RIPE-NONAUTH NWI-22 still needs fresh counts and rules

Summary

RIPE NCC’s 9 October problem statement put RIPE-NONAUTH at about 44,526 objects and forecast an initial reduction of roughly 60% from two cleanup tests.
At RIPE 93, staff said the cross-database test would require the same prefix and origin; the cited candidate counts came from the previous year and would be refreshed.

The percentage arrived before the current inventory. On 9 October, RIPE NCC database staff proposed removing RIPE-NONAUTH objects that matched a valid ROA and objects that matched a record elsewhere. The post put the first group at about 16,497 and the second at about 27,449, against a database of roughly 44,526 objects. Those class estimates are not a unique-removal tally: the proposal gives an overall initial reduction of about 60%, and never says the two groups do not overlap.

The proposal is now NWI-22. At the RIPE 93 Database Working Group session, Edward Shryane said feedback had been positive and that he would follow with a Solution Definition. He clarified the second test in the room: an exact match means the same prefix and origin, not a broader or more-specific covering relationship. He also said the published counts came from the previous year and would be updated. That answer narrows the rule; it also dates the sales pitch. “About 60%” is a forecast built on a candidate exercise that has not yet been refreshed in the public record.

The next document has to turn a useful cleanup principle into a reproducible deletion test. For each candidate, operators need to know which fields must match, how a “valid ROA” is evaluated, when the inventory was measured, and what happens when a record changes between measurement and removal. The problem statement says advance notice and an opt-out path will be defined later. Shryane told RIPE 93 that maintainers had been contacted in the previous exercise and another notification round was planned.

RIPE NCC’s quarterly plan still labels the work “Starting”; that page was last updated in September, before NWI-22. The October member update calls the cleanup proposed and invites feedback. Those labels are not contradictory snapshots: one is an older plan, the other a newer proposal. NWI-22 is a work item, not a deletion run. Queries and NRTM mirroring are explicitly meant to continue, and the problem statement excludes objects created under IANA or ICANN action.