Fixing Outdated Information in the IPv4 Policy

Summary of Proposal

In the Address Policy Working Group session at RIPE 75, the RIPE NCC was tasked to create a policy proposal to fix outdated information in the RIPE Policy “IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region”.

This update relates to two sections of the policy. Firstly, section 2.0, “IPv4 Address Space” makes reference to several RFC documents. RFC 3330 is obsolete and the related reference will be updated in the policy document.

Secondly, section 7.0, “Types of Address Space” lists the possible values of inetnum objects in the RIPE Database. The values ALLOCATED PI and LIR-PARTITIONED PI will soon become obsolete as a result of the ongoing project to convert ALLOCATED PI to ALLOCATED PA. These values will be removed from the policy document.

As part of the same project, the value ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED will be converted to ALLOCATED PA for address space that is managed by LIRs. This value will continue to be used in the RIPE Database for address space allocated to the RIPE NCC for further distribution and to mark address space outside of our region. An adjusted description is proposed for this value.

EARLY-REGISTRATION and NOT-SET will be removed from the policy document as these values are also obsolete.

Since the implementation of policy proposal 2012-07, “RIPE NCC Services to Legacy Internet Resource Holders”, the value LEGACY is used in the RIPE Database. This value will be added to the list, using the definition provided in the RIPE Policy “RIPE NCC Services to Legacy Internet Resource Holders”.

Policy Text

a) Current policy text (if modification)

2.0 IPv4 Address Space

[...]

3. Some address ranges are reserved for special use purposes. These are described in RFC 3330 and are beyond the scope of this document. RFC 3330 can be found at: ftp://ftp.ripe.net/rfc/rfc3330.txt

[...]

7.0 Types of Address Space

[...]

LIRs will register the type of any assigned address space using the "status:" attribute of the inetnum object in the RIPE Database. The possible values of this attribute are:

• ALLOCATED PA: This address space has been allocated to an LIR and no assignments or sub-allocations made from it are portable. Assignments and sub-allocations cannot be kept when moving to another provider.
• ALLOCATED PI: This address space has been allocated to an LIR or RIR and all assignments made from it are portable. Assignments can be kept as long as the criteria for the original assignment are met. Sub-allocations cannot be made from this type of address space.
• ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED: This address space has been allocated to an LIR or RIR. Assignments may be PA or PI. This status is intended to document past allocations where assignments of both types exist. It is avoided for new allocations. Sub-allocations cannot be made from this type of address space.
• SUB-ALLOCATED PA: This address space has been sub-allocated by an LIR to a downstream network operator that will make assignments from it. All assignments made from it are PA. They cannot be kept when moving to a service provided by another provider.
• LIR-PARTITIONED PA: This allows an LIR to document distribution and delegate management of allocated space within their organisation. Address space with a status of LIR-PARTITIONED is not considered used. When the addresses are used, a more specific inetnummust be registered.
• LIR-PARTITIONED PI: This allows an LIR to document distribution and delegate management of allocated space within their organisation. Address space with a status of LIR-PARTITIONED is not considered used. When the addresses are used, a more specific inetnummust be registered.
• EARLY-REGISTRATION: This is used by the RIPE Database administration when transferring pre-RIR registrations from the ARIN Database. The value can be changed by database users (except for ALLOCATED PA). Only the RIPE Database administrators can create objects with this value.
• NOT-SET: This indicates that the registration was made before the "status:" attributes became mandatory for inetnum objects. The object has not been updated since then. New objects cannot be created with this value. The value can be changed by database users.
• ASSIGNED PA: This address space has been assigned to an End User for use with services provided by the issuing LIR. It cannot be kept when terminating services provided by the LIR.
• ASSIGNED PI: This address space has been assigned to an End User for a specific purpose. It cannot be used to make further assignments to other parties.
• ASSIGNED ANYCAST: This address space has been assigned for use in TLD anycast networks. It cannot be kept when no longer used for TLD anycast services.

b) New policy text

2.0 IPv4 Address Space

[...]

3. Some address ranges are reserved for special use purposes. These are described in the IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry and are beyond the scope of this document.

[...]

7.0 Types of Address Space

[...]

LIRs will register the type of any assigned address space using the "status:" attribute of the inetnum object in the RIPE Database. The possible values of this attribute are:

• ALLOCATED PA: This address space has been allocated to an LIR and no assignments or sub-allocations made from it are portable. Assignments and sub-allocations cannot be kept when moving to another provider.
• ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED: This address space has been allocated to the RIPE NCC or other RIRs for further distribution. If the address space is administered by the RIPE NCC, more specific objects with other values may exist.
• SUB-ALLOCATED PA: This address space has been sub-allocated by an LIR to a downstream network operator that will make assignments from it. All assignments made from it are PA. They cannot be kept when moving to a service provided by another provider.
• LIR-PARTITIONED PA: This allows an LIR to document distribution and delegate management of allocated space within their organisation. Address space with a status of LIR-PARTITIONED is not considered used. When the addresses are used, a more specific inetnummust be registered.
• LEGACY: This indicates the Internet number resource was obtained prior to or otherwise outside the current system of hierarchical distribution (by allocation or assignment) through the Regional Internet Registries.
• ASSIGNED PA: This address space has been assigned to an End User for use with services provided by the issuing LIR. It cannot be kept when terminating services provided by the LIR.
• ASSIGNED PI: This address space has been assigned to an End User for a specific purpose. It cannot be used to make further assignments to other parties.
• ASSIGNED ANYCAST: This address space has been assigned for use in TLD anycast networks. It cannot be kept when no longer used for TLD anycast services.

Rationale

a. Arguments supporting the proposal

• Ensures to reach current RFCs when following references from the RIPE policy document
• Matches information about the different address types in the RIPE Policy document with the reality in the RIPE Database

b. Arguments opposing the proposal

• None

A. RIPE NCC's Understanding of the Proposed Policy

It is the RIPE NCC's understanding that this proposal fixes outdated information in the RIPE Document “IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region” by updating the obsoleted RFC3330 with direct reference to the “IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry”.

This proposal also updates the possible values of the “status” attribute of the inetnum object in the RIPE database to reflect the actual use as follows:

• The statuses “ALLOCATED PI”, “LIR-PARTITIONED PI”, “EARLY-REGISTRATION”, “NOT-SET” are obsoleted and removed from the document.
• The status “LEGACY” is added to the document. This indicates the Internet number resource was obtained prior to or otherwise outside the current system of hierarchical distribution.
• The status “ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED” is modified to reflect the actual use as address space that has been allocated to the RIPE NCC or other RIRs for further distribution.

This is in line with the current status and use of these values in the RIPE Database.

B. Impact of the Policy on the RIPE NCC

This proposed policy change only updates an outdated external reference and matches the information about possible values for inetnum objects with the reality in the RIPE Database.

Therefore, no impact is expected for the registry and addressing system, the RIPE NCC’s operations, services and legal aspects.

C. Implementation

The RIPE NCC estimates that the implementation of this proposal would not have any significant impact. Some external documentation would need to be updated by removing the obsoleted statuses and descriptions.