ARIN-prop-331: Addition of definitions for General and Special Purpose IP Addresses

Date: 19 April 2024

Proposal Originator: Tyler O’Meara

Problem Statement:

The NRPM often treats general purpose and special purpose IP addresses differently. Unfortunately, we don’t have a convenient to use term to describe these categories, so policy often becomes either excessively wordy or does not correctly capture the intent. Examples of this can be found in section 4.1.8, and in currently pending proposals ARIN-2023-8 (where the fact that 4.4 and 4.10 space isn’t counted against an organization is repeated numerous times) and ARIN-2022-12 (where the text does not exclude 4.4 and 4.10 allocations from being counted against an organization, but it is the intent that those allocations should be ignored). Additionally, temporary allocations under section 11 are rarely carved out, even when 4.4 and 4.10 are, even though it is likely the policy’s intent that these too should be ignored.

Policy Statement:

Add the following definitions:

Special Purpose IPv4 Address - An IPv4 address issued by ARIN under sections 4.4, 4.10 or 11.

General Purpose IPv4 Address - An IPv4 address issued by ARIN that is not a Special Purpose IPv4 Address.

Special Purpose IPv6 Address - An IPv6 address issued by ARIN under sections 6.10 or 11.

General Purpose IPv6 Address - An IPv6 address issued by ARIN that is not a Special Purpose IPv6 Address.

Timetable for Implementation: Immediate.

Comments: I originally intended to give a better definition for the general purpose addresses (something along the lines of “An IPvX address indefinitely issued by ARIN without special limitations on its use”), but opted for the current proposal to make it clear that all addresses in scope for the NRPM are either Special Purpose or General Purpose, and that the 2 definitions are mutually exclusive.

Note that this proposal only adds definitions and does not change any of the existing text; I figured it’d be better to leave any use of the definitions to a future policy proposal.