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APNIC Document identity
Title: Policies for Address Space Management in the Asia
Pacific Region
Short title: add-manage-policy
Document ref: APNIC-076
Version: 001
Date of original publication: 1 January 2000
Date of this version: 1 January 2000
Review scheduled: n/a
Obsoletes: n/a
Status: Obsolete
Comments: Obsoleted by APNIC-086
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Policies for Address Space Management in the Asia Pacific Region
About this document
This document Policies for Address Space Management in the
Asia Pacific Region represents current APNIC practices and
policies, which have not previously been codified in a single
document. It is the result of several rounds of public comment
and revision and has been approved by the Executive Council.
Please note that this document does not seek to set out detailed
policies in relation to membership of APNIC or issues specific
to confederations. However, APNIC does intend that this document
will provide a foundation upon which other, more specific,
documents can be based.
1. Introduction
2. Scope
3. Hierarchy of address space distribution
4. Definitions
4.1. Internet Registry (IR)
4.1.1. Regional Internet Registry (RIR)
4.1.2. National Internet Registry (NIR)
4.1.3. Local Internet Registry (LIR)
4.2. APNIC members
4.3. Allocated and Assigned address space
4.3.1. Allocated
4.3.2. Assigned
5. Goals of address space management
5.1. Goals
5.1.1. Uniqueness
5.1.2. Registration
5.1.3. Aggregation
5.1.4. Conservation
5.1.5. Fairness
5.2. Conflict of goals
6. Policy environment
6.1. Routability not guaranteed
6.2. Unpredictable growth rates
6.3. Collective responsibility
6.3.1. Appropriate customer agreements
6.3.2. Good faith
6.4. Impartiality
6.5. Varying levels of expertise
6.6. IP addresses not to be considered property
6.7. Stockpiling discouraged
6.8. Evaluations to be based on efficient technologies
6.9. Minimum practical allocations
6.10. Documentation
6.11. Confidentiality
7. Policies for allocations and assignments
7.1. IRs to adopt consistent address space management policies
7.2. Address space lease
7.3. Processing of requests dependent on correct documentation
7.4. Security and confidentiality
7.4.1. Individual responsibility to apply security procedures
7.5. Equitable processing of requests
7.6. General requirements for allocations
7.7. Slow start mechanism for first allocations
7.7.1. Exceptions to slow start
7.8. Criteria for subsequent allocations
7.8.1. No guarantee of contiguous allocations
7.9. Assignment window for LIRs
7.10. Prior allocations to be used first
7.10.1. Special circumstances - large assignments
7.11. Reservations not supported
7.12. Address portability discouraged
7.12.1. Source of PI assignments
7.13. Renumbering to promote aggregation
7.14. Private address space
7.15. Assignment usage estimates
7.16. Organisations seeking address space from multiple IRs
7.17. Registration requirements
7.17.1. Updating registration details
7.17.2. Registering contact persons
7.18. Responsibility to maintain in-addr.arpa records
7.19. Validity of allocations and assignments
7.20. Transfer of address space
7.21. Mergers, acquisitions, and takeovers of LIRs
7.21.1. Updating registration details
7.21.2. Effect on membership agreement
7.21.3. Consequences for allocations
7.22. Closure of members
8. Specific cases
8.1. Static assignments
8.1.1. Static dialup connections
8.1.2. Cable networks
8.1.3. Virtual hosts
8.2. IP unnumbered
9. Autonomous System Numbers
1. Introduction
The Asia Pacific Network Information Centre (APNIC) is the
non-profit Regional Internet Registry that operates in the Asia
Pacific region under the authority of the Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority (IANA). As such, it is the organisation
responsible for distributing public Internet address space and
related resources in the Asia Pacific region and for developing
and implementing policies to manage that distribution.
The policies described in this document have been developed by
the Internet community of the Asia Pacific region through a
consensus process facilitated by APNIC. They are to be
implemented by APNIC and by the National Internet Registries and
the Local Internet Registries throughout the region. Internet
Registries operate in a self-regulating environment and the aim
of these policies is to provide a clear framework for the
continued existence of that environment.
