The Rules and Regulations are an extension of the bylaws and define the rules and regulations of association. It provides information on how the association works and is organized.
Requirement for becoming a member
A member should only join if fit withing the fundamentals beliefs and goals of netShelter, namely a non-profit exchange of network infrastructure for learning, research and development purposes, and the support of other non-profit organisations by providing sponsored infrastructure, support and expertise.
As such, members are not allowed to use their membership and/or resources to for commercial purposes or resell access to third parties. Members should also consider that this is a community network and not a hosting company, therefore no guarantees are given on uptime. The network of course is redundantans resilient in multiple ways and downtime should not be expected, but if you have a very important application that needs a 100% uptime with an unicorn SLA, netShelter is likely not your best choice.
In addition a individual member can only join if:
- They are 16 years of age or older. Persons below 18 years must also get permission from their legal guardian.
- They are living in a EU country and can show a proof of residence on request.
- They have basic understanding of the English language, which is the default language of netShelter.
And an organisational member can only join if:
- They are a non profit organisation and can show a proof of foundation and their goals.
- They are founded in a EU country and can show a proof of residence on request.
- They person representing the organisation must have basic understanding of the English language, which is the default language of netShelter.
Types of membership
Junior membership
Anyone who joins the netShelter association will become a junior member by default. Junior members are granted access to the chat, mailing lists, e-learning environments and events. A junior member cannot use any resources.
Basic membership
Any member that wants to use netShelter resources must become a basic member.
There are two ways to promote to a basic member:
- You must find a minimum of three existing basic members to nominate you for promotion to a basic member. The board will decide within 6 weeks if your promotion is approved. The members that nominated you will then become your mentor and support you in the first period of your membership.
- If you don’t know any existing members, you can also petition the board directly. You will have to write an email to the board about yourself, your skills (at least a basic understanding of the routing protocols), previous work (e.g. on open source projects) and other significant additions to the internet community. The board will decide within 6 weeks if your application is granted and one of the board members will become your mentor.
Special types of membership
Sponsored membership
Other (non-profit) organisations and/or (open source) projects can become a sponsored member if the organisation or project provides a significant addition to the internet community. Sponsored members are not excempt from the yearly member contribution, but are exempt for costs on resources.
A request for this special membership can be sent to the netShelter board and must include a clear goal, project description and required resources. Their board and/or project manager will represent their organization during general member meetings and can be granted free resources by the board.
Honorary member
Members that show significant involvement and contribution to the netShelter association can be nominated to become an honorary member during the general member meeting. Both junior and basic members can be granted the honorary membership and as an honorary members are exempt from the yearly membership contributions.
Board member
Any basic member can be nominated to become a board member when a slot frees up and, if elected during the general member meeting, will hold the position for three years. The board members are responsible for the association as well as the day-to-day operations.
Member events
General Members Meeting
A general meeting will be held in the 1st quarter of every year, announced at least 4 weeks in advance. During these meetings members will be informed about the progress of the association including the financial status, discussing updates of the Rules and Regulations, the pricing scheme, will hold board elections, and attend other affairs of the association.
Any member’s proposal can be added to the agenda if at least two members second the proposal. All proposals must be received two weeks before the general members meeting.
Votes on proposals and/or changes require 51% of all members to be present. Each member only has a single vote and the motions are carried out if the majority votes are in favour.
Social Event
A networking (social) event is organised at the end of the year where all members are welcome to be present. It allows members to meet up in real life, view presentations and join networking workshops/labs.
Usage of resources
Any member that would like to use your netShelter resources must hold a basic membership. Final approval of resource allocation is done by the board.
The member is responsible for the security and safety of the allocated resource(s). We grant a member to run any service on its resource(s), but it must abide by the abuse and/or acceptable use policies at all times.
Virtual Routers
Members can request a virtual router with the operating system of their choice and will have enough resources (2 vCPU, 4GB vRAM, 10GB HDD) to run their router. The router comes with access to the MOSS-IX internet exchange of the location where the router is hosted and fair use connectivity. A member can have one router per physical location with a total maximum of three routers.
