RIR Statistics Exchange Format
This specification defines the file production cycle, naming and
content for the RIR statistics files.
The RIR statistics files summarize the current state of allocations
and assignments of Internet number resources. They are intended to
provide a snapshot of the status of Internet number resources,
without any transactional or historical details.
This format replaces the previous statistics exchange format, and
differs from it in significant ways.
The details of this format are to be considered a published RIR
standard, on which other parties are expected to rely. RIRs must
comply with this standard in every respect.
1. Production Process
Each RIR periodically produces a text file of records as
described below, representing all of the allocations and
assignments which have been made by that RIR to that date.
This file is to be produced daily. The last time of any record
for the file is 23:59:59 in the local time zone of the producing
RIR. (i.e. the last possible time on the specified calendar
day in that time zone)
An MD5 checksum is to be computed on the file, and published
under a matching name, with file extension .md5 appended.
A PGP or other cryptographically strong signature can also be
computed, and published under a matching name with suitable
extension.
2. File naming and exchange
2.1 File name:
Each file is called delegated-<registry>-yyyymmdd
The <registry> value follows the internal record format and is
one of the specified strings from the set:
{apnic,arin,iana,lacnic,ripencc};
This set may be altered to add, remove or modify registries.
The yyyymmdd is the date, local not UCT, on which the file was
produced.
The file is marked delegated-<registry> to discriminate it from
any other <registry> files produced in another context. These
would be expected to be named in a different file-tree, but if
accidentally placed in the same directory would cause no data loss.
Data compression is optional. If compressed, the normal file
suffix is used to denote the compression algorithm. (.gz, .bz2, .zip etc)
The most recent file (named as follows) must be available in
a non-compressed form.
The most recent file will also be available under a name of
the form delegated-<registry>-latest. This can be a symbolic
or hard link to the delegated-<registry>-yyyymmdd file but must
be pointed at the most recent file when it is updated.
This is to permit automatic fetching of the current data via
a persistent URL, in systems jobs, or in browser bookmarks or
other stored form.
2.2 File exchange:
Each RIR will make its files available in a standard ftp
directory, defined as /stats/<registry>/*. Data will be lodged
within 3 business days (locally for each RIR) of the date of
the file, in the source RIR location.
The RIR may mirror each others data. If an RIR does mirror
files from others RIRs, the standard path directory remains
the same, i.e., /stats/<registry>/* where <registry> is the
RIR being mirrored.
2.3 File availability:
Data will be available by FTP, and additionally by any other
access method the RIR chooses. This may include alternative
URLs, but these will reflect the common naming model. Data will
be publicly visible and will not require access control (world-
readable).
Examples:
http://www.apnic.net/stats/<registry>/delegated-<registry>-latest
rsync www.apnic.net::/stats/<registry>/delegated-<registry>-latest
ftp://ftp.apnic.net/pub/stats/<registry>/delegated-<registry>-latest
(The use of a standard prefix in a URL such as /pub/ in FTP
servers is not considered obligatory, and does not define the
URL for use in HTTP or other access methods. The defined URL
base is /stats/<registry>/ across all application-specific
access methods.)
3. File format
The file consists of comments, file header lines, and records,
one record per line. Header and record lines are structured as
'comma separated fields' (CSV), with leading and trailing blank text
in fields not meaningful.
The vertical line character '|' (ASCII code 0x7c) is used as the
CSV field separator.
After the header lines, records are not sorted.
3.1 Comments:
Comments are denoted by # at the beginning of a line. No
line-embedded comments are permitted. Comments may occur at
any place in the file.
Example:
#optional comments.
# any number of lines.
#another optional comment.
Blank lines are permitted, and may occur at any place in the file.
3.2 File header:
The file header consists of the version line and the summary
lines for each type of record. There must be only one version
line, which must be the first line of the header. There must
be at exactly one summary line for each type of record which
appears in the file.
3.2.1 The Version line:
Format:
version|registry|serial|records|startdate|enddate|UTCoffset
version = format version number of this file, currently 2;
registry = as for records and filename (see below);
serial = serial number of this file (within the creating RIR series);
records = number of records in file, excluding blank lines,
summary lines, the version line and comments;
startdate = start date of time period, in yyyymmdd format;
enddate = end date of period, in yyyymmdd format;
UTCoffset = offset from UTC of local RIR producing file,
in +/- HHMM format.
3.2.2 The Summary line:
The summary lines count the number of record lines of each type in the file.
Format:
registry|*|type|*|count|summary
registry = as for records (see below);
* = an ASCII '*' (unused field, retained for spreadsheet purposes);
type = as for records (defined below);
count = the number of record lines of this type in the file;
summary = the ASCII string 'summary' (to distinguish the record line).
Note that the count does not equate to the total amount of
resources for each class of record. This is to be computed from
the records themselves.
