[AfriNIC-rpd] IPv4 Soft Landing Policy

Wed May 12 17:18:23 UTC 2010

Hello all,
I am presenting the latest version of the proposal for your review in preparation for the the face-to-face meeting that is a couple of weeks away.
Your input in required

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Your Name: Douglas Onyango
Your Organisation: Delta IT Solutions
Policy Afected: AFPUB-2005-v4-001
Date: 27-11-09

Proposal: IPv4 Soft Landing Policy

Incentive
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In order to ensure a smooth transition from IPv4 to IPv6, the lifespan of IPv4 can be increased in order to give network operators more time to make the transition. This document proposes a strategy for allocation and maintenance of AfriNIC's final /8 block of IPv4 from IANA.

Background
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Following the much anticipated IPv4 pool exhaustion, a global policy, "Global Policy for the Allocation of the Remaining IPv4 Address Space", has been ratified. The policy ensures 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) applies to the management of address space that will be available to AfriNIC under this Global Policy
The purpose of this document is to ensure that this last block is used in a manner that is acceptable by the AfriNIC community.
Policy Documents to be affected:
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(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
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(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, and Seychelles).

(b) Existing LIR�s An existing LIR is defined as being an organization that assigns address space to 'end-users' and who has already been assigned or allocated IPv4 address space by AfriNIC.

(c) New LIR�s A new LIR is defined as being an organization that assigns address
   space to 'end-users' and who is a member of AfriNIC but has not been assigned or
   allocated any IPv4 address space prior to the Exhaustion phase.

Summary
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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 in the Current Phase, AfriNIC, will declare that the Exhaustion Phase has begun at this point.
(ii) Exhaustion Phase:

During the exhaustion phase, the following allocation and assignment policy for the last /8 IPv4 address will be used:
a) Instead of the /22 block (1024) addresses allocated in the current policy, the new minimum allocation size of /24 (256 addresses) will be allocated to any LIR that qualifies for IPv4 resources -  /23 (512) will be the maximum allocation size possible and  even though LIRs may request for more than this, LIRs will not be  able to get more a /23 in a single allocation  - they also will not get more than 4 allocations once the Exhaustion phase has began.

b) Together with the v4 allocation, 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).
The current allocation and assignment period of 12 months shall be changed to 8 months. This will help to ensure that LIRs request only for resources they need in the short to medium term, and promote fairness in the equitable distribution of the last IPv4 address pool.
Allocation Criteria
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a) Existing LIR's

At the time of the first IPv4 allocation made during the exhaustion phase, 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 in the exhaustion phase, the existing LIR must have used at least 90% of all previous allocations.
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 allocation size in effect at the time of allocation in the AfriNIC region. However, the address blocks shall be issued one at a time.
In order to receive additional IPv4 allocations, the New LIR should have used at least 90% of the previous allocations from the exhaustion phase.
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
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A /12 IPv4 address block will be in reserve out of the last /8 pool. This /12 IPv4 address block shall be preserved by AfriNIC for some future uses, as yet unforeseen. The Internet is innovative 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.

When AfriNIC can no longer meet any more requests for address space from the  last /8 pool because the pool is either empty or has no more contiguous blocks, the board will based on the demand and other factors at the time exercise the prerogative to replenish the exhaustion pool from the reserve pool in a manner that is in the best interest of the community.

AfriNIC resources are for the AfriNIC geographical region. None of these resources can be used outside of the AfriNIC region. All LIR's requesting resources must have operations in Africa and all of the allocations shall be used to support the LIR's African Operations.
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Regards,
Douglas Onyango +256(0712)981329

Life is the educators practical joke in which you spend the first half learning, and the second half learning that everything you learned in the first was wrong.

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