ripe-104++ - Summary of Policy Changes

The schedule of WG meetings at RIPE 23 has been posted
and the two sessions I sought for the Local IR meeting are
back-to-back on Monday afternoon.  A meeting of the MBONE
WG parallels the second session, so I propose to use the 
first session (14:00 to 15:30) solely for discussion of the
ripe-104++ draft circulated on Monday (copies available at
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/drafts/ripe-104++.[ps|txt] )

As mentioned before, the draft is neither complete nor
thoroughly checked for syntax, typos etc.  Leaving those 
aside, the plan is to discuss only the substantive policy
issues on Monday.  So I've tried to summarise the changes
in policy and procedure as they affect RIPE, the local IRs
and the ISPs.  There's repitition and omission here, but
it should serve as a draft guide for the debate.

Btw, page numbers refer to the PostScript version.

Cheers.

Mike Norris


ripe-104++ - Summary of Policy Changes
--------------------------------------


1.   2.2.  Goals of Public Address Space Distribution (page 4)

     The goals of:

                Uniqueness
                Aggregation
                Conservation
                Registration

     are explicitly stated.


2.   2.4  Validity of assignment (page 7)

          Assignments of any kind of address space are valid as long
          as the original criteria on which the assignment was based
          are still valid.  


3.   3.  Address Space Assignment Procedures
     3.2.1  Required Information (pages 9 to 17)

     The following set of information must be provided with every 
     with every request for an address assignment.

     3.2.1.1.  Overview of Organization
               Contact Persons

     3.2.1.2.  Current Assignment Space Usage

     3.2.1.3.  Request Overview
                Size of Request 
                Addresses to be Used 
                Number of Subnets 
                Internet Connection 
                Country 
                Private Address Space 
                Request Refused 
                PI Requested 

     3.2.1.4.  Addressing Plan

     3.2.1.5.  Database Information
                Organization
                Personal Data 

     3.2.2.  Additional Information
                Deployment Plan 
                Topological Map 
                Special Circumstances 
                Verification Information 


4.   3.3.  Evaluation (pages 17 to 19)

           Every request requires an individual evaluation process
           that takes current assignment guidelines into account.

           In the process, it is essential that IR's work to prevent
           the stockpiling of address space.

           Meanwhile, to enable proper routing, one must make
           strategic decisions with regard to aggregation.


     Evaluation Steps

           1. Current address space usage 
           2. Network Overview 
           3. Private Address Space 
           4. Very Small Enterprises (VSE's) 
           5. Addressing Plan 
           6. Additional Information 
           7. Address Reservations 
           8. Static Dialup 
           9. Virtual Hosts 


     3.4.  Assignment Procedures

     3.4.1.  Assignments within Allocations (page 19)

             Specifically, each set of address space assigned should start 
             on a CIDR (bit) boundary. 

     3.4.2.  PA vs PI Space (pages 20 to 22)

             Clear contractual arrangements which specify the duration of 
             the address space assignment are mandatory for every assignment 
             of PA address space.  

             Although not strictly required, it is strongly recommended that
             contractual arrangements are made when assigning PI space as well.

             The consequences of using PA or PI space must always be made clear 
             to the end user.  

             Assignment of this (PA) address space is valid as long as the 
             criteria for the original assignment are still met and only for 
             the duration of the service agreement between  yourself and ISP 
             XXXX. 


             Every new address space assignment must be marked as PA or PI 
             in the RIPE database. 

             Any assigned address space without an explicit type in the status
             attribute is assumed to be PI space. 

             Formally, address space is not of type PA unless there are 
             contractual agreements regarding the assignment's termination.  
             It is therefore recommended that IRs ask end users to release 
             non-PA address space upon termination of service.  



     3.5.  Assignment Window (page 24)

           The assignment window is the maximum number of addresses that 
           can be assigned by the local IR to an end user without prior 
           approval by the RIPE NCC.

           Currently, the maximum size of the assignment window for any 
           local IR is 4096 addresses (/20). 

           If such errors are noticed by the RIPE NCC, the assignment 
           window for the local IR may be decreased to prevent the staff 
           from making erroneous assignments involving a substantial amount 
           of address space.  


     4.  Rules and Guidelines for Allocations (page 26)

         If a local IR allows another IP service provider to make an 
         assignment from its allocated address space, the local IR is 
         still responsible to guarantee the assignment is made according 
         to the guidelines specified in this document.



    4.1.  Slow Start of Allocations (page 26)

          The minimum allocation is /19 (8192 addresses).  The maximum 
          size of an individual allocation is /16 (65536 addresses).  

          The size of allocations is based solely on the rate that
          previously allocated address space has been assigned to end
          users.  

    4.2.  First Allocation (page 27)

          The first allocation will be made automatically by the RIPE 
          NCC, generally upon receipt of the first assignment request 
          from the local IR. Because there is no information about the
          rate at which a new IR will make address assignments, the 
          size of the first allocation is always set at the minimum.

    4.3.  Further Allocations (page 27)

          Additional address space will be allocated after the 
          information delivered with the request has been verified, 
          and a new allocation has been deemed necessary.

          While the RIPE NCC always aims to further the aggregation 
          goal, and therefore to allocate contiguous space, the RIPE 
          policy is that under no circumstances are multiple 
          allocations made to the same local IR guaranteed to be 
          contiguous.


    4.4.  Allocation Registration (page 28)

          ALLOCATED UNSPECIFIED
             This address space has been allocated to an IR, and 
             assignments made from it may be either provider 
             aggregatable or provider independent.  This type of 
             allocation is obsolete, and will not be applied to 
             future allocations. Some older allocations have been 
             used for both PA and PI assignments, and as such receive 
             this allocation type.