---------------------------------------------------------------------- prop-104-v002: Clarifying demonstrated needs requirement in IPv4 transfer policy ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Authors: Shin SHIRAHATA Norisuke HIRAI Akira NAKAGAWA 1. Introduction ---------------- This proposal defines the period to be approved of IPv4 transfers for recipients under demonstrated needs. 2. Summary of the current problem ---------------------------------- The current APNIC transfer policy has a requirement for demonstrate a need for transferred IPv4 addresses. The period of demonstrated needs under the current operational practice is 12 months based on the definition in Section 3.2, "Criteria for subsequent LIR delegations" in the "Policies for IPv4 address space management in the Asia Pacific region", "Based on these factors, APNIC and NIRs will delegate address space to meet the LIR's estimated needs for a period up to one year up to the maximum allowed delegation under Section 3." and this period was defined before the exhaustion. On the other hand, ARIN allows transfers based on demonstrated needs up to 24 months. This leads to difference in conditions of the transfer between LIRs in the APNIC region and the ARIN region. Furthermore, 12 months is also too short for transfers within the APNIC region considering many xSPs plan their service and their addressing requirements beyond one year. 3. Situation in other RIRs --------------------------- ARIN has a requirement for the period to be approved of IPv4 transfers for recipients under demonstrated needs, up to 24 months. LACNIC has a policy that defines to evaluate for 12 months needs. RIPE NCC has 3 months requirement at this time, and the policy proposal that extend to 24 months, is under discussion. AfriNIC: AfriNIC currently does not have an IPv4 address transfers policy. ARIN: ARIN policy has a clear period for justification for IPv4 address transfers, and the period is 24 months. "Such transferred number resources may only be received under RSA by organizations that are within the ARIN region and can demonstrate the need for such resources in the amount which they can justify under current ARIN policies showing how the addresses will be utilized within 24 months." See Section 8.3, "Transfers to Specified Recipients" in the "ARIN Number Resource Policy Manual": https://www.arin.net/policy/nrpm.html#eight3 This change was proposed by "DRAFT POLICY ARIN-2012-1: CLARIFYING REQUIREMENTS FOR IPV4 TRANSFERS". https://www.arin.net/policy/proposals/2012_1.html LACNIC: LACNIC policy defines to evaluate for 12 months needs for the recipient of the IPv4 address transfer. However, the transfer will only be activate once LACNIC's address pool runs out. (expect for the reserved space) See Section 2.3.2.13, "Submission of Assignment Information" and Section 2.3.2.18.2, "Transfer of IPv4 Blocks within the LACNIC Region" in the LACNIC Policy Manual (v1.9): http://lacnic.net/en/politicas/manual3.html RIPE: In the RIPE region, the period of needs approved for IPv4 address transfers will be based on the definition of the current allocation policy, which is 3 months. Currently, there is no policy which defines the period of needs based justification, specifically for IPv4 transfers, separate from allocation criteria. See Section 5.0, "Policies and Guidelines for Allocations" in the RIPE-553, "IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region:" http://www.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-553/ However, there is a policy proposal under discussions which proposes to extend the period of the demonstrated needs in case of IPv4 transfers, up to 24 months. See 2012-03, "Intra-RIR Transfer Policy Proposal". http://www.ripe.net/ripe/policies/proposals/2012-03 4. Details ----------- This proposal clarifies the requirement on a period approved for the transferred resource to recipients of IPv4 transfers based on the demonstrated needs, and defines its period as "24 months". This proposal does not intend to change the requirement for an address allocation or assignment from APNIC. 5. Pros/Cons ------------- Advantages: - Extended period will allow the larger block size to match a longer term needs of the requester. It will help to reduce an IPv4 address block fragmentation caused by transfer. - APNIC member can apply for IPv4 address transfer as a receiver on the same condition of demonstrate a need in other RIR in case of Inter-RIR transfer. At this time, ARIN is the only RIR that adopts Inter-RIR policy in place other than APNIC. Thus, it places APNIC policy in line with ARIN on the transfer conditions. - It will allow the block size to more closely match the block size available for transfer from source. - It will reduce the risk of underground IPv4 address transfers, which do not get registered in APNIC database. There is a possibility that the recipients could not obtain justification for enough IPv4 address by the current period of demonstrated needs. Disadvantages: - None There may be people who feel 24 months does not lead to efficient utilization compared to 12 months. However, the objective of needs based justification is not to "cut the size of address space to be transfered"; it is to ensure that the transfered space will be utilized in realities. 24 months is a realistic period to estimate required address space for xSPs. 6. Effect on APNIC Members --------------------------- It will requires a recipients within the APNIC region must demonstrate the need for up to a 24 months use of IPv4 address block. 7. Effect on NIRs ------------------ It is the NIR's choice as to whether to adopt this policy.