North American Network Operators Group

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Re: Spring 1999 NOC contact drill

  • From: Sean Donelan
  • Date: Wed Apr 21 15:06:49 1999

[email protected] (David Lesher) writes:
>Putting asides the spamhaus "[email protected]" ones, a large number
>of the addresses appear to be just plain obsolete; the sysadm
>moved on, etc.

I've gotten a few questions about how I collected the contact information
I'm using.  Since the Internet is doubling every xxxx days, some folks
may not remember this from last time.

I originally used sources such as WHOIS, Manning's in-addr.arpa TXT records
and various random web pages.  But was informed by a number of providers
that was unfair, because ARIN/NSI/whoever sometimes couldn't keep the updated
information in their databases or because the phone number some providers
prefer to list in their WHOIS records is for their sales department, not
their NOC.  Or they don't accept calls from non-customers.

So I changed.  The contact information I now use is based on the information
each provider gave when we signed an agreement or set up our interconnect
with them.  According to almost every peering agreement, it is the
responsibility of the peer to provide correct updated contact information,
even after being 'borged' by another company.

In all cases the contact information was provided directly by the other
ISP to me.  Some providers have given me direct phone numbers to their NOC,
others have given me phone numbers to their customer service departments.
I don't really care, its whatever phone number you think is most likely
to work 24x7.  I generally discourage personal cell-phone and pager numbers
though.  The test is really to reach the provider's crew, not an individual.

If you provide a direct-dial telephone number, it doesn't even cost you
the 1-800 charge.  The requirement for being listed is
   a) a provider connected to a major US exchange point (mae-east,
      mae-west, aads, paix, pacbell, sprint) or represent a major
      piece of Internet infrastructure (root-server, radb).  Everyone
      else I assume should be reached via their upstream provider.
   b) provided me a working contact telephone number and e-mail
   c) agree to take my call
   d) and confirmed the information when I did called.

It would also be nice if you agreed to peer with me, but that isn't a
strong requirement.  However, when I can't reach someone I don't peer
with, I just delete them from the list without following up.  I assume
calls should be directed through their upstream provider.  I don't intend
to check 6,000 different ISPs, just the 150 or so ISPs meeting those
conditions above.  And no, I do not believe or use Boardwatch's
classification of ISPs, which seems based on who advertises in their
publication more than any other factor.  Heck, they've listed ISPs who
didn't even have working routers at the time as "backbone providers."
-- 
Sean Donelan, Data Research Associates, Inc, St. Louis, MO
  Affiliation given for identification not representation