2. Scope
This document describes policies for the responsible management
of global IPv4 public address space in the Asia Pacific region.
Specifically, this document focuses on the goals, assumptions,
and policies relating to the allocation and assignment of address
space. Previously, address space was allocated by classes (such
as 'class A', 'class B', 'class C'). However, since the
introduction of Classless Inter Domain Routing (CIDR)
technologies, address space has been allocated by prefixes (such
as '/19' and '/21'). This document deals only with issues of
classless (CIDR) addressing.
This document does not set out the full conditions of APNIC
membership, nor does it examine address management policies of
other Regional Registries. It does not describe specific
addressing policies related to IPv6, Multicast, or Private
Address Space.
3. Hierarchy of address space distribution
IP addresses are distributed in accordance with the hierarchical
structure described in RFC2050 (originally described in RFC
1466), represented simply in fig.1.
[Figure 1: Diagram of distribution hierarchy]
fig.1 +--------+
| IANA |
+--------+
|
+-----------+-----------+...........+.............+
| | | : :
+--------+ +--------+ +--------+ +..........+ +..........+
| ARIN | |RIPE NCC| | APNIC | : Potential future RIRs :
+--------+ +--------+ +--------+ +..........+ +..........+
|
+--------------+-------------+
| |
+------+ |
| NIR | | National Internet Registries
+------+ |
| |
+------+--+------+ |
| | | | Local Internet Registries
+------+ | | +------+
| LIR | | | | LIR |
+------+ | | +------+
| | | |
+-----+ | | +-----+-----+
| | | | | |
+------+ | +------+ | +------+ | Internet Service
| ISP | | | ISP | | | ISP | | Providers
+------+ | +------+ | +------+ |
| | | | | |
+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ End-users
| EU | | EU | | EU | | EU | | EU | | EU |
+----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+ +----+
In this hierarchy, IANA allocates address space to APNIC, to be
redistributed throughout the Asia Pacific region. APNIC allocates
address space to Internet Registries (IRs) and also delegates to
them the authority to make assignments and allocations. IRs
allocate and assign address space to their members and customers
under the guidance of APNIC and in accordance with the policies
and procedures described in this document.
4. Definitions
The following terms and their definitions are of particular
importance to the understanding of the goals, environment, and
policies described in this document.
4.1. Internet Registry (IR)
An Internet Registry (IR) is an organisation that is responsible
for distributing IP address space to its members or customers and
for registering those distributions. IRs are classified according
to their primary function and territorial scope within the
hierarchical structure depicted in fig.1 above.
In this document, references to IRs shall be taken to include
APNIC and other Regional Internet Registries (RIRs), National
Internet Registries (NIRs), and Local Internet Registries (LIRs),
unless the specific context of the reference requires otherwise.
4.1.1. Regional Internet Registry (RIR)
Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) were established under the
authority of IANA to serve and represent large geographical
regions. The primary role of RIRs is to manage and distribute
public Internet address space within their respective regions.
Currently, there are three RIRs: APNIC, RIPE NCC, and ARIN.
Additional RIRs may be established in the future, but it is
expected that the total number of RIRs will remain relatively
small.
4.1.2. National Internet Registry (NIR)
A National Internet Registry (NIR) is an IR that primarily
allocates address space to its members or constituents, which are
generally Internet Service Providers (ISPs) organised at a
national level. In performing their registry function, NIRs are
expected to apply their policies and procedures fairly and
equitably to all members of their constituency.
The policies in this document should be taken as applying to
NIRs; however, this document does not describe the entire roles
and responsibilities of NIRs with respect to their formal
relationship with APNIC. Such roles and responsibilities will be
fully described in a National Internet Registry and Confederation
Policy document and reflected in relevant membership agreements.
4.1.3. Local Internet Registry (LIR)
A Local Internet Registry (LIR) is an IR that primarily assigns
address space to the users of the network services that it
provides. LIRs are generally ISPs; their customers are other ISPs
and possibly end-users. LIRs may be members of APNIC or members
of NIRs.
