------------------------------------------------------------------- APNIC Document identity Title: Various Proposals for the Asia Pacific Network Information Center Short title: proposals-for-apnic Document ref: APNIC-004 Version: 001 Date of original publication: 10 December 1993 Date of this version: 10 December 1993 Review scheduled: n/a Obsoletes: n/a Status: Historical Comments: n/a -------------------------------------------------------------------- APNIC-004.0 APNIC Staff Informational Document December 1993 Various Proposals for the Asia Pacific Network Information Center Issued: December 10, 1993 Expires: Not Applicable 1.0 Introduction As of this writing, the Asia Pacific Network Information Center pilot project has been operating for a little under three months. Dur- ing this time, the members of the APNIC-STAFF mailing list have dis- cussed many issues relating to the operation of the APNIC and have developed a set of proposals. These proposals are intended to provide the APCCIRN with input that will help establish a permanent Network Information Center in the Asia Pacific region. While the proposals presented in this paper are the result of dis- cussions held on the APNIC-STAFF list and elsewhere, they are not intended to be exhaustive, but rather to provide food for thought regarding the operational and administrative features of the Asia Pacific Network Information Center. The format of the proposals presented hereafter consists of a sort description of the issue, the APNIC pilot project proposal to resolve the issue. With the information provided with these proposals it is hoped the APCCIRN can reach a consensus and thus allowing the APNIC pilot project to implement the proposed solutions. 2.0 Proposals The proposals in this section are not ordered in any particular fashion and include the following: 1. Functions of the APNIC 2. Definition of the Asia Pacific Region 3. Class B Network Allocations 4. Class C Network Allocations 5. WHOIS Database Software 6. Common NIC Domain Name Format 7. Common NIC Contact Point 8. Information Distribution 9. Languages APNIC Staff [Page 1] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 10. Routing Registry 11. Certification of National NICs 12. Statistics collection and repository These proposalsare the result of discussions held on the APNIC- STAFF list and elsewhere between people involved in the implementation of the APNIC pilot project as well as people who are knowledgable in the field of Asia Pacific networking. Neither the issues nor the proposed solutions given here are intended to be exhaustive, but rather the topics discussed below are intended to stimulate discussion and help the APCCIRN reach consensus on methods, procedures, and policies necessary to create a permanent Network Information Center for the Asia Pacific region. 2.1 Functions of the APNIC 2.1.1 Issue What will the APNIC be responsible for, what services will it pro- vide, and what can the Asia Pacific networking community expect from the APNIC? 2.1.2 Proposal The APNIC should perform the following functions: 1. Allocation of Class C network blocks to national registries and multi-national service providers. 2. Provide an initial contact point for people interested in internetworking in the Asia Pacific region 3. Promote Asia Pacific internetworking 4. Provide NIC services for nations with no regional NIC 5. Promote the establishment of national NICs 6. Provide a top level information repository 7. Delegation for the 202, 203, and 204.in-addr.arpa reverse domain name trees 8. Provide a forum for coordination between regional NICs in the Asia Pacific region 2.1.3 Discussion The above list is not intended to be exhaustive, but merely to pro- vide a beginning to a list of the services the APNIC will be responsible for. 2.1.3.1 Class C Network Block Allocation The "superblock" allocation scheme described later requires the APNIC Staff [Page 2] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 APNIC to issue class C blocks (256 class C networks) on demand to appropriate requestors. Appropriate requestors include national regis- tries (typically a national Network Information Center) and multi- national Internet Service providers. 2.1.3.2 Initial Contact Point The APNIC will serve as an initial contact point for organizations interested in Internetworking in the Asia Pacific region. In this capa- city, the APNIC will serve as a referral service for questions which can be best answered either at the national NIC level or at the global NIC level. Additionally, the APNIC may also provide information and advice to organizations who wish to connect or who wish to provide Internet connectivity services. In order to fulfill this function, APNIC will collect and maintain a list of organizations to refer questions and inquiries to and will make this list publicly available. 