RFC 2901
Guide to Administrative Procedures of the Internet Infrastructure
RFC 2901: Guide to Administrative Procedures of the Internet Infrastructure 💖
okay bestie, so this is RFC 2901 🎀. It's FYI: 37, which is a fancy way of saying it's an Informational doc (Category: Informational). It came out of the Network Working Group in August 2000 🌸. The authors are Z. Wenzel, J. Klensin, R. Bush, and S. Huter, all from the Network Startup Resource Center. It doesn't obsolete or update anything, so it's a total main character that stands on its own ✨
Status of this Memo 📝
this memo is just here to give info to the Internet community 🦋 it does NOT set any Internet standard, not even a little. distribution is unlimited, so go share it 💅
Copyright Notice ©️
Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved. 🔒
Abstract ✨
this doc walks you through the admin steps for networks that want to hook up to the global Internet 🌍 that covers the stuff you need to do for address space allocation and registration, routing database registration, and domain name registration 🍓 it also tells you what forms you need and how to get them 📋
Table of Contents 🗂️
Who Should Read This Document ................................... 2
Checklist ....................................................... 3
Prerequisites ................................................... 3
I. Preparation of Systems and Network Planning ............... 4
A. What do I need to connect to the Internet? .......... 4
B. What connectivity medium should I choose? ........... 4
C. What else do I need to do? .......................... 4
D. How do I get the documents referred to in this guide? 6
E. Section References .................................. 6
II. Address Space Allocation .................................. 7
A. Who is my upstream provider? ........................ 7
B. How much address space should I ask for? ............ 8
C. What is CIDR? ....................................... 9
D. How do I request and register address space? ........ 10
E. Section References .................................. 13
III. Autonomous Systems (AS) ................................... 13
A. What is an ASN and do I need one? ................... 13
B. How do I register an ASN? ........................... 14
C. Section References .................................. 15
IV. Routing and Exchange Points ............................... 15
A. Do I need to register with a routing database? ...... 15
B. What about CIDR and routing? ........................ 16
C. How do I choose a routing database? ................. 16
D. How do I register in the RADB (The Americas)? ....... 17
E. Section References .................................. 18
V. Domain Name Registration .................................. 18
A. What is a country domain? ........................... 18
B. How do I register as a country domain? .............. 18
C. What if my country is already registered? ........... 19
D. How do I resolve a country domain name dispute? ..... 19
E. Section References .................................. 19
VI. IN-ADDR.ARPA Domain Delegation ............................ 19
A. What is an IN-ADDR.ARPA domain and do I need one? ... 20
B. How do I register an IN-ADDR.ARPA domain? ........... 20
VII. Security .................................................. 21
A. Is there a way to prevent unauthorized changes to my
objects? ................................................ 21
VIII. Network Optimization and Management ....................... 22
A. How do I optimize traffic on my network? ............ 22
Security Considerations ......................................... 22
Acknowledgements ................................................ 22
References ...................................................... 22
Authors' Addresses .............................................. 24
Appendix A: The Internet Agencies .............................. 25
Appendix B: Documentation ...................................... 28
Appendix C: Country Codes ...................................... 29
Appendix D: Acronyms ........................................... 30
Full Copyright Statement ........................................ 31Who Should Read This Document 👀
this doc is for the system engineers and technical managers 🧑💻 who want their network to connect to the Internet 🌐 it assumes you already know the basics of the Internet and networking, so no crying over the fundamentals 😭
it's meant to help new or growing networks get through the Internet admin procedures and fill out all those templates and registration forms 📋 Appendix D is a glossary of acronyms, so bookmark that one 🔖
Checklist ✅
this doc is gonna walk you through these procedures:
- Determine your organization type and current status.
- Determine your administrative and technical contacts.
- Determine your budget (and chargeback system) and choice of carriers.
- Determine to whom you will connect.
- Predict your current and projected address space needs.
- Set-up your system to connect.
- Request and register your address space allocation.
- Request and register an autonomous system number, if needed.
- Register with a routing database, if needed.
- Register your country's domain name, if needed.
- Request and register your IN-ADDR.ARPA domain name, if needed.
Prerequisites 🧠
this doc assumes you've already looked at different options for physical connectivity 🔌 it's here to help you navigate the Internet infrastructure so you can actually use that connection 💅 when you pick your upstream provider, think about whether they can handle the Internet infrastructure stuff too 👑
what will you be doing, and what role will you play? 🤔
- If you're connecting yourself (or a small organization), you're an Internet end user 🫶 you'll probably want to contact an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for most of your needs. Read section I and the first part of section II.
- If you're connecting your organization and want address space to hand out inside your network, you're an Internet high volume end user 📈 you'll need more address space, but you may still choose to work with an Internet Service Provider (ISP) for most of your needs. Read sections I and II.
- If you're connecting your organization and handing out addresses to your clients (who are end users), you're an Internet Service Provider (ISP) 💜 you'll need to contact a Local Internet Registry (if one is available, or your upstream provider). Read section I and keep reading the rest of this document.
- If you're handing out addresses to your clients, and your clients are handing out addresses too, you're a Local Internet Registry or large ISP 👑 you'll probably need to contact the Regional Internet Registry in your geographical area. Read section I and keep reading the rest of this document.
