web interface for ripe-141 form

Dear Local IRs,

During the LIR WG meeting at RIPE 31 in Edinburgh we discussed various
possibilities to implement a web interface for the IP request form.
We would like to further discuss this on the mailing list.

Note that we distinguish here between 'syntax checks' which merely
make sure the submitted form is sensible, and 'full checks' which
check the data it contains.

As a first step we propose to implement a public web page based at the
RIPE NCC that LIRs can use to check the syntax of their IP request
forms. The output will be a detailed error report or a request form
suitable for pasting into an email.

This would enable LIRs to check the syntax of a request before sending
it to RIPE NCC, or a LIR customer to check the syntax of a form before
sending it to the LIR. 

A next step would a web page based at the LIR's server that LIRs can
use to check the syntax of their IP request forms. The output will be
a detailed error report or an IP request form suitable for pasting
into an email.  The source code will be available to allow the LIR to
make this available to their customers, with hooks so additional
comments and local-language labels can be easily added or so the
result can be automatically sent by the program in an email. At this 
phase, support would be limited initially.

The last step would be a web page based at the RIPE NCC that will
allow LIRs *only* ( controlled by password) to submit an IP request
form.

This would mean:

- Requests within the LIR's assignment window will be fully checked but
  will *not* create a ticket and will *not* be forwarded to a RIPE NCC 
  hostmaster for further processing. 

- Requests outside the LIR's assignment window will be fully checked.
  A new ticket will be created and all submissions of the form will be
  added to the ticket. This ticket will be forwarded to a RIPE NCC
  hostmaster on passing all the checks, or exceeding the number of
  checks limit.


If you have any suggestions or comments, please let us know.


Kind Regards,

Maldwyn Morris

P.S. I am sending this mail to both the local-ir list and the lir-wg 
list, to make sure that everybody is aware of this discussion. However 
the discussion itself should take place on the lir-wg mailing list. If 
you are not subscribed to that list but wish to follow this discussion, 
please send a mail to majordomo at ripe.net with HELP in the body. You can 
also follow the discussion in the archives on our web site.- Paula 
Caslav