Modification of The Time Limits For Temporary Internet Assignments

Summary of Proposal

Practical experience has indicated that the time limits used in ripe-526 are too short for certain types of events.  This policy proposal recommends changing these time limits to allow more flexibility for End Users of temporary Internet number assignments.  The excess time limits for the various assignment purposes are also aligned to be the same.

Policy Text

Current policy text

[Following text is to be modified in the RIPE Policy Document “Temporary Internet Number Assignment Policies”, if the proposal reaches consensus. This would result in new policy sections.]

3.1 Assignment Time Limits

Depending on the specified purpose of the assignment request, different upper time limits may apply. For conferences and other events of short, fixed duration, the maximum assignment time period will be seven calendar days more than the scheduled length of the conference/event but no longer than one month in any case.

For longer term projects and research purposes, the number resources may be issued on a temporary basis for a period of up to six calendar months, or two calendar weeks longer than the expected life of the project/research/experiment, whichever is shorter.

In the case where an End User requires number resources for research purposes, and where the research project details are made public upon registration of the number resources by the RIPE NCC, and where the End User commits to making public the results of their research project free of charge and free from disclosure constraints, then the requested number resources may be issued for a period of up to one calendar year.

At the RIPE NCC’s discretion renewal of the registration of the resources may be possible in exceptional circumstances on receipt of a new request that details continuation of the End User's requirements during the extended period. Should this request be denied by the RIPE NCC, an appeal may be made using the RIPE NCC Conflict Arbitration Procedure.

[…]

3.3 IPv4 Address Utilisation Rates

For short-lived assignments of less than one month, the immediate IPv4 address utilisation rate should be no less than 50% of the total temporary assignment. For all other temporary assignments, immediate IPv4 address utilisation should be no less than 25%, and utilisation after one month should be no less than 50%.

New policy text

[Following text will replace section 3.1 in the RIPE Policy Document “Temporary Internet Number Assignment Policies”, if the proposal reaches consensus. This would result in new policy sections. NOTE: edited the first two paragraphs of section 3.1 and the paragraph of section 3.3]

3.1 Assignment Time Limits

Depending on the specified purpose of the assignment request, different upper time limits may apply. For conferences and other events of short, fixed duration, the maximum assignment time period will be one month longer than the scheduled length of the conference/event but no longer than two months in any case.

For longer term projects and research purposes, the number resources may be issued on a temporary basis for a period of up to six calendar months, or one month longer than the expected life of the project/research/experiment, whichever is shorter.

In the case where an End User requires number resources for research purposes, and where the research project details are made public upon registration of the number resources by the RIPE NCC, and where the End User commits to making public the results of their research project free of charge and free from disclosure constraints, then the requested number resources may be issued for a period of up to one calendar year.

At the RIPE NCC’s discretion renewal of the registration of the resources may be possible in exceptional circumstances on receipt of a new request that details continuation of the End User's requirements during the extended period. Should this request be denied by the RIPE NCC, an appeal may be made using the RIPE NCC Conflict Arbitration Procedure.

[…]

3.3 IPv4 Address Utilisation Rates

The utilisation rate of an assignment must be such that at least 50% of the total space applied for at the time of the assignment will be concurrently used at peak periods during the assignment.

Rationale

a. Arguments supporting the proposal

As expressed in the mailing list [*]

“I don't think the point of the policy is to punish people for having addressing needs.”

Organisers of short-duration events have provided feedback that the time limits in the current policy are in many cases too short to make temporary Internet assignments practical for organising events. In particular

• debogonisation can take several weeks to complete to an adequate degree.
• for conference organisers, one week is not enough time to get equipment shipped, fully preconfigured off-site.
• one week leaves no safety margin in case of configuration problems relating to addressing.

Futhermore, debogonisation at the beginning of the assignment period, and relatively short conference periods means that initial utilisation rates are difficult to codify.  The principal behind the utilisation rates is to ensure that the overall production usage is 50% or greater, so the policy is explicitly changed and simplified to reflect this.

[*] http://www.ripe.net/ripe/mail/archives/address-policy-wg/2012-September/007202.html

b. Arguments opposing the proposal

Lengthening the assignment time limits may reduce the amount of unassigned addresses available.

Note: In order to provide additional information related to the proposal, details of an impact analysis carried out by the RIPE NCC are documented below. The projections presented in this analysis are based on existing data and should be viewed only as an indication of the possible impact that the policy might have if the proposal is accepted and implemented.

A. RIPE NCC's Understanding of the Proposed Policy

The RIPE NCC has a clear understanding of the proposal’s scope and text. It is relevant to emphasize one aspect of the policy proposal’s potential implementation. The RIPE NCC reserved a /13 IPv4 address space pool for temporary assignments only. The proposed new time limits can lead, over time, to a reduced availability of unassigned IPv4 address space from this reserved pool. 

The reserved pool can be extended, if necessary, only after RIPE community evaluation. In fact, as per the current policy framework, all space outside the reserved pool is ruled under section 5.6 of the IPv4 policy “Use of last /8 for PA Allocations”. This means that neither the current IPv4 from the last /8 nor the returned space can be used for temporary assignments.

B. Impact of Policy on Registry and Addressing System

Address/Internet Number Resource Consumption:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.

Fragmentation/Aggregation:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.

C. Impact of Policy on RIPE NCC Operations/Services

Registration Services:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.

Billing/Finance Department:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.

RIPE Database:

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.

D. Legal Impact of Policy

After analysing the data that is currently available, the RIPE NCC does not anticipate that any significant impact will be caused if this proposal is implemented.