I. Preparation of Systems and Network Planning 🌸
STEP ONE: PREPARE INFORMATION, ORGANIZE HARDWARE, FIGURE OUT TO WHOM YOU WILL CONNECT, AND TEST IN-COUNTRY SYSTEMS. 🧚
A. What do I need to connect to the Internet? 💻
you can connect with dial-up or dedicated lines, and you can pick UUCP or IP 🦋 running UNIX with TCP/IP over a dedicated line is the preferred setup, although you can start with UUCP over a dial-up line if you need to 🍓 yes, there are other OS options, but for historical reasons and robustness, UNIX is better prepared to handle Internet connectivity 💪 it's best to use TCP/IP inside your network too, even if you use something else for your external connectivity 🫶
you'll need to get an Internet Protocol (IP) address (or a block of addresses) and a domain name 🌈 you might also need an Autonomous System Number (ASN) and an IN-ADDR.ARPA (reverse addressing) domain name 🔁 however, you can start out with dial-up connectivity to another organization that supports one or more mail exchange (MX) record(s) for your site ✉️ that way you can receive email at your own domain name without having to spend as much up front 💖
B. What connectivity medium should I choose? 📡
telecommunications regulations in your country might limit whether you can pick dial-up, digital phone lines, fiber optic cable, or satellite suppliers 🙈 if they don't, then cost, bandwidth, and reliability will decide it for you 💅
C. What else do I need to do? 💅
okay so before you do literally anything else, here's your to-do list bestie 🎀
- Designate an administrative contact person and a technical contact person. 📋
Pick one person to be the administrative contact and another person to be the technical contact. Write down their full names, email and postal addresses, and telephone and fax numbers (with country prefixes in the form + country code (e.g., +011), city code, and local telephone number). The administrative contact should be a member of your organization and must reside in the country. The technical contact should be the key network support person and may be represented initially by someone outside of the country. Note that the technical contact must transition to a network support person residing in the country. The Internet Registries will request this information in the form of database entries called objects. For example, on the RIPE template, the administrative contact should be listed in the admin-c field in the database objects, and the technical contact in the tech-c field in the database objects (more information on database objects follows in section II D below).
- Determine your cost-recovery charging scheme, if needed, so that you can sustain operations. 💰
No form or record will specifically request this, but it is important that you project your costs adequately so that you can assess fees to cover them and ensure stability of operations. 🌸
- Diagram your network topology. 🗺️
Determine the number of groups and end users. Describe the size and shape of your current network. Design your addressing plan based on this information. It may be helpful to consider your organization chart when doing this, if you anticipate it to be fairly stable.
If you are restricted to using the local telecommunications company's telephone circuit, choose your circuit carrier based on capacity and where it lands geographically. Consider an asymmetric circuit, e.g., 128kbps in and 64kbps out, if you expect to have more incoming traffic than outgoing (e.g., if most of the traffic is expected to originate from web servers outside your network). 🧚
- Determine to whom you will connect. 🤝
See the prerequisites section for types of connection providers that might be appropriate for your situation. Determine which ISP or telecommunications company best fits your connectivity needs.
- Predict your address space and bandwidth requirements from end user needs. 🔮
Since address space is finite and must be conserved, end users are not permitted to reserve address space. Address space is based on what your needs are and how you justify those needs. Evaluation of IP address space requests is usually based on the documentation you provide for the following 24 months (as per RFC 2050), as specified in the address space usage template and in the addressing plan you submit. Once you have used your assigned address space, you can request additional space based on an updated estimate of growth in your network. This usually includes detailed documentation, updating the appropriate regional registry database with details of your end user assignments, and assigning address space both conservatively and efficiently.
You will need to justify your needs for address space by communicating your network design and should be prepared to clearly present your plan for effective use of the request. Determine your current and future user needs. If you are offering virtual web services, it is no longer necessary to assign one IP address per domain. HTTP/1.1 defines the "host" header to allow vanity names without the use of an IP address. Allocations for points of presence (POP) throughout your region should also be determined. Predictions of user behavior can be based on analysis of published rates, interviews with individual and institutional subscribers, and case histories of other countries (see "History of the Internet in Thailand"). For example,
Area1
10 dialup modems
10 leased lines to organization's LANs (size of the LANs)
Area2
5 dialup modems
Main POP
5 servers: mail, WWW, DNS, FTP, etc.When you design your plan, you should design it for what you need now, what you believe you will need six months from now, and then one year and two years from now. 📈
- Set up, connect, and test your hardware and software. 🛠️
It is important to ensure that you have enough representative systems set up and their connectivity tested using temporary addresses before contacting the appropriate agency for address space.
D. How do I get the documents referred to in this guide? 📚
See Appendix B for details on obtaining the documents referred to in this guide.
E. Section References 🔗
For more information on TCP/IP, see RFC 2151, "A Primer on Internet and TCP/IP Tools and Utilities". ✨
II. Address Space Allocation 🌈
STEP TWO: OBTAIN ADDRESS SPACE ALLOCATION AND REGISTRATION FROM THE ISP YOU ARE CONNECTING TO, OR (AS A LAST RESORT) YOUR REGIONAL REGISTRY. 🫶
Internet Protocol (IP) addresses (under the current version 4) are 32-bit numbers usually expressed as 4 octets in dotted decimal notation (for example, 128.223.162.27, which is the IP address for the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) web server at the time of this writing). Public IP addresses make up the Internet address space. Addresses are allocated in a hierarchical manner and are designed to be unique. 🦋
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) allocates large address blocks to the three current Regional Internet Registries (IRs): ARIN, APNIC, and RIPE NCC which, in turn, allocate smaller blocks to Local Internet Registries or large ISPs. Local Internet Registries, which are typically ISPs or collections of ISPs represented at a country level, and large ISPs process the vast majority of address space assignments to ISPs and end users
Contact the Internet service provider from whom you are getting your connectivity services (your upstream provider) with an address allocation request. It is important and required that you contact your upstream provider first, and not the Regional IR automatically. The first question the Regional Registry will ask you is why you cannot get address space from your upstream provider. 👑
A. Who is my upstream provider? 🔥
If there is an ISP already functioning in your country, contact them directly. If you are to be the first connection in your country, you may need to contact your Regional IR in your geographic region, but you should always contact your upstream provider first for assistance and guidance. Since address allocation is hierarchical, the administrative organizations and procedures also represent this hierarchical structure. It is important not to skip a step in the hierarchy. Current Regional Registries include ARIN (the Americas, Caribbean, and Africa), RIPE (Europe, Africa, and the Middle East), and APNIC (the Pacific Rim and Asia). Contact information for these organizations is listed in Appendix A.
