RIPE Atlas


RIPE Atlas is a global, open, distributed Internet measurement platform, consisting of thousands of measurement devices that measure Internet connectivity in real time.
WWW Official Site𝕏 RIPE_Atlas

History

RIPE Atlas was established in 2010 by the RIPE Network Coordination Centre. As of April 2022, it was composed of around 12,000 probes and more than 800 anchors around the world.

Technical details

  • Measurement types: The measurement devices perform IPv4 and IPv6 traceroute, ping, DNS, NTP and other measurements.
  • Atlas Probe device types:
  • * Versions 1 and 2 of the probe: Lantronix XPort Pro
  • * Version 3 probe: modified TP-Link wireless router
  • * Version 4 probe: NanoPi NEO Plus2 single-board computer
  • * Version 5 probe: custom design, derived from Turris Mox, developed by CZ.NIC
  • Atlas Anchor device types
  • *Version 2: Soekris Net6501-70 board in the 1U 19-inch rack-mounted case with additional SSD
  • *Version 3: PC Engines APU2C2/APU2C4 in a 1U 19-inch rack-mounted case with additional SSD
  • Probes and Anchors can also be hosted in a virtual machine, which is beneficial for organizations with existing server infrastructure
  • The back-end architecture was described in detail in the September 2015 edition of the Internet Protocol Journal

Community

Anyone can volunteer to host a RIPE Atlas probe. Probes are free of charge, low maintenance, and can be plugged in behind a home router or in a data center.
Organisations that want additional RIPE Atlas measurements targeting their network can host a RIPE Atlas anchor.
Tools for visualizing and analyzing RIPE Atlas measurement data are used by network operators for troubleshooting and network monitoring.
Open source software tools, written by RIPE Atlas users, are available in the repository for community contributions on GitHub.
Several hundred individuals also support RIPE Atlas as "ambassadors" by promoting participation and distributing probes. Organizations also support RIPE Atlas as sponsors.
Multiple hackerspaces have installed RIPE Atlas probes and have their own project about displaying the probes presence.

Research papers

All the data collected by RIPE Atlas is open data and is made publicly available to users and the wider Internet community.
  • Dissecting Last-mile Latency Characteristics
  • Vantage Point Selection for IPv6 Measurements: Benefits and Limitations of RIPE Atlas Tags