4.2. APNIC members
For the purposes of this document, the term APNIC members shall
refer to those holding current membership agreements with APNIC
and also to financial customers of APNIC who may, under certain
circumstances, receive services from APNIC without being formal
members of APNIC.
4.3. Allocated and Assigned address space
For the purposes of understanding APNIC address space policies,
it is important to make a clear distinction between the terms
allocated and assigned.
4.3.1. Allocated
Allocated address space is address space that is distributed to
IRs for the purpose of subsequent distribution by them.
4.3.2. Assigned
Assigned address space is address space that is distributed to a
single end-user for the purpose of actual deployment in that
end-user's own network. Address space is also designated as
assigned if the IR uses it for the purposes of addressing their
own network or applies it to a pool from which assignments are
made dynamically as connections are established. Assignments are
made for specific, documented purposes and should not be
sub-allocated or sub-assigned.
5. Goals of address space management
5.1. Goals
The goals described here have been formulated by the Internet
community and reflect the mutual interest of all members of that
community in ensuring that the Internet is able to function and
grow to the maximum extent possible.
It is APNIC's primary duty, as a custodian of a public resource,
to ensure that these goals are met within the Asia Pacific
region. APNIC should do this by providing guidance and leadership
in developing and implementing responsible policies and
practices.
It is the responsibility of every NIR and LIR to also ensure that
these goals are met within their respective regions and
communities.
5.1.1. Uniqueness
Every assignment and/or allocation of address space must
guarantee uniqueness worldwide. This is an absolute requirement
for ensuring that every public host on the Internet can be
uniquely identified.
5.1.2. Registration
Every assignment and allocation of public Internet address space
must be registered in a publicly accessible registry. This is
necessary to ensure uniqueness and to provide information for
Internet trouble shooting at all levels. It also reflects the
expectation of the Internet community that all custodians of
public resources, such as public address space, should be
identifiable.
5.1.3. Aggregation
Wherever possible, address space should be distributed in a
hierarchical manner, according to the topology of network
infrastructure. This is necessary to permit the aggregation of
routing information and limit the expansion of Internet routing
tables.
5.1.4. Conservation
To maximize the lifetime of the public Internet address space
resource, addresses must be distributed according to actual need
and on the basis of immediate use. Therefore, stockpiling of
address space and maintaining reservations must, in general, be
avoided.
Conservation also implies efficiency. Therefore, all users of
address space should adopt techniques such as Variable Length
Subnet Masking (VLSM) and appropriate technologies that ensure
the address space is not used wastefully.
5.1.5. Fairness
All policies and practices relating to the use of public address
space should apply fairly and equitably to all existing and
potential members of the Internet community, regardless of their
location, nationality, size, or any other factor.
5.2. Conflict of goals
The goals of conservation and aggregation often conflict with
each other. Moreover, some or all of the goals may occasionally
be in conflict with the interests of individual IRs or end-users.
Therefore, IRs evaluating requests for allocations and
assignments must carefully analyse all relevant considerations
and must seek to balance the needs of the applicant with the
needs of the Internet community as a whole. The policies
described in this document are intended to help IRs balance these
needs in consistent and equitable ways. Full documentation of and
transparency within the decision making process must also be
maintained in order to achieve this result.
6. Policy environment
Apart from the goals described in Section 5, other factors such
as the expectations of the Internet community, the current
administrative structures, and technological constraints all form
an operating environment that shapes APNIC policies. Changes in
the environment may occur quickly or in unpredictable ways. An
important role for APNIC, on behalf of its members, is to monitor
any changes to this environment and communicate any implications
those changes may have on APNIC policy. This Section describes
the factors in the current operating environment that have been
most important in determining current APNIC policies.
6.1. Routability not guaranteed
APNIC recognises that the routability of address space can never
be guaranteed. Specifically, in order to reduce the number of
globally advertised routes, transit providers worldwide implement
route filtering policies based on prefix length, with the result
that non-provider-based assignments are least likely to be
routable across the Internet. Therefore, APNIC policy should
encourage those seeking address space to request it from upstream
providers rather than from APNIC directly.
