Attributes of the APNIC Whois Database route object

APNIC Routing Registry

On 17 December 2002, APNIC will begin operating an Internet Routing Registry as part of the APNIC Whois Database. For more information, see APNIC Routing Registry.

Using route objects

Use route objects to help configure your network's routers. Route objects, in combination with the aut-num and other related objects, can be used to describe your routing policy in a compact form. This can help your network identify routing policy errors and omissions more easily than by reading long configuration files.

Use automated tools, such as IRRToolset, to retrieve information from the route objects to create router configuration files for different architectures. Configuration files produced this way are less prone to errors than manually configured routers.

If your network needs are complex, there are optional advanced technical attributes that allow you to specify route aggregation.

route template

To view the route template, see APNIC Whois Database object templates.

route attributes

The following describe the mandatory and optional attributes in a route object.

Mandatory attributes
Optional attributes

Note: Attributes marked with an asterisk (*) now support four-byte AS number syntax. For more information see the ASN resource guide.

Mandatory attributes

Attributes	Function	Description
route	Technical	The address prefix to be routed. Example: 202.137.181.0/20
descr	Administrative	A short description related to the object, including the organisation responsible for the route object.
origin*	Technical	The AS number used to route the address prefix described in the route attribute. The AS number must be registered in the APNIC Whois Database before it can be referenced in the route object. Note: if the same address prefix is routed by more than one AS, that is, the network is multihomed, the origin attribute distinguishes between route objects with the same prefix in the route attribute. Example: AS1
mnt-by	Administrative	The identifier of a registered mntner object used for authorisation and authentication. In the web interface, the mntner attribute contains a link to the specified mntner.
changed	Administrative	The email address of who last updated the database object and the date it occurred. The changed attribute is not a network contact address, as it merely records who made the most recent change to the registration information. All APNIC addresses will initially record an APNIC address in this field, as APNIC creates the first database object.
source	Administrative	The name of the database from which the data was obtained.

Optional attributes

Attributes	Function	Description
country	Administrative	Two letter code of the country where the admin-c is based. Details of country codes are specified in ISO3166.
holes	Technical - advanced	Lists address prefixes that are not reachable through the route. Use this attribute to identify parts of the route object's address prefix that have not yet been assigned.
member-of*	Technical	Identifies a route-set object of which you wish this route to be a member. Note: to be included as a member of the route-set, the route-set object must specify the maintainer of the route object in the route-set object's mbrs-by-ref attribute. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
inject*	Technical - advanced	Specifies which routers perform the aggregation and when the routers should perform the aggregation. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
aggr-mtd*	Technical - advanced	Specifies how the route aggregate is generated. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
aggr-bndry*	Technical - advanced	TA set of Autonomous Systems which form the aggregation boundary. If the aggr-bndry attribute is not included, the AS specified in the origin attribute is the sole aggregation boundary. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
export-comps	Technical - advanced	Specifies an RPSL filter that matches the more specific routes that need to be exported outside the aggregation boundary. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
components*	Technical - advanced	The component routes used to form the aggregate. For more information, see RFC 2622, section 8.1.
remarks	Administrative	General remarks. May include a URL or email address.
notify	Administrative	The e-mail address to which notifications of changes to an object should be sent.
mnt-lower	Administrative	If no mnt-routes attribute is included, the registered mntner object specified in the mnt-lower attribute is used to control the creation of more specific route objects within the prefix covered by this route object.
mnt-routes	Administrative	The identifier of a registered mntner object used to control the creation of route objects more specific than this route object.