APNIC guidelines for IPv4 allocation and assignment requests
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APNIC Document identity
Title: APNIC guidelines for IPv4 allocation and assignment
requests
Short title: ipv4-guidelines
Document ref: APNIC-105
Version: 002
Date of original publication: 1 December 2002
Date of this version: 1 September 2005
Review scheduled: n/a
Obsoletes: Previous versions
Status: Active
Comments: n/a
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APNIC guidelines for IPv4 allocation and assignment requests
About this document
-------------------
These guidelines are intended to complement the document Policies for
IPv4 address space management in the Asia Pacific region, which
provides for APNIC to publish guidelines relating to specific request
evaluation requirements and best current practice issues.
These guidelines will be updated from time to time, in consultation
with the Asia Pacific and global Internet communities, to ensure that
they remain appropriate to the current addressing environment.
Table of contents
-----------------
1 Introduction
2 Scope
3 Additional guidance
4 Goals of address space management
5 Application of guidelines
6 Static and dynamic assignments
6.1 Assignments for transient connections
6.2 Assignments for permanent connections
7 IP unnumbered
8 Assignment of multiple IP addresses
9 Virtual web hosting
9.1 Evaluating requests involving web hosting plans
9.2 Justification for IP-based web hosting
9.3 Special verification for subsequent requests
10 Cable and DSL services
10.1 Bootstrap criteria for first allocation to new cable or DSL
services
10.2 Criteria for subsequent allocations to cable or DSL services
11 Private Address Space
12 Network Address Translation (NAT)
13 Guidelines for GPRS requests
Section 1: Background
_____________________________________________________________________
1 Introduction
--------------------
These guidelines are developed within the APNIC community, and are
consistent with the goals and policies applicable to IPv4 address
space management. They are intended to assist organisations
requesting IPv4 address space only.
Nothing in these guidelines should be considered to replace or modify
any of the specific policies defined in other APNIC documents.
2 Scope
-------------
This document applies to the management of global IPv4 public address
space in the Asia Pacific region.
Where practical, the guidelines in this document are expressed in
relation to types of connectivity, rather than to specific
technologies.
This document does not apply to IPv6, Multicast, or Private Address
Space, or Autonomous System numbers. It should be read in conjunction
with other APNIC documents, particularly Policies for IPv4 address
space management in the Asia Pacific region.
3 Additional guidance
---------------------------
These guidelines are not intended to be exhaustive. Additional
guidance and examples are available from the help information
available for each APNIC request form and in FAQs and other
information on the APNIC web site:
Resource Guides
http://www.apnic.net/services
APNIC FAQs
http://www.apnic.net/info/faq
4 Goals of address space management
-----------------------------------------
In this document, all reference to the goals of address space
management refer to the goals described in Policies for IPv4
address space management in the Asia Pacific region, namely:
* uniqueness;
* registration;
* aggregation;
* conservation; and
* fairness.
5 Application of guidelines
---------------------------------
This document is primarily intended to guide LIRs when making
assignments to their customers or requesting address space from
APNIC. The issues discussed in this document reflect many of the
considerations used by APNIC in evaluating requests for allocations
and second-opinion requests for assignments.
It is intended that NIRs will either adopt these or similar
guidelines for their own members.
Section 2 General guidelines
_____________________________________________________________________
6 Static and dynamic assignments
--------------------------------------
All assignments should be made in a manner that is consistent with
the goal of address conservation and should take account of the
nature of the connection for which the addresses are to be assigned.
6.1 Assignments for transient connections
For services that are intended to connect the Internet on a
transient basis (for example, dial-up connections), best
current practice is to use a pool of IP addresses for dynamic
addressing as connections are made.
If an organisation plans to make static assignments to
transient connections, then full technical justification will
be required to support the request.
6.2 Assignments for permanent connections
For services that are intended to connect the Internet on a
permanent basis (for example cable, leased line, or DSL
services), organisations may make static assignments without
the need to provide additional technical justification.
Many networks will use dynamic addressing even for permanent
connections. This may also be done without the need to
provide additional technical justification.
7 IP unnumbered
---------------------
APNIC encourages the use of the IP unnumbered functionality as it
helps conserve IPv4 address space.
IP unnumbered allows IP processing on a serial interface, without
assigning an explicit IP address for point-to-point links. This
applies to statically routed, single-homed customer connections. It
does not apply where BGP is used over a link.
For more details, please refer to 'Using the IP unnumbered
configuration' FAQ at:
http://www.apnic.net/info/faq/ip_unnumb.html
8 Assignment of multiple IP addresses
-------------------------------------------
In general, if an organisation plans to assign more than one IP
address per host, then it must provide full technical justification.
See also section 9 'Virtual web hosting'.
9 Virtual web hosting
---------------------------
Virtual web hosting refers to the process of running multiple
"virtual" web servers on a single physical host computer. This is
achieved by either name-based techniques (where a single IP address
is assigned to a single server hosting many web sites), or IP-based
techniques (where an IP address is assigned to each web site hosted
on the server).
