Draft Policy ARIN-2023-8

Reduce 4.1.8 Maximum Allocation

Status: Under Discussion
Shepherds: Gerry George and Brian Jones

Current Text (14 February 2024)

Problem Statement:

4.1.8 waiting times are too long, making justifications untimely by the time a request is met. New entrants to the waiting list are expected to wait three years for their need to be met under current policy, with a waiting list of around 700 at this point. Data indicates that reducing the current /22 maximum further to a /24 would significantly reduce this waiting period, and further tightening the requirements by replacing the /20 recipient maximum holdings with a /24, and preventing multiple visits to the waiting list queue.

Policy Statement:

In section 4.1.8, replace the second sentence:

FROM:

“The maximum size aggregate that an organization may qualify for at any one time is a /22.”

TO:

“The maximum size aggregate that an organization may qualify for is a /24.”

Remove the next sentence “Organizations will be able to elect a smaller block size than they qualify for down to a /24.”

Replace the next sentence

FROM:

“Organizations which hold more than a /20 equivalent of IPv4 space in aggregate (exclusive of special use space received under section 4.4 or 4.10) are not eligible to apply.”

TO:

“Organizations which ever held any IPv4 space other than special use space received under section 4.4 or 4.10 are not eligible to apply.”

Remove the sentences:

“Multiple requests are not allowed: an organization currently on the waitlist must wait 90 days after receiving a distribution from the waitlist or IPv4 number resources as a recipient of any transfer before applying for additional space. ARIN, at its sole discretion, may waive this requirement if the requester can document a change in circumstances since their last request that could not have been reasonably foreseen at the time of the original request, and which now justifies additional space.”

Remove the sentence:

“Restrictions apply for entities who have conducted recent resource transfers. These restrictions are specified in Section 8 for each relevant transfer category.”

Add the sentence:

”Waiting list recipients must demonstrate the need for a /24 on an operating network.”

PROPOSED TEXT (4.1.8 maximum allocation):

4.1.8. ARIN Waitlist

ARIN will only issue future IPv4 assignments/allocations (excluding 4.4 and 4.10 space) from the ARIN Waitlist. The maximum size aggregate that an organization may qualify for is a /24.

Organizations which ever held any IPv4 space other than special use space received under section 4.4 or 4.10 are not eligible to apply.

Address space distributed from the waitlist will not be eligible for transfer, with the exception of Section 8.2 transfers, for a period of 60 months. This policy will be applied to all future distributions from the waitlist to include those currently listed. Qualified requesters will also be advised of the availability of the transfer mechanism in section 8.3 as an alternative mechanism to obtain IPv4 addresses.

Waiting list recipients must demonstrate the need for a /24 on an operating network.

In section 4.2.2 replace the sentence:

FROM:

“All ISP organizations without direct assignments or allocations from ARIN qualify for an initial allocation of up to a /22, subject to ARIN’s minimum allocation size.”

TO:

“All ISP organizations without direct assignments or allocations from ARIN qualify for an initial allocation of a /24.”

In section 8.3 Conditions on the source of the transfer, remove this sentence:

“The source entity will not be allowed to apply for IPv4 address space under Section 4.1.8 ARIN Waitlist for a period of 36 months following the transfer of IPv4 address resources to another party.”

Comments:

Corrections were made for a typo (references to 4.18 as opposed to 4.1.8 as intended) in a number of places in the document, and a reference to 4.22 instead of 4.2.2. The core text remains unchanged, however.

(Necessary changes/corrections made on 14 February 2024)

Needs more careful review for intersection with other elements of the NRPM. Need to be careful with existing list member treatment. The author claims that they haven’t scanned the NRPM for other mentions of 4.1.8 that may need to be addressed.

The author thinks section 4 can be drastically simplified further with this change. The intention in requiring demonstrated need is avoidance of the situation at RIPE where every new entrant got an automatic allocation, which resulted in many new entities incorporated only to receive this allocation.

The author also noted a serendipity in the number of waiting list entries (703) and the amount of entries that could have been met with a /24 cap (703) in John Sweeting’s ARIN 52 presentation. Current waitlist entrants should be grandfathered-in but their maximum allocation reduced to /24.

Timetable for Implementation: Immediate.

History and Earlier Versions

Related Meetings