IPV6 renumbering painless?

Fri Nov 12 14:56:42 UTC 2004

On 12 Nov 2004, at 03:27, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:

> ARIN says:
>
> NetRange:   2001:04F8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000 - 
> 2001:04F8:FFFF:FFFF:FFFF:F
> FFF:FFFF:FFFF
> CIDR:       2001:04F8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000/32
> [...]
> NetType:    Direct Allocation
>
> I don't exactly know what this means, but something called 
> "allocation" that's bigger than what a single organization could 
> possibly need for its own use doesn't smell like PI to me.

That is exactly what PI is. The word "allocate" used by RIRs usually 
corresponds to PI. The corresponding word for PA is "assign".

Some clarification is perhaps useful.

PI: If organisation A has addresses assigned directly from an RIR, that 
means those addresses are Provider-Independent. The addresses are not 
tied to a particular provider. They were not assigned by a provider. 
Organisation A can change providers at will without renumbering. The 
addresses are Provider-Independent. That's what PI stands for.

PA: If organisation A takes some of that PI space and assigns it to 
organisation B, then the addresses received by organisation B are not 
Provider-Independent: they are instead tied to organisation A. 
Organisation A is the Provider. It would be possible for organisation A 
to announce an aggregate which covered the routes corresponding to B's 
addresses. That makes B's addresses Provider Aggregatable. That's what 
PA stands for.

Furthermore, IPv6 PI space is easy for ISPs (LIRs) to get. Really very 
easy indeed. Cast all thoughts of difficult justification and 
record-keeping that you might associate with v4 allocations from your 
mind, at least for your initial v6 request.

In order to obtain a /32 PI allocation you can meet the initial 
allocation requirements by telling the RIR you have a plan to make a 
number of /48 assignments to other organisations within two years. For 
RIPE, APNIC and ARIN that number is 200. For LACNIC, that number 
appears to be 1.

   http://www.apnic.net/docs/policy/ipv6-address-policy.html
   http://www.arin.net/policy/index.html#six5
   http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ipv6policy.html
   http://lacnic.net/en/ipv6.html

To say "there is currently no PI in IPv6 unless you're an internet 
exchange or a root server" is incorrect. IPv6 PI addresses are easy for 
ISPs to get.

Joe