6.2. Unpredictable growth rates
Early strategies for distributing address space did not
anticipate the explosive growth of the Internet and the
consequent problems of scale that arose both in the amount of
address space available and the routing of that address space.
APNIC recognises that policies and procedures for the management
of address space should take account of past experience and seek
to maximise scalability of the Internet in the future.
6.3. Collective responsibility
APNIC recognises that it shares with its members and their
customers a collective responsibility to ensure a manageable and
scalable growth of the Internet. APNIC recognises that it must,
through a process of consultation with its members and the
broader Internet community develop policies and practices for
address space management and make decisions consistent with the
goals described in Section 5.
6.3.1. Appropriate customer agreements
APNIC recognises that in order to ensure that the policies
described in this document are applied consistently throughout
the region by both members and non-members, IRs may need to
implement appropriate agreements with their members and
customers.
6.3.2. Good faith
APNIC recognises that its relationships with its members should
be based on an implicit trust that the information, network
plans, and other documentation provided by IRs and their
customers are genuine and accurate.
6.4. Impartiality
APNIC represents the interests of the Internet community in
general and the Internet community of the Asia Pacific region in
particular. As such it will apply its policies fairly and
equitably with respect to all APNIC members, without regard to
the size or geographic location of the organisation, or any other
factor.
6.5. Varying levels of expertise
APNIC recognises that staff of IRs and end users will have
varying levels of experience and expertise. APNIC will implement
policies which, although applied equally to all its members, will
allow for levels of assistance and monitoring appropriate to each
member. This assistance and monitoring is intended to ensure a
consistent approach to address space management throughout the AP
Internet community.
6.6. IP addresses not to be considered property
APNIC recognises that it is contrary to the stated goals and is
not in the interests of the Internet community as a whole for
address space to be considered freehold property. APNIC policies
will reflect this recognition and encourage all members of the
Internet community to regard address space as a scarce, public
resource that should only be distributed responsibly and
according to demonstrated need.
More specifically, as portability of address space is detrimental
to the goals of aggregation and efficiency, APNIC policies should
require IRs to provide services to members and customers based on
the understanding that address space is leased rather than owned.
6.7. Stockpiling discouraged
APNIC recognises that stockpiling of addresses is detrimental to
the goals of conservation and fairness. APNIC policies should
discourage stockpiling and encourage efficient deployment of
address space on the basis of immediate demonstrated need.
6.8. Evaluations to be based on efficient technologies
APNIC asserts that if appropriate technologies exist to allow the
efficient, hierarchical distribution of address space in
particular situations, then users of that space should adopt
those technologies in accordance with current best practice.
Organisations that are not planning to use the most efficient
technologies must provide justification based on genuine
infrastructure considerations. APNIC policies reflect that issues
of administrative convenience are not sufficient to justify the
use of inefficient technologies. However, APNIC policies also
acknowledge that factors such as the scale and complexity of
networks and the need for operational stability can justifiably
delay the deployment of such technologies.
APNIC will cooperate with its members and the broader Internet
community to define and develop current best practice
recommendations relating to Internet addressing technologies and
techniques.
6.9. Minimum practical allocations
APNIC recognises that the goals of aggregation and conservation
will often conflict and, as a consequence, it will be necessary
to set a minimum practical size for address space allocations.
Evolving technological and administrative conditions mean that
this minimum practical size may be altered from time to time. The
current minimum practical allocation is a /20 (4,096 addresses).
6.10. Documentation
APNIC recognises that in order to properly evaluate requests, an
IR must carefully examine all relevant documentation relating to
the networks in question. Such documentation may include network
engineering plans, subnetting plans, descriptions of network
topology, and descriptions of network routing plans. All
documentation should conform to a consistent standard and any
estimates and predictions that are documented must be realistic
and justifiable.
6.11. Confidentiality
APNIC recognises that IRs must receive and analyse information
about the activities of organisations and individuals seeking
address space and that such information may be highly
confidential in nature. Therefore, APNIC will operate in ways
that reflect the trust implicit in its position by applying and
enforcing procedures that protect the commercially sensitive
information of its members and their customers.
