Policy Proposal: IANA Policy for Allocation of ASN Blocks to RIRs

[Member Services]

ARIN received the following policy proposal. In accordance with the ARIN
Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process, the proposal is being
posted to the ARIN Public Policy Mailing List (PPML) and being placed on
ARIN's website.

The ARIN Advisory Council (AC) will review this proposal at their next
regularly scheduled meeting. The AC may decide to:

   1. Accept the proposal as a formal policy proposal as written. If the
AC accepts the proposal, it will be posted as a formal policy proposal
to PPML and it will be presented at a Public Policy Meeting.

   2. Postpone their decision regarding the proposal until the next
regularly scheduled AC meeting in order to work with the author. The AC
will work with the author to clarify, combine or divide the proposal. At
their following meeting the AC will accept or not accept the proposal.

   3. Not accept the proposal. If the AC does not accept the proposal,
the AC will explain their decision. If a proposal is not accepted, then
the author may elect to use the petition process to advance their
proposal. If the author elects not to petition or the  petition fails,
then the proposal will be closed.

The AC will assign shepherds in the near future. ARIN will provide the
names of the shepherds to the community via the PPML.

In the meantime, the AC invites everyone to comment on this proposal on
the PPML, particularly their support or non-support and the reasoning
behind their opinion. Such participation contributes to a thorough
vetting and provides important guidance to the AC in their deliberations.

The ARIN Internet Resource Policy Evaluation Process can be found at:
http://www.arin.net/policy/irpep.html

Mailing list subscription information can be found at:
http://www.arin.net/mailing_lists/

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


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Policy Proposal Name:  Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) Policy
for Allocation of ASN Blocks to Regional Internet Registries

Author: Axel Pawlik

Proposal Version: 1

Submission Date: 24 July 2007

Proposal type: New

Policy term: renewable

Policy statement:

Abstract

This document describes the policy governing the allocation of
Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) from the IANA to the Regional Internet
Registries (RIRs).

This policy document does not stipulate performance requirements in the
provision of services by the IANA to an RIR. Such requirements will be
specified by appropriate agreements between ICANN and the Number
Resource Organization (NRO).

1. Allocation Principles

IANA allocates ASNs to RIRs in blocks of 1024 ASNs. In this document the
term "ASN block" refers to a set of 1024 ASNs. Until 31 December 2009,
allocations of 2-byte only and 4-byte only ASN blocks will be made
separately and independent of each other [1].

This means until 31 December 2009, RIRs can receive two separate ASN
blocks, one for 2-byte only ASNs and one for 4-byte only ASNs from the
IANA under this policy. After this date, IANA and the RIRs will cease to
make any distinction between 2-byte only and 4-byte only ASNs, and will
operate ASN allocations from an undifferentiated 4-byte ASN allocation pool.

2. Initial Allocations

Each new RIR will be allocated a new ASN block.

3. Additional Allocations

An RIR is eligible to receive (an) additional ASN block(s) from the IANA
if one of the following conditions is met:

   1. The RIR has assigned/allocated 80% of the previously received ASN
block, or

   2. The number of free ASNs currently held by the RIR is less than two
months need. This projection is based on the monthly average number of
ASNs assigned/allocated by the RIR over the previous six months.

An RIR will be allocated as many ASN blocks as are needed to support
their registration needs for the next 12 months, based on their average
assignment/allocation rate over the previous six months, unless the RIR
specifically requests fewer blocks than it qualifies for.

4. Announcement of IANA Allocations

The IANA, the NRO and the RIRs will make announcements and update their
respective websites/databases when an allocation is made by the IANA to
an RIR. ICANN and the NRO will establish administrative procedures to
manage this process.

[1. http://www.ripe.net/ripe/policies/proposals/2005-12.html]


Rationale:

There are global policies governing the allocation of IPv4 and IPv6
blocks from the IANA to RIRs. At this point there is no specific policy
regarding the allocation of Autonomous System Numbers from the IANA to
the RIRs. This proposal will create a policy to fill this gap.

The criteria being proposed has already been the practice between IANA
and RIRs so far and it has been proven to work. It is designed to allow
RIRs to request ASN blocks from the IANA in a timely fashion and
maintain enough ASNs in holding to ensure that their registration
services can be sustained.

It is also proposed that the RIRs be allocated as many ASN blocks as are
needed to support their registration needs for the next 12 months. This
will generally mean that each RIR will only need to make one ASN request
from the IANA each year, thus lowering operational overhead for the RIRs.

Timetable for implementation: Immediate