Last Resort Registries

Daniel,

> Last-Resort local IRs have been established to serve end-users who do
> not have access to another local IR either because they do not connect
> to the Internet yet or because Internet service providers were not yet
> providing registry services.

Unfortunately there are still cases of ISPs not providing registry
services for their customers.  For example US providers selling
connectivity in Europe do not provide IP addresses. As far as I know
they do not want to be part of the European Regional IR.

> Recently the introduction of route aggregation (CIDR) and the
> proliferation of local IRs operated by service providers greatly reduce
> the usefulness of Last-Restort local IRs.  Even worse, the routing of
> non-aggregatable address space negatively impacts the Internet routing
> system.  Such space either is or shortly will be less then useful for
> the end-user because they have to renumber when connecting.  Also there
> is now private address space available for use of end-users who want
> address space that is guaranteed not to be used by another end-user on
> the Internet.

I agreee

> Additionally the Last-Resort registries form an anomaly in the RIPE NCC
> charging system, because they do not contribute to NCC funding while
> using NCC resources.

This can eventually be solved in some way...

> Consequently it has been proposed several times already to close down
> the Last-Resort registries. I think it is now time to finally take
> such a step with a timeframe of end Q3/95 or at the end of the year.
> 
> Are there any serious problems with this step?

I think it could be done but there is a strong need for a document
explaining the new address assignment policy. I think this document
should have worldwide applicability and be published as an RFC.
Local IRs need such a reference when they have to answer to strange
address assignment requests eventually coming from network managers
or small providers located in dispersed sites around the world.

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