You should contact your Regional Internet Registry if 1) the ISP you are connecting to is unable or unwilling to provide address space, or 2) your particular connectivity requirements will result in non-local data to your customers possibly taking a different route over the Internet than data destined for your upstream provider's customers, or 3) you anticipate a quick growth rate that may require changing your current upstream provider to a larger one and you wish to avoid the renumbering that such a move would require. 🍓
B. How much address space should I ask for? 🎀
Regional IRs typically assign address blocks on the basis of an immediate need and projected utilization rate within one year. (If you are in the ARIN region, it is one year for end user organizations and three months for ISPs.) Calculate your address space request accordingly. It is recommended to include the organization chart and network topology diagram referred to in section I.C, number 3 (above). Note that address space is allocated based on CIDR bit boundaries (see next section). The registries will need to understand your network engineering and deployment plans in significant detail before they can allocate address space. Therefore, the more detailed information you can provide, the more likely your request will be processed quickly. 🧠
If you obtain address space from your ISP, it is very likely that you will need to renumber should you decide to change upstream providers and/or if you grow considerably. As this renumbering may affect your customers (and their customers, etc.) if they are using dedicated lines, you should carefully weigh the cost/benefit involved in obtaining address space from your upstream provider. 🥺
If you are singly homed, you should obtain your address space from your upstream ISP. If you plan on enlarging but remaining singly homed, you should continue to obtain space this way as it promotes aggregation. If, however, you plan to be multi-homed as part of your growth plan, it would make sense to become a member of an appropriate Regional IR (or, if one exists in your region, a national Network Information Center (NIC) and obtain a /19 or "provider aggregatable" address space. 💜
The minimum routable block is often a /19, so if you plan on enlarging, it is better to pay the fees to the Regional IR now and obtain a /19 block so that you will not have to renumber later. Note that if you are an ISP in the ARIN region, ARIN has special requirements before you can do this in terms of the amount of address space you have previously used, which must be a /21. The current policy is that you must have used a /19 previously from your upstream ISP before going to ARIN, or you must be multi-homed and show you have used a /21 and be willing to renumber and ARIN will issue a /20 from a reserved /19. 🌷
As of February 8, 1999, ARIN lowered the minimum allocation size for IP addresses from a /19 to a /20. ARIN will issue initial allocations of prefixes no longer than /20. If allocations smaller than /20 are needed, ISPs and end users should request address space from their upstream provider. ARIN does not guarantee that addresses will be globally routable. 🫧
APNIC and RIPE NCC do not have these requirements. For APNIC, new allocations to members will be a /19. 🌸
Remember that your upstream provider should route you if you ask them. You are a customer of the ISP, so if the service is not what you need you should change ISPs. 💖
IF YOU ARE CONNECTED TO ONLY ONE PROVIDER, AND ARE NOT VERY LARGE YET, GET AN ADDRESS RANGE FROM YOUR PROVIDER. SKIP THE REST OF THIS SECTION AND ALL OF SECTION V.
II. Address Space 🎀
C. What is CIDR? 🦋
CIDR stands for Classless Inter-Domain Routing 💅. Okay so historically, IP addresses were handed out within classes: Class A (8 bits of network address, 24 bits of host address), Class B (16 bits of network address, 16 bits of host address), or Class C (24 bits of network address, 8 bits of host address). Then CIDR showed up and now address space gets allocated and assigned on bit boundaries ✨. The best part is you can ask for addresses that match the number of hosts on your network, which means way less address space gets wasted 🌸.
Here's the table that shows it 🍓:
Addrs Bits Pref Class Mask
1 0 /32 255.255.255.255
2 1 /31 255.255.255.254
4 2 /30 255.255.255.252
8 3 /29 255.255.255.248
16 4 /28 255.255.255.240
32 5 /27 255.255.255.224
64 6 /26 255.255.255.192
128 7 /25 255.255.255.128
256 8 /24 1C 255.255.255.0
512 9 /23 2C 255.255.254.0
1K 10 /22 4C 255.255.252.0
2K 11 /21 8C 255.255.248.0
4K 12 /20 16C 255.255.240.0
8K 13 /19 32C 255.255.224.0Here's what each column means 🧚:
- Addrs: the number of addresses available. Heads up, the number of addressable hosts is normally 2 less than this number, because the host parts with all equal bits (all 0s, all 1s) are reserved 🙈.
- Bits: the size of the allocation/assignment in bits of address space.
- Pref: the length of the prefix covering this address space. This is sometimes used to indicate the size of an allocation/assignment.
- Class: the size of the address space in terms of class C network numbers.
- Mask: the network mask defining the routing prefix, in dotted quad notation.
(From http://www.ibm.net.il/~hank/cidr.html)
D. How do I request and register address space? 💖
You'll need to send a database object to the right registry to request and register address space 📮. The registration databases are made up of records, and each record is a series of fields separated by one or more blank lines. Each field has two parts, the tag and the value 🌈. Do not modify the tags in the templates or errors will occur 😭. The values for particular fields are specified in the templates, so be careful to enter the right info 🫶.
The first line of a template tells you the record type. For example, an IP address template's first line is inetnum, so that record is called an inetnum object 🔥. That first line also doubles as the primary key for the record. This means if you want to change the first field of the record, the only way to do it is to delete the whole record and add a new one with the corrected info 💀.
