It’s Time To Let Go Of IPv4

“A global policy was developed through all of the regions that the last five /8s should be given to the RIRs, regardless of any particular demonstration of need or stocks running low, just to give everybody the safety and security of having one last big address block of IPv4 addresses,” said Pawlik.

Following this final distribution, however, it is likely that there will be significant differences in the rates at which the five RIRs allocate those last IPv4 addresses – particularly as the requirement for IP addresses in the United States is vastly different from that in Africa, for example.

“All of the RIRs now have discussions underway or half-implemented already that tell them what to do and how to handle this last block of /8s. There are provisions that smaller blocks are given out to new entrants to the market, to enable them to play properly. That is one of the things we want to do with our last /8s,” he added.

Tackling the shortage

Speaking to eWEEK Europe last week, the Internet Society’s Matthew Ford said that the shortage of remaining IPv4 addresses has led to some applications by operators for more addresses being rejected. “That is not quite true, but there is a hint of truth in there of course,” said Pawlik.

“We have been preparing for this for a long time and our region, for instance, has a policy that we call ‘Run Out Fairly’.” This, he explained, is designed to prevent single large providers from scooping up all the remaining IP address and leaving none for the others.

ISPs or large corporations normally approach RIPE NCC to ask for a certain number of IP addresses. This number is usually driven by marketing predictions, said Pawlik, and is often a wild overestimation of the number of addresses actually needed. The RIR then makes its own assessment, based on the equipment being used and the number of customers that organisation intends to hook up.

“The idea in general always is to have about 80 percent of your address allocation in use and, when you have less than 20 percent to go, then you come back to the RIR,” said Pawlik.