Proposal for Transfer of 6bone Address Management Responsibilities to RIRs [Archived]

Posted: Tuesday, 20 August 2002

It has been proposed that the management of the 6bone 3FFE::/16 address space be transferred to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). More information about the 6bone can be obtained at http://www.6bone.net/ .

At a recent 6bone meeting, Bob Fink made a proposal for this management transfer. A copy of the presentation slides are available at http://www.6bone.net/ngtrans/minutes/default.htm . These presentation slides were based on the text, “Policies for transfer of 6bone address management responsibilities to RIRs,” provided below.

Please send your comments about this proposal to the ARIN public policy mailing list (ppml@arin.net). The 6bone will be conducting a similar review within their community and we will do our best to correlate and summarize the collective responses, issues, and concerns, made in regard to this proposal. This review process will end on December 31, 2002.

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Policies for transfer of 6bone address management responsibilities to RIRs

Version: 20 August 2002

1. Introduction

6bone was established in 1996 as a continuing IPv6 test bed with the original purpose of testing of standards and implementations, and the more current focus on testing of transition and operational procedures, as well as application conversion. It provides an opportunity for those wanting

early experience and/or needing to experiment with IPv6, with a minimum of startup complexity, particularly in terms of address management policies, and at minimal cost. It also provides an open peer process for information, hookup help, and support, with strong ties to the IETF process as well as to the operational community.

To date, 6bone address space has been allocated and registered in an informal process quite separate from the existing Regional Internet Registry system. The purpose of this proposal is to establish a long term model that provides for a more “official” home for 6bone address space management within the established Internet administrative structures. At the same time, the proposal recognizes that 6bone’s most important functions as an accessible and informal test bed network must be maintained.

This document proposes the transfer of responsibility for administration of 6bone address space (3ffe::/16) to the Regional Internet Address Registries (RIRs). It describes a set of policies and procedures for this transfer, and for the ongoing administration of 6bone address space within the RIR framework.

It should be noted that the ongoing operation of the 6bone, and policies related to it, are still the purview of the 6bone community itself. For example, 6bone network compliance with the 6bone routing guidelines is a matter for the community itself to resolve, typically by mail lists.

It is also important to continue the strongly volunteer efforts of the 6bone, both to make it as easy and friendly as possible for individuals, sites and networks to experiment and learn about IPv6, but also to keep the process streamlined and cost-effective.

2. Definitions

a) “6bone” and “6bone community”, as it appears in section 3 below, means 6bone organizations and individuals including the RIRs, “6bone members” (see below), and those participating in the 6bone mail list.

b) 6bone members are defined as entities which are approved for address space allocation by the 6bone community in accordance with 6bone policies, and who agree to be bound by those policies and the policies stated below.

c) 6bone allocations are allocations of 6bone address space which are held by 6bone members, or made to 6bone members in accordance with these policies.

d) 6bone address space is defined as IPv6 address space within the 3ffe::/16 address block.

3. Policies

3.1 General

a) In consultation with 6bone, RIRs will implement a common set of policies applying specifically to 6bone allocations. This will follow the current RFC2772, “6Bone Backbone Routing Guidelines” and/or successor documents resulting as an evolution of conversations in the 6bone community and the RIRs.;

b) 6bone members will be served by respective RIR in their region, for “6bone Address Services” including 6bone address allocation, database registration and maintenance, and ip6.arpa registration (as described below);

c) In order to receive 6bone address services from an RIR as described here, each 6bone member must “join” that RIR, that is, enter into the appropriate membership or services agreement with the RIR.

d) RIR fees will be waived for 6bone address services provided by RIRs to 6bone members (but not for other services 6bone members may require), until 1 year after this agreement starts. After this time each RIR may charge an administration fee to cover each allocation made. This fee simply covers registration and maintenance, rather than the full allocation process for standard RIR members. This administration fee should be as low as possible as these requests do not have to undergo the same evaluation process as those requested in the normal policy environment.

e) Organizations may receive 6bone address services from the RIR only on approval by 6bone, and in accordance with these policies;

f) 6bone members will have the option to receive other services from an RIR (including allocation of production IPv6 address space), by following the policy, process and procedures in place at the time of application for those services.

g) Continuing compliance with 6bone policies, and with the policies defined here, will be verified by 6bone at least every 2 years;

3.2 6bone Address Services

a) 6bone Address Services include allocation of 6bone address space, registration and maintenance of database records relating to that address space, and registration of ip6.arpa records;

b) 6bone address space allocations will be made from 3ffe::/16 and only /32 prefixes will be allocated. There will be exceptions for unusual and new proposals per joint RIR and 6bone review and approval. A relevant example of this is one or more new strategies such as geographic or metro addressing;

c) No additional 6-bone address space will be allocated to any 6bone member (therefore no provision will be made for aggregation of multiple allocations, reservations etc); d) 6bone address services will be provided strictly for experimental, non-commercial use;

e) Allocations will be made on the clear and stated understanding that the prefix 3ffe::/16 has a limited lifetime. The dates for the termination of allocation from the prefix and the expiration of the prefix will be determined at a future date. The RIRs will not participate in these determinations.

f) 6bone address space will be returned to the RIR when no longer in use, when reclaimed due to non-compliance with 6bone or RIR policies, or when 3ffe: space is finally withdrawn.

g) Registration of 6bone address space within the ip6.int zone is not covered by this policy, and is at option of 6bone member;

h) Registration of 6bone sites, maintainers, persons and address space within the existing consolidated 6bone registry is not covered by this policy, and is at option of 6bone and its current policies.

3.3 Transfer of existing 6bone members

a) Responsibility for existing 6bone members in respect of services described here will be transferred from 6bone to the respective RIR, at the option of those members individually, on entering into the appropriate agreement with the RIR;

b) On joining the RIR, 6bone address registration records for the member concerned will be transferred from 6bone registry to the respective RIR database,;

c) On joining the RIR, 6bone members may establish ip6.arpa delegation records in accordance with applicable RIR procedures;

d) Legacy holders will use RIR administrative procedures for management of their records;

e) There will be a sunset (2 years?) on existing 6bone members not transferring to RIR administrative procedures, after which their address allocation will be revoked.