Draft Policy ARIN-2018-4: Clarification on IPv6 Sub-Assignments

[ARIN]

On 18 April 2018 the ARIN Advisory Council (AC) accepted "ARIN-prop-254: 
Clarification on IPv6 Sub-Assignments" as a Draft Policy.

Draft Policy ARIN-2018-4 is below and can be found at:
https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2018_4.html

You are encouraged to discuss all Draft Policies on PPML. The AC will 
evaluate the discussion in order to assess the conformance of this draft 
policy with ARIN's Principles of Internet number resource policy as 
stated in the Policy Development Process (PDP). Specifically, these 
principles are:

  * Enabling Fair and Impartial Number Resource Administration
  * Technically Sound
  * Supported by the Community

The PDP 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,

Sean Hopkins
Policy Analyst
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)



Draft Policy ARIN-2018-4: Clarification on IPv6 Sub-Assignments

Problem Statement:

When the policy was drafted, the concept of assignments/sub-assignments 
did not consider a practice very common in IPv4 which is replicated and 
even amplified in IPv6: the use of IP addresses for point-to-point links 
or VPNs.

In the case of IPv6, instead of unique addresses, the use of unique 
prefixes (/64) is increasingly common.

Likewise, the policy failed to consider the use of IP addresses in 
hotspots, or the use of IP addresses by guests or employees in Bring 
Your Own Device (BYOD) and many other similar cases.

Finally, the IETF has recently approved the use of a unique /64 prefix 
per interface/host (RFC8273) instead of a unique address. This, for 
example, allows users to connect to a hotspot, receive a /64 such that 
they are “isolated” from other users (for reasons of security, 
regulatory requirements, etc.) and they can also use multiple virtual 
machines on their devices with a unique address for each one (within the 
same /64).

Section 2.5 (Definitions/Allocate and Assign), explicitly prohibits such 
assignments, stating that “Assignments... are not to be sub-assigned to 
other parties”.

This proposal clarifies this situation in this regard and better define 
the concept, particularly considering new uses of IPv6 (RFC8273), by 
means of a new paragraph.

5.    Policy Statement

Actual Text

•    Assign - To assign means to delegate address space to an ISP or 
end-user, for specific use within the Internet infrastructure they 
operate. Assignments must only be made for specific purposes documented 
by specific organizations and are not to be sub-assigned to other parties.

New Text

•    Assign - To assign means to delegate address space to an ISP or 
end-user, for specific use within the Internet infrastructure they 
operate. Assignments must only be made for specific purposes documented 
by specific organizations and are not to be sub-assigned to other parties.

The fact that a unique address or even a unique /64 prefix is 
non-permanently provided to third parties, on a link operated by the 
original receiver of the assignment, shall not be considered a 
sub-assignment. This includes, for example, guests or employees (devices 
or servers), hotspots, and point-to-point links or VPNs. The provision 
of addressing for permanent connectivity or broadband services is still 
considered a sub-assignment. Only the addressing of the point-to-point 
link itself can be permanent and that addressing can't be used (neither 
directly or indirectly) for the actual communication.



6.    Comments

a.    Timetable for implementation:

Immediate

b.    Anything else:

Situation in other regions: This situation, has already been corrected 
in RIPE, and the policy was updated in a similar way, even if right now 
there is a small discrepancy between the policy text that reached 
consensus and the RIPE NCC Impact Analysis. A new policy proposal has 
been submitted to amend that, and the text is the same as presented by 
this proposal at ARIN. Same text has also been submitted to AfriNIC, 
LACNIC and APNIC.