees, requiring con-
	siderable liaison and co-ordination between (and within)
	NIKHEF and the RIPE NCC
	
	The NCC was able to offer the following to all attendees:
	
	  - remote login and e-mail connectivity from a choice of 3
	workstations and 15 terminals
	
	  - use of telephone and fax service
	
	  - use of photocopying facilities
	
	  - copies of all papers tabled and late additions available
	
	The NCC welcomes suggestions for support from participants
	for future RIPE meetings.
	
	Working Groups
	
	The work in RIPE is done by the technical working groups.
	At present there are 8 such groups active in the following
	areas:
	
	  - Network information services
	
	  - Domain Name system
	
	  - Routing
	
	  - Network monitoring and statistics
	
	  - Network maps
	
	  - European connectivity
	
	  - RIPE database
	
	  - Relationship between Academic & Research networks and
	Commercial networks
	
	The working groups deliver the results of their work in the
	following ways: via RIPE reports, RIPE recommendations, as
	tools for common network management practices and as Euro-
	pean wide implemented common network policies.
	
	Working Group Mailing Lists
	
	Coordinating and support for the activities of the Working
	Groups is a key focus for the RIPE NCC.  During the first
	quarter, the NCC has created mailing lists for those working
	groups that have requested this facility.
	                           - 14 -
	
	
	Relationship between Academic & Research Networks & Commer-
	cial Networks.
	
	Chair: Glenn Kowack.  E-mail: glenn@eu.net.
	
	Working Group E-mail: raec-wg@ripe.net.
	
	
	
	Network Information Discovery and User Support.
	
	Chair: Nandor Horvath.  E-mail: horvath@sztaki.hu
	
	Working Group E-mail: nidus-wg@ripe.net
	
	
	
	DNS Issues
	
	Chair: Francis Dupont.  E-mail: francis.dupont@inria.fr
	
	Working Group E-mail: dns-wg@ripe.net
	
	
	
	Routing Issues
	
	Chair: Jean-Michel Jouanigot.  E-mail: jimi@dxcoms.cern.ch
	
	Working Group E-mail: routing-wg@ripe.net
	
	
	
	Network Monitoring and Statistics Gathering
	
	Chair: Bernhard Stockman.  E-mail: boss@sunet.se
	
	
	
	Network Maps
	
	Chair (temporary): Hank Nussbacher.  E-mail:
	hank@vm.tau.ac.il
	
	Working Group E-mail: ripe-map@ripe.net
	
	
	
	European Connectivity
	
	Chair: Milan Sterba.  E-mail: milan.sterba@inria.fr
	                           - 15 -
	
	
	RIPE Database
	
	Chair: Wilfried Woeber.  E-mail: woeber@access.can.ac.at
	
	To subscribe to any working group send a message to:
	
	[listname]-request@ripe.net
	
	where [listname] is replaced by the name of one of the work-
	ing groups specified above.
	
	There also exists a more general mailing list for all those
	interested in RIPE activities which is at the following e-
	mail address:
	
	ripe@ripe.net.
	
	WG Liaison
	
	The work carried out by the Working Groups is of vital
	importance to the RIPE activity.  To promote the continuity
	of dialogue between RIPE meetings amongst the working
	groups, the RIPE NCC staff members have each been appointed
	as "liaison officers" to foster continuity between the work-
	ing group chairs and the NCC.  The division between the
	working groups and the NCC staff is as follows:
	
	Daniel Karrenberg
	
	  - The Relationship between Academic and Research Networks
	and Commercial Networks
	
	  - RIPE Database
	
	  - Network Monitoring and Statistics Gathering
	
	
	
	Marten Terpstra
	
	  - Routing Issues
	
	  - DNS Issues
	
	  - Network Maps
	
	
	
	Anne Lord
	
	  - Network Information Discovery and User Support
	
	  - European Connectivity
	                           - 16 -
	
	
	The RIPE NCC offers support to all the working group
	chairpersons in carrying out their respective tasks.
	Specifically the NCC can offer assistance with editing and
	formatting documents, directing enquiries to the relevant
	working groups and assistance with keeping track of the
	minuted actions.  More specifically in this last respect a
	more formal method of support is currently being drafted.
	
