Adjusting IPv6 PA Policy

1.0 Summary of the problem being addressed by this proposal

Recently, we have reached consensus, and an update of the IPv6 PI policy has been ratified. However, there is a discrepancy, or lack of clarity, in the IPv6 PA policy that we didn’t notice and has been observed by the staff.

This discrepancy is related to the need to announce (or justify otherwise), the aggregated addressing space within 12 months.

Clearly, there is no reason to have a different perspective regarding announcing PA and PI space (same as it should be the same conditions for IPv4 and IPv6, but this policy proposal is only related to IPv6).

In addition to that, we take the opportunity to remove a section that is related to an operational decision of the ISP, which is “how to handle” the addressing space for the PoPs. Being part of the ISP internal decisions, which may apply differently for each case, it doesn’t make sense to keep that anymore as part of the policy manual.

2.0 Summary of how this proposal addresses the problem

This proposal resolves the issue with a similar text as the one that reached consensus for IPv6 PI and removes the text related to the PoPs.

3.0 Proposal

Amending 6.5.1.1 and 6.5.4.2 of the CPM, as follows:

Current	Proposed
6.5.1.1 Initial allocation criteria To qualify for an initial allocation of IPv6 address space, an organization must: 1. Be an LIR; 1. Show a detailed plan to provide IPv6 connectivity/services to other organizations/end-users or self-owned/related departments/entities/sites in the AFRINIC region. 1. Show a reasonable plan for making /48 IPv6 assignments to end sites in the AFRINIC region within twelve months.	6.5.1.1 Initial allocation criteria To qualify for an initial allocation of IPv6 address space, an organization must: 1. Be an LIR; 1. Show a detailed plan to provide IPv6 connectivity/services to other organizations/end-users or self-owned/related departments/entities/sites in the AFRINIC region. 1. Show a reasonable plan for making /48 IPv6 assignments to end sites in the AFRINIC region within twelve (12) months. 1. The addressing space issued under this policy must be announced within twelve (12) months, and to the extent practicable, as a single aggregated prefix, so as to minimize global routing table growth. In some very special cases, the space may not be announced, however it must be duly justified.
6.5.4.2 Assignment to operator's infrastructure An organization (LIR) may assign a /48 per PoP as the service infrastructure of an IPv6 service operator. Each assignment to a PoP is regarded as one assignment regardless of the number of users using the PoP. A separate assignment can be obtained for the in-house operations of the operator.	(section removed and following text renumbered)

4.0 References

This proposal matches the actual situation in most of the RIRs. A recent similar proposal has been adopted by APNIC and is under discussion in RIPE.

Revision History

Date	Details
3rd November 2019	Version 1: AFPUB-2019-IPv6-002-DRAFT01 Initial Draft Posted to rpd