RFC 1814

Unique Addresses are Good 🎀

okay bestie, this is RFC 1814 💖 by Elise Gerich at Merit Network Inc. 🌸 It's from the Network Working Group, it's an Informational RFC, and it's dated June 1995 📅. Its header doesn't list anything it obsoletes or updates, so it's just doing its own thing 💅.

Status of this Memo

this memo is here to give info to the Internet community 🧚 It is NOT a standard of any kind. Distribution is totally unlimited, so share it with everyone ✨

Abstract

the IAB is basically saying: RFC 1597 sets aside reserved IP address space for private networks that are isolated and will stay isolated from the Internet 🔒 But if your enterprise expects external connectivity to the Internet, you should apply for a globally unique address from an Internet registry or service provider 🌈

Introduction

so RFC 1466 and RFC 1597 showed up and defined the criteria for allocating unique IP numbers and reserving them 🎀 The IAB and the IANA want to give Internet registries some guidance on applying those two docs, and the author is submitting this as an informational RFC on behalf of the Internet Architecture Board and the IANA 🫶

Guidance to Internet Registries

okay so RFC 1466 lists the criteria that Internet registries should conform to 📋 One of those criteria is that the Internet registry is committed to allocating IP numbers according to the guidelines set by the IANA and the IR. Those guidelines (for Classes A, B, and C addresses) live in RFC 1466 💖

Internet Registries have agreed to follow the guidelines in RFC 1466, so if an organization meets the size requirement for the address(es) it asks for and submits an engineering plan, it has fulfilled the necessary requirements ✨ The Internet Registry will make the allocation based on the established criteria 💅

the preconditions in RFC 1466 are limited to the number of hosts and subnets, plus an engineering plan 🍓 The existence of private address space (RFC 1597) shall not prevent an enterprise from obtaining public address space according to the allocation criteria (currently, RFC 1466). no cap, that's a big deal 😭

an enterprise may be required by an Internet registry to submit an engineering plan that documents a realistic deployment schedule and reasonable attention to conserving address space, sized to match the enterprise's request for globally unique IP addresses 📈

it's perfectly appropriate for an Internet registry to tell an organization about the provisions of RFC 1597 🌸 Any organization thinking about using private network numbers should carefully weigh the potential advantages and possible problems discussed in RFCs 1597 and 1627 🧐

RFC 1597 sets up reserved IP address space for private networks that are isolated and will stay isolated from the Internet 🔒 So it documents a way for private enterprises to keep their networks segregated from the Internet. The addresses designated in RFC 1597 should not be routed by the Internet 🙈

any enterprise with a significantly large number of hosts that might need external connectivity to the Internet at the IP layer should apply for a block of globally unique addresses from an Internet registry 👑 Enterprises with a small to medium number of hosts that need that external IP-layer connectivity should expect to use globally unique addresses for those hosts, assigned by their current Internet service provider out of its own assigned addresses, if it has any to hand out 🦋

if an enterprise with a small to medium number of hosts wants unique IP addresses, but can't get them under reasonable conditions from a service provider (or has no service provider at all), the Internet registries are recommended to assign those addresses without conditions on service provider selection 🫶 The registries should make it clear that once the enterprise decides to connect to the Internet, the assigned addresses are no guarantee of Internet-wide IP connectivity. Some service providers may even require renumbering as a condition of connectivity 😭

any organization that anticipates having external connectivity is encouraged to apply for a globally unique IP address 💜 Globally unique addresses are necessary to tell destinations on the Internet apart. But be aware that a globally unique address by itself does not necessarily guarantee global connectivity 💀 Individual network service providers may place restrictions on which addresses they will or won't route, based on operational limitations 🧚

References

• [1] Gerich, E., "Guidelines for Management of IP Address Space", RFC 1466, Merit Network Inc., May 1993. 🍓
• [2] Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, B., Karrenberg, D., and G. de Groot, "Address Allocation for Private Internets", RFC 1597, T.J. Watson Research Center, IBM Corp., Chrysler Corp., RIPE NCC, RIPE NCC, March 1994. 🌈

Security Considerations

ngl this one's short and sweet 🙈 Security issues are not discussed in this memo. so no security talk here, bestie 💅

Author's Address

the contact info, verbatim 📮

Elise Gerich
Merit Network Inc.
4251 Plymouth Road
Ann Arbor, MI 48105

Phone: +1 313 764 9430
Fax: +1 313 747 3745
EMail: epg@merit.edu