	
	EBONE Support
	
	The RIPE NCC has provided a high level of technical support
	for EBONE activities.  The NCC is represented in the EBONE
	Action Team (EAT), as well as in the EBONE Operations Team
	(EOT).  It was decided in an EAT meeting on 4 June 1992 in
	London, that EBONE will make use of the RIPE database to
	control routing in EBONE.  EBONE will use the extra routing
	tags as defined in the RIPE document ripe-w09 "Policy Based
	Routing in RIPE".  It was explained in an EOT meeting on 5
	June 1992, also held in London, that the routing support
	defined in this document is sufficient for the control of
	routing in EBONE.
	
	The EBONE document archive is also shadowed onto the RIPE
	archive and incorporated into the NCC Interactive Informa-
	tion Service.
	
	The NCC carried out some operational support for EBONE in
	exceptional situations and also coordinated and cooperated
	in the re-engineering of the routing arrangements of the
	Amsterdam EBONE Boundary System and Regional Boundary Sys-
	tems in Amsterdam.  While this is not formally one of the
	activities of the NCC it was necessary.  A formal attitude
	by the NCC of strict noninvolvement in EBONE operational
	matters would not be appreciated by the community at this
	stage.
	
	
	Internet Registry
	
	Delegated Registry
	
	The NCC has obtained blocks of network numbers (class B and
	C) as well as autonomous system numbers.  These numbers will
	be re-assigned to local NICs as they are requested.  If
	users ask for numbers they will be referred to a suitable
	NIC if possible.  In exceptional cases where this is not
	possible or acceptable the NCC will assign a number to the
	user.
	
	The NCC thus functions as a de-facto delegated registry as
	specified in RFC1174 servicing the RIPE community.  So far
	it has not been possible to obtain formal status as a
	delegated registry.
	                           - 17 -
	
	
	The NCC has participated actively in the worldwide discus-
	sion about the problems of address space exhaustion and
	routing table growth in the Internet.  The NCC manager has
	co-authored an Internet draft about IP network number
	assignment.
	
	The NCC has developed registration procedures which are
	included in "Appendix A".  According to well informed
	sources this has made the NCC the only place in the world
	assigning network numbers according to a fixed and published
	policy.  These procedures are interim procedures which will
	be used until the RIPE NCC has delegated registry status as
	defined per RFC1174.
	
	Address Assignment Plan for Route Aggregation
	
	The registration procedures anticipate that the IETF will
	recommend implementation of technologies allowing for rout-
	ing table aggregation.  The current procedures recommend to
	assign network numbers in a way which is compatible with the
	CIDR proposal.  This does not pre-empt any decision on part
	of RIPE or the IETF because the assigned addresses remain
	useful without the aggregation techniques.  Should the CIDR
	proposal be adopted, all assigned addresses will allow for
	aggregation once the technology is deployed.  Should another
	aggregation scheme be recommended by the IETF, the NCC reas-
	signment procedures will be changed to reflect this immedi-
	ately.
	
	As soon as the IETF position is clear, a survey will be done
	among RIPE participants in order to assess optimal size and
	arrangement of address blocks.
	
	Network Numbers
	
	The NCC has received the following network numbers:
	
	
	       Class B networks    160.44 160.63     Apr 1992
	       Class C blocks             192.162    Apr 1992
	                          192.164 192.168    May 1992
	                            193.0 193.100    Jun 1992
	
	
	
	The following table summarises the class B network assign-
	ments during the reporting period:
	
	
	               Networks         assigned via
	               160.44 160.52    DE-NIC
	               160.53           SWITCH
	               160.54 -160.58   DE-NIC
	                           - 18 -
	
	
	The following table shows the number of networks re-assigned
	out of class C blocks assigned by the RIPE NCC:
	
