Draft Policy 2011-9 (Global Proposal): Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the IANA

[ARIN]

Draft Policy ARIN-2011-9 (Global Proposal)
Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the IANA


On 18 August 2011 the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) selected "Global Policy 
for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the IANA" as a  draft 
policy for adoption discussion on the PPML and at the Public Policy 
Meeting in Philadelphia in October.

The draft was developed by the AC from policy proposal "ARIN-prop-137 
Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the 
IANA." Per the Policy Development Process the AC submitted text to ARIN 
for a staff and legal assessment prior to its selection as a draft 
policy. Below the draft policy is the ARIN staff and legal assessment, 
followed by the text that was submitted by the AC.

Draft Policy ARIN-2011-9 is below and can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2011_9.html

You are encouraged to discuss Draft Policy 2011-9 on the PPML prior to
the October Public Policy Meeting. Both the discussion on the list and
at the meeting will be used by the ARIN Advisory Council to determine
the community consensus for adopting this as policy.

The ARIN Policy Development Process can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/pdp.html

Draft Policies and Proposals under discussion can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/index.html

Regards,

Member Services
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)


## * ##

Draft Policy ARIN-2011-9 (Global Proposal)
Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the IANA

Date: 24 August 2011

Policy statement:

The IANA shall establish a Recovered IPv4 Pool to be utilized post
RIR IPv4 exhaustion. The Recovered IPv4 Pool will initially contain
any fragments that may be left over in the IANA. It will also hold
any space returned to the IANA by any other means.
The Recovered IPv4 Pool will be administered by the IANA. It will
contain:
a. Any fragments left over in the IANA inventory after the last
/8s of IPv4 space are delegated to the RIRs

     The IANA inventory excludes "Special use IPv4 addresses" as
     defined in BCP 153 and any addresses allocated by the IANA
     for experimental use.

b. Any IPv4 space returned to the IANA by any means.
The Recovered IPv4 Pool will stay inactive until the first RIR has
less than a total of a /9 in its inventory of IPv4 address space.
When one of the RIRs declares it has less than a total of a /9 in
its inventory, the Recovered IPv4 pool will be declared active, and
IP addresses from the Recovered IPv4 Pool will be allocated as
follows:
a. Allocations from the IANA may begin once the pool is declared
active.
b. In each "IPv4 allocation period", each RIR will receive a
single "IPv4 allocation unit" from the IANA.
c. An "IPv4 allocation period" is defined as a 6-month period
following 1 March or 1 September in each year.
d. The IANA will calculate the size of the "IPv4 allocation unit"
at the following times:

     When the Recovered IPv4 Pool is first activated
     At the beginning of each IPv4 allocation period

To calculate the "IPv4 allocation unit" at these times, the
IANA will use the following formula:
IPv4 allocation unit = 1/5 of Recovered IPv4 pool,
rounded down to the next CIDR
(power-of-2) boundary.
No RIR may get more than this calculation used to determine
the IPv4 allocation unit even when they can justify a need for
it.
The minimum "IPv4 allocation unit" size will be a /24. If the
calculation used to determine the IPv4 allocation unit results
in a block smaller than a /24, the IANA will not distribute
any addresses in that IPv4 allocation period.
The IANA may make public announcements of IPv4 address
transactions that occur under this policy. The IANA will make
appropriate modifications to the "Internet Protocol V4 Address
Space" page of the IANA website and may make announcements to its
own appropriate announcement lists. The IANA announcements will
be limited to which address ranges, the time of allocation, and to
which Registry they have been allocated.

Rationale:

The policy provides a mechanism for the ongoing distribution of
IPv4 address space, while removing the areas that have been
problematic in previous attemts at this proposal. The proposal:

- Permits regional variation in runout policy amongst RIRs to
be accounted for in the distribution of the Recovered IPv4 Pool

- Prevents the possibility of a single RIR being eligible to
be allocated the entire Recovered IPv4 Pool in the first
(and perhaps only) allocation period

- Removes two areas of policy that have failed to reach
agreement in previous attempts at this proposal:

- How addresses should be placed in the Recovered IPv4 Pool
- References to how transfers should or should not take
place

Timetable for implementation:

Once consensus has been reached in each of the 5 RIR regions, the
policy will be forwarded to ICANN for approval and then implemented
by the IANA.


