Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-21 Thread Edward Lewis
At 10:32 AM +0100 1/21/05, Stephane Bortzmeyer wrote:
Remember that the whois protocol is a mess. May be IRIS will fix that.
For those concerned with IRIS, please take time to review the 
documents listed at the bottom of this page:
   http://www.ietf.org/html.charters/crisp-charter.html

RFCs 3981, 3982, 3983 represent the review of the entire IETF 
(tacitly by most).  Although these are "permanent" documents, it is 
never too late to read and comment on them.  Revisions happen.

The document for the RIR's (ARIN, et.al.) hasn't completed its 
review, it can be seen at:
  http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-crisp-iris-areg-09.txt
and there's a related draft at:
  http://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-ietf-crisp-iris-areg-urires-00.txt

It's never too late to comment on a protocol, although it maybe too 
late to comment on a document. ;)
--
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
Edward Lewis+1-571-434-5468
NeuStar

"A noble spirit embiggens the smallest man." - Jebediah Springfield


Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-21 Thread Stephane Bortzmeyer

On Tue, Jan 18, 2005 at 05:08:18AM +0100,
 Lionel Elie Mamane <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote 
 a message of 61 lines which said:

> Further, these options are not documented anywhere, 

In the man page of GNU whois :-)

When querying \fIwhois.denic.de\fP for domain names, the program will
automatically add the flags \fI-T dn,ace -C US-ASCII\fP.
.P

Remember that the whois protocol is a mess. May be IRIS will fix that.


Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread Eric Brunner-Williams in Portland Maine


> For what it is worth, some consider the .de whois server broken; see
> below. Let's note that the new RFC (3912) doesn't mention the "help
> methodology" anymore.


In the high stakes game of registry redelegation, with .org as a data point
and the new gTLD competition (winners: [info,biz,name,pro]) as another, the
difference of function of what answers on :43 isn't, IMO, a liability.
It is both trivial to fix, and defensible (EU Data Protection Framework),
and not in the criteria set that appears to be key in the selection of bids.

The criteria for selection of the next .net delegation operator is likely,
in my limited experience, to turn on issues that have little to do with a
bidders actual ability to operate the .net registry.

Aside: In January 2002 I wrote Request to Move RFC 954 to Historic Status,
published as draft-brunner-rfc954-historic-00.txt. Two years later, Leslie
Daigle wrote a different draft which is now rfc3912.

Aside: A ccTLD operator submitted a bid for .org.
The "technical evaluator" retained by ICANN ranked the bids submitted by
existing gTLD operators other than VGRS as (1) info, (2) biz, (3) pro.
I was surprised by the presence of (2) and (3) on the list, and by the
absence of two bids from that list.

If you want to look for a real criteria, you might want to ask "How long
after the transfer will the new operator receive any monies for the set
of registrations contained in the registry at the moment of transfer?"

Eric


Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread Elmar K. Bins

Hi William,

> > And some call this not broken but necessary. I can explain off-list,
> > if you like.
> 
> Why off-list? Just tell that you want to support multi-lingual domain names.

There are a couple more reasons, and I'm not sure it's NANOG business ;-)


> I believe he meant that URL should be presented as part of normal whois 
> answer. While me and others who "care" have already found it long ago,
> you can't expect that of people who might do one denic lookup per year

True. But if this lookup is so important, they are easily willing to try
the website. Of course, it's not nice, giving no hint at all. I've told
the folks here, maybe they'll insert a comment or something.


> But please don't take it that you should not implement it, if its no
> big deal (and for most its not), then please present text-only copy
> of documentation for most important options. And in general because
> most people do not even know about "?", please just present URL to 
> documentation in all other queries.

"Be generous in what you accept..." Yup :-)

Yours,
Elmar.

PS: Btw, "HELP" works...

