------------------------------------------------------------------- APNIC Document identity Title: Confederation Requirements, Fees and Policies Short title: confed-requirements Document ref: DRAFT-CONFED Version: 002 Date of original publication: August 1998 Date of this version: 1 December 2001 Review scheduled: n/a Obsoletes: Previous versions Status: Obsolete Comments: This draft was formerly labelled incorrectly as APNIC-074. Without affecting existing confederations, the acceptance of new confederations is currently suspended. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Confederation Requirements, Fees and Policies 1. Introduction APNIC, having limited resources, is unable to provide its services in the many languages and cultures of the Asia and Pacific Rim regions. As a means to improve allocation and registration services for the Asia Pacific Internet community, APNIC provides for the establishment of confederations of Internet service providing organizations. These confederations enable the provision of registry services in the local language and culture thereby providing the opportunity for better services. Originally, confederations derived from the concept of "National Network Information Centers", organizations which provide registry services on a national basis. As the Internet uses hierarchical addressing that corresponds to network topology and the topology of the Internet is defined by Internet service providers as opposed to geo-political topology, the concept of national NICs has been generalized to include any group of entities (generally Internet service providers) requiring independent and topologically significant address space which are able to work together when requesting registry services. The creation of confederation has however resulted in several complications in the management of Internet administrative resources. These complications arise due to the added complexity APNIC faces in attempting to insure efficient address space utilization and appropriateness of allocation of autonomous system numbers. With the added layer of indirection implied by confederations, the resource demands placed on APNIC as a result of confederation requests is significantly greater, thus there exists a need to insure confederations do not negatively impact the provision of registry services to all other APNIC members. This document describes the steps necessary to form an APNIC confederation, the fees associated with confederations, and the delegation policies to confederations by APNIC. Any questions regarding these policies should be referred to hostmaster@apnic.net. 1.1 Definitions In an attempt to limit confusion over terminology, the following definitions are offered: 1.1.1 "Internet administrative resources" are those resources administered by the Internet registry system including Internet addresses, autonomous system numbers, and in-addr.arpa domains associated with the Internet addresses administered by the registry. 1.1.2 "Delegation" indicates the transfer of Internet administrative resources from one organization to another. Delegations may be done "internally", e.g., within a single organization or "externally", e.g., between one organization and an independent outside organization. 1.1.3 "assignment" denotes the delegation of a resource to an end user organization with the understanding that there will be no further external delegation, that is, resources will only be sub-delegated internally. 1.1.4 "end user organization" describes an organization which makes use of delegated resources internally, that is, does not sub-delegate those resources outside their organization. 1.1.5 "allocation" denotes the delegation of a resource to an organization which may subsequently sub-delegate the resource either as an assignment or as a sub-allocation. 1.1.6 "confederation" is defined as an organization which acts on behalf of its membership in all interactions with APNIC and which allocates resources to its membership. 1.1.7 "confederation member" describes an autonomous sub-entity of the confederation which requires an independently routable block of address space. An "autonomous sub-entity" may be an independent organization or an independently routable sub-region within a single organization. 1.1.8 "independently routable block" denotes a routing prefix which may generally be accepted for routing on the Internet according to current Internet operational practices. The size of a "routable prefix" is taken by APNIC to mean a /19 (8192 addresses). APNIC chooses /19 in order to be consistent with other regional registries, however APNIC can in no way assure address space it allocates is actually routed by service providers either now nor in the future. APNIC can only insure global uniqueness in the address space it delegates and as whether a given prefix is routed depends entirely on Internet service providers over which APNIC has no control, APNIC can provide no assurance the address space it allocates will be routed. 2. Establishment of a Confederation This section details the requirements for the establishment of a confederation. These requirements, while somewhat stringent, are put in place to insure confederation policies and procedures are consistent with Internet registry policies currently in effect. In addition, the documentary requirements specified here enable confederations to share policies and procedures, thereby promoting consistency of delegation policies and providing models for new confederations which are establishing themselves. 2.1 In order for a confederation to be established, the following requirements must be met: 2.1.1 Acceptance of the APNIC Confederation Agreement. This document is available from: ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/confed-agreement and must be signed by the person responsible for the confederation. The original signed document must be provided to APNIC prior to any requests of resources for the confederation. 2.1.2 Submission and approval of the confederation's delegation policies document which includes: - A description of the confederation's allocation and assignment policies - A description of the mechanisms by which the confederation corroborates the sub-delegations made by the confederation's members These documents must be submitted in English and will be posted on the APNIC servers for public reference. In order to insure compliance with existing Internet resource delegation policies, APNIC will review these documents and may recommend changes prior to the creation of the confederation. Should a confederation update their delegation policies, APNIC should be informed of the changes as soon as possible. 