[ppml] Policy Proposal 2005-9: 4-Byte AS Number

[Geoff Huston]

Discussion to date on the pml mailing list has highlighted the potential 
ambiguity in the nomenclature section, specifically with the use of the 
colon (':') separator character, and a period ('.') has been proposed instead.

regards,

   Geoff


At 09:54 AM 20/12/2005, Member Services wrote:
>On December 15, 2005, the ARIN Advisory Council concluded its review of
>proposed policy 4-Byte AS Number Policy Proposal and agreed to forward
>it as a formal proposal for discussion by the community. This proposal
>is designated Policy Proposal 2005-9: 4-Byte AS Number. The policy
>proposal text is below and can be found at:
>
>http://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2005_9.html
>
>All persons in the community are encouraged to discuss Policy Proposal
>2005-9 in the weeks leading to the ARIN Public Policy Meeting in
>Montreal scheduled for April 10-11, 2006. Both the discussion on the
>Public Policy Mailing List and at the public policy meeting will be used
>to determine the community consensus regarding this policy proposal.
>
>The ARIN Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process can be found at:
>http://www.arin.net/policy/irpep.html
>
>ARIN's Policy Proposal Archive can be found at:
>http://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/proposal_archive.html
>
>Regards,
>
>Member Services
>American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
>
>
>### * ###
>
>
>Policy Proposal Name: 4-Byte AS Number
>
>Author: Geoff Huston
>
>Policy Term: Temporary (1 January 2007 - 1 January 2010)
>
>Policy Statement:
>
>           This policy proposal nominates 3 dates for changes to the
>           current AS Number allocation policy for the registry:
>
>           On 1 January 2007 the registry will process applications that
>           specifically request 4-byte only AS Numbers and allocate such
>           AS Numbers as requested by the applicant. In the absence of
>           any specific request for a 4-byte only AS Number, a 2-byte
>           only AS Number will be allocated by the registry.
>
>           On 1 January 2009 the registry will process applications that
>           specifically request 2-byte only AS Numbers and allocate such
>           AS Numbers as requested by the applicant. In the absence of
>           any specific request for a 2-byte only AS Number, a 4-byte
>           only AS Number will be allocated by the registry.
>
>           On 1 January 2010 the registry will cease to make any
>           distinction between 2-byte only AS Numbers and 4-byte only AS
>           Numbers, and will operate AS number allocations from an
>           undifferentiated 4-byte AS Number allocation pool.
>
>           Nomenclature
>
>           It is proposed to identify 4-byte AS Numbers using a syntax of
>           <high order 16 bit value in decimal>:<low order 16 bit value
>           in decimal>. Accordingly, a 4-byte AS number of value 65546
>           (decimal) would be identified as "1:10".
>
>           Terminology
>
>           "2-byte only AS Numbers" refers to AS numbers in the range 0 -
>           65535
>
>           "4-byte only AS Numbers" refers to AS Numbers in the range 1:0
>           - 65535:65535 (decimal range 65,536 - 4,294,967,295)
>
>           "4-byte AS Numbers" refers to AS Numbers in the range 0:0 -
>           65535:65535 (decimal range 0 - 4,294,967,295)
>
>Rationale:
>
>           Recent studies of AS number consumption rates indicate that
>           the existing 2-byte pool of unallocated AS Numbers will be
>           exhausted sometime in the period between 2010 and 2016, absent
>           of any concerted efforts of recovery of already-allocated AS
>           Numbers [1] [2]. Standardization work in the IETF has produced
>           a document that is currently being submitted as a Proposed
>           Standard that will expand the AS Number space to a 4-byte
>           field [3].
>
>           It is noted that some advance period may be required by
>           network operators to undertake the appropriate procedures
>           relating to support of 4-byte AS numbers, and while no flag
>           day is required in the transition to the longer AS Number
>           field, it is recognised that a prudent course of action is to
>           allow for allocation of these extended AS numbers well in
>           advance of an anticipated 2-byte AS Number exhaustion date.
>
>           This policy proposal details a set of actions and associated
>           dates for RIR AS Number allocation policies to assist in an
>           orderly transition to use of the 4-byte AS Number space.
>
>           The essential attributes of this policy proposal are to
>           facilitate the ease of transitional arrangements by equipment
>           vendors, network managers and network operations staff, to
>           provide the industry with some predictability in terms of
>           dates and associated actions with respect to registry
>           operational procedures for AS Number allocations.
>
>           References
>
>           [1]  Daily AS Number Report,
>                http://www.potaroo.net/tools/asns
>           [2]  ASNs MIA: A Comparision of RIR Statistics and RIS
>                Reality, http://www.nanog.org/mtg-0510/wilhelm.html
>           [3]  BGP Support for Four-octet AS Number Space,
>                draft-ietf-idr-as4bytes-12.txt
>
>Timetable for implementation:
>
>         Procedures to support this proposal need to be implemented
>         by 1 January 2007
>
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