ACSP Suggestion 2023.1: Limit Length of Members Lines for API

Suggestion

Author: Joe Abley   
Submitted On: 30 January 2023

Description:

We publish an as-set object AS13335:AS-CUSTOMERS by sending XML payloads through the API in an automated fashion. This results in as-set objects being published and mirrored from rr.arin.net which has all the many members formatted on a single members: line in the resulting RPSL as-set object, like this:

  jabley@YYT0L7C2CL ~ % whois -h rr.arin.net as13335:as-customers
  as-set: AS13335:AS-CUSTOMERS
  descr: Cloudflare, Inc
  101 Townsend Street, San Francisco
  California 94107, US
  +1-650-319-8930
  remarks: ---------------
  Cloudflare announces its ASNs via many upstream ASNs
  All Cloudflare abuse reporting can be done via
  https://www.cloudflare.com/abuse
  ---------------
  members: AS31,AS112,AS823,AS1204,AS1294,AS1421,AS1448,AS1921,AS1958,AS2047,AS2535,AS2639,AS3268,AS3557,AS3756,AS3955,AS4058,AS4373,AS4657,AS4739,AS4802,AS4892,AS4927,AS5006,AS5032,AS5049,AS5390,AS5408,AS5419,AS5430,AS5539,AS5715,AS6169,AS6450,AS6752,AS6908,AS6973,AS7377,AS7380,AS7484,AS7545,AS7810,AS7828,AS8248,AS8643,AS8651,AS8660,AS8781,AS8831,AS8851,AS9011,AS9022,AS9090,AS9166,AS9426,AS9502,AS9520,AS9547,AS9554,AS9832,AS9942,AS10082,AS10384,AS10397,AS10461,AS10584,AS10641,AS10666,AS10668,AS10725,AS10823,AS11082,AS11086,AS11144,AS11179,AS11207,AS11298,AS11318,AS11326,AS11331,AS11334,AS11369,AS11374,AS11657,AS11744,AS12130,AS12179,AS12273,AS12564,AS12766,AS13008,AS13038,AS13267,AS13283,AS13428,AS13461,... many, many, many, many more... AS399868,AS399880,AS399921,AS399939,AS400011,AS400183,AS400566,AS400608

  admin-c: ADMIN2521-ARIN
  tech-c: ADMIN2521-ARIN
  tech-c: CLOUD146-ARIN
  mnt-by: MNT-CLOUD14
  created: 2021-07-15T17:06:11Z
  last-modified: 2022-11-18T19:53:28Z
  source: ARIN
  jabley@YYT0L7C2CL ~ %

This is all glorious legal RPSL but the long “members” line in the middle with no breaks causes problems for some people. For example, this is the full, non-truncated output from one (I think irrdv3 instance) that is mirroring the ARIN dataset, which gives a profoundly wrong answer:

  jabley@YYT0L7C2CL ~ % whois -h irr.wolcomm.net '!iAS-CLOUDFLARE,1'
  A61
  AS132892 AS13335 AS133877 AS14789 AS202623 AS209242 AS394536
  C
  jabley@YYT0L7C2CL ~ %

The XML schema for your REST API doesn’t allow us to specify how many members are stacked on a single line in the RPSL object you publish; that decision is made by your code when it constructs the RPSL. We confirmed this is true with your helpdesk, who gave us an entirely prompt and clear answer to that question.

So, what are the chances you could imagine a code change that limited the number of items on single members lines, so that instead of the big long line above you produced something like this?

  ...
  members: AS31, AS112, AS823, AS1204, AS1294, AS1421, AS1448, AS1921, AS1958, AS2047,
  members: AS2535, AS2639, AS3268, AS3557, AS3756, AS3955, AS4058, AS4373, AS4657,
  members: AS4739, AS4802, AS4892, AS4927, AS5006, AS5032, AS5049, AS5390, AS5408,
  members: AS5419, AS5430, AS5539, AS5715, AS6169, ... and so on
  ...

This ought to be entirely backwards-compatible with what you do right now, it just won’t cause other weak links in the IRR chain (so many weak links) barf in the same way.

Value to Community: Improved accuracy of global routing; increased compatibility with legacy IRR software; greater applicability of REST API

Timeframe: Not specified

Status: Open   Updated: 07 February 2023

Tracking Information

ARIN Comment

07 February 2023

Thank you for your suggestion, numbered 2023.1 upon confirmed receipt, asking that ARIN improve the RSPL output for as-set objects that limited the number of items on single members lines in order to make the output more accurate and useful.

We agree this change would result in better results for as-set object queries. We will investigate the requirements to build this new feature and schedule it for future development. Your suggestion will remain open until implemented.

Thank you for participating in the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process..

Regards,

American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)

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