[AfriNIC-rpd] Policy Proposal: IPv4 Soft Landing Policy

[Vincent Ngundi]

The AfriNIC PDP-MG received the following policy proposal on the 6th of
January 2009. In accordance with the AfriNIC Policy Development Process, the
proposal is being posted to the AfriNIC Resource Policy Discuss (RPD)
Mailing List. The proposal will also be placed on the AfriNIC website as a
policy proposal under discussion.

In line with the AfriNIC PDP, the AfriNIC community is now invited to review
and discuss this policy.

The AfriNIC Policy Development Process can be found at:
http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-pdp200707.htm

AfriNIC Mailing Lists subscription information can be found at:
http://www.afrinic.net/mailinglist.htm

Regards,

Vincent Ngundi
Chair, PDP-MG

#### IPv4 Soft Landing Policy ####

Name:           IPv4 Soft Landing Policy
Organization:   Sitronics Telecom Solutions - Uganda
Version:        Draft
Date:           05 Jan 2009
Status:            
Authors:        Douglas Onyango
              

Incentive
---------

In order to ensure a smooth transition to IPv6 from IPv4, its necessary that
the life span of IPv4 be sustained as much as possible. This document
proposes a strategy for allocation and maintenance of the final block of /8
IPv4 assignment from IANA.

Background
----------

Following the much anticipated IPv4 pool exhaustion, a global policy,
“Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space”,
is being developed that will ensure that IANA reserves one (1) IPv4 /8
address block for each RIR. Details of the Global Policy for the Allocation
of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space can be found at:
http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v4gp200802.html. This policy
(IPv4 Soft Landing) shall only become applicable if the “Global Policy for
the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space” is ratified.

AfriNIC as an RIR is therefore charged with the responsibility of seeing to
it that this last block is used in the best way possible. This is the
purpose of this document.

Policy Documents to be affected:

(a) IPv4 Allocation Policy
http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v4200407-000.htm

(b) Proposal to Change the Allocation & Assignment Period to 12 months
http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-af200611.htm

Definitions
-----------

(a) Local Internet Registry (LIR)
A Local Internet Registry (LIR) is an Internet Registry (IR) that receives
allocations from an RIR and primarily sub-allocates or assigns address space
to 'end-users'. LIRs are generally ISPs. Their customers are other ISPs and
possibly end-users. LIRs must be members of an RIR like AfriNIC; which
serves the Africa Region and part of the Indian Ocean (Comoros, Madagascar,
Mauritius, Seychelles).

(b) Existing LIR’s
An existing LIR is defined as being an organization that has already been
assigned or allocated IPv4 address space by AfriNIC

(c) New LIR’s
A new LIR is defined as being an organization which has recently become a
member of AfriNIC but has yet to be assigned or allocated any IPv4 address
space.

(d) Critical Infrastructure Provider:
A critical infrastructure provider is defined as the Root Servers operator,
generic Top Level Domain (gTLD) Registry Operator, country code Top Level
Domain (ccTLD) Registry Operator, internationalized Domain Names (iDN)
Registry operator, or Internet Exchange Point operator.

Summary
-------

This proposal describes how AfriNIC shall allocate and manage IPv4 resources
from the last /8 block of IPv4 address allocated by IANA at the time of
total depletion of the IANA IPv4 address free pool.

(i) Current Phase:
During this phase, AfriNIC will continue allocating IPv4 addresses to the
LIR’s using the current allocation policy
http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v4200407-000.htm. This phase will
continue until a request for IPv4 address space from any LIR to AfriNIC
either cannot be fulfilled with the IPv4 address space available in the
AfriNIC pool (with the exception of the last allocated /8 address block from
IANA) or can be fulfilled but leaving the AfriNIC IPv4 address pool empty
(with the exception of the last allocated /8 address block from IANA).

This will be the last IPv4 address space request that AfriNIC will accept
from any LIR and at this point, the next phase of the process (Exhaustion
Phase) will be initiated.