--

"Begehe nur nicht den Fehler, Meinung durch Sachverstand zu substituieren."
  (PLemken, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)

--[ ELMI-RIPE ]---



Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread william(at)elan.net


On Tue, 18 Jan 2005, Elmar K. Bins wrote:

> > > eight million registered .de domain names, has also indicated that
> > > it is planning to bid.
> > 
> > For what it is worth, some consider the .de whois server broken; see
> > below. Let's note that the new RFC (3912) doesn't mention the "help
> > methodology" anymore.
> 
> And some call this not broken but necessary. I can explain off-list,
> if you like.

Why off-list? Just tell that you want to support multi-lingual domain names.
 
> > Further, these options are not documented anywhere, because the usual
> > "help" methodology, as documented by the RFC, doesn't work:
> 
> http://www.denic.de/en/domains/technik/denic_whois-server/index.html
> 
> (Easily found by searching for "whois", first hit - yes, I know, it's ugly,
> but you're still not telling the truth which is my point here)

I believe he meant that URL should be presented as part of normal whois 
answer. While me and others who "care" have already found it long ago,
you can't expect that of people who might do one denic lookup per year

> > $ telnet whois.denic.de whois
> > Trying 81.91.162.7...
> > Connected to whois.denic.de.
> > Escape character is '^]'.
> > ?
> > domain:  ?
> > status:  invalid
> 
> Which is defined in what RfC?
> If it is, I will gladly tell the folks to implement it.

? should produce documentation on how to use your whois server and what 
options it supports. However I've not seen many implement it and it
and in fact recent RFC3912 on whois does not even mention it any more.

But please don't take it that you should not implement it, if its no
big deal (and for most its not), then please present text-only copy
of documentation for most important options. And in general because
most people do not even know about "?", please just present URL to 
documentation in all other queries.

-- 
William Leibzon
Elan Networks
[EMAIL PROTECTED]



Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread Elmar K. Bins

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lionel Elie Mamane) wrote:

> >> $ telnet whois.denic.de whois
> >> Trying 81.91.162.7...
> >> Connected to whois.denic.de.
> >> Escape character is '^]'.
> >> ?
> >> domain:  ?
> >> status:  invalid
> 
> > Which is defined in what RfC?
> 
> RFC 954, which has recently (September 2004) been obsoleted by RFC
> 3912, which doesn't mention it anymore.

Yes, one could have seen that. I'll take the issue to the people involved.

Yours,
Elmar.

(Btw: "HELP" works...)

--

"Begehe nur nicht den Fehler, Meinung durch Sachverstand zu substituieren."
  (PLemken, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)

--[ ELMI-RIPE ]---



Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread Lionel Elie Mamane

On Tue, Jan 18, 2005 at 10:03:31AM +0100, Elmar K. Bins wrote:
> [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lionel Elie Mamane) wrote:

>>> A nonprofit firm in Frankfurt, Denic eG, which manages Germany's
>>> eight million registered .de domain names, has also indicated that
>>> it is planning to bid.

>> For what it is worth, some consider the .de whois server broken;
>> see below. Let's note that the new RFC (3912) doesn't mention the
>> "help methodology" anymore.

> And some call this not broken but necessary. I can explain off-list,
> if you like.

>> $ telnet whois.denic.de whois
>> Trying 81.91.162.7...
>> Connected to whois.denic.de.
>> Escape character is '^]'.
>> ?
>> domain:  ?
>> status:  invalid

> Which is defined in what RfC?

RFC 954, which has recently (September 2004) been obsoleted by RFC
3912, which doesn't mention it anymore.

-- 
Lionel


Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-18 Thread Elmar K. Bins

[EMAIL PROTECTED] (Lionel Elie Mamane) wrote:

> > A nonprofit firm in Frankfurt, Denic eG, which manages Germany's
> > eight million registered .de domain names, has also indicated that
> > it is planning to bid.
> 
> For what it is worth, some consider the .de whois server broken; see
> below. Let's note that the new RFC (3912) doesn't mention the "help
> methodology" anymore.

And some call this not broken but necessary. I can explain off-list,
if you like.


> The .DE whois server is broken. I should be able to telnet to the
> WHOIS server on the whois port, send it a domain, and get results.

