Frequently Asked Questions
Passwords
Maintainer Fee
Registering a Maintainer Object
More Registration Questions
RADb Update Schedules
Passwords
What do I do if I lost my password?
- First, choose a new password for your maintainer.
- Next, encrypt your password using our crypt calculator.
- Finally, email db-admin@radb.net with your maintainer ID and the encrypted form of your new password in the body of the message.
You will be notified when your new
password is activated. Note -- you will use the unencrypted
version of your password to make updates in the RADb. The encryption
is used to securely store your password.
When registering objects using
crypt-pw, do I send the original password encrypted or in plain text?
After you have submitted a maintainer object with the encrypted
password, you will only use the plain text password for
updates and new objects. To use our web-based update interface,
please follow this link.
If you're submitting several objects at once, you may wish
to use the email-based auto-processor at auto-dbm@radb.net.
Please note, your password will be sent in the clear when
using the email update mechanism. If you wish to use email for
updates, it is recommended that you upgrade to PGP based authentication.
To use password based email updates, you'd send in something like this:
password: mycleartextpassword
aut-num: AS-55555
desc: MY ASN
etc....
route: 192.68.0.0/16
desc: MY SPACE
etc...
Maintainer Fee
Do I need to register my maintainer object before I
pay the fee?
Yes. First, compelete the registration process by following the "Register Now" link on the main page. You'll
receive an automated e-mail reply indicating that the RADb administrators
will add your object (maintainers are the only database objects that need
to be manually added in this way.) The DB admins will notify you when
your maintainer object has been added -- usually within 12 hours of your
request.
Registering a Maintainer Object
What is the purpose of a maintainer object?
The maintainer can be thought of as a container that only authorized users can
access. The maintainer is used to provide an
authenticated means to add and group other more meaningful objects,
such as routes and aut-nums, in the RADb under an organization's authority.
How do I get an AS number?
You can obtain an AS number from ARIN, which handles U.S. registrations, or from one of the other regional registries.
I've gotten an AS Number from ARIN, AS11111. Should
the maintainer for my network be MAINT-AS11111?
Yes, that's the most common form for a maintainer ID.
To submit my maintainer, should I pay first and wait
for an ack, and then register?
First, fill out the registration web form, and one of the database
administrators will add your maintainer object to the database. You can
then pay on the web,
or wait until you receive an invoice from Merit.
What should I use for my admin-c and tech-c ID's? In the example, it's
DMM65. How do I get an ID like that for myself?
That's a NIC handle, an individual identifier that is registered at ARIN or APNIC. If you have a NIC handle, the
format would be -ARIN or -AP. You can also use firstname
lastname, e.g., Susan Smith.
Should I register in three steps, one for each type of object, or can
all the templates be submitted at once?
There are three steps, with submission of the maintainer
object being the first.
I have the following IP addresses allocated by APNIC:
61.11.0.0 - 61.11.31.255
202.9.128.0 - 202.9.159.255
202.9.160.0 - 202.9.191.255
Obviously, I can't have a single CIDR route for this. Do I need to
submit three requests and pay three times USD$495 (USD$395 for non-profits)?
No. The
USD$495 (USD$395) fee only applies to the maintainer object, not aut-num, route or other
RPSL objects. You can have as many of those objects as you like.
More Registration Questions
What do I have to do to register in the RADb?
You'll need to submit three types of database records to the RADb: one
or more Maintainer objects, an AS object, and one or more Route
objects.
You'll need to register a Maintainer object
before you can register any AS or Route objects.
To describe any routing policy your AS (the autonomous system that announces
your routes), fill out an aut-num object web form.
To register your routes, fill out the route object web form.
Merit provides templates that you
can use for your Maintainer, AS, and Route objects.
How many Maintainer objects do I need to submit?
A single Maintainer object can be used for all your AS objects and Route
objects, although some providers prefer to register one Maintainer
object per AS managed.
