Hi AP WG, next week at the RIPE meeting (and by remote participation, of course) I want to continue discussing an idea that came up before, and that I brought up at RIPE 62 already - doing away with the distinction between IPv6 PA and IPv6 PI space, going for a "unified number distribution policy" (to give credits, it's not exactly my original idea, but has been brought up a couple of times by members of the community in the last years). Feedback from RIPE 62 was mostly positive, with "we need to think about many details", so Sander and I sat down and tried to write a concept document that has some answers about the details - which needs to be discussed, refined, and eventually formed into a full-featured policy proposal to go through the PDP. So far, this is to start the thought process, and to get your ideas about it - especially ideas of the sort "this is not going to work *because* <detail we've overlooked>". But I'm taking "we want to keep the difference between PA and PI!" as well - but if you say so, please explain where you see the benefit of "more complicated rules". The discussion will take place on Thursday morning, in the 09:00-10:30 time slot. thanks for helping shape policy, Gert Doering -- APWG chair --------------------------------------------------------------- Motivation: why? ---------------- - PA and PI are just different labels for "IPv6 addresses" ... but with different strings attached: - PI must not be used for 3rd party assignments (problem for hosting providers) - only single PA allocation for LIRs possible, even if multiple independent networks exist - network structure and operation is very different these days than at the time where the PA/PI distinction was made. The boundaries between networks, different operators and different services are not as clear as they used to be... - the classic distinction "PA is for ISPs and their access customers" "PI is for enterprises that do not do ISP-like business" has been overcome by reality, and there are no longer clear borders between "ISP", "enterprise" and "end-customer" networks - Network addresses are for *numbering network devices*. Limiting what someone is allowed to do with certain addresses creates confusion. Constantly having to tweak policy to work around this is the wrong solution. Goals and Caveats ----------------- - encourage IPv6 deployment - be flexible enough to accommodate both typical and non-typical network- and business models - do not encourage assignment of /64 or single addresses to end users - do not encourage excessive routing table growth - encourage proper documentation and discourage lying to the RIPE NCC to wiggle around policy restrictions The Proposal ------------ - abandon distinction between PA (allocation) and PI (assignment) - everything is just "numbers" - RIPE NCC hands out "block(s) of numbers" to "users of numbers" - see below for answers on the fine print... Who get's address space? ------------------------ - existing model is kept: LIRs as distribution point for address space - either to "the LIR organization" - classic model: "LIR is part of the Internet Provider business" - or via the LIR to "the entity that wants to use the space and take responsibility for it" (sponsoring LIR), keeping the contractual requirements of 2007-01 - "Direct Assignment Users" members could still be possible, but "every NCC member is an LIR" would simplify things further (see "Costs" section) Amount of space per "block of numbers"? --------------------------------------- - /48 (or larger with justification) by default - /32.../29 (or larger with justification) allowed when planning to assign to 3rd parties - multiple "blocks of numbers" to or via a single LIR allowed and expected to be a frequently seen usage case Allocation from well-known ranges for anything that people might want to treat specially in their routing policy (former "special case" and PI policies): - IXP - Root DNS - Anycast DNS - /33.../48 blocks Cost? ----- - determined by AGM, but we can discuss models here and provide recommendations to AGM and NCC board, e.g.: * base cost per year per LIR * yearly recurring cost "per block of numbers", independent of size(!), reflecting the cost of handling the address space request, documentation, RIPE database, etc., which increase if you need "many blocks" Multiple blocks per LIR? ------------------------ - since there would no longer be any difference between PA and PI, "more than one block going to a single LIR" would be a typical case - so it needs to be permitted - "get any number of blocks that people are asking for" is not likely to get consensus due to pressure on the routing system - proposal for compromise: ``one "block of numbers" per "network"'' - needs workable definition for "network": - interconnected network - operated by the same entity - operated as a layer 3 network - be flexible in allowing multiple blocks, but don't *require* anyone to actually ask for multiple number blocks if they are happy with using the same address block for multiple networks/sites/... - problem cases to keep in mind, leading to this definition - ISPs providing L3 services on top of other ISPs' Layer 2 infrastructure - single LIRs providing addresses to two independent Layer 3 networks that are not directly connected - e.g. due to political (commercial/NREN), legal or geographical reasons - "classical PI" type connections - end users with independent numbers - Multiple L3 providers providing address space to a single user must be allowed (multi-homing, special-purpose networks, etc.) -- have you enabled IPv6 on something today...? SpaceNet AG Vorstand: Sebastian v. Bomhard Joseph-Dollinger-Bogen 14 Aufsichtsratsvors.: A. Grundner-Culemann D-80807 Muenchen HRB: 136055 (AG Muenchen) Tel: +49 (89) 32356-444 USt-IdNr.: DE813185279