You are getting results.

> $ telnet whois.denic.de whois
> Trying 81.91.162.7...
> Connected to whois.denic.de.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> denic.de
> domain:  denic.de
> status:  connect
> 
> Connection closed by foreign host.


> Further, these options are not documented anywhere, because the usual
> "help" methodology, as documented by the RFC, doesn't work:

http://www.denic.de/en/domains/technik/denic_whois-server/index.html

(Easily found by searching for "whois", first hit - yes, I know, it's ugly,
but you're still not telling the truth which is my point here)


> $ telnet whois.denic.de whois
> Trying 81.91.162.7...
> Connected to whois.denic.de.
> Escape character is '^]'.
> ?
> domain:  ?
> status:  invalid

Which is defined in what RfC?
If it is, I will gladly tell the folks to implement it.

Anyway, I see your point in that server being somewhat problematic if
you need more than "free/used"; yet the information is there, and
someone who really needs more info has no hard time finding the docs.

Yours,
Elmar.

--

"Begehe nur nicht den Fehler, Meinung durch Sachverstand zu substituieren."
  (PLemken, <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>)

--[ ELMI-RIPE ]---



Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-17 Thread Lionel Elie Mamane

On Mon, Jan 17, 2005 at 06:16:25PM -0800, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote:
> P.S.

> can anyone comment on the reputations of the .net registry
> administration contenders (no need to comment on verisign)?

> A nonprofit firm in Frankfurt, Denic eG, which manages Germany's
> eight million registered .de domain names, has also indicated that
> it is planning to bid.

For what it is worth, some consider the .de whois server broken; see
below. Let's note that the new RFC (3912) doesn't mention the "help
methodology" anymore.

 Begin Quote 

The .DE whois server is broken. I should be able to telnet to the
WHOIS server on the whois port, send it a domain, and get results. If
I do that, I get:

$ telnet whois.denic.de whois
Trying 81.91.162.7...
Connected to whois.denic.de.
Escape character is '^]'.
denic.de
domain:  denic.de
status:  connect

Connection closed by foreign host.

The only way to get "real" data out of the .DE whois server is to use
cryptic options:

$ telnet whois.denic.de whois
Trying 81.91.162.7...
Connected to whois.denic.de.
Escape character is '^]'.
-T dn,ace -C US-ASCII denic.de 
% Copyright (c)2004 by DENIC
% Version: 1.00.0
%
% Restricted rights.
[ snip ]


Further, these options are not documented anywhere, because the usual
"help" methodology, as documented by the RFC, doesn't work:

$ telnet whois.denic.de whois
Trying 81.91.162.7...
Connected to whois.denic.de.
Escape character is '^]'.
?
domain:  ?
status:  invalid

Connection closed by foreign host.

--
Lionel Elie Mamane


Re: Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-17 Thread davidb

[second posting attempt, apologies if the first 
identical post ever arrives]

On Mon, 17 Jan 2005 15:47:50 -0700, Michael Loftis 
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:

>It's clearly broken, and needs to be put up for
>public review by 'the powers that be' so that it can
>be fixed.  What's happening now feels close to a
>boiler room poker game, noone seems to know all the
>players, and even fewer know all the rules, so in the
>end everyone is a loser.

i suspect part of the reason for it feeling this way 
is because of the large amounts of money that are made 
specifically off of the .com and the .net registries.  
~$1.2 _billion_ for .com and ~$30 million for .net 
annually (numbers from the following article).  for 
what?  the actual costs involved in administering 
these databases can't be anywhere near the revenue 
generated.  the public is being bled for the greed of 
a few (as usual), imho.

anyhow, it also makes me wonder about the motivations 
behind this incident coming so close to the 
application deadline for administration of the .net 
registry ($30 million/year x 6 years minimum = 
$180,000,000).  i dislike conspiracy theories but i'm 
also a realpolitiker.

david
--
P.S.
can anyone comment on the reputations of the .net 
registry administration contenders (no need to comment 
on verisign)?



