[arin-ppml] The Library Book Approach to IPv4 Scarcity

[Paul G. Timmins]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: arin-ppml-bounces at arin.net 
> [mailto:arin-ppml-bounces at arin.net] On Behalf Of Seth Mattinen
> Sent: Wednesday, October 29, 2008 2:59 PM
> To: ppml at arin.net
> Subject: Re: [arin-ppml] The Library Book Approach to IPv4 Scarcity
> 
> Jo Rhett wrote:
> > On Oct 29, 2008, at 6:52 AM, Kevin Kargel wrote:
> >> What you are proposing could easily turn in to an 
> excessive annual  
> >> manpower
> >> requirement for an ISP.  It could easily be forgotten or mis- 
> >> assigned with
> >> terrible consequences.
> > 
> > Not unless the ISP throws away the information gained from the  
> > previous year every time and does it all from scratch.
> > 
> > And I mean seriously, have you ever worked at an ISP that 
> didn't have  
> > an internal database with information about every single IP  
> > allocation?  ISPs are going to find this exercise trivial.
> 
> I have. I once spent about 2 months getting all of their 
> swips in order. 
> The only documentation was comments in zone files. I think they just 
> deleted all the swips later or something.

I don't understand why basic recordkeeping that any ISP should be doing,
should not be able to be mandated. I have had no problem maintaining an
accurate inventory of our IP use. I feel confident enough about our
recordkeeping to pay $20 out of my own pocket for any inaccurate or
missing record found in our IP database. (This is not a challenge, of
course).

I know people out there don't maintain their records, but there's really
no excuse for that. How hard is it to kick out a SWIP, or update a
spreadsheet or something? At the end of the day, these bad or
nonexistent records are doctored up, and made to show ARIN that they're
out of IPs and need more. How do they come to this determination without
accurate records in the first place? Do they give up on finding more
useful space? How can you accurately assign and track your IP space well
enough to know you need more space if you don't have good records?

I have been out for a week, and honestly, I have no idea what proposal
is even being discussed. But to hear other ARIN holders discussing how
poor their records are and how it's not fair if someone mandates
something resembling accuracy is insulting to people who actually work
to maintain accurate records to avoid needless allocations and waste.

-Paul