Provider-independent address space

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A provider-independent address space (PI) is a block of IP addresses assigned by a regional Internet registry (RIR) directly to an end-user organization.[1] The user must contract[2] with a local Internet registry (LIR) through an Internet service provider to obtain routing of the address block within the Internet.

Provider-independent addresses offer end-users the opportunity to change service providers without renumbering of their networks and to use multiple access providers in a multi-homed configuration. However, provider-independent blocks may increase the burden on global routers, as the opportunity for efficient route aggregation through Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) may not exist.

IPv4 assignments[edit]

One of the RIRs is RIPE NCC. The RIPE NCC can no longer assign IPv4 Provider Independent (PI) address space as it is now using the last /8 of IPv4 address space that it holds. IPv4 address space from this last /8 is allocated according to section 5.1 of "IPv4 Address Allocation and Assignment Policies for the RIPE NCC Service Region". IPv4 Provider-aggregatable (PA) Address space can only be allocated to RIPE NCC members.[3]

IPv6 assignments[edit]

In April 2009 RIPE accepted a policy proposal of January 2006 to assign IPv6 provider-independent IPv6 prefixes. Assignments are taken from the address range 2001:678::/29[4] and have a minimum size of a /48 prefix.[5]

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ RIPE FAQs
  2. ^ "Contractual Requirements for Provider Independent Resource Holders in the RIPE NCC Service Region". RIPE Network Coordination Centre. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  3. ^ "Requesting Independent Resources". RIPE Network Coordination Centre. Retrieved 2017-04-05.
  4. ^ Address Space Managed by the RIPE NCC - Special Purpose Ranges
  5. ^ May 2013, Publication date: 14. "IPv6 Address Allocation and Assignment Policy". RIPE Network Coordination Centre. Retrieved 2021-07-04.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)