2.1.3.3 Promote Asia Pacific Networking As a primary information resource for networking in the Asia Pacific region, the APNIC will act to promote ubiquitous Internet con- nectivity in the Asia Pacific region by communicating and interacting with Internetworking organizations such as ISOC, IETF, etc. APNIC will also aid as appropriate efforts directed towards such activities as conferences, trade shows, and meetings directly related to Internetwork- ing in the Asia Pacific region. 2.1.3.4 NIC services for the NIC-less As the Network Information Center for the Asia Pacific region, APNIC will provide common NIC services to countries which have not esta- blished a national NIC. These services include consultation regarding networking issues, Internet registry services, etc. It is acknowledged that the APNIC will not be able to provide the level of support a national NIC would provide, but rather will provide support services on a "last resort" basis. 2.1.3.5 Promote the Establishment of National NICs Since APNIC resources will not be infinite, it is assumed the APNIC will delegate as much responsibility to the National NICs as is appropriate. As such, the APNIC will take all reasonable steps in pro- moting the establishment of national NICs. These steps include consult- ing with networking organizations, providing a neutral forum for discus- sions between networking organizations within a country, and providing advice and pointers to organizations interested in performing national NIC duties. APNIC Staff [Page 3] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 2.1.3.6 Provide Top Level Information Repository The APNIC will provide both informational resources and databases to the Asia Pacific community in particular and as a priority and the Internet community at large in general. The informational resources will include file stores for APNIC documents, RFCs, Internet drafts, etc. Databases will include network registration databases, network contact databases, etc. As described in the Languages section, all rea- sonable efforts will be undertaken to provide national language transla- tions of documents in the APNIC information repository, however it is acknowledged that these efforts will be constrained by available APNIC resources. 2.1.3.7 Delegation of 202, 203, and 204.in-addr.arpa namespaces Since the APNIC will be the designated Internet registry for 202.0.0.0 through 203.255.255.0 (and perhaps through 204.255.255.0 if necessary), it logically follows that APNIC will serve to delegate the domain name reverse name lookup hierarchies for those address blocks. This service will necessarily entail the operation of a domain name server within the APNIC facilities. As such, as an added service to the Asia Pacific networking community, APNIC will consent to be a DNS secon- dary for any domain within the Asia Pacific region. 2.1.3.8 Provide a Asia Pacific NIC Coordination Forum The APNIC will be a neutral coordinator for discussions between national NICs in the Asia Pacific region and will promote communication between national NICs as much as possible. This coordination includes the establishment of mailing lists for inter-NIC communication, organi- zation of BOFs as deemed useful at networking conferences such as the Inet or IETF meetings, etc. 2.2 Definition of the Asia Pacific Region 2.2.1 Issue What countries should the APNIC support? 2.2.2 Proposal Since the APNIC is to provide network coordination services to the Asia Pacific region, APNIC should be willing to support any country in Asia and the Pacific Rim. The actual definitions of "Asia" and "Pacific Rim" should be left intentionally vague as there is no necessity to create rigid definitions of the regions at this time. 2.2.3 Discussion APNIC Staff [Page 4] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 It is assumed the APNIC will accept questions from any region in the world. If the question comes from a region not normally associated with the Asia or Pacific Rim regions, APNIC may redirect the question to the appropriate regional NIC (RIPE for Europe or InterNIC for anywhere else). By leaving the defintion of areas of responsibility vague, APNIC can coordinate with RIPE and InterNIC to determine the regional NIC most capable of providing the best level of support for the country in ques- tion. 2.3 Class B Network Allocations 2.3.1 Issue RFC 1466 contains the following paragraph: 4.2.2 The IR may allocate small blocks of Class B network numbers to regional registries if so doing will improve the service that is being provided to the community. The IR may issue more specific guidelines for the further assignment of the numbers which will be consistent with the stated guidelines. The IR may require accounting of the block assignment including receipt of the applicants' engineering plans. The IR may audit these engineering plans