Re: Regestry Identifiers

["David R. Conrad" <davidc@apnic.net>]

Michael,

>I find it odd that a WG that supposedly is dealing with the evolution of
>IP allocation procedures and which has stated they do not want to deal
>with domain name registration procedures is now welcoming domain name
>registration discussions within their BOF.

It would seem either you are confused or you have read something other
than what I wrote.  Let me state it as clearly as possible:

IRE is absolutely *NOT* welcoming domain name registration discussions
with the IRE meeting in San Jose.  IRE has NO INTEREST in domain name
discussions and has EXPLICITLY removed such issues from its charter.
IRE is focused on evolving Internet address allocation policies and
guidelines ONLY.

What I have proposed to the people on the IRE WG list is that IRE take
some time and kick off a discussion on DATABASE SCHEMAS, TRANSPORT
PROTOCOLS, and DATA FORMATS to allow the various registries to
exchange data.  There is no intention for the discussion to focus on
domain names, domain name allocation policies, or any other domain
name related topic.

>No doubt the cofusion comes because the IP allocation folks insist on
>using the term "registry" which makes it seem that there is some
>relationship between IP allocation and domain name registries.

It would appear _your_ confusion comes from your misunderstanding of
the difference between allocation and registration.  Both the existing
address allocation entities (APNIC, RIPE-NCC, InterNIC's address
allocation servic, etc) AND domain name allocation entities (ISO-3166
TLD administrators, InterNIC domain name allocation service, AlterNIC,
etc) maintain REGISTRATION databases to "register" who has been
delegated control over what resource -- this is why they are called
"registries".

It seems logical to me that the address allocation entities and the
domain name allocation entities share database schemas and data
formats in order to allow for exchange of contact information so you
don't have to update your contact information in multiple places.
Given there will be a BOF that addresses domain name issues, I would
propose that the time for the database schema and format discussions
be split among IRE and the domain BOF.

I hope this helps ease your confusion.

Regards,
-drc

P.S. I have added "Changing the name of the working group" to the
     IRE agenda.