A mntner object is a whois database object that will contain the credentials needed to authorise creation, deletion or modification of any objects that it protects. The update is usually done by a person, who therefore shall have the credentials (password, PGP key or X.509 certificate). Objects are protected by a mntner, and they shall contain a reference to the mntner usually in the form of mnt-xxx (examples are mnt-by, mnt-lower, mnt-routes, mnt-domains etc)

Follow the steps below:

• Generate the BCRYPT hash of your password. Use the tool at http://www.afrinic.net/en/services/ip-tools/whoiscrypt
  
• Note: The clear text password will be required whenever you update objects that are protected by the maintainer. Please retain this password, if the maintainer belongs to your organisation, please ensure that it forms part of your organisation's password policy.
• Load the mntner object template into the whois web client
• The mntner object template will be shown.
• Fill and submit the object template with specific data. (If in doubt what to fill for a specific attribute value, hover your cursor over the templates' attributes on the right for more details)

1. The "mntnr" attribute is a unique identifier of the mntner object. Recommended format is three words separated by hyphens(e.g AFRINIC-JS42-MNT)
2. The "descr" attribute: A short description of the mntner object and the name of the organization associated with it.
3. The "admin-c:" attribute: The NIC-handle of an on-site contact 'person' object.
4. The "upd-to:" attribute: The email address to be notified when attempts to update objects protected by the mntner is rejected due to a lack of authentication.
5. The "auth:" attribute: Scheme used to authenticate update requests. Available options are BCRYPT and PGP key(Accepted format BCRYPT-PW <your_bcrypt_hash> or PGPKEY-<your_pgp_key_id>)
6. The "mnt-by" attribute use the same as "mntner" field.
7. Fill in "password" field with your clear text password.
8. complete the "changed:" attribute with the email and date of the person making the changes (e.g. changed:  This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it 20130731). If the date is not specified, it will be system generated.
9. The "source" field is already filled for you.
10. Click on "Create" when all the required attribute values have been filled.
    

• After successful creation of the Mntner object, you shall get the screen below;
  
• You may query the Whois database to verify the Maintainer object. E.g the query "AFRINIC-JS39-MNT" with the "-rB" flags will output the current version of the object in the database.