	
	        Block     Nets Assigned   Block assigned to
	        192.162         5         RIPE NCC
	        192.164        37         EUnet Austria
	        192.165        60         NORDUnet
	        192.166        51         DE NIC
	        192.167         1         GARR
	        192.168         0         EUnet NOC
	        193.1           0         HEANET
	        193.2           0         ARNES
	        193.3           0         DKnet
	        193.4           0         Iceland
	        193.5           4         SWITCH
	
	
	The low absolute numbers for assignments by the NCC during
	the reporting period are partly caused by the fact that most
	NICs/NOCs still have block allocations obtained from the US
	NIC.  Furthermore the delegated registry activity has not
	been widely publicised during the reporting period.  The
	reason for this is that registration procedures had to be
	developed and are still unstable at this point due to the
	aggregation issues described above.  We did not consider it
	wise to widely advertise a service operating with interim
	procedures.  We hope that the aggregation issue will be
	clear enough to develop more stable procedures after the
	Boston IETF meeting in July.
	
	
	Intercontinental Coordination
	
	The NCC has taken the initiative in discussions over data
	consistency and consolidation with regard to the Network
	Management Database. This was described earlier in the sec-
	tion with the heading "RIPE Network Management Database".
	The NCC has also advised the US National Science Foundation
	(NSF) on the international aspects of Network Information
	Services for the NSFnet and the NREN.
	
	In the area of top level domain registrations the NCC has
	helped to resolve conflicts and to speed up some long-
	pending registrations. RIPE and the RIPE NCC are now more
	closely integrated with this process.
	
	The result of these activities is that the RIPE NCC is
	already widely recognised as the European regional NIC.
	
	
	Referrals and End-User Enquiries
	
	The number of referral requests and end-user has not been
	                           - 19 -
	
	
	significant during the reporting period.
	
	
	4.  Important Topics
	
	In this section NCC management will direct attention to
	topics related to the NCC and those of it's operations which
	need discussion in the community.
	
	
	Statistics and charging models
	
	This report consciously presents comprehensive statistics
	concerning the various services of the RIPE NCC.  These
	numbers give first indications on how NCC services are being
	used.  This is very important both to justify the usefulness
	of the services and to aid the management of the NCC.
	
	However, considerable caution is advisable interpreting
	these figures with respect to the current discussion about
	continued funding for NCC activities.  While usage based
	funding is an inherently positive concept, the measures of
	usage must be carefully chosen for it to be successful.  If
	the wrong measures are used, unwanted secondary effects may
	result.  For example: if the granularity of the measures is
	too fine, this results both in micro-management and in waste
	of resources for accounting.  If the measure is proportional
	to a service with indi- rect benefits to the community,
	decreased usage of the service due to cost consciousness may
	have undesired effects.  An example of this is charging for
	database updates: the net result will be an out of date
	database which is not useful to the community.
	
	Another important consideration concerning usage based
	charging is the international and intercontinental environ-
	ment.  Charging for registration and similar functions must
	be consistent in the global environment.
	
	Based on the currently available numbers alone, NCC manage-
	ment is unable to propose a consistent and workable charging
	model.  Many services are just starting up and time is
	needed to let usage patterns establish themselves and to
	develop baseline data.  The global environment is changing
	rapidly and it is difficult to predict where exactly the
	developments will lead.  We expect that it will take consid-
	erable time to develop a consistent model that will be
	acceptable to the RIPE community.
	
	
	Network Maps
	
	The activity of producing graphical maps of European IP net-
	works has not been progressed in this quarter.  The reasons
	for this are
	                           - 20 -
	
	
	  - to make a comprehensive hierarchy of maps is much more
	difficult than expected
	
	  - public domain tools which were expected to be available
	are delayed
	
	  - additional guidance is needed from RIPE
	
	This activity will need considerable guidance from RIPE on
	what is needed and what RIPE is willing to "pay" for maps in
	terms of NCC resources.  All input on relevant tools is
	appreciated.
	
