Setting up your abuse-mailbox contact for admin-c or tech-c attribute is necessary for subnet ownership confirmation. Follow these easy steps to learn how to set up abuse-mailbox in AFRINIC.
Step 1: Find your admin-c or tech-c attribute from maintainer
Go to https://afrinic.net/whois and enter your subnet into the Search query field. To demonstrate, we use the IPXO-MNT maintainer as an example.
![Subnet example in AFRINIC Whois search tool.](https://www.ipxo.com/app/uploads/2021/12/How-to-addupdate-the-abuse-mailbox-for-your-admin-c-or-tech-c-in-AFRINIC-1-1024x469.png)
You will get similar results with your maintainer. The field that you need to check is admin-c or tech-c.
In this example, the admin-c attribute already has the abuse-mailbox contact set up. If you do not see the abuse-mailbox contact in either admin-c or tech-c attribute, click Update.
Note: You need at least one of the maintainers (admin-c or tech-c) to set the abuse-mailbox attribute. You are free to choose either one.
![Admin-c, nic-hdl and abuse-mailbox fields highlighted in AFRINIC search.](https://www.ipxo.com/app/uploads/2021/12/How-to-addupdate-the-abuse-mailbox-for-your-admin-c-or-tech-c-in-AFRINIC-2-1024x469.png)
Step 2: Add or update the abuse-mailbox contact for your selected admin/tech attribute
You need to add information to the changed, password and abuse-mailbox fields. Feel free to update other fields if necessary. Once you provide the necessary information, click Submit.
How to provide the necessary information:
Changed | Enter your email address |
Password | Enter your mainterner (mnt-by) password |
Abuse-mailbox | Two options are available: 1. If the field is empty, enter an email address 2. If the old email address must be updated, enter a new email address |
![](https://www.ipxo.com/app/uploads/2023/12/image-20231221-161256-1024x532.png)
Important: make sure that the "abuse-mailbox" line is higher in the list than the "source" (see screenshot above).
If you submit the information correctly, you will see a message like the one below.
![Whois results example in AFRINIC.](https://www.ipxo.com/app/uploads/2021/12/How-to-addupdate-the-abuse-mailbox-for-your-admin-c-or-tech-c-in-AFRINIC-4-1.png)