[db-wg] Proposal: DB object syntax change

Dear working group

I would like to propose syntax change of the role attribute of the ROLE
object in the RIPE DB. Bellow you can find all details.

I would like to hear your opinion about this idea and ask for the
support to allow RIPE NCC to implement it.

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Short description:

I would like to propose to change the syntax of the role attribute of
the ROLE object from <person-name> to <organisation-name>, where both
<person-name> and <organisation-name> are defined in RIPE Database
Update Reference Manual.

I would like to emphasize that I don't want to change the syntax of the
nic-hdl attribute of the ROLE object. Nevertheless, my proposal
influence the automatic mechanism of choosing the nic-hdl attribute
value of the ROLE object, while it is created with AUTO directive.

Rationale:

Abuse-c implementation have influenced business procedures of LIRs and
have led to increased importance of ROLE object. Since ROLE object is
mandatory in the process of proper abuse-c registration, LIRs could be
interested in automatic creation of it. Right now, due to its syntax,
the role attribute of the ROLE object has number of limitations and
cannot accept bunch of characters and or whole labels/words which are
natural parts of company names.

As an example, it is impossible to create ROLE objects with one of the
following role attributes:

- Company Father, Son & Daughter Abuse Team
- 4U Network Abuse Team
- 123 Ltd. Hostmaster
- WOW! Network Dept.

and so on.

Moreover, the original intention was for the ROLE object to represent
business roles and not personal data (see: paragraph 1.2.17 of the RIPE
Database Update Reference Manual).

Taking this into account the <organisation-name> would be the natural
choice since it both perfectly solves the problem and is already well
defined and implemented.

Possible problems:

As for now, the nic-hdl attribute of the ROLE object is auto-generated
and based on the value of the role attribute. Since <person-name> do not
allow all-numeric labels, this mechanism is quite simple. However,
similar mechanism exists for the auto-generated organisation attribute
of the ORGANISATION object, where <organisation-name> allows this kind
of labels.

While this is significant change to syntax, I would like to emphasize
that <person-name> is a subset of <organisation-name>. This means that
even if some people may rely on the current syntax, this change would
most probably not influence their procedures.

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Best regards,
Piotr

-- 
gucio -> Piotr Strzyżewski
E-mail: Piotr.Strzyzewski at polsl.pl