Virtual Router for students
Students taking an applicable course within Information Technology can receive an IPv6-only router at a discounted rate. The student must prove their eligibility by showing documentation from the school or valid student ID.
Virtual Machines
General purpose virtual machines are also available, e.g. to run your project, mail/dns servers or another public service. These virtual machines are dual stacked, but are not allowed to run BGP.
Colocated hardware
In selected locations and if the availability allows, it is possible to colocate your own hardware. Hardware must be 19-inch rack-mountable with a rail kit and must be from a known vendor and from a recent generation. Hardware should be limited to use a maximum of 140 watts per system. Self-built hardware is not allowed.
Note: At this time there is no space for colocated hardware in our racks. Changes to this will be announced via the mailing list.
V(X)LAN and (inter)connectivity
If the member has multiple routers a (single) 8K MTU Layer2 VLAN can be provided between those routers. Under special conditions and upon approval from the board, VLAN’s and/or physical ports from third parties can be transported to your router.
Internet Exchange port
netShelter operates the MOSS-IX internet exchange and has several points-of-presence. Members can have a free (remote) peering port for their router on locations where netShelter is present.
LIR Services
As a RIPE LIR member, netShelter has the ability to sponsor LIR resources. These resources will be billed to the member in advance at cost price plus an administrative fee of 50 euro per year per resource.
Contributions and finances
The contributions are used to pay the operational costs for the netShelter association. At the end of each year members are presented with a financial overview. If there is a surplus of funds then these funds can be used based on the board’s recommendation and membership vote, as reserve for the next year, extend the infrastructure or to reduce membership fees. All membership fees listed are excluding VAT and dutch VAT (21%) is billed as we are required to do so by law.
Yearly membership contribution
The yearly member contribution for the 2021 period is set at 60 euro (72,60 euro including 21% VAT) and calculated pro rata from the data the membership has started.
Costs involving resources
The monthly contributions for the period 2020-2021 per resource are listed in the table below. A member pays monthly contributions in advance and is responsible for timely renewal, else the resource will automatically be cancelled.
| Product | Specifications | fee*** |
| T1 VM | 1 vCPU + 2GB vRAM + 20GB vHDD | 5,00 |
| T2 VM | 2 vCPU + 4GB vRAM + 20GB vHDD | 10,00 |
| T3 VM | 2 vCPU + 8GB vRAM + 40GB vHDD | 20,00 |
| T4 VM | 4 vCPU + 8GB vRAM + 80GB vHDD | 30,00 |
| RTR VM Single | 2 vCPU + 4GB vRAM + 10GB vHDD (1 Router, located in Dusseldorf) | 15,00 |
| RTR VM Dual | 2 vCPU + 4GB vRAM + 10GB vHDD (2 Routers, located in Dusseldorf and Frankfurt) | 30,00 |
| RTR VM Triple | 2 vCPU + 4GB vRAM + 10GB vHDD (3 Routers, located in Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Amsterdam) | 40,00 |
| RTR VM Student | 1 vCPU + 2GB vRAM + 10GB vHDD | 5,00 |
| V(X)LAN | VLAN between routers, remote peering port and other layer 2 transforts (excluding costs for interconnection, optics, etc.) | free |
| MOSS-IX Peering Port | Peering Port for RTR-VM | free |
| Physical or VLAN port transport | Transport a external physical port or VLAN from an IXP/Carrier at a POP to your (virtual) router within the same location.** | 5,00 |
| Crossconnect | Crossconnect between AMS POP and a third party to your (virtual) router within the same location. Must be combined with a Physical or VLAN port transport. | 120,00 (one-time) |
| LIR IPv6 PA | Provider Allocated /48 | free |
| LIR IPv6 PI* | Provider Independent (sponsored) | 50,00 (yearly) |
| LIR ASN* | Autonomous system number | free |
* LIR requests add a on-time 50 euro administrative fee
** Requires special board approval and a minimum (prepaid) duration of 6 months of the member services
*** Excludes 21% Dutch VAT
Payments
We only accept payments in EURO. Payments are preferable accepted via a wire transfer or via a PayPal payment (member pays the PayPal fees of 2,9% + 0,30 euro per payment). We do not accept credit cards or crypto currency. All payments for members services have to be paid in advance.