	Acknowledgements
	
	We wish to thank the RARE secretariat for their excellent
	support during the set-up phase, especially with formal ord-
	ers for computing equipment and employment related matters.
	
	NIKHEF has been extremely helpful with all office space
	related matters and installing our computers and network
	connections.  We are especially grateful that Marten Terps-
	tra was given time to help with NCC set-up while he was
	still a NIKHEF employee.
	
	CWI has also been very helpful by allowing Daniel Karrenberg
	to spend part of his time on NCC matters while still a CWI
	employee.  Finally we would like to thank the chairman of
	RIPE, the RIPE working group chairmen and all those who gave
	valuable feedback to the NCC start-up services.
	                           - 21 -
	
	
	Appendix A
	
	
	RIPE NCC Internet Numbers Registration Procedures
	
	July 1992 version 0.5
	
	Abstract
	
	This document describes the procedures for the reassignment
	of IP network numbers from blocks obtained from the RIPE
	Network Coordination Centre.  It deals with items as provid-
	ing information for the RIPE and US NIC databases, as well
	as reassignment of IP addresses in light of the "Supernet-
	ting" proposal, as documented in RFC 1338, by Vince Fuller
	et al.
	
	Introduction
	
	Since May 1st 1992, the RIPE Network Coordination Centre
	(NCC) is acting as a delegated registry for IP networks
	numbers to NICs and NOCs in Europe.  It is RIPE NCC policy
	not to give out network numbers to individual organisations,
	who should refer in turn, to their IP network service pro-
	vider.
	
	The mission of the RIPE NCC is to give network numbers to
	the various service providers and NICs.  The NICs and NOCs
	can then reassign the actual IP network numbers to organisa-
	tions requesting IP network numbers.
	
	Class B Network Number Allocation Procedure
	
	Service providers can request Class B network numbers on a
	one-by-one basis from the RIPE NCC.  Because class B address
	space is a critical resource, a request for a class B net-
	work number must be accompanied by a justification in terms
	of the requesting organisation's size, current network and
	expected network growth.  The requester should also make
	clear why they cannot use a block of class C network numbers
	to achieve their goals.  The RIPE NCC will review requests
	using the same standards as any other Internet Registry,
	particularly the US NIC.
	
	Class C Allocation Procedures
	
	NICs and NOCs accepting a block of class C numbers agree to
	adhere to the following procedures:
	
	A) The RIPE NCC will assign complete class C blocks to indi-
	vidual NICs and NOCs.  They can be requested from
	<hostmaster@ripe.net>.
	
	B) In order to prevent implementation problems, network
	                           - 22 -
	
	
	numbers ending with 0 or 255 should NOT be reassigned.
	
	C) Full information about reassigned network numbers must be
	reported back to the RIPE NCC and the US NIC in full RIPE
	database format (ref ripe-w02).  The complete entries should
	be sent immediately after reassignment to
	 <ripe-dbm@ripe.net> and <hostmaster@nic.ddn.mil>
	
	D) Reassignment of class C network numbers should be done in
	a manner that facilitates Supernetting (see next section).
	
	E) Requests for network numbers should be reasonable.  All
	NICs and NOCs should prevent stockpiling of network numbers.
	
	F) On first request from the RIPE NCC, the class C network
	numbers not yet reassigned, must be returned to the RIPE
	NCC.
	
	Supernetting
	
	NICs and NOCs reassigning IP network numbers are urgently
	requested to read the Supernetting proposal by Vince Fuller
	et al.  This document can be obtained from the rfc section
	of the RIPE document store or other RFC drafts servers.  It
	is called rfc1338.txt.
	
	The Supernetting proposal was made to reduce the increase of
	routing table size in the current Internet.  It proposes to
	create a hierarchy of IP network numbers, which can then be
	aggregated resulting in less routing table entries in rout-
	ing equipment.  While this proposal has not been formally
	adopted we expect that something at least along the same
	principle will be implemented in the near future.
	
