________________________________________________________________________ prop-082-v001: Removing aggregation criteria for IPv6 initial allocations ________________________________________________________________________ Author: Tomohiro Fujisaki Co-authors: Akira Nakagawa Fuminori Tanizaki Masaru Akai Toshio Tachibana Version: 1 Date: 2 February 2010 1. Introduction ---------------- This is a proposal to remove the aggregation requirement from the IPv6 initial allocation policy. 2. Summary of the current problem ---------------------------------- The initial IPv6 address allocation criteria requires that LIRs: "Plan to provide IPv6 connectivity to organizations to which it will make assignments, by advertising that connectivity through its single aggregated address allocation."[1] However, there is no similar aggregation requirement in either the criteria for subsequent allocations, or in the new IPv6 allocation criteria for APNIC members. Including the aggregation requirement is problematic for two reasons: 1. It is inconsistent the criteria for IPv6 allocations under two other APNIC policies, which do not require aggregation. These policies are: - Subsequent IPv6 allocations - The new kick start IPv6 allocation criteria to be implemented 10 February 2010 [2] 2. Registry policy should not concern itself strongly with routing issues. 3. Situation in other RIRs --------------------------- LACNIC: The LACNIC community is currently discussing the following proposal to remove the requirement to announce an initial allocation as a single prefix in favour of announcing the prefix with the minimum possible level of disaggregation: 2007-01: Modifications to the IPv6 Prefix Initial Allocation Policy RIPE: The RIPE community has recently removed routing requirements from IPv6 policy: 2009-06: Removing Routing Requirements from the IPv6 Address Allocation Policy AfriNIC and ARIN initial IPv6 allocation criteria require a plan to aggregate, with no requirement for aggregation for subsequent allocation criteria. Neither RIR is has any proposal to modify these criteria. 4. Details ----------- This is a proposal to: 4.1 Remove the requirement under the initial IPv6 allocation criteria to aggregate an initial IPv6 allocation as a single prefix. 4.2 Include a stronger recommendation about the importance of aggregation to the IPv6 policy document. The APNIC IPv6 policy document currently does include information about the importance of aggregation[3]. However, it is the opinion of this proposal's authors that the recommendation should be more strongly expressed. 5. Pros/Cons ------------- 5.1 Advantages - This policy lower the barriers for obtaining IPv6 address. - Other RIR communities are discussing removing aggregation requirements from their policies, so it would be appropriate for APNIC policy to maintain similar criteria to other regions. 5.2 Disadvantages - By removing the aggregation requirement in the policy, deaggregated routes may begin to be announced more frequently. 6. Effect on APNIC members --------------------------- None. 7. Effect on NIRs ------------------ None. 8. References -------------- [1] See section 5.2.1, "IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment Policy" [2] prop-073: Simplifying allocation/assignment of IPv6 to APNIC members with existing IPv4 addresses [3] See section 3.4, "IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment Policy"