#####


STAFF ASSESSMENT

ARIN STAFF ASSESSMENT

Proposal:  ARIN-prop-137 Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 
allocation mechanisms by the IANA

Date of Assessment: 18 August 2011

1.  Proposal Summary (Staff Understanding)

IANA issued the last /8s in February 2011. There is no global policy for 
IANA to allocate address space to the RIRs that is smaller than a /8. 
The proposal tells IANA to set up a recovered address space pool, accept 
returns by any means, and allocate address space to the RIRs in equal 
amounts, twice a year, minimum /24.

2. Comments

A. ARIN Staff Comments

•	This proposal would fill a policy gap.  It would allow the RIRs to 
return IPv4 address blocks smaller than a /8 to the IANA for equal 
redistribution amongst the RIRs.

B. ARIN General Counsel

This policy poses no significant legal risks and is a useful advancement.


3. Resource Impact

This policy would have minimal resource impact from an implementation 
aspect.  Since this is a global policy proposal it would be implemented 
after ratification by the ICANN Board. The following would be needed in 
order to implement:

•	Updated guidelines
•	Staff training

4. Proposal Text

ARIN-prop-137
Global Policy for post exhaustion IPv4 allocation mechanisms by the IANA

Policy statement:

The IANA shall establish a Recovered IPv4 Pool to be utilized post
RIR IPv4 exhaustion. The Recovered IPv4 Pool will initially contain
any fragments that may be left over in the IANA. It will also hold
any space returned to the IANA by any other means.
The Recovered IPv4 Pool will be administered by the IANA. It will
contain:
a. Any fragments left over in the IANA inventory after the last
/8s of IPv4 space are delegated to the RIRs

     The IANA inventory excludes "Special use IPv4 addresses" as
     defined in BCP 153 and any addresses allocated by the IANA
     for experimental use.

b. Any IPv4 space returned to the IANA by any means.
The Recovered IPv4 Pool will stay inactive until the first RIR has
less than a total of a /9 in its inventory of IPv4 address space.
When one of the RIRs declares it has less than a total of a /9 in
its inventory, the Recovered IPv4 pool will be declared active, and
IP addresses from the Recovered IPv4 Pool will be allocated as
follows:
a. Allocations from the IANA may begin once the pool is declared
active.
b. In each "IPv4 allocation period", each RIR will receive a
single "IPv4 allocation unit" from the IANA.
c. An "IPv4 allocation period" is defined as a 6-month period
following 1 March or 1 September in each year.
d. The IANA will calculate the size of the "IPv4 allocation unit"
at the following times:

     When the Recovered IPv4 Pool is first activated
     At the beginning of each IPv4 allocation period

To calculate the "IPv4 allocation unit" at these times, the
IANA will use the following formula:
IPv4 allocation unit = 1/5 of Recovered IPv4 pool,
rounded down to the next CIDR
(power-of-2) boundary.
No RIR may get more than this calculation used to determine
the IPv4 allocation unit even when they can justify a need for
it.
The minimum "IPv4 allocation unit" size will be a /24. If the
calculation used to determine the IPv4 allocation unit results
in a block smaller than a /24, the IANA will not distribute
any addresses in that IPv4 allocation period.
The IANA may make public announcements of IPv4 address
transactions that occur under this policy. The IANA will make
appropriate modifications to the "Internet Protocol V4 Address
Space" page of the IANA website and may make announcements to its
own appropriate announcement lists. The IANA announcements will
be limited to which address ranges, the time of allocation, and to
which Registry they have been allocated.

Rationale:

The policy provides a mechanism for the ongoing distribution of
IPv4 address space, while removing the areas that have been
problematic in previous attemts at this proposal. The proposal:

- Permits regional variation in runout policy amongst RIRs to
be accounted for in the distribution of the Recovered IPv4 Pool

- Prevents the possibility of a single RIR being eligible to
be allocated the entire Recovered IPv4 Pool in the first
(and perhaps only) allocation period

- Removes two areas of policy that have failed to reach
agreement in previous attempts at this proposal:

- How addresses should be placed in the Recovered IPv4 Pool
- References to how transfers should or should not take
place

Timetable for implementation:

Once consensus has been reached in each of the 5 RIR regions, the
policy will be forwarded to ICANN for approval and then implemented
by the IANA.