More general information about virtual web hosting is available in
the 'Virtual web hosting' FAQ at:
http://www.apnic.net/info/faq/virtualwebfaq.html
9.1 Evaluating requests involving web hosting plans
APNIC strongly encourages the use of name-based web hosting.
If an organisation plans to use IP-based web hosting, then it
must provide full technical justification (see section 9.2).
Additional information may also be required for subsequent
requests for address space (see section 9.3).
9.2 Justification for IP-based web hosting
There are few technical limitations to name-based hosting.
Therefore, if an organisation plans to deploy services that
require IP-based hosting, then it must provide a description
of those services.
The most common services that require IP-based hosting are:
* websites that use SSL (Secure Sockets Layer) for e-commerce
services, particularly if a separate certificate is used for
each virtual domain; and
* virtual FTP services with anonymous login functionality.
Although some early web browsers are not HTTP1.0 compliant,
research has shown that the use of these browsers is no longer
widespread. Therefore, lack of HTTP1.0 compliance is not
considered sufficient justification for large scale IP-based
hosting.
9.3 Special verification for subsequent requests
Organisations requesting a subsequent allocation will need to
provide additional information if:
a. the organisation or its downstream customers have made
assignments for IP-based web hosting; and
b. one or more of those assignments exceeds /22.
In these cases, the organisation will be required to provide
a list of each IP address used and the corresponding URLs for
each of those large assignments.
This information is used to verify the responsible use of
address space for IP-based web hosting.
10 Cable and DSL services
------------------------------
10.1 Bootstrap criteria for first allocation to new cable or DSL
services
Organisations requesting address space for use in new cable
or DSL services may choose to have their request evaluated
under simplified "bootstrapping" criteria:
* Under the bootstrapping criteria, the amount of address
space allocated is based on an assumption of the requestor
assigning a /24 to each CMTS in their network.
* A bootstrap request must be supported by a description of
the equipment in the network plan field.
* The bootstrap criteria may be used by either startup
providers and existing providers that are commencing new
cable or DSL services.
* The choice of using the bootstrap criteria is entirely at
the discretion of the requesting organisation.
If an organisation requests more addresses than are allowed
under the bootstrapping criteria, then they must provide the
full supporting documentation, in the network plan field of
the request form. In particular they should include:
* details of equipment that is installed at each network
location; and
* for each subnet, the number and type of devices and servers
which require IP addresses.
10.2 Criteria for subsequent allocations to cable or DSL services
Organisations seeking subsequent allocations to cable and DSL
services must provide the following information:
* headend information specifying the number of CMTS or B-RAS
devices planned per headend;
* the projected number of subscribers within 3 months;
* growth rate based on average growth or IP utilisation per
month over past three months (as an option, the ISP can
supply can supply documentation such as an MRTG or a
RADIUS/DHCP server log to support growth rate evaluation);
* the number of subscribers, subscribed DSL/cable circuits,
or IP addresses consumed by subscribers at peak time
projected within 12 months (if the projection is
significantly higher than that predicted by the growth
rate, then an additional explanation will be required); and
* purchase receipts for equipment (if requested by APNIC or
the NIR).
Furthermore, if greater than a /22 is used in a cable or xDSL
network, then special verification may be required,
consisting of detailed information from a headend chosen at
random by APNIC or the NIR.
11 Private address space
-----------------------------
RFC 1918 Address Allocation for Private Internets describes the use of
"private address space" for the operation of private IP networks.
IANA has reserved the following three blocks of IPv4 address space
for private networks:
10.0.0.0 - 10.255.255.255 (10/8)
172.16.0.0 - 172.31.255.255 (172.16/12)
192.168.0.0 - 192.168.255.255 (192.168/16)
Using private addresses helps to meet the conservation goal and
provides more flexibility for the user when addressing the network.
For this reason, users should always be informed that private
addresses might be a viable option.
The use of private address space is strongly recommended for
organisations that have no requirement for Internet connectivity.
Organisations that do intend to use private addresses may do so
without having to make a request to APNIC or their NIR.
12 Network Address Translation (NAT)
------------------------------------------
RFC 1631 describes Network Address Translation (NAT). NAT allows a
single device, such as a router, to act as a mediator between the
Internet and a local (or "private") network. This means that a
single, unique public IP address is required to represent a group of
computers. Fewer public IP addresses are consumed thereby assisting
the goal of conservation. However, despite this, many drawbacks have
been cited with the use of NAT.
APNIC does not require organisations to use NAT. The choice of
whether to use NAT is entirely up to the discretion of individual
organisations.
13 Guidelines for GPRS requests
------------------------------------
The use of address space in GPRS networks is subject to the same
policies that apply for any other use.
Although APNIC has not made specific guidelines for GPRS requests,
the GSM Association, after consulting the communities of the
respective RIRs, has developed a set of recommendations for
organisations requesting space for these purposes.
APNIC considers that these recommendations provide useful guidance
for GPRS network operators.
The document 'Guidelines for IPv4 Addressing and AS Numbering for
GPRS Network Infrastructure and Mobile Terminals' is available at:
http://www.gsmworld.com/technology/gprs/guidelines.shtml
A useful presentation summarising the recommendations is available at:
http://www.apnic.net/meetings/12/docs/IP_Mobile.ppt
