Create multiple new objects and referencing one another

[tvasilopo]

There is a relatively frequent request for an ISP to assign prefixes to new downstream customers. This means that several objects should be created for the new customer simultaneously. An example of a complex arrangement might be a creation containing

• a person object with "nic-hdl: auto-1”
• a person object with "nic-hdl: auto-2”
• a role object with "nic-hdl: auto-3” referencing person auto-1 as "admin-c" and person auto-2 as "tech-c"
• an inetnum object referencing role "auto-3" as admin-c and tech-c

[fischa]

Hey @tvasilopo,
I understand the use case but AFAIK you can only reference existing objects - I guess it would break the consistency requirement for the database. So a sequential creation of objects is needed.

What is your question? What are you missing?

[tvasilopo]

Hello @fischa ,

Actually you can create multiple objects at the same update and reference one another using the 'AUTO-n' functionality.
There is a reference in here, section 2.5.1
This can be done using the syncupdates but it would be nice to be also done from the tool.
As a matter of fact, in the meantime I deployed it in a fork of this repo and works fine. The object data are inserted in a yaml file that has the following format:

AUTO-1:                                                                                                                               
- person:
- address:
- address:
- address:
- phone:          +30
- nic-hdl:        AUTO-1
- e-mail:
- mnt-by:
- source:         RIPE
 
AUTO-2:
- person:
- address:
- address:
- address:
- phone:          +30
- nic-hdl:        AUTO-2
- e-mail:
- mnt-by:
- source:         RIPE
 
AUTO-3:
- role:
- address:
- address:
- address:
- phone:          +30
- admin-c:        AUTO-1
- tech-c:         AUTO-2
- e-mail:
- remarks:        --------------------------------------
- remarks:        'For complains about abuse, spam etc:'
- abuse-mailbox:
- remarks:        --------------------------------------
- mnt-by:
- nic-hdl:        AUTO-3
- source:         RIPE

[inetnum inserted here]:                        
- inetnum:         
- netname:         
- descr:           
- admin-c:        AUTO-3                         
- tech-c:         AUTO-3                                
- abuse-c:        AUTO-3                                
- status:         ASSIGNED PA                           
- mnt-by:                                      
- mnt-domains:                                                                                                                        
- source:         RIPE                                  
- country:                                            
                                                        
[route prefix inserted here]:                               
- route:           
- descr:           
- descr:           
- origin:         
- mnt-by:                                      
- source:         RIPE

I need to find some time to send a merge request about it.

[fischa]

Cool! That certainly helps for this kind of changes. But isn't it a matter of templating that? Or what am I missing here?

[tvasilopo]

Well, if I understood your question correctly, we 'll have to add the logic that RIPE has deployed in the sync updates regarding the reference between objects that are simultaneously created. Ripeinator tool fails when the above template is provided in the current setup. It will fail in the AUTO-2 object creation as it will not find any person object with 'nic-hdl ' AUTO-1.

[fischa]

Now I think I got it... From what I get out of the documentation it is only possible to create a single object via the REST API and not a couple of objects like syncupdate or the mail interface.

Does your fork circumvent this?