	Here is how it works:
	
	If an organisation A needs 8 class C network numbers, the
	numbers should be given out in such a way that the routing
	information for each of these 8 networks could appear as one
	entry with the correct mask in international routers.
	
	More concretely:
	
	Service provider S hands out networks 192.24.8 through
	192.24.15 to organisation A. These networks can then appear
	in routing equipment as a supernet route to 192.24.8 with
	mask 255.255.248.0.  This way 8 class C network numbers
	appear as one routing table entry.
	
	The guidelines that can be derived from the Supernetting
	proposal are:
	
	A) Service providers should reserve blocks of class C net-
	work numbers from their allocation for each organisations
	                           - 23 -
	
	
	requesting class C network numbers.
	
	B) The size of these blocks should always be a power of 2.
	
	C) The numbers in these blocks should be contiguous.
	
	D) The blocks should start on bit boundaries (ie powers of
	2, AND multiples of the block size)
	
	E) The blocks reserved for an organisation should be suffi-
	cient for a reasonable expected growth over the next few
	years.
	
	F) Multi-homed organizations may obtain address space from
	one of their providers, the RIPE NCC, or the global NIC, as
	is appropriate to their network configuration.  These organ-
	isations are strongly encouraged to contact the RIPE NCC for
	guidance.
	
	If you have any questions concerning this, please do not
	hesitate to call or mail us at <ncc@ripe.net>.
	                           - 24 -
	
	
	Appendix B
	
	
	Meetings Attended
	
	The following meetings were attended by staff during the
	first quarter of the RIPE NCC operations.
	
	
	
	
	Date          Name                    Location    Attendees
	
	April 10-12   EAT Meeting             Amsterdam   Daniel Karrenberg
	
	April 27-29   12th RIPE Meeting       Amsterdam   Daniel Karrenberg
	                                                  Marten Terpstra
	                                                  Anne Lord
	
	May 11-14     JENC'92                 Innsbruck   Daniel Karrenberg
	                                                  Marten Terpstra
	
	May 14        RARE CoA                Innsbruck   Daniel Karrenberg
	
	June 4        EBONE Action Team       London      Marten Terpstra
	
	June 5        EBONE Operations Team   London      Marten Terpstra
	
	June 10-12    IEPG                    Tokyo       Daniel Karrenberg
	
	June 15-18    INET'92                 Kobe        Daniel Karrenberg
	                                                  Marten Terpstra
	
	June 28       EUnet Backbone          Leuven      Daniel Karrenberg
	                           - 25 -
	
	
	Appendix C
	
	How to use the Interactive Information Server
	
	To encourage and facilitate use of the Information Server,
	it has been designed as an interactive service, which aims
	to be both uncomplicated and easy to use.  The basic frame-
	work for presenting the information to the user is via a
	series of hierarchically arranged menus. Additionally, using
	the IIS the NCC has made it possible to receive copies of
	the documents by electronic mail.The various interfaces
	implement this in slightly different ways and these are
	described in more detail below.
	
	Navigation of the Document Store using the IIS
	
	The basic framework for presenting the information to the
	user is via a series of hierarchically arranged menus.  The
	menu you see once you are connected is the Main Menu.  This
	is shown below.
	
	However within this, as the menu above indicates, are a
	number of different interfaces.  Fundamentally, the Interac-
	tive Information Service has been designed to cater for two
	types of user: those with no previous knowledge of the NCC
	who may wish to "browse" through the document store and
	those with a specific area of interest, who may wish to
	"search" the document store.
	