Here's the RIPE inetnum object, for illustration 👑:
inetnum: [IP address range that will be assigned]
netname: Network-Name
descr: Network-Name Communications Company, Town
admin-c: NIC-handle of administrative contact
tech-c: NIC-handle of technical contact
country: ISO 3166-country-code
rev-srv: ns.someserver.net
rev-srv: ns.otherserver.net
status: assigned pa (provider aggregatable)
or assigned pi (provider independent)
changed: email@address.net 960731
source: RIPEFor Countries in the APNIC Region 🌸
To get services from APNIC, you'll need to become a member 🍓. APNIC-070 is the APNIC Membership Application, and it's located at:
ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/membership-application
Send the completed form by email to APNIC at:
member-apply@apnic.net
APNIC Address Allocation Requests:
Once you're a member, you can request IP address space using one of the three IP address request forms 💅. If you're an organization that will use address space internally only (for example, large enterprises like universities, government ministries, large corporations, etc.), pick #1 (End User Address Request). If you're an organization that plans to sub-delegate address space to customers (like an ISP), pick #2 (ISP Address Request). If you're a confederation of ISPs (like national NICs, etc.), pick #3 (Confederation Address Request) 🫶.
- APNIC-074 is the APNIC End User Internet Address Request Form.
- APNIC-065 is the APNIC Internet Services Provider Internet Address Request Form.
- Confederations are a way for service providers to group together and provide resource allocation and registration services tailored to their specific local language and cultural requirements 🌍. To find out how to become an APNIC recognized confederation, check out APNIC Confederation Concepts and Requirements, located at:
ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/confed-requirements
APNIC-074 is the APNIC Confederation Internet Address Request Form.
Copies of all the forms live in this directory:
ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs
or
Send all completed forms to:
hostmaster@apnic.net
If there are strong reasons you can't get address space from your upstream ISP, and you only need address space as a one-time allocation, you can get it as a "non member" ✨. For more details, see APNIC-071:
http://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/non-member-application
and send the completed form to:
billing@apnic.net
For Countries in the ARIN Region 🦋
Membership in ARIN is optional, and it's not a requirement for requesting IP address space from the registry or from your Internet service provider 💜. If you're a large end user organization, choose #1. If you're an ISP, choose #2.
- The form for network number assignments is located at:
ftp://rs.arin.net/templates/networktemplate.txt
or
http://www.arin.net/templates/networktemplate.txt
- The form for ISPs to obtain a CIDR block of IP network numbers is located at:
ftp://rs.arin.net/templates/isptemplate.txt
or
http://www.arin.net/templates/isptemplate.txt
Email either completed form to ARIN at:
hostmaster@arin.net
Put "IP request" in the subject field if you chose #1, or "ISP CIDR request" if you chose #2 📬.
For Countries in the RIPE Region 🌷
RIPE NCC only gives IP address space allocations to contributing local Internet registries 🏰. For a description of the European Internet Registry policies and procedures, see RIPE-159, "European Internet Registry Policies and Procedures". It's located at:
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-159.txt
RIPE-160 is Guidelines for Setting up a Local Internet Registry, located at:
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/docs/ripe-160.txt
If you have questions about setting up a new local IR, reach out to the RIPE NCC at:
new-lir@ripe.net
Once your local IR is set up, you'll get detailed info on how to submit requests to the RIPE NCC hostmaster 🧚.
Send the completed form by email to RIPE NCC at:
ncc@ripe.net
If you have general queries, contact RIPE NCC at:
ncc@ripe.net
E. Section References 📚
For more info on IP addresses, check out RFC 1518, "An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR" and RFC 2050, "Internet Registry IP Allocation Guidelines" 🌈.
III. Autonomous Systems (AS) 🔥
STEP THREE: IF NEEDED, OBTAIN AN AUTONOMOUS SYSTEM NUMBER. 👑
A. What is an ASN and do I need one? 🤔
Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) are used to make routing easier in multi-homed environments 🌐. They're allocated when your routing policy is different from your provider's, which generally means your site is multi-homed. In nearly all cases, unless you're multi-homed to more than one ISP, you won't need an ASN 🙅♀️. If your routing policy doesn't differ from your service provider's, you should use the service provider's ASN. If there's constant traffic between you and a point in another country, you may want to connect to a second ISP in that country 🌏. Note that the resulting multi-homing generally makes the system more robust, and it may also change registry (and therefore request) relationships. It also increases costs greatly 💸.
You may have to reduce traffic on your international lines by connecting to a local exchange point. This keeps traffic inside your country and off of expensive international links 🫶. If you go with this plan, you'll be multi-homed and you'll need to read the autonomous systems and routing sections of this document 📖.
B. How do I register an ASN? 🎀
Since the ASN space is pretty limited, only request what you really need, when you need it 🍓.
For Countries in the APNIC Region 🌸
APNIC-066 is the ASN Request Form, located at:
http://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/asn-request
Send the completed form by email to APNIC at:
hostmaster@apnic.net
For Countries in the ARIN Region 🦋
A complete listing of assigned ASNs is located at:
ftp://rs.arin.net/netinfo/asn.txt
The ASN registration form is located at:
ftp://rs.arin.net/templates/asntemplate.txt
or
http://www.arin.net/templates/asntemplate.txt
Send the completed form by email to ARIN at:
hostmaster@arin.net
Put "ASN request" in the subject field 💌.
For Countries in the RIPE Region 🌷
The European Autonomous System Number Application Form and Supporting Notes form (RIPE-147) is located at:
ftp://ftp.ripe.net/ripe/docs/ripe-147.txt
Local IRs can send the completed form by email to RIPE at:
hostmaster@ripe.net
C. Section References 📚
For more info on ASNs, see RFC 1930, "Autonomous Systems (AS)" 🌈.
IV. Routing and Exchange Points 💜
STEP FOUR: IF NEEDED, REGISTER WITH A ROUTING DATABASE. ✨
A. Do I need to register with a routing database? 🧐
You don't need to register with a routing database if you're just carrying default routes to your (single) ISP 🙌. If you get your address space from an ISP, the ISP will register you. If you're connected to more than one ISP, then you should register with a routing database 💅.
