Picking a RIR/obtaining an AS/ressurrecting a legacy space

Thu Jul 6 14:29:26 UTC 2023

I have an old friend still holding onto some legacy IP space that he
has not used in 30 years. The origin goes back to the early 90s, and
originally through ARIN. In the relevant databases it is a /23, but
actually a /22 - but the top 2 addresses are not registered or
announced anywhere I can find. I do not mind losing those to the pool
but getting the /23 up and running would help... and a /22 far more
useful for our purposes. Sadly I also have a lovely 16 bit BGP AS
number AS5768 still unused from my first company of that era but in
the hands of a admin that has been unresponsive about either using it
or giving it back for many years. Sentimentally I would like to find a
way to get that back... but it is ok if that doesn't happen.

Anyway, LibreQos would really like to obtain a BGP AS number from some
RIR (or is there an unused BGP AS transfer market?) and have some real
IPv4 addresses to vector some traffic through, in our testbeds
initially, and perhaps later on as means to shape traffic for other
services. Most of our market is outside the USA actually and I would
be inclined to get that AS from the simplest AR to deal with, but my
list of preferences is merely based on where we have installations
rather than cost/contacts/customer service... and especially,
"hassle". Honestly coping with figuring out the fee and registration
schedules are is just beyond me. I have heard ripe was easiest to deal
with regarding legacy space. (?)

Anyone out there that can help sort out this legacy space in a sane
manner? We are subsisting on a tiny amount of donations/month
presently, and the up front cost and yearly costs are quite a lot to
make this step.

Finding someone(s) to help us become real in this fashion, navigating
the RIRs process, setting up bird or FRR for us (with a touch of
anycast), would help, and help (at some price) moving forward, would
be great. I have not got BGP running myself in over 25 years!

-- 
Podcast: https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7058793910227111937/
Dave Täht CSO, LibreQos