Thursday 21 September 2017

RIPE NCC - RIPE ATLAS

I recently saw Vesna Manojlovic’s  (@Ms_Multicolor) talk at BalCCon (@BalCC0n) about the RIPE Atlas device and I wanted to find out more about the project. I felt a need to play around with the device, see how it works, run a few security tests, and of course, be part of the online community that has access to the data in real-time.

Getting started with the RIPE Atlas probe (@RIPE_Atlas) was more or less straightforward. 

The RIPE NCC (@RIPE_NCC) is building the largest Internet measurement network ever made. 

For those who are not familiar, the RIPE NCC assigns and allocates Internet number resources across Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia. The RIPE Atlas employs a global network of probes that measure Internet connectivity and reachability, providing an unprecedented understanding of the state of the Internet in real time. You can explore the RIPE Atlas measurements, maps and tools, once you register for an account. 

Starting with the probe I had to visit the URL http://probev3.ripe.net which redirected me to https://atlas.ripe.net/docs/probe-v3/. On that page, one can find further information about the device, and what one should do if they find one connected to a network, and of course what to do if one has found a lost device. 

In order to begin with the RIPE Atlas device I had to create a new account. This allowed me to proceed with setting up the device on my network at my current geographic location. After setting up my profile information on the RIPE NCC website, I had to become a host by registering the particular device* I had in my hands. 

*If you do not have a device already, just follow the steps on this link and apply in order to receive one

I had to wait about 10-15 minutes before I could see my probe as being online and connected. I am pretty sure it had to do an update first as I noticed the restarts it did during that time. 

After checking my dashboard on the website, I did see the following list of messages from the probe informing me of its state. 




Messages:
- Country code for probe #XXXXX is set to GB.
Your probe #33259 registered the first time. 
- Your probe #XXXXX upgraded its firmware from version 4770 to version 4780. 

Due to the fact I have access to different geographic locations, I would like to register more devices under my account in the near future, and become a host at multiple geographic locations. If anyone is willing to have such a device in their network, I suggest applying for one. There are geographic locations around the globe that could definitely use some devices to be present. 

If you want to know more about the RIPE NCC, simply visit: 

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