[ppml] Policy Proposal: Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space

[Leo Vegoda]

On 25 Jul 2007, at 22:59, Brian Dickson wrote:

[...]

>>> If collectively the RIRs are about to hit the exhaustion of IPv4  
>>> space
>>> "wall", then the presumption is more frequent and smaller  
>>> allocations
>>> make it possible to continue to serve up *something*, rather than  
>>> having
>>> no more space.
>>
>> Would you suggest limiting ISPs to some percentage of the amount they
>> requested, or would the RIR be free to return to the IANA for an
>> additional block straight away, allowing them to fulfil the  
>> request in
>> a piecemeal fashion?
>
> I'd expect (suggest) that the RIR's track their customer usage  
> rate, and
> adjust the customer request time window to match their own available
> space vs run rate. If an RIR was getting space that satisfied only 3
> months of run-rate, I'd hope they turn around and specify to their
> customers that requests would be for 3 months of usage.

Ignoring the issues with reliably predicting short term needs in a  
situation where a run on the bank is likely, changing the policy so  
that an RIR allocates for an ISP's three month - or six week - needs  
rather than six month needs just increases the administrative burden  
to both the RIR and the ISP. I'm not convinced that finer granularity  
in allocations helps solve a problem. It is quite likely to add  
extra, unnecessary routes to those ISPs, though.

Regards,

Leo Vegoda