Consultation for the Retirement of FTP Protocol Use at ARIN

Posted: Friday, 20 September 2024

ARIN is seeking feedback from the community on retiring FTP protocol support, which serves data from ftp.arin.net. ARIN has operated an FTP protocol service for various reports and templates since its inception. All the data that is currently provided via FTP is also available over HTTP and HTTPS.

ARIN is working to remove redundant and seldom-used services to allow future efforts to focus on the improvement of core services, reduce residual technical debt, and increase our security posture. Removing the FTP protocol aligns with these objectives.

ARIN will not remove the data or change the existing directory structure. HTTP/HTTPS transport will continue to reference the data as it does today.

ARIN intends to remove FTP protocol support on or after 31 March 2025. We are interested in knowing:

  • If there are ARIN customers who have a reliance on FTP that cannot be satisfied by obtaining data from ARIN via HTTP/HTTPS?
  • Does setting the date for 31 March 2025 provide sufficient time for customers who use FTP to move to HTTP/HTTPS?

Please provide comments to arin-consult@arin.net. You can subscribe to this mailing list at https://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-consult.

This consultation will remain open until 5:00 PM ET on 4 October. ARIN seeks clear direction through community input, so your feedback is important. This information will help with our planning and decision making.

Thank you for your continued support to improve ARIN’s services.

Regards,

John Curran
President and CEO
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)