The more multi-homed you are, the larger your routing tables need to be 📈. If you're connected to public exchange points (see examples below), or to more than one backbone ISP, you need to carry full routing tables and run without a default route 😱.
Example European Exchange Points:
LINX London Internet Exchange
M9-IX Moscow Internet Exchange
NIX.CZ Neutral Internet Exchange, Czech RepublicExample Asia/Pacific Exchange Points:
AUIX Australia Internet Exchange
HKIX Hong Kong Internet Exchange
JPIX Japan Internet ExchangeExample Americas Exchange Points:
MAE-EAST Metropolitan Area Ethernet - East
MAE-WEST Metropolitan Area Ethernet - West
PAIX Palo Alto Internet ExchangeDepending on what your international ISP requires, you might be able to have only a default route to them, plus specific routes to other suppliers, if you have an in-country exchange point 🌏. Or they may require that you carry a full set of routes, treating your connection to the in-country exchange point as if it were a multi-homed connection 🧠.
B. What about CIDR and routing? 🦋
okay so every registry uses CIDR, and literally every major router vendor (Cisco, 3Com, Nortel, Proteon, IBM, etc.) supports it 💅 CIDR Internet routers only look at the prefix of the destination address to send traffic into a subnetted environment. no cap, that's the whole trick 🧚
C. How do I choose a routing database? 🌸
The Internet Routing Registry (IRR) is a bunch of registries run by national and international networking organizations. Right now the crew includes the RIPE Network Coordination Centre (NCC), ANS (Advanced Network Solutions, Inc.), Bell Canada (formerly CA*net), Cable and Wireless (CW), and the Routing Arbiter Database (RADB). The IRR is how ASNs publish their own intended routing policies without having to ask a go-between for a change. it's giving independence 👑
"whois" queries to "whois.ra.net" return data they gather from the entire IRR set of routing registries. Tools like "peval" and "rtconfig" only return data from the RADB, though. So when you run those tools and want data from a set of registries, you have to list them out yourself, like this:
@RtConfig set sources = "TEST, RADB, RIPE, ANS, BELL, CW""whois" queries to the client configure the precedence of routing databases. ngl the wording is a lot, but the idea is simple 🙈
There are other registries too, like ALTDB. You can find a list, plus more info on RADB, here:
http://www.radb.net/As of January 1, 2000, the transition to the Routing Policy Specification Language (RSPL) is complete. RIPE-181 object submissions are no longer accepted. For more info, check this out:
http://www.merit.edu/radb/announce.htmlExcept for the Routing Arbiter Database, every registry has a limited customer base. ANS, Cable and Wireless, and Bell Canada only accept routing registrations for their own customers, and the RIPE NCC oversees European registrations. The Routing Arbiter Database is the special one, because it handles registrations for networking organizations the other routing registries don't cover. The Routing Arbiter also coordinates all the registries so the routing policies look consistent across them. main character energy 🎀
All Regional IRs need to register with one (and only one) of the routing databases in the IRR. If you're announcing routes via BGP4, you only need to register your routes in one of the IRR's registries. logically, that's the "closest" IRR to you 🦋 Just know that some ISPs don't use the regional registries or RADB.
D. How do I register in the RADB (The Americas)? 🍓
okay so you need to send three kinds of database records to the RADB: one or more maintainer objects, an AS object, and one or more route objects.
To say who's allowed to update your records in the RADB, fill out one or more maintainer objects and email them to:
db-admin@radb.netYou have to submit a maintainer object before you can register any AS or route objects. no skipping this step bestie 🙅♀️
To describe the autonomous system that announces your routes, fill out an AS object and submit it by email to:
auto-dbm@radb.netAS objects are also called aut-num objects.
To register your routes, fill out one or more route objects and send them to RADB by email at:
auto-dbm@radb.netAlso, most of the IRR participants have the auto-dbm@xx.net email address set up to accept updates to the IRR automatically. iykyk 💜
E. Section References 📚
For more on routers, see RFC 1812, "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers". Also see RFC 1786, "Representation of IP Routing Policies in a Routing Registry (ripe-181++)".
For more on CIDR and routing, see RFC 1817, "CIDR and Classful Routing" ✨
V. Domain Name Registration 🌈
STEP FIVE: REGISTER YOUR DOMAIN NAME.
A. What is a country domain? 🌍
The Domain Name System (DNS) names computers in a hierarchy. Top-Level Domain (TLD) names include generic TLDs (gTLDs) and two-letter country codes (ccTLDs). Examples of gTLDs are .com (commercial), .net (network), and .org (organization). Examples of two-letter country codes are .ca for Canada, .fr for France, and .id for Indonesia. ISO 3166 is the basis for country code top-level domain names. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO), working with the United Nations, assigns the country codes. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) directly registers all country-code top-level domains, but it isn't involved in assigning codes to countries. IANA is a function of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN, see Appendix A). For more info and a current listing of country codes, see ISO 3166 (Appendix C) 💅
A hierarchy of names may be created under each TLD, and normally should be. The structure of country domains varies a lot. Some countries have a big hierarchy, while others are flat. Some country domains use generic categories at the second level, others use geography, and some list organization names right under the country code. Examples of second-level generic categories are ac or edu (academic or education), co or com (corporate or commercial), and go or gov (government).
B. How do I register as a country domain? 📝
First check that: (1) the domain is still available (few are, bestie), (2) you have someone in your country as the administrative contact, and (3) your name servers are ready (see RFC 1912 for common errors when preparing name servers) 🫶
The whois master database is the authoritative source for .com, .net, .org, and .edu domain name registrations. Network Solutions, Inc. currently maintains it, and it holds referral pointers to whichever whois database has the record for the domain name.
