A Dedicated Routing Policy Specification Language Interface Identifier for Operational Testing
Extracted elements (12)
The pingable attribute was placed in the route/route6 object (rather than elsewhere in RPSL) to logically associate the diagnostic address with the IP prefix it belongs to, and a ping-hdl point of contact was added to enable operators to reach someone responsible for the advertised address.
The publication of the pingable attribute explicitly signals only the availability of ICMP Echo Request/Echo Response service at the specified address, not any other services, to limit assumptions external testers might make about what is available.
The pingable attribute extends RPSL as defined in RFC 2622 and RPSLng as defined in RFC 4012; implementations must support both IPv4 address syntax from RFC 2622 and IPv6 address syntax from RFC 4012 to handle pingable attributes in route and route6 objects respectively.
Network operators wishing to provide a diagnostic address MAY advertise its existence via RPSL using the pingable attribute in route and route6 objects.
Operators publicizing a pingable attribute MAY deploy other services at the same IP address beyond ICMP Echo Request/Response, but those services may be impacted by the ping service's publicity via RPSL.
Tests involving addresses advertised via the pingable attribute SHOULD be rate limited to no more than ten probes in a five-minute window unless prior arrangements are made with the maintainer of the attribute.
The IP address specified in a pingable attribute MUST fall within the IP address range advertised in the route/route6 object containing the pingable attribute.
The 'ping-hdl' attribute is an optional, multi-valued member of the RPSL route and route6 objects. Its value is a NIC handle that provides a link to contact information for an entity capable of responding to queries about the specified pingable IP address.
The 'pingable' attribute is an optional, multi-valued member of the RPSL route and route6 objects. Its value is an IPv4 or IPv6 address of a node that should be reachable from outside networks and can be used as a destination for diagnostic tests such as ICMP Echo Request.
RPSL-based routing registries require significant security; authentication and authorization weaknesses in RPSL (discussed in RFC 2725) are especially relevant given the potential for nefarious actors to abuse the pingable attribute to direct probes at victim addresses.
There is no technical guarantee that external users will honor the rate-limiting recommendation; operators publishing a pingable attribute are encouraged to deploy their own rate limiting and filter unintended services, protocols, and ports on the advertised IP address to reduce denial-of-service risk.
The pingable attribute value is either an <ipv4-address> as defined in RFC 2622 or an <ipv6-address> as defined in RFC 4012. The ping-hdl attribute value is a <nic-handle> as defined in RFC 2622.