1. IP Address Management The RIR System & IP policy
Nurani Nimpuno
APNIC

2. Overview Early address management Evolution of address management
Address management today
Address policy development

3. IP allocation Pre 1992
RFC 1261
1991
RFC 1020
1987
RFC1020: INTERNET NUMBERS
“The responsibility for the assignment of IP numbers and ASNs has been assumed by Hostmaster at the DDN Network Information Center (NIC). The Hostmaster staff are indebted to Dr. Jon Postel and Ms. Joyce Reynolds of the Information Sciences Institute at the University of Southern California for their ongoing assistance.”
RFC1261: TRANSITION OF NIC SERVICES
“The transition of the Network Information Center from SRI International in Menlo Park, CA, to Government Systems Inc. in Chantilly, VA, is officially scheduled for 1 October This includes the transition of services currently offered to DDN and Internet users by SRI. These services include network/user registration (i.e., network number and top level domain name assignment), on-line information services, and Help Desk operations. GSI will also continue RFC and Internet-Draft archive and distribution services.”
RFC790: ASSIGNED NUMBERS
“This RFC will be updated periodically, and in any case current information can be obtained from Jon Postel. The assignment of numbers is also handled by Jon. If you are developing a protocol or application that will require the use of a link, socket, port, protocol, or network number please contact Jon to receive a number assignment.” …
“This list of network numbers is used in the internet address [33]. The Internet Protocol (IP) uses a 32 bit address and divides that address into a network part and a "rest" or local address part. The division takes 3 forms or classes.”
“The assignment of numbers is also handled by Jon. If you are developing a protocol or application that will require the use of a link, socket, port, protocol, or network number please contact Jon to receive a number assignment.”
RFC 790
1981

4. Early address management
Global routing table: ’88 - ’92
Early address management
Early 1990’s: Internet scaling problems
Address depletion
due to classful architecture (A, B, C)
Routing table overload
Due to lack of route aggregation

5. Early address management
Internet widely projected to fail
Growth would stop by mid-’90s
Urgent measures required
Action taken by IETF / Internet community
1993: Development of “CIDR”
addressed both technical problems
Address depletion
Through more accurate assignment
Routing table overload
Through address space aggregation
RFC
1517
RFC
1518
RFC
1519

6. Evolution of address management
Administrative problems remained
Increasing complexity of CIDR-based allocations
Increasing awareness of conservation and aggregation goals
Need for fairness and consistency
RFC 1366 (1992)
Described the “growth of the Internet and its increasing globalization”
Additional complexity of address management
Set out the basis for a regionally distributed Internet registry system
RFC
1366

7. Evolution of address policy
1990s - establishment of RIRs
APNIC, ARIN, RIPE NCC (LACNIC later)
Regional open processes
Cooperative policy development
Industry self-regulatory model
bottom up
APNIC
ARIN
RIPE NCC
LACNIC
APNIC
community
ARIN
community
RIPE
community
LACNIC
community

8. Address management today

9. Address management today
IPv4 IPv6
IANA
Allocation
RIR
Allocation
This path is followed by every address that’s in use
ISP
Assignment
User

10. Address management objectives
Conservation
Efficient use of resources
Based on demonstrated need
Aggregation
Limit routing table growth
Support provider-based routing
Registration
Ensure uniqueness
Facilitate trouble shooting

11. Neutral, impartial, open and transparent
What is APNIC?
Regional Internet Registry for the Asia Pacific
Regional authority for Internet Resource distribution (IPv4 & IPv6 addresses, AS numbers, reverse DNS delegation)
Non-profit, open membership
850 ISP members in 42 economies
Any interested party can join
Industry self-regulatory structure
Open Policy Meetings
Bottom-up structure
Neutral, impartial, open and transparent

12. What is the APNIC community?
Open forum in the Asia Pacific
Open to any interested parties
Voluntary participation
Decisions made by consensus
Public meetings
Mailing lists
web archived
A voice in regional Internet operations through participation in APNIC activities

13. Internet community Global Internet Community APNIC Internet Community
APAN
PITA
ISP Associations
APNIC Members
IETF
ISOC
Individuals

14. Policy development Industry self-regulatory processes
Open to all interested parties
Facilitated by RIR staff
Policy implementation
RIR processes
ISPs and other affected parties

15. Why should I bother participating?
Business reasons
Policies affect your business operating environment and are constantly changing
Ensure your ‘needs’ are met
Responsibility as APNIC member
To be aware of the current policies for managing address space allocated to you
Educational
Learn and share experiences
Stay abreast with ‘best practices’ in the Internet

16. Policy development cycle
OPEN
Need
Anyone can participate
Evaluate
Discuss
‘BOTTOM UP’
TRANSPARENT
Implement
Consensus
Internet community proposes and approves policy
All decisions & policies documented & freely available to anyone

17. Elements of the process
MM: forum specific to APNIC business eg. fee structure, election of executive council & endorsement of policy decisions
Member Meeting
WGs: semi formal, volunteer group tasked by a SIG to work on
a particular project until completed
eg. ‘Broadband’
Open Policy Meeting
&
Mailing Lists
Working Groups
Special Interest Groups
SIGs: Formal groups which discuss broad areas of policy relevant to the APNIC internet community
BOFs: Informal meetings to exchange ideas eg. CA BOF, Network Abuse BOF, Training
Need to hold at least one to
form new SIG
Birds of a Feather

18. Current discussions Lowering min allocation size & criteria
Lower min allocation size from /20 to /21 (criteria: /23 immediate need, /22 within a year)
IPv6 allocations to IPv4 networks
ISPs with large existing IPv4 network that qualify for an IPv6 allocation may use their existing v4 infrastructure to qualify for a larger allocation.
Global unicast IPv6 to “unconnected” networks?
Not covered in current policy (no rfc1918 for IPv6)
Protecting historical networks in the APNIC whois DB
Provide protection of historical objects in APNIC db
Recovery of unused address space
(A lot of historical address space not in use, Increasing amount of cases of hijacking)
Historical addresses determined to be unused (not visible in the routing table for x amount of time) to be reclaimed.

19. How to make your voice heard
Contribute on the public mailing lists
Attend meetings
Or send a representative
Gather input at forums
Give feedback
Training or seminar events
Through APNIC staff

20. Come to the APNIC meeting!
Next meeting in conjunction with
APRICOT 2004
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, February 2004
Fellowship program registration now open!
Participate in policy development
Attend workshops, tutorials & presentations
Exchange knowledge and information with peers
Stay abreast with developments in the Internet
View multicast online
Provide your input in matters important to you
APNIC has two open policy meetings per year. The APNIC meetings are open to everyone.
Since 2000, APRICOT has incorporated a Fellowship Program to provide opportunities to developing country personnel to participate in APRICOT. This programme provides basic assistance to successful fellows to cover local living and registration expenses associated with attending the conference.

21. Conclusions IP address management IP address policy is in Your hands
Result of 20 year evolution on the Internet
Supported Internet growth to date
Stable well-understood system
Open to all interested participants
IP address policy is in Your hands
You are affected by IP address policy
You set the policy

22. Thank you nurani@apnic.net

23. References Short history of the Internet
“Development of the Regional Internet Registry System” (Internet Protocol Journal)
Policy Documentation
APNIC policy development process