Point of Contact (POC) Records

Introduction

Points of Contact (POCs) represent a specific person or role in ARIN’s database. A POC record in ARIN’s database is defined by contact information including individual or role name, email address, postal address, and phone number. A POC handle is the auto-generated alphanumeric ID assigned to a POC record by ARIN Online (for example, YZ55-ARIN).

A POC can be specified as an Admin, Tech, Abuse, Network Operations Center (NOC), Routing, or DNS contact for an organization. For more information on the types of POCs and the roles they can take in managing organization details, please see the Introduction to ARIN’s Database page. The Internet community uses POC information to communicate with a person about an Org; for example, if someone needs to report network abuse, they can use the contact information for the Abuse POC to let them know of a problem or issue.

You should create a POC if you:

• Need to request and manage organization and resource records
• Will serve as a contact for network operation or abuse issues

Methods for POC Creation

You establish and manage your POC records online by first creating an ARIN Online account. You can then create, modify, and remove POCs by:

• using ARIN Online (Choose Point of Contact records from the Dashboard, or Your Records > Point of Contact Records from the navigation menu.)
• using scripts to automatically create POCs with REST calls using the RESTful Provisioning System. This provisioning system allows for more secure interactions with ARIN’s database and provides even stronger authentication on automated submissions.

Creating a POC

Method 1: ARIN Online

After setting up and logging in to your ARIN Online account, you’ll be prompted to link your ARIN Online account to an existing POC or create a new POC.

Method 2: RESTful Web Service

Visit our RESTful Methods page for more information and to view the API documentation for ARIN’s RESTful web service.

Linking a POC to Your ARIN Online Account

Available in ARIN Online Only

Having a POC linked to an ARIN Online account is necessary for many actions available through ARIN Online, via RESTful calls, and for template submissions. If you already have a POC that exists in ARIN’s database, you can link it to your ARIN Online account.

To link a POC to your ARIN Online account:

1. Select Your Records > Point of Contact Records in the navigation menu. The Point of Contact Records page displays any POCs that are already linked to your ARIN Online account.
2. In the POC Actions menu, choose Link POC.
3. Enter search criteria to find the desired POC and choose Search. (POC Handle is the default search field; you can choose More Search Fields to enter additional search criteria.)
4. In the Results field, locate the correct POC and choose Use this POC. You can choose more than one POC. The chosen POCs are listed as POCs Selected to be Linked.
5. Choose Submit POCs.
6. The ARIN Online user associated with the POC will receive an email request to confirm the link with your ARIN Online account. To confirm the link, the user must enter the authorization URL included in the email into a web browser while logged into their ARIN Online account.

Modifying a POC

Method 1: ARIN Online

1. Select Your Records > Point of Contact Records in the navigation menu.
2. Choose the POC that you want to modify from the POCs listed under POCs Associated with Your User Account. Additional information about the POC is displayed, and the Modify button is shown.
3. Choose Modify to open the POC Record page.
4. Edit the desired information and choose Submit. Your changes will be visible immediately in your ARIN Online account, and ARIN’s Whois will reflect the update shortly thereafter.

Method 2: RESTful Web Service

Visit our RESTful Methods page for more information and to view the API documentation for ARIN’s RESTful web service.

Removing a POC

Method 1: ARIN Online

To remove (delete) a POC:

1. Select Your Records > Point of Contact Records and then choose the POC Name to open the Point of Contact Records page.
2. In the POC Info section, choose Remove this POC.
3. Confirm the removal.

Method 2: RESTful Web Service

Visit our RESTful Methods page for more information and to view the API documentation for ARIN’s RESTful web service.

Using a POC

To request resources, manage resources, or be listed as a contact for your organization, your POC must be associated with an organization identifier (Org ID). To see a list of the Org IDs you are associated with through the POCs linked to your ARIN Online account, select Your Records > Organization Identifiers in the navigation menu while logged in. If you don’t see an Org ID for your organization, and you need to add a new Org ID, please review the organization instructions for information on creating a new Org ID.

If you should be associated with an existing organization, but are not, you’ll need to ask one of the users who is a POC for that organization to link your newly-created POC to the Org ID. Note that you cannot add your new POC to the Org ID yourself; someone currently listed as a POC (for that Org ID) must do so for you. Please refer the user to the instructions for associating Points of Contact (POCs) with an Org ID in ARIN Online.

Validating Your POC Information

In accordance with NRPM Section 3.6: Annual Validation of ARIN’s Public Whois Point of Contact Data, an email will be sent to every Tech, Admin, NOC, and Abuse POC for organizations with a direct assignment, direct allocation, or ASN from ARIN (or one of its predecessor registries), as well as for organizations with a reallocation from an upstream ISP. Each POC will have a maximum of 60 days to respond with an affirmative that their Whois contact information is correct and complete.

When you receive the POC validation email, please copy and paste the secure link into your browser to validate your POC, or log into your ARIN Online account. An alert on your ARIN Online dashboard will let you know that you have POCs that need validation. A list of unvalidated POCs is also provided. Choose the link in the alert, or select each individual POC in the list to validate it.

If you need to update your POC, please log into ARIN Online to update your POC information.

If you do not validate your POC, after 60 days, unresponsive POC records will be marked as invalid in the database. Users with unvalidated POCs will only have limited access to Terms of Service and POC functionality within ARIN Online. Users will need to validate or update their POC information in order to access all other functionality. After the POC is validated, full functionality will be restored to the ARIN Online account.

Recovering a POC

Available in ARIN Online Only

If you have a POC with an inaccessible email address, you may be able to have the email address updated by submitting a POC Recovery Request. You can only recover a POC that represents you, or in the case of a role POC, a role that you perform. After you confirm your access to the new email address, a ticket is created. POC recovery requests are manually reviewed by ARIN staff.

To submit a POC recovery request:

1. Select Your Records > Point of Contact Records in the navigation menu.
2. In the POC Actions menu, choose Recover POC and follow the search instructions.
3. After locating the POC you want to recover, choose Use This POC.
4. Enter the new email address for the POC and choose Submit. ARIN will send a request to the new email address to authorize the change.
5. After receiving the verification email, make sure you are logged in to ARIN Online and enter the URL contained in the authorization request. The system will create a ticket for ARIN staff to manually review the request.