RIPE RIS - Data Source

Website	https://ris.ripe.net/
Category	BGP & Routing Data

RIPE NCC's Routing Information Service (RIS) operates BGP route collectors deployed at major internet exchange points worldwide, capturing real-time routing data from hundreds of peering sessions. RIS complements RouteViews with particularly strong European coverage and provides the routing data that underpins many internet measurement and security tools. We use RIPE RIS data alongside RouteViews to build our routing table views on robtex.com and rtsak.com.

Source:RIPE RIS

What is RIPE RIS?

RIPE RIS has been collecting BGP routing data since 2001, operated by the RIPE NCC as a free public service for the internet community. The service consists of Remote Route Collectors (RRCs) deployed at strategic locations:

RRC00 - Amsterdam (RIPE NCC headquarters), the original and largest collector
RRC01 through RRC26 - Deployed at major IXPs including LINX (London), DE-CIX (Frankfurt), AMS-IX (Amsterdam), JPNAP (Tokyo), PTTMetro (Sao Paulo), and others across Europe, Asia, North America, and South America

Each RRC establishes BGP peering sessions with participating networks at its location. These networks voluntarily share their full BGP routing table, giving RIS visibility into how routing looks from hundreds of different network perspectives worldwide.

RIPE RIS provides data in several forms:

RIS Live - Real-time BGP update stream via WebSocket, enabling instant detection of routing changes
RIS dumps - Periodic RIB snapshots and update archives in MRT format, suitable for bulk analysis
RISwhois - A query service mapping IP prefixes to origin ASes based on observed routing
RIPE Stat - A web interface and API built on top of RIS data, providing routing history, visibility checks, and BGP event analysis

The project has become critical infrastructure for internet security. BGP hijack detection systems, RPKI monitoring tools, and routing anomaly detectors all rely on RIS data as a primary input. The real-time stream enables alerts within seconds of a routing event occurring.

How We Use This Data

On rtsak.com and robtex.com, RIPE RIS data supplements our RouteViews-derived routing table to provide broader coverage of global routing. Having BGP data from multiple independent collection projects improves our confidence in prefix-to-ASN mappings and helps detect inconsistencies that might indicate routing problems.

The European-heavy vantage point distribution of RIPE RIS is particularly valuable because many European networks peer primarily at European IXPs. Some prefix announcements or AS paths may only be visible from European collectors, especially for networks that do not have global transit and peer regionally. By combining RouteViews (strong North American coverage) with RIPE RIS (strong European coverage), we achieve better global visibility than either project alone.

We also reference RIPE RIS data for historical routing lookups, allowing users to understand how a prefix's routing has changed over time.

FAQ

Why does RIPE NCC run this if they are a Regional Internet Registry?

RIPE NCC's mission extends beyond just allocating IP addresses and AS numbers. They provide community services that support the health and security of the internet. RIS serves this mission by providing transparent visibility into routing, which helps detect hijacks, measure internet resilience, and support research. The data is freely available to anyone, not just RIPE members.

How does RIPE RIS compare to RouteViews for routing analysis?

Both projects serve the same fundamental purpose (collecting BGP data from multiple vantage points) but with different strengths. RIPE RIS has more collectors in Europe and at European IXPs, while RouteViews has stronger coverage at US exchanges. RIPE RIS offers the real-time RIS Live stream for instant routing event detection, while RouteViews focuses on archival data. For comprehensive analysis, using both is standard practice in the routing research community.

What can RIPE RIS data reveal about my network?

If your AS peers with a RIS collector (or your upstream does), RIS data shows how your prefixes are seen from various points on the internet: which AS paths reach your network, whether your announcements are globally visible or only regionally propagated, and whether any unexpected origin ASes are announcing your prefixes. This is invaluable for diagnosing reachability problems and detecting unauthorized announcements of your address space.