On Sat, 20 January 2001, Dan Hollis wrote:
Youre lucky. Ive noticed an increasing trend that the NOC phone numbers listed on corporate web pages come back as disconnected/RNA, and the emails bounce "no such user". Real cute, especially when you're being ddos'd.
whois data is even worse. I suspect upwards of 25% of whois contact data is worthless.
This is not new, or even an increasing trend. I used to contact between 80 and 100 different NOCs every six months. I would call every NOC contact phone number, and ask them to confirm it was the correct phone number. Its amazing how many NOC's didn't know their own number. And when I told them what number I had dialed, didn't know that number was connected to their NOC. The phone number churn was a consistent 30%, even with contact information exchanged in accordance with written peer agreements. Every six months it would take me almost a week to reach 90 or so NOCs, and get the current contact information. In the case of a couple of NOCs, in three years I was never able to reach anyone at the NOC willing to confirm the information. I used to post the results of my "drill" on NANOG. IOPS set up a contact list for its members, and for a while was doing monthly drills. But since IOPS's keeps it a secret, I don't know how successful they've been. About two years ago, I proposed to all major providers we set up a set of permanent, private communication links between all the NOCs. The "phone number" would be your ASN(s). The system would be based on the same technology used by the NAWAS and NTA. Which lets you set up an instant conferences. I can set up the system so those providers who want to talk in "private," have conferences as small as two parties or as large as everyone on the network, while monitoring multiple circuits at the same time. 10 providers thought it was a good idea, but the two largest providers never responded to any inquiries. I can bring the idea out of mothballs again, if folks are interested.