7. Policies for allocations and assignments
As was emphasised in Section 1, APNIC policies emerge from the
consensus of the Internet community of the entire Asia Pacific
region. APNIC's role is to identify and disseminate these
policies. APNIC does not seek to dictate policy decisions to its
members, but rather to provide a model for consistent and
responsible practice throughout the region.
7.1. IRs to adopt consistent address space management policies
All NIRs and LIRs that receive address space either directly or
indirectly from APNIC shall adopt allocation and assignment
policies which are consistent with the policies formulated by the
Internet community of the Asia Pacific region, as described in
this document.
In particular, NIRs shall, wherever possible, apply slow start,
assignment window, and second opinion policies to their own
members in a manner consistent with APNIC's application of such
policies to its members. Furthermore, all NIRs and LIRs shall
ensure that address space for which they are responsible shall
only be allocated or assigned subject to agreements consistent
with the lease provisions of section 7.2.
7.2. Address space lease
APNIC will allocate Internet resources on a 'lease' basis, with
such leases to be of specific limited duration (normally one
year).
The conditions of all leases will be set out in the APNIC
membership agreements and other relevant APNIC documentation and
will be consistent with the applicable APNIC policies relating to
resource allocations and assignments at the time of entering or
renewing the lease.
Leases to organisations shall be renewable on the conditions that
(a) the original basis of the allocation remains valid and (b)
that registration requirements relating to that allocation have
been fulfilled at the time of renewal.
When a lease is renewed, the new lease will be governed by the
applicable resource allocation policies and lease renewal
policies at the time of renewal, provided that a minimum notice
period of one year is given of any substantial changes to the
conditions of the current lease.
All substantial changes to lease conditions shall be subject to
the consensus of APNIC members. Furthermore, such changes to the
conditions of current leases shall be subject to a defined
minimum period of notice (normally one year), except in
exceptional circumstances recognised by a consensus of APNIC
members.
Individual leases shall only be subject to review if the relevant
IR has reason to believe that the existing lease terms are no
longer being complied with. IRs may implement their own
procedures for the review of existing leases as they see fit.
7.3. Processing of requests dependent on correct documentation
APNIC will only process requests that have been completely and
properly documented. If the documentation contains errors or
omissions, APNIC will advise the applicant as soon as possible.
APNIC may also request further information or clarification of
relevant issues that are not made clear in the initial
documentation. APNIC will then proceed to process the request as
soon as the errors and omissions have been rectified or APNIC's
questions have been answered.
APNIC will make all reasonable efforts to maintain a consistent
and reliable level of service with respect to processing of
requests.
7.4. Security and confidentiality
APNIC will maintain systems and practices that protect the
confidentiality of all information relating to the commercial and
infrastructure operations of all members and their customers.
APNIC will ensure that the employment of all of its staff or
agents is based upon an explicit condition of confidentiality
regarding such information.
7.4.1. Individual responsibility to apply security procedures
APNIC provides for authorisation and verification mechanisms
within the whois database; however, it is the responsibility of
each IR or end-user to ensure that they take advantage of such
mechanisms.
7.5. Equitable processing of requests
APNIC will deal with all requests strictly in the order in which
it receives the proper documentation. Because all members are to
be treated equitably, regardless of geography, size, or any other
consideration, APNIC will not in any circumstance provide for
special treatment or make exceptions to the standard order of
request processing.
APNIC will seek to process all requests within a consistent time
and will maintain a request ticketing system to assist with the
efficient management of requests.
7.6. General requirements for allocations
Notwithstanding the more specific provisions of Sections 7.7 and
7.8, all requests to APNIC for allocations of address space must
be supported by documentation that describes the network
infrastructure of the IR making the request, any address space
currently held by that IR, previous assignments made by that IR,
and the intended usage of the address space requested.
7.7. Slow start mechanism for first allocations
Subject to Section 7.7.1, APNIC and NIRs shall apply a slow start
mechanism to all new LIRs. With respect to allocations made by
APNIC, the first allocation an LIR receives will be the size of
the minimum practical allocation described in Section 6.9. With
respect to allocations made by NIRs the size of the first
allocation an LIR receives shall be at the discretion of the NIR,
provided it is no greater than APNIC's minimum practical
allocation.
