AS Numbers unused/sitting for long periods of time

Wed Jan 3 03:52:42 UTC 2018

On 03/01/18 03:40, Christopher Morrow wrote:
> On Tue, Jan 2, 2018 at 5:46 PM, James Breeden <James at arenalgroup.co> wrote:
> 
>>
>> I'm amazed at the number of AS numbers that are assigned, but not actively
>> being used.
> 
> 
> 'not actuvely being used' ... how would you (or anyone) know? what if they
> were used only on some internal part of a large public network which never
> leaked beyond their borders/uses? What if the ASN is used on a large
> private network? (for instance.. where I know of several such things).

I'd second those views. Just take IXPs as an example. Their AS does not 
necessarily get redistributed past the ISPs peering on these.

Not only that, but smaller ones often have non-routable IPv4 
allocations, like a /26.

So saying, that an ASN is unused is never very accurate, when you don't 
have the full picture. And the global routing table certainly isn't the 
full picture.

Kind regards,
Martin List-Petersen
-- 
Airwire Ltd. - Ag Nascadh Pobail an Iarthair
http://www.airwire.ie
Phone: 091-865 968
Registered Office: Moy, Kinvara, Co. Galway, 091-865 968 - Registered in 
Ireland No. 508961