Handle Generation

[ginny listman]

Based on the discussions that took place during the Public Policy Meeting
regarding handle generation, all network handles will have a sequence
number.

Ginny

On Thu, 31 Jan 2002, ginny listman wrote:

> As a feature of the new database, organizations will have full control
> over their network and AS names. Therefore, network and AS names no longer
> need to be unique.  Also, it will be much easier for an organization to
> change the network and AS names. For these reasons, we want to get away
> from using the AS or network name to generate a unique handle.
> 
> All future ASes will have a handle in the format of AS## where ## will be
> the autonomous system number. In the case of AS blocks, it will be the
> first in the block of autonomous system numbers.
> 
> All future networks will have a handle of NET-##-##-##-##<-sequence> where
> ## represents each of the 4 octets for v4 networks or the 8 16-bit
> hexadecimal pieces for v6 networks, of the first IP address.  For both v4
> and v6 networks, the <sequence> will be applied only in the case of
> duplicates, e.g., in the case of reassignments of the first portion of the
> network.
> 
> To make the database more uniform and to completely disassociate handle
> usage from network and AS names, we would also like to replace existing
> handles with this new format. How many of you out there are attached to
> the existing handles? Will changing existing handles be a benefit or a
> hinderance?
> 
> Ginny Listman
> Director of Engineering
> ARIN
> 
>