VeriSign Has Challengers to Run .Net, the Domain
By ELIZABETH OLSON
The New York Times

Published: January 17, 2005

WASHINGTON, Jan. 16 - As long as the Internet runs 
smoothly, few people think too much about its 
workings. But later this month, the system's 
underpinnings will become a topic of debate when rival 
companies publicly bid to run .net, one of the 
Internet's most popular domains.

This will be the first time that VeriSign's .net 
franchise will be challenged. While .net is not as 
ubiquitous as .com, it has more than five million 
registered domain names, which translates daily into 
millions of page views, 155 billion e-mail messages 
and some $1.4 million in commercial transactions, 
according to VeriSign, the company in Mountain View, 
Calif., that manages .com, as well as .net.

About 40 percent of government domains allow access 
through .net, including the White House, the United 
States Senate, Homeland Security agencies and the 
Social Security Administration, making it a vital 
Internet transportation layer, said Tom Galvin, a 
spokesman for VeriSign.

So far, at least three companies in addition to 
VeriSign have indicated that they plan to vie for the 
franchise, which expires June 30. They are NeuStar, a 
Sterling, Va., company that runs .biz, and Afilias, 
which manages .info. A nonprofit firm in Frankfurt, 
Denic eG, which manages Germany's eight million 
registered .de domain names, has also indicated that 
it is planning to bid.

Selecting the domain manager is the job of the 
Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers. 
But Icann finds itself in a ticklish position because 
it has publicly clashed with VeriSign over the 
company's proposed Site Finder service, which would 
redirect queries from inactive or defunct Web 
addresses to a search engine supported by advertisers 
signed up by VeriSign.

When Icann concluded that was an unacceptable 
diversion and refused to allow the service, VeriSign 
accused the group of overstepping its role and filed a 
lawsuit. The initial case was filed in federal court 
but set aside, and VeriSign refiled it in California 
state court, where it is pending.

To avoid "any perception of bias because of the 
litigation," Icann has decided to appoint an 
independent body to evaluate the applications, which 
are due Tuesday, said Icann's chief operating officer, 
Paul D. Twomey. A .net administrator is to be selected 
three months before VeriSign's contract expires.

"We are on record that the operator could be the 
present one," said Mr. Twomey.

The important point, he emphasized, is that the .net 
operator must have the technical capacity and the 
security safeguards to keep the domain up and running 
smoothly. The bidding process is also a sort of dress 
rehearsal for about 10 new domain names that are to be 
introduced and put up for bidding, he said. They 
include .jobs, .travel, .post and .mobi (for mobile 
phone content).

If VeriSign loses, it would not be the first Internet 
registry switch. In early 2003, VeriSign, as part of 
its deal to keep control of .com, agreed on 
competitive bidding for the management of .org and 
.net. The Public Interest Registry, a nonprofit group, 
won the bidding for .org. VeriSign is lobbying 
actively to hold onto its .net stewardship, however, 
lining up written support from major players including 
Microsoft and I.B.M.

At $5 a year for each domain name, VeriSign earns an 
estimated $30 million annually from administering .net 
- far less than its revenues for .com, which has 200 
million names at $6 each.

Mr. Galvin said that because of its effect on the 
United States economy, deciding on the .ne

Registrar and registry backend processes.

2005-01-17 Thread Michael Loftis
I think, briefly, that we need to force Verisign and the registrars to be 
FAR more public about the backend process for WHOIS data and for the TLD 
zone data.  Especially with .com, .net, and probably .org, and this latest 
failure of 'the system' and the obvious lack of information on 'the system.'

It's clearly broken, and needs to be put up for public review by 'the 
powers that be' so that it can be fixed.  What's happening now feels close 
to a boiler room poker game, noone seems to know all the players, and even 
fewer know all the rules, so in the end everyone is a loser.

I know this is adding fuel to the proverbial fire, but apparently we need 
to burn out this thing so we don't get scorched by yet another unexpected 
fire.