What's the difference between db-admin@radb.net and
auto-dbm@radb.net?
Consulting questions go to db-admin@radb.net, which
is read by humans. auto-dbm@radb.net is used to submit RADb objects
which is machine-processed.
What's the easiest way to update a database entry?
Use the whois tool to obtain a copy of the object. For example:
whois -h whois.radb.net MAINT-AS1234 > temp
Edit the record to make the changes. Be sure to modify the "changed:"
field so it contains your ID and the current date. Then submit the
modified entry to auto-dbm@radb.net.
Do I always need to send in RADb updates from the same
e-mail address?
RADb updates must be submitted from e-mail addresses listed in your
Maintainer object's "auth:" lines. If you submit updates from more than
one e-mail address, make sure that each address is listed in your
Maintainer object.
It's best to send in your mail without the "Reply-To" field, which is
likely to override your "From:" field. If the "Reply-To" field contains
an address not specified in your Maintainer object, the update will
fail.
How can I use whois to query the IRR only for RADb
entries?
Use a query such as:
whois -h whois.radb.net -- -s radb 193.101.106.0
Older whois clients may not support the '--' flag and will
require the use of quotes around the query. I.e.,
whois -h whois.radb.net '-s radb 193.101.106.0'
Why are my outdated entries still in the RADb?
When you submit a Route object to the RADb, the database software checks
to see if there is a matching object in the database. If it finds a
match, your submission is treated as an update. If there is not, it is
treated as an addition.
The keys to a Route object, i.e., the features that make it unique from
other objects, are:
prefix, masklen, origin AS
Thus it is possible for the database to contain several routes for a
given prefix/length if they have different origin ASs.
Can we send in our complete database weekly to update
our records?
Weekly updates are fine, but try to combine your data into a minimum
number of messages. We like to process as few e-mail messages as
possible.
What do I need to do when I change to a new network
provider?
Here are the steps to follow when you change to a new network provider,
or, if you are a provider, when you take over an existing route for a
new customer:
- Notify your previous provider about the change, and tell them
about the changes you're about to make to the RADb.
- Send in a new Route object to auto-dbm@radb.net with the new
provider's AS specified in the "origin:" attribute. The "mnt-by:" field
must point to an RADb Maintainer object for the new provider.
- Depending on who has the appropriate authorization in the
Maintainer object for that route, either you or your old provider can
now delete the old Route object from the RADb. If your provider does
not respond to your request to remove the object, we will work with you
and the old provider to get the object deleted.
I keep hearing about the Advisory attribute -
is it still in use?
No, it's now obsolete and not required in RADb Route objects.
RADb Update Schedules
How long does it take for changes to be reflected in the RADb?
Updates to the RADb take effect at once, and are immediately reflected
in queries to whois.radb.net. Updates are copied to the Merit FTP area
every two hours throughout the day.
How often do you poll(mirror) other
registries?
Each of the approximately 40 registries we mirror are polled for
updates using the Near Real Time Mirorring(NRTM) protocol every 5
minutes.
The RADb and the IRR
What's the difference between the RADb and the
IRR?
The RADb is one of many databases in the Internet Routing Registry, which
incorporates registries maintained by more than three dozen national and
international networking organizations. While many IRR registries serve
a specific customer base, the RADb handles registrations for networking
organizations not covered by the other routing registries.
Do all the registries in the IRR contain the same
data?
No. The databases are separate entities, and most users will only need
to register in one of them. Merit keeps a copy of many of the
registries, but entries in the other databases don't actually become
part of the RADb.
I'm registered in more than one database. How do I
know which database will be used for Internet routing?
Why can't Merit delete an object from the Savvis
database?
Only organizations that operate a particular registry (and its authorized
maintainers) can make modifications to that registry. In other words,
only Savvis can delete objects from its own registry, only Verio from its own
registry, and so on.
For More Information
If you have questions about this information or would like to comment
on this FAQ, we invite you to send e-mail to db-admin@radb.net.
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