[ppml] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Transfer Policy Proposal

[Scott Leibrand]

Cliff Bedore wrote:
> I was away from the list for a while and have been trying to catch up on all
> the postings on this proposal.  I've read a lot of pros and cons for the
> proposal but it seems to me that unless ARIN is fundamentally changing its
> charter, there should be very limited reasons for approving sales.  If I
> haven't made it through to someone elses comments that express the same thing,
> forgive me.
> 
> As I understand the process of getting IPv4 numbers, an entity will come to
> ARIN with a justification for new/additional allocations.  Based on certain
> criteria, ARIN will approve or disapprove the request.

Yes, I believe that accurately describes the standard request process 
under today's policy.

> If one entity buys another entity, the IP numbers from the purchasee can be
> transferred to the purchaser as approved by an existing ARIN policy.

Yes, I believe that accurately describes existing transfer policy.

> Unless ARIN changes its charter, these seem to be the approved ways of getting 
> IPv4 numbers.

Replace "charter" with "policy", and that would be correct.

> It seems to me that the only time ARIN should be in the business of approving
> "sales" of IPv4 addresses is when they have run out of the size requested.  If
> someone has justified an allocation but ARIN doesn't have the assets, then
> the requestor/ARIN may initiate an effort to find those assets from a 3rd
> party.  (At some point, this may be the de facto process because of limited
> assets at ARIN)

Exactly.  All projections are that we will run out of addresses within a 
few years, so we're trying to get policy in place to deal with that 
eventuality before it occurs.


> It may be a matter of degree but I don't think ARIN should be approving sales
> of IPv4 addresses unless they have no assets to offer.  Approving "sales" before
> ARIN has run out of assets would corrupt the current process and lead to all
> kinds of discontent from those who play by the rules.
> 
> If I misread the proposal and this is what it says, forgive me but it seemed
> more convoluted than what I said above.

The proposed policy would only institute a liberalized transfer policy 
once IANA's IPv4 free pool is exhausted.  There will be a short period 
of time between that date and the date when ARIN has insufficient IPv4 
addresses to meet requests (probably months, but perhaps more depending 
on how the last bit of the IANA free pool is distributed).  The main 
reasons for activating the new transfer policy upon IANA exhaustion were:

  - It's much easier to define IANA exhaustion (there are no more /8's 
that haven't been allocated to RIRs) than to define ARIN exhaustion.
  - Activating the transfer policy a short time before ARIN runs out of 
space will give potential transferors time to get pre-qualified and 
begin using the ARIN listing service before the first transferees (who 
will likely need space *right now*) begin participating.  A gradual 
ramp-up in activity (possibly including the transfer of legacy /24's) 
will give everyone time to figure out the new system, and work out any 
minor problems that will likely arise.


-Scott