[sdnog] Can not get the real ASNs using traceroute -a

[Patrick Okui]

On 24 Sep 2020, at 17:06 EAT, Sara Alamin wrote:

> $ whois -f afrinic.net 197.254.230.177
> inetnum:        197.254.224.0 - 197.254.255.255
> netname:        Canar-Telecom
> descr:          Kanar Telecommunication (Canar Telecom Co.Ltd)
> country:        SD
> org:            ORG-KTL1-AFRINI
>
> this correct,  but on RADB as Patrick showed us,  we don't get the 
> same answer. so aren't these databases syncing from each other? and as 
> Nishal's said this is always CANAR prefix , so how come RADB accept 
> different origins for the same prefix.

Frank has explained who can update RADB, and who can update the RIR 
databases. One other thing to note is when you do a whois lookup, 
typically the very first line tells you what type of object has matched 
your query.

“inetnum:” objects are typically about IP allocations. (add -B to 
your command line to see the full object). When someone logs into their 
AFRINIC page and starts putting details of where they have allocated 
what, the system creates these objects. As such when you look at the 
“parent” attribute you’ll see another object telling you which 
block this space was carved from. If you do a lookup on that you’ll 
eventually find an object created by the RIR. and mnt-by: will have the 
RIRs handle. For Canar, the very first one you see is the AFRINIC 
created one matching the AFRINIC allocation to Canar. This means Canar 
haven’t gone to create entries of how they’ve allocated/used the 
address space. (Can have implications when they need extra address space 
but that’s another discussion).

“route:” objects are about what announcements the holder of IP space 
is going to make into BGP. The RIRs have no clue how you plan to 
announce your address space so you never find a “route:” object 
automatically created for you.

I intentionally didn’t talk about your trace from Zain. They’re 
using RFC1918 address space so it is correct that you see AS0 as the 
origin. However, that’s a topic that can get some people boiling :-D

The AFRINIC database working group have a meeting on 30th. It’s not an 
introductory/training meeting but people who are interested in the state 
of the AFRINIC databases should join and listen in.

--
patrick