The slow start policy is used by all regional registries to
prevent allocations of large blocks of address space that may
then remain substantially unassigned. APNIC and NIRs shall
implement the slow start mechanism in a consistent and fair
manner for every LIR, and will apply the same principles and
standards to every applicant for address space.
7.7.1. Exceptions to slow start
In exceptional circumstances, an LIR may receive a greater
initial allocation if it can provide sufficiently detailed
substantiating documentation showing that its immediate need for
network addresses exceeds the standard slow start allocation.
Such documentation may include (but is not limited to) receipts
for purchase of equipment, purchase orders, or signed project
contracts indicating the immediate network requirements to be met
by the LIR.
7.8. Criteria for subsequent allocations
After the first allocation to an LIR, all subsequent allocations
will depend on evaluation of the LIR's verified usage rate, their
documented plans for address space, and their degree of
compliance with APNIC policies with respect to relevant past
allocations. (The LIR's 'verified usage rate' is the rate at
which the LIR made assignments from relevant past allocations).
Having evaluated these criteria, APNIC and NIRs shall seek to
allocate enough address space to enable the LIR to meet all of
its assignment needs for up to one year before needing to make
further requests.
7.8.1. No guarantee of contiguous allocations
APNIC will attempt to make subsequent allocations contiguous with
previous allocations; however, because it cannot reserve address
space, APNIC cannot guarantee that contiguous allocations will be
possible in any case.
7.9. Assignment window for LIRs
In order to assist LIRs to become familiar and comply with APNIC
policies and the goals stated in Section 5, APNIC and NIRs shall
apply a mechanism called the assignment window.
The assignment window refers to the maximum number of addresses
that an LIR may assign to an end-user without first seeking a
'second opinion'. If an LIR wishes to make an assignment that
exceeds its assignment window, the LIR must first submit to APNIC
or the relevant NIR a second opinion request before proceeding
with the assignment.
All LIRs that are new members of APNIC or an NIR shall start with
an assignment window of zero, meaning all proposed assignments
must first be approved. APNIC or the relevant NIR will regularly
assess the proficiency of LIR staff in making assignments and
seeking second opinions and will review the size of the
assignment window accordingly. As the proficiency of the LIR
staff increases, the size of their assignment window may be
raised.
The maximum assignment window given to any LIR will be a /19
(8,192 addresses).
If, due to the training of new staff or other relevant
circumstances, the proficiency of LIR staff should not meet the
standards required by APNIC policies, then APNIC or the relevant
NIR may temporarily reduce the assignment window of the LIR.
7.10. Prior allocations to be used first
An LIR shall not be eligible to receive a further allocation
unless at least eighty percent of the total address space from
all allocations held by that LIR is currently assigned.
7.10.1. Special circumstances - large assignments
If less than eighty percent of the total address space from all
allocations held by an LIR is currently assigned, but the LIR
needs to make a single assignment that is larger than the amount
of space remaining, then it may request a further allocation from
the relevant NIR or APNIC.
7.11. Reservations not supported
When an LIR wants to assign address space for customers, it must
make the assignments from any address space it currently holds.
For the purposes evaluating allocation requests, space reserved
by an LIR for other customers shall be regarded as unassigned
address space.
7.12. Address portability discouraged
APNIC makes all allocations as Provider Aggregatable (PA), on the
understanding that assignments should be made on a lease basis.
In the interests of the goal of aggregation, APNIC policy
requires LIRs to enter into agreements with their customers
specifying that the end-user will hold those assignments only for
so long as the end-user remains a customer of that LIR.
PA assignments require that if the end-user changes service
providers they should return the space assigned to them by the
first LIR, obtain an assignment from the new LIR and renumber
into that LIR's address block.
APNIC policy recognises that there will be cases where Provider
Independent (PI), or portable, address space may be appropriate,
however all requests for PI address space should be justifiable
on strong technological rather than administrative grounds.