to confirm that the assignments are consistent with the guidelines. This paragraph implies regional registries such as the APNIC can obtain a "small" number of class B network addresses to allocate as necessary. Should APNIC obtain these addresses and if so, how many? 2.3.2 Proposal The national IR (or regional IR, if no national IR exists) should provide a "first line" interface for all requests, including class Bs. InterNIC will be asked to forward all requests (including class Bs) to the national IR of the requestor. The national IR will then determine whether the request is justified. If it is, the request is forwarded to the regional IR (APNIC) for review and forwarding to the InterNIC for allocation. InterNIC is, of course, free to refuse an allocation, but it is assumed that if the national and regional IRs approve the request, the request is justified. 2.3.3 Discussion The inclusion of the regional IR in the evaluation process provides both an additional level of sanity checking and a single point of inter- face between the InterNIC and the Asia Pacific region. This single point of interface may be helpful in insuring correct and proper APNIC Staff [Page 5] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 requests are forwarded to the InterNIC. Furthermore, APNIC acknowledges the desire to have a global strategy for the fair and efficient alloca- tion of the scarce class B resource and will work with the global IR, other regional IRs, and the national IRs to ensure the interpretation and application of the class B allocation requirements specified in RFC 1466 are applied appropriately. 2.4 Class C Network Allocations 2.4.1 Issue The Asia Pacific region has been delegated the address range of 202.0.0.0 to 203.255.255.0 and will be delegated 204.0.0.0 to 204.255.255.0 in the even the first delegation nears exhaustion. The issue here is how best to allocate addresses from this range, keeping in mind CIDRizability and efforts to increase the efficiency of address space usage. 2.4.2 Proposal The APNIC will partition the 202 and 203 address blocks into coun- try and multi-national service provider oriented CIDRizable "super- blocks". A superblock is defined as 1 or more C blocks (256 class C networks). For example, the address range 202.128.0.0 through 202.129.255.0 is a superblock consisting of two C blocks (202.128.0.0 - 202.128.255.0 and 202.129.0.0 - 202.129.255.0). The size of the each country's superblock will be associated with its address requirements for the next five years. Because estimating address usage that far in the future is exceedingly difficult, the superblocks can be resized as necessary in the event network address space usage grows in variance to the original estimates. After the superblocks are defined, APNIC will then allocate C blocks (256 class C networks) on demand from the desig- nated superblock. 2.4.3 Discussion The superblock scheme is intended to avoid the difficulties inherent in estimating address space usage far into the future. Currently, there are two methods in use to allocate addresses: pre- allocated blocks and allocation on demand. With pre-allocated blocks, the entire 202 and 203 address space would be carved up and delegated to country NICs or multi-national ser- vice providers (MNSPs) at the beginning. This method, while providing the greatest level of autonomy to the national NICs and service provid- ers, would require firm estimates to be provided and subsequent modifi- cations to the delegated address space would be exceedingly controver- sial and difficult. APNIC Staff [Page 6] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 With the allocation on demand scheme, the 202 and 203 address space would be allocated to national NICs or MNSPs a C block at a time on demand. This method removes any need for address space estimates, but leads to a higher level of fragmentation which would (slightly) reduce the effectiveness of CIDR. The proposed superblock mechanism proposed combines the pre- allocation and allocation-on-demand approaches and would provide a high level of CIDRizability as well as the ability to easily increase or decrease a country's "allocation" as necessary. The basic premise behind the superblock scheme is to provide spacing between allocations so C blocks can be aggregated together in a CIDRizable fashion. In the event one country's or MNSP's superblock is consumed, additional C blocks will be allocated on demand from the neighboring superblock (assuming the neighboring superblock has free C blocks). In the event there are no free C blocks available in the neighboring superblock, a new superblock will be allocated for that country. Note that there is an implicit assumption that C blocks will be allocated from the center of a superblock outward to both edges. 