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Experimental allocations policy

APNIC Document identity
Title: Experimental allocations policy
Short title: experimental-alloc
Document ref: APNIC-109 Version: 002
Date of original publication: 22 December 2003 Date of this version: 17 June 2004
Review scheduled: n/a Obsoletes: Previous versions
Status: Active Comments: n/a
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About this document

This document describes the APNIC policies which apply to requests for Internet resource allocations that are to be used for experimental purposes.



Part 1: Background

1.    Introduction

As the Internet continues to expand and evolve, there is an increased need for technologies and practices to be refined and standardised.

To achieve this, it is often necessary to experiment with proposed technologies to evaluate their interaction with the installed base of the Internet. For a small proportion of these experimental activities, it may be necessary to allocate or assign Internet resources on a temporary basis.

2.    Scope

This document describes policies for the responsible management of global Internet resources in the Asia Pacific region, specifically relating to the temporary allocation and assignment of Internet resources for experimental purposes.

It should be read in conjunction with other APNIC documents, including those dealing with membership and fees.

3.    Definitions

3.1    Internet resources

Internet resources are public IPv4 and IPv6 address numbers, Autonomous System numbers, and reverse DNS delegations.

3.2    RFC

An RFC is a document in the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) "Request for comments" series.

4.    Goals

The goal of this policy is to provide fair access to Internet resources for genuine researchers, to encourage development of new technologies and refinement of standards.

Part 2: Policies

5.    Allocations for experimental purposes

APNIC will allocate public Internet resources to be used for experimental purposes. These experimental allocations are subject to the eligibility criteria, conditions, and restrictions described in this document.

6.    Eligible experiments

An experiment is eligible for an allocation if it meets the criteria described in either section 6.1 or section 6.2.

6.1    Publication of an Experimental RFC

Experiments are eligible for allocations if they are described in an RFC designated by the IETF as "Experimental".

The requestors must specifically refer to this RFC, describe their participation in the experiment, and provide a summary of the experiment which details their requirement for Internet resources.

6.2    Alternative publication approved by APNIC

Experiments may be eligible for an allocation if they are described in a document that is available free of charge and publicly accessible in a forum approved by APNIC. Under this criterion, APNIC has the sole discretion to determine whether such an experiment is eligible. To do so, APNIC may liaise with IETF working groups, other standards bodies, RIRs, or Internet experts to evaluate the status of the document, the validity of the experiment it describes, and the Internet resource requirements of the experiment.

The requestors must specifically refer to the published document, describe their participation in the experiment, and provide a summary of the experiment which details their requirement for Internet resources.

7.    APNIC input on proposed experiment

During the request process, APNIC may comment on the objectives of the experiment with regards to the requested amount of numbering resources. APNIC may also propose changes to the size of the requested allocation.

If the requestor does not agree with the proposed changes, then APNIC will seek advice from the IETF or another relevant standards body involved in publishing the experiment.

8.    Public disclosure of experiment

It is a condition for experimental allocations that all material details of the experiments are published free of charge and without any constraints on their disclosure or use. The details to be published include the objectives of the experiment, the practices, and any other relevant details. At the completion of the experiment, the results must be published under the same terms.

To this extent, the terms of APNIC's regular non-disclosure provisions are specifically excluded from these requests. Although APNIC may consider requests for certain aspects of a project to be subject to a non-disclosure agreement, it will not agree to any restrictions on the public benefit to be gained from any experiments.

APNIC may publish and maintain public archives of all experiments which receive allocations under this policy.

9.    Duration of allocation licenses

APNIC will make experimental allocations on a temporary license basis. Licenses to use the resources will be valid for one year.

9.1    Extensions

At the end of the initial license period, the holder of the resources may apply to have the license extended, to meet the objectives of the experiment, as publicly documented. It is intended that the majority of the experiments to be considered under this policy will be concluded without extension of the original license.

10.    Size of IP allocations

In the case of experimental allocations of IP addresses, the allocation size will be consistent with APNIC's standard minimum allocation size, unless the nature of the experiment specifically requires an allocation of a different size.

11.    Registration

All experimental allocations will be registered in the APNIC Whois database. The registration details will indicate the temporary nature of these allocations.

12.    Restriction on commercial or undocumented uses

APNIC may revoke an experimental allocation if the resources are being used for commercial purposes, or are being used for any activities not documented in the original request.

13.    APNIC membership requirement

Experimental allocations are available to APNIC members only.

New members wishing to receive experimental allocations may join at the Associate member level. Their request for an experimental allocation will not be subject to the "IP resource application fee".

Experimental allocations are not considered when calculating membership tier.