2.1.3 Submission of the confederation's membership policies document which includes: - A description of the confederation's membership admittance policies - A description of the confederation's membership revocation policies These documents should be submitted in English and will be posted on the APNIC servers for public reference. As membership admittance and revocation are not related to resource delegation, APNIC will accept these documents without comment. 2.1.4 Submission of the confederation's membership list consisting of: - All confederation members' organization names - All confederation members' addresses - All confederation member's contact information including the administrative and technical contacts with (at a minimum) a telephone number and email address - Date when the members joined the confederation - A list of the existing resources allocated to each confederation member, including: - IP addresses - AS numbers This list should be inclusive of all resources the confederation's members are using whether allocated by APNIC, the confederation, or other registry and it is critical that this list be updated to reflect any changes in the confederation's membership that may occur. 2.1.5 Payment of all relevant fees for the establishment and operation of the confederation as described in section 3. 2.2 Discussion To explain the requirements above, the following discussion is provided. 2.2.1 As allocation policies to confederations differ from the policies applied to regular members, the specifics of the confederation policies must be clearly understood by both APNIC and the confederation. As a result, a separate agreement must be implemented between APNIC and confederations above and beyond the standard APNIC membership agreement. 2.2.2 Confederations by definition delegate resources their membership who will in turn sub-delegate those resources to other organizations. As such, it is important that APNIC have full knowledge and understanding of the policies under which the confederation operates. The requirement for documentation of the delegation policies of the confederation, both in terms of delegations as well as the method by which the confederation verifies the information provided to it by its membership allows APNIC to understand the confederation's delegation policies and suggest modifications to those policies in order to conform with RFC 2050 and subsequent Internet resource delegation policies. In addition, the publication of confederation policies enables new confederations to reference existing policies thereby avoiding "re-inventing the wheel" as well as encouraging more consistent policies among all confederations. 2.2.3 The requirement of submitting the confederation's membership policies is intended to allow APNIC to refer appropriate organizations to the confederation. While APNIC cannot require organizations to go to any particular confederation, APNIC will encourage organizations that fit the membership criteria to apply to appropriate confederations. 2.2.4 The confederation's membership list is essential to insuring confederation members are not able to circumvent existing delegation policies by obtaining resources from multiple sources. As such it must be fully inclusive, listing all confederation members and including sufficient information to allow APNIC to verify confederation members are not already a member of APNIC or another confederation. 2.2.5 The confederation fees are designed to insure regular APNIC members do not subsidize confederations and that APNIC has sufficient resources to provide services to both confederations and regular members. 3. Confederation Fees In order to insure regular APNIC members do not subsidize confederation members and that confederations provide sufficient funding to cover the cost of providing services to the confederations and regular members alike, fees must be charged for the operation of confederations. The fees associated with the operation of confederations are based on the resources allocated to the confederation. The fee structure is dependent on the size of the confederation and the amount of Internet address space allocated to the confederation: Member Tier Per-Address Fee ----------- --------------- Extra Large US $0.02 Very Large US $0.03 Large US $0.06 Medium US $0.11 Small US $0.16 Very Small n/a Associate n/a The fees are applied prior to allocation and have no recurrent component, that is they are one-time only fees. The amount of address space allocated depends on the prior address allocation history of the confederation and the imminent requirements the confederation documents. Note that these fees are in addition to (and independent of) the yearly membership fees. 4. APNIC Address Delegation Policies to Confederations As delegations to confederations follow standard "slow-start" procedures similar to that of allocations to regular APNIC members, delegation policies to confederations have two categories, the initial delegation and delegations made when the free address space pool of the confederation is insufficient to satisfy a particular member's request. 4.1 Initial Address Delegations Confederations are initially delegated a /19 per confederation member after they meet the requirements described in section two. Note: the minimum allocation unit made by APNIC to confederations is a /19 (8192 addresses) as this quantity of addresses is the customary "maximum prefix length" generally accepted for routing as discussed in the introduction. Confederations are assumed to sub-delegate at least a /19 to its members. Confederation should not sub-delegate longer prefixes except under very unusual circumstances and should be prepared to document those circumstances. In the case where a confederation member has not consumed previously allocated resources (e.g., when a confederation member moves from regular APNIC member status to a confederation member or changes confederations), APNIC will defer allocation of the /19 until the confederation member has exhausted its existing space. In the case where a confederation member has not received any previous delegation of resources, APNIC will delegate a /19 to the confederation for that member. The confederation is assumed to immediately sub-delegate the /19 to the confederation membership. APNIC will only delegate /19s to the confederation for organizations which are listed in the confederation's membership list. When a new organization joins a confederation, the confederation must notify APNIC of the new member before an initial (or additional) delegation can be made. When address space is delegated, APNIC will invoice the confederation for the fees computed on the amount of address space delegated and the member's self determined tier of membership. Terms of payment are payable upon receipt. Failure to pay the specified fees will result in the address space being returned to the free pool and no additional resources being delegated to the confederation. 