Independent space from ARIN

Mon Apr 14 00:12:31 UTC 2003

> 
> Thus spake <bdragon at gweep.net>
> > So, you didn't renumber out of PA space into PI space and then upon
> > hitting 80% utilization asking for additional PI space, which would have
> > been justified at such point?
> >
> > Perhaps the cluebat might do more good on you?
> 
> Please explain how somebody with more than 4096 hosts in PA space is
> supposed to renumber into a /20 of PI space.
> 
> I fear you propose that he move the first 3276.8 hosts, request a second
> block, move another 3276.8 hosts, request a third block, etc. until he's got
> a dozen new allocations which can't be aggregated.  Perhaps this explains
> the explosive growth in the routing tables since ARIN took over.

Well, the /20 is merely part of the initial allocation guidelines of
ARIN.

Yes, moving the smattering of other blocks into the /20, returning those
to whichever provider from whence they came. Renumbering as much of the
original /20 as possible, and then requesting additional space.

In my experience, at having renumbered about a /17 of PA space into
PI space, the process is fairly painless outside of customer interaction.
You find areas of inefficiency that can be cleaned up, allowing you to fit
more into a smaller space (renumber /30s into /31s, gee that lan with 3 boxes
doesn't need a /24). You keep records of what you've done, and provide
them in future allocation requests. On the whole, dealing with ARIN was
pretty painless.

His error was that he expected that ARIN would just give him more space
than what he had in PA space. This would just be silly of ARIN for several
reasons:
1) Many companies provide address space based upon policies other than
justified use, such as based upon circuit size.
2) Many initial allocations are used very inefficiently, with lots of
holes, networks larger than needed, etc.