Cancellation
The memberships run for the entire calander year. A member can cancel their membership by sending an e-mail before the 1st of december for the cancellation to be handled on time. The membership will then be cancelled starting the 1st of january of the upcoming year.
Member services are billed one full month in advance. The member can cancel the service by sending the details of their cancellation by e-mail with a 1 calander month cancellation period to be honored.
Compensation policy
The board members, in accordance with the statutes article 9 subsection 7, do not get any financial compensation for their work, except for a non-excessive allowance. Board members are allowed to be compensated for costs they make involving netShelter for the function they hold (for example travel costs for meetings or to the datacenter).
Volunteers in general do not get any financial compensation, however in certain cases (e.g. large events) where members spend a lot of time they could be offerted a small allowance by the board. This allowance is based on the legal and financial limitations set out by the Dutch tax office (Belastingdienst) and details (in Dutch) can be found their website under vrijwilligersvergoedingen.
Policies
Members are required to follow the follwing policies:
Code of conduct
The Code of Conduct is an integral part of the Rules and Regulations and establishes guiding principles for compliance with these provisions. The Code is also critical for all members in setting expectations for acceptable behavior. The association is dedicated to providing an enjoyable and educational experience for our community members, governing bodies, and staff, regardless of sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, physical appearance, personal appearance, race, color, national origin, or religion (or lack thereof).
In the spirit of mutual respect and collaboration, netShelter does not tolerate any unwelcome behavior, including but not limited to:
- Engaging in any activity that is illegal, or violates netShelters’ or its sponsors’ contracts with venues or contractors.
- Offensive verbal comments or physical contact based on sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, disability, physical appearance, personal appearance, race, color, national origin or religion (or lack thereof).
- Sexual images of any kind, displayed in public spaces, mailing-lists or other digital communication platforms.
- Deliberate intimidation, stalking, threatening, or following.
- Demeaning or disruptive behavior or speech.
- Harassing photography or recording of any kind.
- Sustained disruption of a presentation or other event.
- Inappropriate physical contact.
- Unwelcome sexual attention.
How to report a violation of this Code of Conduct
If you have witnessed an unwelcome behavior, are being harassed, notice that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns related to netShelters’ Code of Conduct, please contact the netShelters’ board, or any staff member, immediately. If you cannot, or do not, wish to speak to a netShelters representative in person, or prefer to talk privately or electronically, please contact us. All reports will be held in the strictest confidence.
violations of netShelter’ Code of Conduct
Any individual or group within the netShelter community who is asked to stop any form of unwelcome behavior or harassment is required to comply immediately.
Reports of any violation of this Code of Conduct shall be investigated by the netShelter board, who is authorized to:
- investigate whether or not a violation has occurred
- determine and implement appropriate disciplinary action or other remedies
In the event the conduct appears to warrant expulsion or suspension of an individual or group’s membership with netShelter, the matter must be reported to the Board of Directors.
Sanctions
Any individual or group in violation of netShelter policies can be sanctioned by the board. Sanctions may include, but are not limited to: a warning; removal from the meeting, event, or digital space; potential loss of sponsorship opportunities, current and future; and/or being barred from attending future netShelter meetings and events, or from participating in netShelter or netShelter sponsored digital spaces, or barred from the netShelter association entirely without refund or compensation of any kind.
Final provisions
- In case of conflict between translations by local chapters of these Rules and Regulations the English versiontakes precedence over other versions.
- When thee is doubt, or when the Rules and Regulations are unclear, conflicting, or do not have a specific applicable rule, the board decides on the outcome.
- The netShelter association Bylaws takes precedense these Rules and Regulations.
- This version of the Rules and Regulations is effective on september 1st 2020, having received approval in the general member meeting that day.