(ii) Exhaustion Phase:
During the exhaustion phase, an interim allocation and assignment policy for
the last /8 IPv4 address block will be available to AfriNIC as described
below:

a)    Instead of the /22 block (1024) addresses allocated in the current
policy, a /23 block (512) addresses will be assigned to any LIR that
requests for IPv4 resources.
b)    The LIR will be required to show an IPv6 adoption plan that should be
implemented within 8 months. AfriNIC shall ratify the IPv6 adoption plan.

Upon ratification of the IPv6 adoption plan (previous paragraph), AfriNIC
shall allocate an IPv6 address block in compliance with the current IPv6
allocation policy 
(http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v6200407-000.htm) to the LIR (in
case it doesn’t have any). This shall be done together with the /23 IPv4
address space allocation; according to the allocation criteria described
below.

As proposed above, the current allocation and assignment period of 12 months
shall be changed to 8 months. This will help to ensure minimal wastage of
resources that could probably lay unused while other LIR’s suffer from
deficiency.

Allocation Criteria
-------------------

Each LIR should receive address space in accordance with the minimum
allocation size in effect at time of the request. If AfriNIC’s minimum
allocation size were to change in future, the allocation made under this
policy (/23) should also be changed accordingly.

a) Existing LIR’s

Upon application, an Existing LIR may receive only a single IPv4 allocation
at the minimum allocation size even if their needs justify a larger
allocation. The LIR will be required to show an IPv6 adoption plan that
should be implemented within 8 months. AfriNIC shall ratify the IPv6
adoption plan. At the time of the IPv4 allocation, AfriNIC shall also
allocate an IPv6 address block in compliance with the current IPv6
allocation policy 
(http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v6200407-000.htm) to the LIR.

In order to receive additional IPv4 allocations, the Existing LIR must start
using the allocated IPv6 address block first, according to the plan ratified
by AfriNIC. (In case of no IPv6 upstream provider, this should be clarified
to the AfriNIC IP analyst, and the same evaluated by AfriNIC).

Each Existing LIR may apply for and receive this allocation once they meet
the criteria to receive IPv4 address space according to the current
allocation policy in effect at the time.

This allocation ensures that each Existing LIR receives routable IPv4
addresses that they can use for supporting legacy IPv4 services during the
transition phase to IPv6.

b) New LIR’s

Each New LIR will receive IPv4 addresses which they can use for supporting
legacy IPv4 services to ensure their full presence on the IPv4 Internet
during the transition to IPv6. The following will apply:

Upon application, a New LIR may receive a maximum of four (4) address blocks
according to the minimum allocation size in effect at time of allocation in
the AfriNIC region. However, the /23 address blocks shall be issued one at a
time. If AfriNIC’s minimum allocation size were to change in future, the
allocation made under this policy (/23) should also be changed accordingly.
The LIR will be required to show an IPv6 adoption plan that should be
implemented within 8 months. AfriNIC shall ratify the IPv6 adoption plan. At
the time of the IPv4 allocation, AfriNIC shall also allocate an IPv6 address
block in compliance with the current IPv6 allocation policy
(http://www.afrinic.net/docs/policies/afpol-v6200407-000.htm) to the LIR.

In order to receive additional IPv4 allocations, the New LIR should start
using the allocated IPv6 address block first, according to the plan ratified
by AfriNIC. (In case of no IPv6 upstream provider this should be clarified
to the AfriNIC IP analyst, and the same evaluated by AfriNIC).

New LIRs may apply for and receive this allocation once they meet the
criteria to receive IPv4 address space according to the policy in effect at
the time. 

IPv4 Address Space Reserve
--------------------------

A /16 IPv4 address block will be in reserve out of the last /8 pool. This
/16 IPv4 address block should be preserved by AfriNIC for some future uses,
as yet unforeseen. The Internet is erratic and we cannot predict with
certainty what might happen. Therefore, it is prudent to keep this block in
reserve, just in case some future requirement creates a demand for IPv4
addresses.

Further, assignments to Critical Infrastructure Providers will be done from
this /16 IPv4 address block in /24 address blocks.

In the event that this /16 IPv4 address block remains unused by the time the
remaining /8 address space covered by this policy has been allocated to
LIRs, it returns to the pool to be distributed in compliance with this
policy.

#### /IPv4 Soft Landing Policy ####