reserved strings in RPSL

Dear Frank,

Indeed there has been some confusion about these reserved prefixes. This
restriction comes from RPSL specification. The idea behind is to provide
clear identification of a set (as-set, route-set, etc.) when used along
with other types of objects ( in the "members" attribute, in routing
policy expressions).

In the RPSL spec (RFC2622) this restriction applies to "<object_name>",
which boils down to all sets (as-set, route-set, rtr-set, peering-set,
filter-set), mntner and "as-name" attribute of aut-num object. 

So this restriction doesn't apply to nic-handles.

Regards,

Andrei Robachevsky
RIPE NCC


Frank Bohnsack wrote:
> 
> Dear RIPE DB colleagues,
> 
> In my understanding of your "Transition to RIPE DB v3.0" draft
> and RFC2622, a NIC handle like AS-XXXX is not allowed by RPSL.
> 
> But, I could create a handle like this in your TEST DB:
> 
> fb at sun5 454> whois -h rpsl.ripe.net -p 4343 as-ripe
> % This is the RIPE beta whois server for testing updates.
> % Send mail to <auto-rip at ripe.net> to update it.
> 
> % Rights restricted by copyright.
> % See http://www.ripe.net/ripencc/pub-services/db/copyright.html
> 
> person:     Frank Bohnsack
> ...
> nic-hdl:    AS-RIPE
> notify:     fb at de.uu.net
> changed:    fb at de.uu.net 20010124
> source:     RIPE
> mnt-by:     uunet-mnt
> 
> I found AS-RIPE also at "whois:rpsl.ripe.net:43", but this is
> only a RPSL mirror of "whois:whois.ripe.net:43" and not complete
> RPSL conform (e.g. names as admic/tech-c: value in place
> of NIC handles).
> 
> cheers
> frank