NIC-Handle Mandatory.

Dear Colleagues,

>From 15th May, new person objects must have a NIC-handle.
Normally, RIPE nic-hdl's are used.  RIPE format NIC-handle's 
may be obtained using the "AUTO-1" process (see below).

If a person being registered in the RIPE database currently 
holds a registered NIC-handle assigned by the the InterNIC 
or the APNIC, it can be used as the NIC-handle in the RIPE 
database person object.  If, in conjunction with the work on 
registry database exchange taking place in the RIDE working 
group of the IETF, the list of databases, and in particular 
the list of acceptable NIC-handles should be expanded or 
otherwise modified, the above statement will of course be 
modified accordingly.

If you have anymore questions, please contact
<ripe-dbm at ripe.net>.

Regards,

Ambrose Magee
____________________________
RIPE Database Administration.



How to get a RIPE NIC-Handle
-------------------------
You can get a RIPE NIC-handle by putting the following in 
the NIC handle field of the person object update:

nic-hdl: AUTO-1

OR

nic-hdl: AUTO-1YourInitials

The second case advises the database software to use
YourInitials (no more then 4 characters) for build-
ing the NIC handle while the first case asks the
database software to find the initials itself.

You can use the same identifiers (AUTO-1 or
AUTO-1YourInitials) in the same update message in
other objects as a reference. The database software
will then fill in the freshly assigned NIC handles
in the objects. Note that you can also use other
numbers (example: AUTO-2) so that you can update
more person objects and objects that reference the
persons in one E-mail message.

Example:


domain:  over.ripe.net
admin-c: AUTO-1
tech-c:  AUTO-2
[ ... stuff deleted ...]

person:  Ambrose Magee
nic-hdl: AUTO-1
[ ... stuff deleted ...]

role:  RIPE DBM
nic-hdl: AUTO-2
[ ... stuff deleted ...]


N.B.  To obtain a NIC-handle for a role object, use the
same procedure as for a person object.

Further information is available from:

<http://www.ripe.net/docs/ripe-153.html>
<ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-153.ps>
<ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-153.txt>