Default behaviour for referred domain queries

Hello,
thanks for your input.
I will summarize here the modifications to the initial proposal of the referral mechanism that were discussed during the Edinburgh meeting.

In coincidence with your input, the db-wg also found that whenever the server shows data from a remote server instead of the local data in response to a query, the response should be preceded by a notice clearly informing the user that the information being displayed is coming from another server that contains the authoritative data.

It was also noted that the original proposal did not provide a way to look at the "local" object if it contained a refer attribute.

In order to avoid potential confusion from a mode of operation where two objects are displayed, it would be better to provide a whois flag (-R was agreed) that would disable the referral and show the local object.

Whenever data from a remote server is displayed the full message from that machine will be displayed (including any copyright messages provided by the remote server).

I think this satisfies all comments received. The DB group at the RIPE NCC is currently working according to this definition to get this feature fully implemented and tested in the RIPE DB within the next 3-4 weeks.

I hope this implementation satisfies everyone.

Regards,
Joao Damas
RIPE NCC