2.5 WHOIS Database Software 2.5.1 Issue The APNIC necessarily needs to maintain a series of databases which will be used for the operation of the regional Internet registry. The issue is what database software should be used. 2.5.2 Proposal Initially, the APNIC will use database software developed and used by the European regional registry, RIPE. At a later date, APNIC staff will review the capabilities of the RIPE database software and make sub- sequent decisions on continued use of the RIPE software. 2.5.3 Discussion The RIPE software is currently in use at the RIPE Network Coordina- tion Center and suits their purposes admirably. It may be assumed that APNIC and RIPE share (at least) a common subset of requirements for WHOIS database software. As requirements change, it may be necessary to change database software. As the RIPE database software uses a very common and easily parsed storage format, switching to a different data- base system would theoretically require little effort. 2.6 Common NIC Domain Name Format APNIC Staff [Page 7] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 2.6.1 Issue With the proliferation of national NICs, it is becoming increas- ingly difficult to know the domain name of a given country's national NIC. For example, Japan's national NIC's domain name is nic.ad.jp, whereas Korea's national NIC's domain name is nic.nm.kr. 2.6.2 Proposal The APNIC would like to propose all national NICs agree upon a common domain name format. The format proposed by the APNIC pilot project is NIC.NET For example, Australia's national NIC would be AUNIC.NET, Korea's would be KRNIC.NET, etc. 2.6.3 Discussion While not specifically an APNIC issue, this proposal was met with some enthusiasm on the APNIC-STAFF list, and some efforts have already been undertaken in this direction. Specifically, Australia has been allocated AUNIC.NET and Thailand has already recieved THNIC.NET (Thai- land had in fact recieved this name long before the proposal was put forth on APNIC-STAFF). An alternate format was proposed, .NIC.NET, but was argued against since most existing national NICs were already known as XXNIC (e.g. JPNIC, KRNIC, etc). 2.7 Common NIC Contact Point 2.7.1 Issue As with the hostname of the national NIC, the increasing number of national NICs has given rise to a large number of divergant electronic mail addresses to contact coordinators at a given national NIC. 2.7.2 Proposal The APNIC proposes all national NICs agree upon a common electronic mailbox name which would provide information for the national NIC. The mailbox name proposed is hostmaster@NIC.NET For example, the contact point for the Australian national NIC would be hostmaster@aunic.net. 2.7.3 Discussion APNIC Staff [Page 8] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 As with the previous issue, this issue is not specifically an APNIC one, however, the use of a common mailbox among the national NICs would provide a significant benefit to users and would require very little effort to implement. 2.8 Information Distribution 2.8.1 Issue Each national NIC may be expected to set up an archive server which will maintain information useful to the customers of the national NIC. It would be nice if the unique information on each server was available from a central location. 2.8.2 Proposal APNIC should establish a server which will mirror the unique infor- mation on each of the national NIC servers. 2.8.3 Discussion Initially, the information servers which will be mirrored will be FTP servers, but it is hoped that other information can be mirrored as well. 2.9 Languages 2.9.1 Issue Due to the very large number of natural languages in the Asia Pacific region, what language(s) will the APNIC use and/or support. 2.9.2 Proposal Initially, due to resource constraints, APNIC will operate in English only. More specifically, the initial versions of documents and data provided in the APNIC databases and document stores as well as all communications with the APNIC will be in English. At the earliest pos- sible time, reasonable efforts will be expended in order to provide translations of relevant documents and databases into regional national languages. 2.9.3 Discussion It is assumed the APNIC will not the resources required to be able to support all national languages in the Asia Pacific region. The APNIC will rely on volunteer efforts to translate documents and to provide national language support for APNIC databases. APNIC Staff [Page 9] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 2.10 Routing Registry 2.10.1 Issue With the increasing necessity of CIDRization, it would be extremely useful to have a routing registry which would keep a database of infor- mation necessary for a "routing arbiter" to make routing decisions. 2.10.2 Proposal The APNIC will create a routing registry for use by a routing server and a routing arbiter. Since routing in the Asia Pacific region is currently relatively simple, the APNIC will provide the routing data- base and the routing server to the Internet at large for experimentation into routing issues. 