3.3 Record format:
After the defined file header, and excluding any space or
comments, each line in the file represents a single allocation
(or assignment) of a specific range of Internet number resources
(IPv4, IPv6 or ASN), made by the RIR identified in the record.
In the case of IPv4 the records may represent non-CIDR ranges
or CIDR blocks, and therefore the record format represents a
beginning of range, and a count. This can be converted to
prefix/length using simple algorithms.
In the case of IPv6 the record format represents the prefix
and the count of /128 instances under that prefix.
Format:
registry|cc|type|start|value|date|status[|extensions...]
registry = One value from the set of defined strings:
{apnic,arin,iana,lacnic,ripencc};
cc = ISO 2-letter country code of the organization to which the
allocation or assignment was made, and the enumerated
variances of
{AP,EU,UK}
These values are not defined in ISO 3166 but are widely used.
type = Type of Internet number resource represented in this record,
One value from the set of defined strings:
{asn,ipv4,ipv6}
start = In the case of records of type 'ipv4' or 'ipv6'
this is the IPv4 or IPv6 'first address' of the range.
In the case of an 16 bit AS number the format is
the integer value in the range 0 to 65535, in the
case of a 32 bit ASN the value is in the range 0
to 4294967296. No distinction is drawn between 16
and 32 bit ASN values in the range 0 to 65535.
value = In the case of IPv4 address the count of hosts for
this range. This count does not have to represent a
CIDR range.
In the case of an IPv6 address the value will be
the CIDR prefix length from the 'first address'
value of <start>.
In the case of records of type 'asn' the number is
the count of AS from this start value.
date = Date on this allocation/assignment was made by the
RIR in the format YYYYMMDD;
Where the allocation or assignment has been
transferred from another registry, this date
represents the date of first assignment or allocation
as received in from the original RIR.
It is noted that where records do not show a date of
first assignment, this can take the 00000000 value.
status = Type of allocation from the set:
{allocated, assigned}
This is the allocation or assignment made by the
registry producing the file and not any sub-assignment
by other agencies.
extensions = Any extra data on a line is undefined, but should conform
to use of the field separator used above.
4. Validation/assumptions
Validation is assisted by the file headers, using the "records"
field. Also by checking the file name against its contents,
and by use of the detached MD5 and/or other checksum files.
Within any one file. there should be no overlap of assigned
records by their base address and count or prefix length. During
the transfer of management of a resource from one RIR to another,
it is possible that there will be overlapping records when
comparing each file.
It is assumed that any one file only contains records with
registry field set to the value of the file-producing RIR.
Early Registration Transfers (ERX) do not have any special
tagging in this format. As resource management responsibility
moves between the RIR then resource records will move between
stats files. ERX records are expected to move from the old to
the new registry at the end of any defined transfer window.
This minimizes the risk of data overlap and avoids unnecessary
changes to data.
5. Non-Registry allocated and assigned data
Historical assignments which are not under regional Internet
registry management will not be included in the RIR produced files.
An instance of the known state of these 'IANA' assignments will be
incorporated in the mirroring system if maintained by IANA.
6. Extensions to the format
Extensions to this format may be made by mutual agreement among
the participating registries.
7. MD5 Hash File format
As previously indicated, an MD5 checksum is to be computed on the file
and published under a matching name with the file extension .md5 appended.
The format of the hash file will be a single line formatted as follows:
MD5 (<filename>) = <hash>
where <filename> is the name of the file to which the hash applies
and <hash> is the calculated MD5 checksum.
E.g.,
MD5 (delegated-apnic-20031119) = 64175f7e728732743b3acc28c00c2179
8. Cryptographic signing
As previously stipulated, a PGP or other cryptographically strong
signature may also be computed and published under a matching
name with suitable extension.
8.1 Recommended method
The recommended method at this time is to sign the file using GPG
and to publish the signature under a matching file name with the file
extension .asc appended. An example of a file signed in this manner
follows:
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE-----
Version: GnuPG v1.0.6 (GNU/Linux)
Comment: For info see http://www.gnupg.org
iEYEABECAAYFAj+6U64ACgkQyzQvAdFSThS5ZQCfcbE3+7UnaBe2SNysWrq+xpVB
rZEAmwRdPkylmvhCNnt5th5jxHBmIngF
=kxyA
-----END PGP SIGNATURE-----
8.2 Publishing of public key
If the RIR chooses to cryptographically sign the statistics file,
it is recommended that the public key needed to verify the signature
be published or a link to the public key be created in the same
directory location of the latest statistics and accompanying files.
The name of the public key file (or link thereto) should follow the
form delegated-<rir>-key where <rir> conforms to the values identified
in section 2.1. This will prevent confusion in the event that an RIR
uses distinct keys for signing different sets of published files.
ARIN has retired its old key to delegated-arin-key_20080908 and
has replaced it with a new key in the delegated-arin-key file.
9. Data retention
There is no obligation on any registry to retain previous files, once
a new file is produced and lodged for public access.