7.12.1. Source of PI assignments
Only APNIC is authorised to make PI assignments. Organisations
with a justified need for PI assignments may either request their
relevant NIR or LIR to obtain address space from APNIC on their
behalf or seek the address space directly from APNIC themselves.
7.13. Renumbering to promote aggregation
IRs should take all reasonable steps to encourage end-users who
hold multiple non-aggregated prefixes to return those addresses
so that they may be replaced with addresses from a single,
aggregatable prefix of PA address space. In circumstances where
end-users are reluctant to make these arrangements, APNIC
recognises that gains in aggregation justify additional
incentives. Therefore, APNIC may reduce the requirement to
document the efficiency of existing assignments and the usage
rates for replacement of addresses on a one-to-one basis. This is
referred to as the 'No questions asked policy' and should be used
as a last resort only. Nothing in this section reduces the
requirement to ensure that all allocation and asignments are to
be made on the lease basis described in section 7.2.
7.14. Private address space
APNIC encourages the use of private address space for addressing
networks that will either be operated behind a firewall or not be
connected to the Internet.
7.15. Assignment usage estimates
Requests for assignments must be supported by usage estimates
based on immediate and projected future need. These requests must
be documented to a standard that provides a high degree of
confidence in the estimates. The estimates should made for the
following periods: immediately, within one year, within two
years. APNIC recommends that, as a general guideline,
organisations should base their assignment requests on the
assumption that 25 percent of the address space will be used
immediately and 50 percent used within one year.
The end-user must exhibit a high level of confidence in its one
year usage estimate and must supply documentation to justify that
level of confidence. If it is not possible for the end-user to
estimate confidently what the two year usage rate will be, then
APNIC or the NIR may make an allocation that will be sufficient
for the one year needs only.
7.16. Organisations seeking address space from multiple IRs
APNIC requires that organisations obtain their address space from
only one IR at a time. In the event that an organisation is
requesting address space from multiple IRs, then the organisation
making the request must declare all the address space it
currently holds, regardless of the source of the assignment.
Furthermore, organisations making concurrent requests to more
than one IR must declare the details of all of those requests.
APNIC recognises, however, that in certain circumstances (for
example, where an organisation is multi-homed) strong technical
reasons will make it appropriate for an organisation to receive
address space from more than one provider.
For the purposes of this section, a parent organisation and its
subsidiaries will generally be considered to be a single
organisation. Exceptions may arise in cases where the parts of
the organisation are separate legal entities, maintain fully
independent network infrastructures and are routed under
different autonomous system numbers, or can otherwise demonstrate
a justified need to obtain address space from more than one IR.
7.17. Registration requirements
At the time of making allocations or assignments, IRs must
properly register in the APNIC whois database every allocation
and assignment of address space they make. The information in the
database is necessary for Internet trouble shooting and provides
for a level of accountability and transparency that is of benefit
to the entire Internet community.
7.17.1. Updating registration details
IRs must update the whois database when any of the registration
information changes. This is the responsibility of the IR
concerned, but may be formally delegated to the end-user as a
condition of the original assignment.
7.17.2. Registering contact persons
Registration of contact persons is a vital part of responsible
address space management. Unless exceptional circumstances
require otherwise, the administrative contact ('admin-c') must be
someone who is physically located at the site of the network. The
technical contact ('tech-c') need not be physically located at
the site of the network, but must be the person who is
responsible for the day-to-day operation of the network.
7.18. Responsibility to maintain in-addr.arpa records
LIRs should maintain in-addr.arpa resource records for their
customers' networks. If a network is not specifically associated
with an LIR then the in-addra.arpa records should be maintained
by the appropriate NIR or by APNIC as the case may be.
7.19. Validity of allocations and assignments
An allocation or assignment of address space is valid only while
the original criteria on which the allocation or assignment was
based continue to be valid. If an allocation or assignment is
made for a specific purpose and the purpose no longer exists,
then the allocation or assignment is no longer valid. If it is
based on information that is found to be false or incomplete,
then the allocation or assignment shall become invalid and the
addresses should be returned to the appropriate IR.
