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RIPE Handle: Has To Be Legal/Business Entity?
Hello, I currently rent a server from Hetzner and an additional /28 subnet.
Hetzner allows me to create and attach a RIPE handle to my subnets.
Here's the thing, I'm a very very small hosting provider, I mostly use the servers for myself and therefor the revenue barely covers the cost of the servers. In other words, I have no need to register myself as a company.
Having that said, I still would much prefer that the contact listed under my subnets would be the name of my hosting "company", and not my own name. I could of course leave it as "Hetzner Online GmbH" but it makes it look kind of cheap from a customer perspective.
The question is, does the "Organization" field (RIPE handle "name") has to be a legal/business entity, or can it be a trading name or in other words, anything?
All answers are appreciated.
Comments
No. You neither own the IP subnet nor the hardware.
To reflect your or your company's name on your IP you must own the IP which DC will announce for you using your own ASN
Most of time you require to own your own hardware (router switches)
Some company's will announce your IP even when you don't have your own hardware
But you should have your own IP block.
By renting a dedicated server doesn't mean you own their resources..
I don't see how that has anything to do with my thread, but I'll trust you that my thread wasn't all too clear and edit it now.
Maybe I did misunderstand the issue. Kindly please correct me..
As per my understanding you did rent a dedicated server from hetzner and set organization with your details to show your organization name when people search the IP.. Am I right?
If yes the I have already answered.
I don't think it will show your organization name as the IP owed by Hetzner and it's announced with their ASN
Maybe @RickBakkr can answer?
@Viridweb - I think he is talking about SWIPing the address space to change the name to his. He should really contact RIPE and ask them how to change it so he can use his trade name appropriately as a sole proprietorship (ie not a LLC or corp, but still for all legal purposes a business)
I think I understood what you mean now, I just didn't make the link at first. I don't want to be shown as the Autonomous System or as the ISP (those both require an IP block and an ASN), I want my rented subnet (from Hetzner) to show under "Organization" my businesses name. Which is surely possible, it already does that! I was asking from a legal perspective, if it has to be a legal/business entity.
@danielnaaman a sole proprietorship (at least in the US) is a true legal entity it may or may not have an EIN number from the IRS. If it doesnt the social security number is used and the owner fills out a schedule c for profit and loss from a business for the IRS. So you can be a legal business without a LLC or corp designation. I am sure ripe has gone through this a lot and can give you an answer
I see, thank you very much.
I'll reach out to RIPE right now.
As per my knowledge an individual is also eligible for that. But maybe I'm wrong so I would advise you to contact RIPE or Hetzner directly to make evening clear.
I have a personal ripe handle since many years and held small IP sub ranges. From what I saw Ripe only cares about reasonably correct, up to date, and consistent data.
But I'm not a pro in that field, so if you need more than my "yes, you can, I've done it" address one of the professionals in that field; we have a few here at LET.
If the IPs belong to Hetzner and are rented, then what you are discussing is SWIP and does not include RIPE at all. Only the owner of the IPs can change the SWIP data on the IPs. This is generally done in /29 or larger subnets and in the case of Hetzner is tied to the owner of the account directly - as in this information is generated automatically from your billing information. As such, changes to it probably need to be done manually by them, IF they allow you to make updates to it at all.
my 2 cents.
Cheers!
As long as you don't correspond with the RIPE NCC directly, the intermediate - your Local Internet Registry (LIR) - is responsible for validating your details. That said, I don't think Hetzner cares that much as long as the data seems reasonable.
If you have to work with the RIPE NCC directly, for example to become a LIR yourself or to claim a fresh AS number, they will validate it. And, they are probably the most picky organisation on that matter. They sometimes even reject legitimate (but exotic) legal entities and register them as sole-traders instead (for example, go to the RIPE member list and search for GmbH & Co. KGs). That seems to bug some LIRs so much, that they setup a separate GmbH or Ltd just for working with the RIPE NCC. Looking at the financial reports of some Austrian LIR, I would guess that he has setup a separate GmbH just to hold his IPs/ASNs while he seems to be doing his operational business as the tax-wise cheaper eU.