Transfer Log Format (prop-142)
This specification outlines the production process, naming, and format for transfer logs produced as a result of the community-approved policy prop-142: “Unify Transfer Policies Text”.
Table of contents
1. Production process
2. File naming
3. File availability
4. File format
4.1 Comments
4.2 Header
4.3 Records
5. Validation/assumptions
6. Data retention
1. Production process
APNIC will produce the transfer log on a daily basis. The records will be accumulative, starting on 10 February 2010, the date when the APNIC transfer, merger, acquisition, and takeover policy (apnic-123-v001) was first implemented.
An MD5 checksum is to be computed on the file, and published under a matching name, with file extension .md5.
A PGP signature is also to be computed on the file, and published under a matching name, with file extension .asc.
The current date’s file will be stored in the home directory, while the previous date’s logs will be archived in a folder that is named after the year of the archive.
2. File Naming
Each file is called transfer-all-apnic-yyyymmdd.
3. File Availability
Data will be available by FTP. Data will be publicly visible and will not require access control. The home directory URL is:
- https://ftp.apnic.net/transfers-all/apnic/
4. File Format
The file consists of comments, a header line, and records – one record per line. Header and record lines are structured as
comma-separated values (CSV), with leading and trailing blank text in fields not meaningful.
The vertical line character “|” (ASCII code 0x7c) is used as the CSV field separator.
4.1 Comments
Comments are denoted by # at the beginning of a line. No line-embedded comments are permitted. Comments may occur at any place in the file.
Example:
- #optional comments.
- #any number of lines.
- #another optional comment.
Blank lines are permitted, and may occur at any place in the file.
4.2 Header
The first non-blank line after the comments is the header line that contains the field names describing the content of each column.
4.3 Records
After the header line, the following lines will contain the actual transfer information.
Format:
resource_type|resource|from_organisation|from_economy|from_rir|previous_delegation_date|to_organisation|to_economy|to_rir|transfer_date|transfer_type
Where:
- resource_type
The type of resource that was transferred, e.g. “ipv4”, “ipv6”, or “asn” - resource
The prefix that was transferred, e.g. 192.168.0.0/24 - from_organization
The name of the organization the resource was transferred from (source). - from_economy
The economy from where the resource was transferred. - from_rir
The regional internet registry from where the resource was transferred. - previous_delegation_date
The date when the source organization received the resource. - to_organization
The organization name to where the resource was transferred (recipient). - to_economy
The economy to where the resource was transferred. - to_rir
The regional internet registry to where the resource was transferred. - transfer_date
The date when the recipient organization received the resource. - transfer_type
The type of the transfer: one of ‘Unused’, ‘M&A’, and ‘HRT’.Unused – Transfers processed under IPv4 and ASN transfer policy
M&A – Transfers processed under Merger and Acquisition policy
HRT – Transfers processed under Historical Resource Transfer policy
5. Validation/assumptions
Check the log file’s integrity by verifying the MD5 checksum and PGP signature files.
The recipient’s holding of the transferred resource can be tested further by looking up the prefix on the APNIC Whois Database.
6. Data retention
Official documents will, in most cases, be published in text (.txt) and HTML file formats. HTML documents may differ from the text versions by way of the inclusion of hyperlinks, formatting, and graphics; however, in case of any differences in content, the text version will be considered to be the official document.
In some cases, particular layout requirements may require that the official document is published in Portable Document Format (.pdf) or similar format.
APNIC is now publishing a new transfer log in accordance with prop-142 that includes M&A and HRT transfer data. Please see https://www.apnic.net/about-apnic/corporate-documents/documents/policy-development/transfer-log-format-prop-142/ for details.