To apply to manage a country code top-level domain, you should:
- First, if you're on a UNIX host, use the "whois" command to see if the domain is already registered:
whois =<domain>- If the domain doesn't already have an administrative contact, request a Domain Name Agreement template from IANA by emailing:
iana@iana.orgC. What if my country is already registered? 🤔
If your country is already registered, contact the country-code administrator to register a new second-level domain name.
Please note that ARIN, RIPE, and APNIC don't handle domain names (other than IN-ADDR.ARPA). If you want to register a domain name directly under a top-level domain (TLD), contact the right TLD administrator 🌸
D. How do I resolve a country domain name dispute? ⚖️
See RFC 1591 for domain name dispute info. Note that you'll need to resolve the dispute within your country before you contact IANA.
E. Section References 📚
For more on domain names, see RFC 1591, "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation"; RFC 1713, "Tools for DNS Debugging"; and RFC 1912, "Common DNS Operational and Configuration Errors" 🦋
VI. IN-ADDR.ARPA Domain Delegation 🔁
STEP SIX: IF NEEDED, REGISTER YOUR IN-ADDR.ARPA DOMAIN.
A. What is an IN-ADDR.ARPA domain and do I need one? 🧐
An IN-ADDR.ARPA domain maps IP addresses into domain names. People call this "inverse addressing" because it's the opposite of domain name to IP address resolution. IN-ADDR domains are written with the network number reversed. For example, the IN-ADDR domain for network 123.45.67.0 is written as 67.45.123.in-addr.arpa.
You almost always need reverse resolution 💖
B. How do I register an IN-ADDR.ARPA domain? 📬
You should ask your upstream provider about registering your IN-ADDR.ARPA domains. If you're working directly with a regional registry, see below.
For Countries in the APNIC Region
The IN-ADDR.ARPA Delegation Form is APNIC-064, and you can find it here:
ftp://ftp.apnic.net/apnic/docs/in-addr-requestCAUTION: You must set up your name server to accept the delegation before you submit this form. bestie, don't skip this 🙈
Send the completed form by email to APNIC at:
domreg@rs.apnic.netFor Countries in the ARIN Region
How IN-ADDR.ARPA gets registered depends on how the block needing reverse entries was registered. For example, blocks registered directly from the Regional IR may have IN-ADDR.ARPA delegation set up by ARIN. In that case, you register IN-ADDR.ARPA delegations using the ARIN modify template, which you can find here:
ftp://ftp.arin.net/templates/modifytemplate.txtor
http://www.arin.net/templates/modifytemplate.txtYou'll find instructions for filling out the template at the bottom of the template.
CAUTION: Do not list your network number in reverse on the template.
Send the completed form by email to ARIN at:
hostmaster@arin.netIf an ISP reassigned a block to your organization, that ISP will have IN-ADDR.ARPA established for it. In that case, contact the ISP that reassigned the IP address space to you and coordinate the IN-ADDR.ARPA delegation together ✨
For Countries in the RIPE Region
The domain object needs to be entered in the RIPE database before you request reverse delegation.
domain: 0.194.in-addr.arpa
descr: Our organization allocation
admin-c: NIC-handle of administrative contact (e.g., JLC-2RIPE)
tech-c: NIC-handle of technical contact
zone-c: NIC-handle of zone contact
nserver: Name server (e.g., ns.someserver.net)
nserver: ns.otherserver.net
nserver: ns.ripe.net
changed: email@address.net 960731
source: RIPENOTE: One of the name servers has to be ns.ripe.net
Include the domain object described above in the request, along with zone file entries for the zone above the one you're requesting. For example, if you request reverse delegation for 1.193.in-addr.arpa, include the relevant zone file entries for 193.in-addr.arpa. If you request reverse delegation for 2.2.193.in-addr.arpa, include the zone file entries for 2.193.in-addr.arpa 🧚
Send the completed object(s) by email to RIPE at:
auto-inaddr@ripe.netVII. Security 🔐
A. Is there a way to prevent unauthorized changes to my objects? 🛡️
Registries have various security measures to prevent unauthorized changes to your database entries. Contact your regional IR for more info. Also, the contact info you put in your database object registrations is not private, so keep that in mind 👀
VIII. Network Optimization and Management 🚦
A. How do I optimize traffic on my network? 📈
Contact the Cooperative Association for Internet Data Analysis (CAIDA). CAIDA is a collaborative effort to promote more cooperation in engineering and maintaining a robust, scalable global Internet infrastructure. It provides a neutral framework to support these cooperative efforts 🫶
The CAIDA web-site is here:
http://www.caida.org/To send questions or comments, email:
info@caida.orgSecurity Considerations 🔒
Security is discussed in section VII. 💜
Acknowledgements 🙏✨
Okay bestie, huge thank-yous go out to Brian Candler, David Conrad, John Heasley, Kim Hubbard, Daniel Karrenberg, Anne Lord, Dawn Martin, Charles Musisi, Jon Postel, and April Marine, plus the IETF User Services Working Group, for reviewing various versions of this document 🫶. Also, a big thank-you to Hank Nussbacher for letting us reprint his table on CIDR 📊💖.
Special thanks are also due to Dr. Steven Goldstein of the National Science Foundation for his contributions and suggestions, and to the National Science Foundation for partially funding this work 💅🌸.
This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. NCR-961657. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation 🎀.
References 📚🦋
Here's the reading list, iykyk 😭:
[1] Malkin, G., "Internet Users' Glossary", FYI 18, RFC 1983, August 1996.
[2] Hinden, R., Editor, "Applicability Statement for the Implementation of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR)", RFC 1517, September 1993.
[3] Rekhter, Y. and T. Li, "An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR", RFC 1518, September 1993.
