Dear Regional Techs: We are pleased to announce that the transition from older NACR versions to the new NACR 7.0 has been smooth and successful. We would like to thank you for your excellent cooperation in this continued improvement of the NSFNET configuration process. Please let us know if there are any problems with the new template or the configuration process. Send mail to autonacr@merit.edu. This message contains a couple of announcements/clarifications about the new NACR. (1) Class C Block Submission: It is allowed to submit a block of consecutive Class C addresses in a NACR. For example, %begin nsfnet nacr v7.0 netnum: 198.4.65 - 198.4.79 netname: ICM-2 orgname: Intellicom orgaddr: 30 South First Ave. orgcity: Highland Park orgstate: NJ orgzip: 08904 orgcc: US orgtype: C bbone: T3 homeas: 701 aslist: 1:701 2:702 aup: N action: A comment: %end nsfnet nacr In this example, the ip numbers to be configured are from 198.4.65 to 198.4.79, and their names are from "ICM-2" to "ICM-16". The values for the other fields are identical. Please note that the "netname" field should be filled with the network name of the first ip address of the block (e.g., 198.4.65 in the above example). Also, in order to use this feature of the NACR, network names, as registered with the InterNIC, need to consist of a "common-prefix" and "consecutive-number" (e.g., "ICM-" and "2"), and values for the other fields must be ***identical***. Otherwise, each ip number should be submitted separately as usual. (2) CC Related AS's: The majority of the regional techs have been consistent in doing so and we really appreciate that. However, to a few requestors who have not constantly followed this rule, we ask you: please copy all related AS's when you submit a NACR to help expedite its processing. Your cooperation is really important and necessary for us to maintain the service quality as we are faced with the ever-increasing number of configuration requests. Related AS's are automatically cc'd when you use the autonacr program on merit.edu. If you haven't signed up to use the program yet, or would like to test it, please send a note to autonacr@merit.edu or call Steve Richardson at 313-747-4813. (3) Older Versions of NACR: To a couple of requestors that are still using older versions: NACR Version 7.0 is required and please do not use older versions. The new NACR template and instruction are available from nic.merit.edu: nsfnet/announced.networks/template.net.README nsfnet/announced.networks/template.net (4) "Comment" field in NACR: The "comment" field in a NACR is parsed and goes into our track system. If the comment fields extend to multiple lines, please put "comment:" at the beginning of each comment line. Thank you for your cooperation, The Merit Internet Engineering Group ps. As always, if you'd like to discuss general issues or problems with the NSFNET service, contact me directly or send mail to the list nsfnet@merit.edu which is read by several Merit managers. Mark (313) 763-6061