2.10.3 Discussion Currently, due to many considerations, the Asia Pacific region is composed of a star network of networks. This configuration greatly eases routing choices and as such, there is no immediate need for a route server/routing registry as is being pursued in North America and Europe. However, since routing is relatively simple, it seems logical to begin the process of creating a routing registry now, rather than wait until routing issue become more complex. Furthermore, there is a general need in the Internet to research the issues involved in operat- ing a route server and a routing registry. Thus, the APNIC will create these systems and, since they would not be operationally required, the routing databases and facilities would be provided to the Internet rout- ing community for experimentation. 2.11 Certification of National NICs 2.11.1 Issue It is assumed there will be a proliferation of national NICs within the Asia Pacific region as more countries join the Internet. What should APNIC do if multiple organizations request national NIC status. sp 1 2.11.2 Proposal APNIC will serve as a neutral forum for discussions between the organizations wishing to take on the responsibilities of being a national NIC. As the determination of a national NIC is a purely local issue, APNIC can not be the arbiter, but will provide advice and consu- lation as necessary. APNIC will not accept one organization over another until a general consensus has been reached within the country. APNIC will however have a set of requirements which must be fulfilled by any organization wishing to become a national NIC. These requirements APNIC Staff [Page 10] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 will include guarantees of neutrality, reporting of network assignments, etc. An organization taking the responsibility of becoming a national NIC must agree to abide by the APNIC requirements before APNIC will be able to delegate C blocks to them. 2.11.3 Discussion The choice of an organization which will serve as a national NIC is a local issue and clearly beyond the scope of the APNIC's responsibili- ties. However, APNIC will provide consultation and advice as necessary to insure all parties can reach consensus on which organization should be chosen. It should be stressed that the responsibility of being a national NIC is a public trust for the internetworking community that national NIC serves. In the event that an organization fulfilling the role of the national NIC does not fulfill this public trust, the APNIC will consult with the national NIC, the IANA and the InterNIC to reach a consensus on steps necessary to resolve the difficulty. The list of requirements for a national NIC is currently under study and will be presented at the earliest possible time. 2.12 Statistics Collection and Repository 2.12.1 Issue With the rapid growth of the Internet, it would be useful to col- lect statistics on the rate and types of growth in the Asia Pacific region. 2.12.2 Proposal APNIC will, at regular intervals, collect data on the number of hosts in the Asia Pacific region, as well as maintain data on the number of providers, number of circuits, bandwidth of each individual circuit, the Appropriate Use Policy of links, etc. that are active throughout the Asia Pacific region. APNIC will also serve as a respository for sta- tistical information collected within national and multi-national net- works by the operators of those networks. All information provided to and collected by the APNIC will be publicly available to the Internet at large. 2.12.3 Discussion Various forms of statistics on network growth and usage have been found to be helpful in analyzing how the Internet is growing and how it is being used. APNIC intends on emulating RIPE-NCC with respect to col- lecting host counts via the domain name system. It should be noted that the data APNIC will collect is only data that is publicly accessible by APNIC Staff [Page 11] APNIC-004.0 December 1993 anyone on the Internet (e.g. domain name records, whois database entries, etc). The data provided to APNIC by national NICs or network providers will be assumed to be data fit for public consumption and will be made publicly available. 3.0 Conclusion The above issues and proposals are the result of three months work by the members of the APNIC-STAFF mailing list. While not intending to solve all possible problems nor define all possible procedures associ- ated with creating and operating a regional Network Information Center, the topics discussed above should provide a starting point for address- ing the issues involved in building a permanent Network Information Center in the Asia Pacific Region. APNIC Staff [Page 12]