[arin-ppml] ARIN 2-Byte ASN inventory and issuance

Owen DeLong owen at delong.com
Mon Apr 11 15:18:51 EDT 2016 

Pesonally, I believe we have a terminology problem more than anything else.

At this time, we should no longer be even considering “2-byte” ASNs.

There are two classes of 4-byte ASNs. The idea of 2-byte ASNs should be considered anachronistic.

The classes of 4-byte ASNs are those that are ≤65535 and those that are ≥65536.

The former class can be used as a 2-byte ASN in the rare case of a technological limitation (obsolete routing equipment or equipment with inadequate support for extended communities).

The latter class cannot be used as a 2-byte ASN in such cases.

In all cases, continuing to talk about 2-byte ASNs IMHO contributes to the misperception that the internet has not yet moved on.

I believe that current policy is sufficient. I would prefer that operational practice actually revert to what is in policy and that we no longer treat 4-byte ASNs ≤65535 as being in any way special.

Owen

> On Apr 8, 2016, at 09:06 , Andrew Dul <andrew.dul at quark.net> wrote:
> 
> Do other members of the ARIN community believe that the current policy and operational practice is sufficient for now, or are there policy changes needed at this time?
> 
> Thanks,
> Andrew
> 
> On 4/7/2016 12:24 PM, Scott Leibrand wrote:
>> Thanks, John.
>> 
>> It sounds to me like ARIN is already doing the right thing (saving 2-byte ASNs for people who specifically want them), and that is sufficient for the time being.  It does not appear that additional restrictions on who may request a 2-byte ASN are necessary at this time.  If at some point 5+ years down the road the rate of 2-byte ASN demand starts to exceed the recovered supply and the 2-byte ASN inventory is depleted, we can consider a waiting list and/or technical requirements for requesting a 2-byte ASN at that time.
>> 
>> Is there any other reason we need to consider taking action sooner?  Was there something else I'm missing that prompted ARIN staff to start the consultation process around a 2-byte ASN waiting list?
>> 
>> -Scott
>> 
>> On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 11:44 AM, John Curran <jcurran at arin.net <mailto:jcurran at arin.net>> wrote:
>> Folks -
>> 
>> Please forgive this omnibus email of information, but we've had sufficient individual
>> questions for 2-byte ASN data that it simply made more sense to provide one full
>> summary rather than reply to each question individually...
>> 
>> ARIN continues to have classic, 2-byte, AS numbers in inventory. Over the last few
>> years, we have received small blocks of them in our new delegations from the IANA,
>> obtained them from customer returns of AS numbers, or through revocations of AS
>> numbers due to non-payment of registration fees.
>> 
>> Our last AS block delegation from IANA was on 29 April 2015.  We received 99 2-byte
>> ASNs and 925 4-byte ASNs at that time, and do not expect to receive any additional
>> 2-byte ASNs from the IANA in future delegations.  The 2-byte ASNs received from the
>> IANA in 2015 were added to the inventory and placed on hold.  The reason that the
>> 2-byte ASNs were put on hold is that was not responsible to issue from the dwindling
>> quantity of these resources to parties that did not specifically request such while we
>> were still receiving AS number requests specifically asking for 2-byte AS numbers.
>> 
>> As of today, we currently have the following 2-byte ASNs in ARIN inventory:
>> 
>>        387 2-byte AS numbers on hold (most were routed at some point)
>>        535 2-byte AS numbers revoked
>>        133 2-byte AS numbers returned
>> 
>>   = 1,055 2-byte AS numbers returned/revoked/held (Total)
>> 
>> Customers requesting ASNs receive a 4-byte ASN by default.  If a request comes in
>> that specifically requests a 2-byte ASN, we inform the customer that we have noted
>> their special request and that we will accommodate it at the issuance phase of the
>> ticket process if we have 2-byte ASN available at that time.
>> 
>> Rate of issuance for 2-byte ASNs per month -
>> 
>>     1/2015: 68
>>     2/2015: 77
>>     3/2015: 74
>>     4/2015: 60
>>     5/2015: 7
>>     6/2015: 12
>>     7/2015: 16
>>     8/2015: 4
>>     9/2015: 7
>>     10/2015: 11
>>     11/2015: 7
>>     12/2015: 11
>>     1/2016: 5
>>     2/2016: 6
>>     3/2016: 13
>> 
>> A waiting list will only be applicable after depletion of the present 2-byte ASN inventory,
>> hence the following general run-out estimates are provided for consideration:
>> 
>>    - If we release all of the 2-byte ASNs from hold and issue ASNs strictly from smallest
>>      to largest, i.e. the practice prior to May 2015, it is likely that the current inventory of
>>      2-byte ASN’s would last somewhere between 6 to 12 months.
>> 
>>   -  If we continue the current approach (wherein 4-byte ASNs are issued by default and
>>      2-byte ASNs are only issued upon special request), the current inventory of 2-byte
>>      ASNs would appear to last for many years (5+ years at present rate).
>> 
>> I hope the above information helps in your policy development efforts!
>> 
>> Thank you,
>> /John
>> 
>> John Curran
>> President and CEO
>> American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> PPML
>> You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to
>> the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List ( <mailto:ARIN-PPML at arin.net>ARIN-PPML at arin.net <mailto:ARIN-PPML at arin.net>).
>> Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at:
>> http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml <http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml>
>> Please contact info at arin.net <mailto:info at arin.net> if you experience any issues.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> _______________________________________________
>> PPML
>> You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to
>> the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ARIN-PPML at arin.net <mailto:ARIN-PPML at arin.net>).
>> Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at:
>> http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml <http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml>
>> Please contact info at arin.net <mailto:info at arin.net> if you experience any issues.
> 
> _______________________________________________
> PPML
> You are receiving this message because you are subscribed to
> the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (ARIN-PPML at arin.net).
> Unsubscribe or manage your mailing list subscription at:
> http://lists.arin.net/mailman/listinfo/arin-ppml
> Please contact info at arin.net if you experience any issues.

-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <https://lists.arin.net/pipermail/arin-ppml/attachments/20160411/b4b9cce2/attachment.htm>

More information about the ARIN-PPML mailing list