[4] Fuller, V., Li, T., Yu, J. and K. Varadhan, "Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR): an Address Assignment and Aggregation Strategy", RFC 1519, September 1993.
[5] Rekhter, Y. and C. Topolcic, "Exchanging Routing Information Across Provider Boundaries in the CIDR Environment", RFC 1520, September 1993.
[6] Postel, J., "Domain Name System Structure and Delegation", RFC 1591, March 1994.
[7] Wijnen, B., Carpenter, G., Curran, K., Sehgal, A. and G. Waters, "Simple Network Management Protocol Distributed Protocol Interface Version 2.0", RFC 1592, March 1994.
[8] Ramao, A., "Tools for DNS debugging", RFC 1713, November 1994.
[9] Baker, F., "Requirements for IP Version 4 Routers", RFC 1812, June 1995.
[10] Rekhter, Y., "CIDR and Classful Routing", RFC 1817, August 1995.
[11] Barr, D., "Common DNS Operational and Configuration Errors", RFC 1912, February 1996.
[12] Hawkinson, J. and T. Bates, "Guidelines for Creation, Selection, and Registration of an Autonomous System", RFC 1930, March 1996.
[13] Freed, N. and N. Borenstein, "Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies", RFC 2045, November 1996.
[14] Hubbard, K., Kosters, M., Conrad, D., Karrenberg, D. and J. Postel, "Internet Registry IP Allocation Guidelines", BCP 12, RFC 2050, November 1996.
[15] Kessler, G. and S. Shepard, "A Primer On Internet and TCP/IP Tools and Utilities", FYI 30, RFC 2151, June 1997.
[16] ISO 3166: "Codes for the Representation of Names of Countries"
[17] Palasri, S., Huter, S., and Wenzel, Z. "The History of the Internet in Thailand", University of Oregon Books, 1999. 🌈
Authors' Addresses 💖
Meet the squad behind this doc! 🧚 The four of them all work out of the same place, the Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC) at the University of Oregon. Here's how to reach each of them:
Zita Wenzel, Ph.D.
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
1225 Kincaid Street
1212-University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1212 USA
EMail: zita@nsrc.orgJohn C. Klensin, Ph.D.
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
1225 Kincaid Street
1212-University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1212 USA
EMail: klensin@nsrc.orgRandy Bush
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
1225 Kincaid Street
1212-University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1212 USA
EMail: randy@nsrc.orgSteven Huter
Network Startup Resource Center (NSRC)
1225 Kincaid Street
1212-University of Oregon
Eugene, OR 97403-1212 USA
EMail: sghuter@nsrc.orgAppendix A: The Internet Agencies 🏛️✨
This appendix is the who's who of the agencies that keep the Internet running. Bookmark it, bestie. 🔖
The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) 🌐
IANA is the central coordinator for assigning unique parameter values for Internet protocols, and for all the address space and name space used on the Internet. It hands parts of the Internet address space out to Regional Internet Registries (IRs), which pass them along to Local IRs and ISPs. IANA also handles the coordination and management of the Domain Name System (DNS). It's giving main character energy. 👑
Note that as of 1999, IANA is a function of the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), the non-profit corporation that is the top-level administration authority of the global Internet.
Email: iana@iana.org
Postal: 4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
USA
Telehone: +1-310-823-9358
Fax: +1-310-823-8649
Internet: http://www.iana.org/Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) 🧭
From the ICANN web site:
The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) is a technical coordination body for the Internet. Created in October 1998 by a broad coalition of the Internet's business, technical, academic, and user communities, ICANN is assuming responsibility for a set of technical functions previously performed under U.S. Government contract by IANA and other groups. Specifically, ICANN coordinates the assignment of the following identifiers that must be globally unique for the Internet to function: Internet domain names, IP address numbers, protocol parameter and port numbers. In addition, ICANN coordinates the stable operation of the Internet's root server system. As a non-profit, private-sector corporation, ICANN is dedicated to preserving the operational stability of the Internet; to promoting competition; to achieving broad representation of global Internet communities; and to developing policy through private-sector, bottom-up, consensus-based means. ICANN welcomes the participation of any interested Internet user, business, or organization.
So basically ICANN keeps the world's naming and numbering stuff unique and stable, and it's open to literally anyone who wants in. 🫶
Email: icann@icann.org
Postal: Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
(ICANN)
4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
Marina del Rey, CA 90292
USA
Telehone: +1-310-823-9358
Fax: +1-310-823-8649
Internet: http://www.icann.org/InterNIC 🗂️
The InterNIC was a cooperative activity between the National Science Foundation, General Atomics, AT&T, and Network Solutions, Inc. The joint activity InterNIC no longer exists, so it's a bit of a throwback now. 🕰️
Currently, Network Solutions runs the central registry according to the shared registry model specified by ICANN for registration of second-level domain names under the generic top-level domains .com, .net, and .org.
For information on accredited registrars for .com, .net, and .org, check out:
http://www.icann.org/registrars/accredited-list.html(Note that Network Solutions is an accredited registrar as well as the entity running the registry. Iconic multitasking. 💅)
Email: hostmaster@netsol.com
Postal: Network Solutions, Inc.