7.20. Transfer of address space
Subject to the more specific provisions of Section 7.21, APNIC
policy does not recognise the sale or unauthorised transfer of
address space and will consider all such transfers to be invalid.
APNIC will require organisations holding such transfers to return
them to the appropriate IR.
7.21. Mergers, acquisitions and takeovers of LIRs
7.21.1. Updating registration details
If an LIR changes ownership (due to a merger, sale, or takeover),
then the new entity must register any changes to its network
usage and contact personnel. If the effect of a takeover, sale,
or merger is that the LIR changes name, then the LIR must provide
to APNIC relevant legal documentation supporting the name change.
7.21.2. Effect on membership agreement
If an LIR changes ownership then the new entity should advise
APNIC of the change. APNIC membership is not transferable from
one entity to another; however, if following a change in
ownership, the LIR becomes a subsidiary of another entity and the
infrastructures of the respective entities remain fully
independent, then the membership agreement may continue.
7.21.3. Consequences for allocations
Following a merger, sale, or takeover of an LIR, APNIC will
review the status of any allocations that are held by the new
entity or entities. In doing this, APNIC will also have regard to
the practical effect on the infrastructures of the entities
involved.
If the practical effect of the merger, sale, or takeover is that
the infrastructures of the two LIRs are merged, then APNIC will
not continue to make separate allocations to both. This situation
will invalidate the membership agreement of the LIR that is
effectively subsumed.
In all such cases, when assessing the status of allocations,
APNIC will require full disclosure of all address space held by
all of the LIRs in question. If such disclosure is not made, then
those allocations will be considered invalid and APNIC will
require that they be returned.
7.22. Closure of members
If a member of APNIC ceases to function as an IR, all of its
unassigned address space should be returned to APNIC.
Furthermore, it is the responsibility of the member (or any
liquidator or administrator appointed to wind up the member's
business) to advise all of its customers of the closure and
encourage them to make arrangements to renumber into address
space from a new LIR. The new LIR should then notify the IR of
the new arrangements so that the previous assignment can be
returned to the pool of unassigned address space.
8. Specific cases
The policies described in this section relate to specific types
of allocations and assignments and are based on current best
practice relating to the deployment of modern technologies.
8.1. Static assignments
APNIC policy strongly discourages the static assignment of one IP
address per service. All plans for future static assignments
should be justified on specific, detailed technological grounds.
Issues of administrative convenience will not be sufficient to
justify such assignments; however, in evaluating such requests,
APNIC will have regard to the applicability of current best
practices to the network in question.
8.1.1. Static dialup connections
APNIC policy strongly discourages assignments based on the use of
static dialup methods. End-users planning such assignments must
first investigate whether it is technically feasible to use
dynamic assignment technologies, which make most such assignments
unnecessary.
8.1.2. Cable networks
An exception to this policy may apply to cable-based
infrastructures. APNIC policy recognises that although dynamic
technologies such as DHCP can be employed, the high availability
demanded by consumers means that often no significant saving of
IP addresses will result.
8.1.3. Virtual hosts
Recent developments in some protocols (for example HTTP 1.1) have
eliminated the need for one-to-one mapping of virtual hosts.
APNIC policy strongly encourages any organisation considering the
use of virtual hosts to implement systems that are compatible
with current versions of these protocols.
8.2. IP unnumbered
APNIC policy encourages the use of IP unnumbered for customers
who are singly-homed, statically-routed, and have compatible
routers and software. This configuration allows IP processing on
a serial interface without the need to assign an explicit IP
address for point-to-point links. Not only does this meet the
conservation goal, but on an operational level it helps to
minimise size of the interior routing table and, therefore,
assists in scaleable network growth.
9. Autonomous System Numbers
Autonomous System (AS) numbers are assigned to organisations that
are multi-homed and have a single, clearly defined routing policy
that is different from their providers' routing policies.
AS numbers should be requested in accordance with the guidelines
expressed in RFC 1930 Guidelines for the creation, selection and
registration of an Autonomous System.
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