	WAIS access
	
	The RIPE NCC has installed on the Information Server a WAIS
	interface. This enables the user who has a specific topic of
	interest, rapid access to documents.  If the WAIS keyword
	search is selected from the main menu you will move immedi-
	ately to a sub menu which is shown below:
	
	This offers a choice of indices for search, including a glo-
	bal index which searches `all documents'.  Selecting just
	this index will search all documents in the RIPE document
	store.  The selection is made by positioning the cursor
	using the arrow keys and hitting return.  You are then
	prompted to enter your search word.  More than one word may
	be entered provided it is separated by a space.  Entering
	return will activate the search.  The results of the search
	will be displayed in tabular form with the names of the
	documents, the documents size and the score.  The documents
	appear in descending score order from high to low.  A high
	score represents a higher number of keyword matches in the
	document.  To read the document simply hit return when the
	cursor bar is positioned over the document title.
	
	A particular feature of the WAIS keyword search access is
	that you do not have to read the document before asking for
	                           - 26 -
	
	
	it to be mailed to you. By typing 'm' when the cursor bar is
	over the document of interest, the user will be prompted for
	an e-mail address and subsequently be returned to the same
	position within the structure of the document store.  Typing
	Typing's' you will move back one level through the menu,
	giving the source of the document.  Typing '?' will give
	access to help.
	
	GOPHER access
	
	The RIPE NCC also has GOPHER access to the RIPE document
	store.  The information is arranged in a series of hierarch-
	ical menus which can be "walked around and browsed through"
	using a combination of arrow keys to select topics of
	interest and a 'pager'.  If you select item 2 from the main
	menu you will get the following sub-menu
	
	Each sub menu is followed by either a slash or a dot.  The
	former indicates further sub-menus and a dot indicates a
	document.  It is easy to read a document and there are two
	ways of doing this.  Either position the cursor over the
	document title and hit enter or type in the document number
	followed by a return.  After reading the document the user
	is prompted as to whether they would like to receive an e-
	mail copy of the document, and if so, to enter the e-mail
	address of the recipient.
	
	Accessing the Interactive Information Server
	
	Regardless of protocol the information service is easily
	reachable from the internet, IXI and Public Data Networks
	alike.  From the Internet you type: telnet info.ripe.net.
	If the message "host unknown" is received, type: telnet
	192.87.45.1
	
	Using IXI you can connect on most machines by typing: PAD
	020430459300031 and via the Public Data Network by typing:
	PAD 0204129004331.  Further details on methods of access can
	be found on the back page of the `Interactive Information
	Service' leaflet.
	                           - 27 -
	
	
	5.  Appendix D
	
	Domain Table
	
	This appendix gives an overview of all top level domains,
	and other categories mentioned in the tables and graphs.
	
	
	Domain       Specifying
	IXI          IXI
	IIS          the Interactive Information Server
	LOCAL        the NCC itself using IP
	NCC-X25      the NCC itself using X.25
	PSPDN        the Public Data Network
	UNKNOWN      no mapping between IP address and domain name could be found
	UNRESOLVED   no mapping between IP address and domain name could be found
	com          commercial organisations (mainly in the US)
	edu          educational organisations (mainly in the US)
	gov          US government organisations
	mil          US military organisations
	net          network providers and related organisations
	org          organisations (mainly in the US)
	al           Albania
	at           Austria
	be           Belgium
	bg           Bulgaria
	by           Byelorus
	ch           Switzerland
	cs           Czechoslovakia
	de           Germany
	dk           Denmark
	dz           Algeria
	ee           Estonia
	es           Spain
	fi           Finland
	fr           France
	gb           Great-Britain
	gr           Greece
	hr           Croatia
	hu           Hungary
	ie           Ireland
	is           Iceland
	it           Italy
	il           Israel
	lt           Lithuania
	lu           Luxembourg
	lv           Latvia
	nl           The Netherlands
	no           Norway
	pl           Poland
	pt           Portugal
	ro           Romania
	se           Sweden
	si           Slovenia
	                           - 28 -
	
	
	su           USSR
	tn           Tunesia
	ua           Ukraine
	uk           United Kingdom
	va           Vatican City State
	yu           Yugoslavia
	                           - 29 -
	
	
	Appendix G
	
	Graphics of Statistical Tables
	
	Sorry, but not in the ASCII version. :-).  See the
	PostScript version of this document.