505 Huntmar Park Dr.
Herndon, VA 20170 US
Telephone: +1-703-742-4777
Fax: +1-703-742-9552
Internet: http://www.networksolutions.com/Regional Internet Registries (IRs) 🌍
Regional IRs operate in large geopolitical regions, like continents. Right now there are three of them: ARIN for the Americas, the Caribbean, and Africa; RIPE NCC for Europe, Africa, and the Middle East; and APNIC for the Asia Pacific region. Their specific jobs include coordinating and representing all the local Internet Registries in their region. Teamwork makes the dream work! 🤝
APNIC 🌏
Asia Pacific Network Information Center (APNIC) is a non-profit Internet registry for the Asia Pacific region. APNIC provides IP address allocation, Autonomous System Number (ASN) assignment, and IN-ADDR.ARPA registration. 🦋
Email: hostmaster@apnic.net
Postal: APNIC Box 2131
Milton Queensland 4064
Australia
Telephone: +61-7-3367-0490
Fax: +61-7-3367-0482
Internet: http://www.apnic.net/ARIN 🦅
The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is a non-profit Internet registry that was set up to administer and register Internet Protocol (IP) numbers for the geographical areas previously managed by Network Solutions, Inc. Those areas include, but aren't limited to, North America, South America, Africa, and the Caribbean region. ARIN provides IP address allocation, Autonomous System Number (ASN) assignment, and IN-ADDR.ARPA registration. 🇺🇸
Email: hostmaster@arin.net
Postal: 4506 Daly Drive
Suite 200
Chantilly, VA 20151
Telephone: +1-703-227-0660
Fax +1-703-227-0676
Internet: http://www.arin.net/RIPE NCC 🇪🇺
Reseaux IP Europens Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) is a non-profit Internet registry for the European, North African, and Middle East regions. RIPE NCC provides IP address allocation, Autonomous System Number (ASN) assignment, and IN-ADDR.ARPA registration. 🌸
Email: ncc@ripe.net
Postal: Singel 258
1016 AB Amsterdam
The Netherlands
Phone: +31-20-535-4444
Fax: +31-20-535-4445
Internet: http://www.ripe.net/Appendix B: Documentation 📚
Okay, so this is your treasure map for finding all the docs. 🗺️
Internet Documentation
For general Internet documentation, ftp to rfc-editor.org and cd to the /rfc subdirectory for Request for Comments documents. 🍓
Want details on getting these documents by ftp or email? Send an email to:
rfc-info@rfc-editor.orgwith the message body help: ways_to_get_rfcs. For example:
To: rfc-info@isi.edu
Subject: getting rfcs
help: ways_to_get_rfcsDocuments, Templates, and Forms 📝
The documents, templates, and forms referenced in this guide live in the document stores in the directories listed in the URLs (Uniform Resource Locators). If your organization has no connectivity and wants copies, it should contact its Local IR to arrange postal delivery of one or more of the documents. Heads up: fees may apply to hardcopy delivery. 💸
There are two ways to access the document stores:
- Via anonymous FTP (File Transfer Protocol).
Using your ftp program, connect to the appropriate host computer shown below, using your email address as the password. Use the cd (change directory) command to get to the right subdirectory, then use the get command to grab the specific file. For example:
ftp rs.apnic.net (for countries in the Asia/Pacific region)
ftp rs.arin.net (for countries in the Americas)
ftp rs.ripe.net (for countries in Europe or North Africa)
login: anonymous
password: your_email_address
cd netinfo
get <domain>_info.txt- Via electronic mail, ftp, or the World Wide Web.
Send an email to the appropriate address shown below, with the message body as specified.
APNIC Documentation 🌏
For APNIC documents and templates, ftp to ftp.apnic.net and cd to /apnic/docs. Heads up: APNIC no longer offers email as a way to retrieve forms. Many of APNIC's request forms are also on the web site at:
http://www.apnic.net/reg.htmlARIN Documentation 🦅
For ARIN templates, ftp to rs.arin.net and cd to /templates.
You can also grab templates from the web site at:
http://www.arin.net/templates.htmlOther ARIN documentation lives at:
http://www.arin.net/docs.htmlOr send an email to:
hostmaster@arin.netRIPE Documentation 🇪🇺
For RIPE documents and forms, ftp to ftp.ripe.net/ripe and cd to /docs or cd to /forms.
Or send an email to:
mail-server@ripe.netwith send help in the body of the message.
Appendix C: Country Codes 🏳️🌈
The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 3166 Maintenance Agency and the current ISO 3166 list of two-letter country codes are available via:
http://www.iso.ch/infoe/agency/3166-1.htmAppendix D: Acronyms 🔤
Here's your cheat sheet of acronyms from this doc. Screenshot it, bestie. 📸
ANS Advanced Network Services, Inc.
ASN Autonomous System Number
APNIC Asia Pacific Network Information Center
ARIN American Registry for Internet Numbers
AS Autonomous System
CANET Canada Net
CIDR Classless Inter-Domain Routing
DNS Domain Name System
gTLD Generic Top-Level Domain
IANA Internet Assigned Numbers Authority
InterNIC Internet Network Information Center
IP Internet Protocol
IR Internet Registry
IRR Internet Routing Registry
ISO International Organization for Standardization
ISP Internet Service Provider
LINX London Internet Exchange
NCC Network Coordination Centre
NIC Network Information Center
NSRC Network Startup Resource Center
POP Point of Presence
RADB Routing Arbiter Data Base
RFC Request for Comments
RIPE Reseaux IP Europeans
TCP/IP Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol
TLD Top-Level DomainFull Copyright Statement ✨
okay bestie, this part is the legal stuff, so I'm keeping the wording exactly as it is. 💅 Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2000). All Rights Reserved. 🎀
This document and translations of it may be copied and furnished to others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any kind, provided that the above copyright notice and this paragraph are included on all such copies and derivative works. However, this document itself may not be modified in any way, such as by removing the copyright notice or references to the Internet Society or other Internet organizations, except as needed for the purpose of developing Internet standards in which case the procedures for copyrights defined in the Internet Standards process must be followed, or as required to translate it into languages other than English. 🦋
The limited permissions granted above are perpetual and will not be revoked by the Internet Society or its successors or assigns. 🫶
This document and the information contained herein is provided on an "AS IS" basis and THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. 💀
Acknowledgement 🌸
Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the Internet Society. 👑
📦 where this page comes from
- ietf: rfc2901 2000-08
- 💖 girlified by claude-haiku-5-5 on : a language model's rewrite of the original, under its terms