4.2 Subsequent Confederation Address Delegations APNIC maintains an "allocation window" which defines how much address space a confederation may sub-delegate to its membership without a second opinion from APNIC. Initially, the confederation's allocation window is zero (0) addresses implying the confederation may not sub-delegate addresses to a confederation member without obtaining a second opinion from APNIC. As the confederation gains experience in delegating addresses to its members, APNIC will open the window (by /19s) to allow the confederation to allocate more and more address space autonomously. When a confederation member has consumed the address space delegated to it, either via assignments to customers or via use for internal infrastructure, the confederation member should contact the confederation for additional address space. The confederation is required to verify the confederation member has: 4.2.1 Assigned address space efficiently, in particular that the amount of address space assigned conforms to the documented requirements of the confederation member's customers, i.e., the confederation member is not assigning a "class C" or other fixed address size per customer. 4.2.2 Updated the APNIC database appropriately, specifically that all reassignments can be found within the APNIC database. This may be done directly by the confederation member (recommended) or via the confederation which submits reassignments on behalf of its membership. 4.2.3 Has consumed at least 80% of the space allocated to it, including both internal infrastructure and customer delegations. 4.2.4 Provided enough summary information of all assignments made to permit the confederation to submit CUST-NETWORK information to APNIC for the member If all four of these conditions are met, the confederation should allocate additional address space to the confederation member. The amount of additional address space allocated depends on how well the confederation member has conformed to the delegation policies defined in RFC 2050, by APNIC, and by the confederation, but in all cases must be less than the allocation window as defined by APNIC. 4.3 Obtaining Additional Space from APNIC If the confederation has insufficient space to satisfy its member's request, the confederation should contact APNIC to obtain additional space. In order for APNIC to allocate additional address space, the confederation must provide (via ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/confed-ip-request): 4.3.1 An exhaustive list of all delegations the confederation has made to demonstrate it has insufficient address space to cover the request of the confederation member. This list must document all address space delegated to the confederation by APNIC and the subsequent sub-delegation to confederation members. 4.3.2 An exhaustive list of the assignments and/or allocations in "cust-network" format made by the confederation member which has exhausted its address space. When this information is provided, APNIC will verify the APNIC database has been updated (either directly by the confederation member or via the confederation), that address space was allocated appropriately by the confederation, and the confederation member assigned its address space efficiently. Assuming address space has been delegated efficiently both by the confederation and the confederation member, APNIC will delegate additional address space to the confederation and may (at APNIC's option) update the allocation window. APNIC will only verify the assignments of the confederation member which has consumed the address space delegated to it. Other confederation member's assignments will not be used in determining whether the confederation requires additional address space. However, APNIC will maintain a history of all allocations the confederation has made and may request additional information should there be any confusion on the status of address space delegated to the confederation. Should a confederation member have not assigned address space efficiently, APNIC may not delegate additional address space to the confederation for subsequent sub-delegation to that member. However, should another confederation member exhaust its address space, APNIC may delegate address space to the confederation for the second member. 4.4 Summary Address delegation procedures to confederations can be summarized as: * A confederation will receive a /19 for each of its members that are either new or have exhausted their previously allocated space. * When a confederation member has exhausted its address space, it should contact its confederation for additional address space. The confederation will verify the confederation member has: 1. Used its address space efficiently 2. Updated the APNIC database 3. Consumed at least 80% of the space delegated to it Assuming these conditions are met, the confederation should delegate additional space to the confederation member * If a confederation has insufficient address space to satisfy a confederation member's request, the confederation may request additional space from APNIC by providing (via the confed-ip-request form): 1. A summary of all delegations the confederation has made 2. A summary of all delegations the confederation member which has run out of address space has made. Assuming all the conditions listed above are met, APNIC will allocate additional address space to the confederation should it be necessary. 5. Autonomous Number Delegation Policies Autonomous system numbers are delegated to confederations under a similar "slow-start" procedure as was described in the previous section. Initially, APNIC will delegate four (4) AS numbers to a confederation upon request. When this initial block of AS numbers has been sub-delegated and the APNIC database has been updated to reflect the reassignments (see ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/database-update-info), APNIC will allocate additional AS numbers. The actual number of additional AS numbers delegated will depend on the confederation's conformance to the allocation policies described in RFC 1930, but typically the total number of ASes delegated to the confederation will be doubled. 6. Conclusions This document has provided the requirements for establishing and operating a confederation. Confederations are designed to allow for a higher level of service in resource delegation than can be possible given the limited resources of APNIC. The guidelines and fee structures presented here are intended to allow confederations to continue to be created and operated while at the same time insuring APNIC continues to exist to provide the resources the confederation needs.