Policy Proposal 2007-19 - Staff Assessment

[Member Services]

Policy Proposal 2007-19
IANA Policy for Allocation of ASN Blocks to RIRs

ARIN Staff Assessment

The assessment of this proposal includes comments from ARIN staff and
the ARIN General Counsel. It contains analysis of procedural, legal, and
resource concerns regarding the implementation of this policy proposal
as it is currently stated. Any changes to the language of the proposal
may necessitate further analysis by staff and Counsel.

I. Proposal

Policy Proposal is available as Annex A below and at:
http://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2007_19.html

II. Understanding of the proposal

ARIN staff understands that this proposal is a global proposal. It would
create policy for IANA to RIR regarding allocations of ASNs. Block size
is 1024. Allocations for 12 months need. Until 31 Dec 2009, allocations
of 2-byte and 4-byte blocks are separate. RIRs request additional ASNs
when either at 80% or at less than two months need.

III. Comments

   A. ARIN Staff

     1. The “Additional Allocations” section indicates an RIR can
receive an additional ASN allocation when the RIR “has
assigned/allocated 80% of the previously received ASN block”.

     After 12/31/2009, there will be no distinction made between 2 byte
AS numbers and 4 byte AS numbers per policy.  Does “previously received
ASN block” literally mean the most recent ASN block (even if it was a 2
byte only block), or does it mean 80% of both the most recent 4 byte
block and the most recent 2 byte block?  If it’s the latter, one ASN
block would never be audited, since it would never be “the most recent
ASN block allocated”.

     2. The policy will be inserted in Section 10 of the NRPM.

   B. ARIN General Counsel

   "Counsel has no legal concerns regarding this policy. Counsel believes
policies allocating resources based on usage and need are consistent
with the operating philosophy of the RIR Community. Other policy
proposals, inconsistent with this philosophy should be subject to
greater scrutiny."

Resource Impact – Minimal

The resource impact of implementing this policy is viewed as minimum.
Barring any unforeseen resource requirements, this policy could be
implemented within 30 - 90 days from the date of the ratification of the
policy by the ARIN Board of Trustees.  It will require the following:

-  Updates to Guidelines will be required
-  Staff training will be required

Respectfully submitted,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


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Annex A

Policy Proposal 2007-19
IANA Policy for Allocation of ASN Blocks to RIRs

Author: Axel Pawlik

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]
Policy Rationale

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