LIR Guidelines Softlanding Phase 1

Introduction

AFRINIC as Regional Internet Registry(RIR) commits to ensuring fairness and consistency in its operations and service delivery to the community. As the RIR has finally reached exhaustion which has subsequently triggered the softlanding policy found in section of 5.4.7.1 of the CPM, we find it imperative to revise the LIR guidelines in an effort to ensure that LIR's requesting for IPv4 resource allocation, are being policy compliant and, are able to provide complete or near to complete set of requirements.

This in turn shall make the evaluation process easier, quicker and seamless with the changes brought about by the exhaustion.

A complete IPv4 resource request shall be recognized as one that contains sufficient information as described in this document and it shall enable the Hostmasters to approve a prefix size for the Resource Member within minimal evaluation time frame.

This document is meant as a guideline to the LIR members. AFRINIC , at its own discretion, may exceptionally request for additional supporting documentation or clarifications that is not mentioned in this guideline.


Scope

The document is intended for prospective members and current AFRINIC members in the category of Local Internet Registries (LIR), who are in need of IPv4 resources. An LIR member as per section 2.3 of the Consolidated Policy manual is defined as "an Internet Registry that receives allocations from an RIR and primarily assigns address space to 'end-users'. LIRs are generally ISPs , but with time, Internet based services have evolved such that cloud and other hosted service providers also categorise as LIRs.

Their customers are end-users and possibly other ISPs . LIRs must be members of AFRINIC. and furthermore Section 5.5.1.1.1 of the Consolidated Policy manual highlights the responsibility for LIR as follows "All LIR's assigning address space allocated from AFRINIC are also advised to adopt a set of policies that are consistent with the policies described in this document.

Services that are associated with the LIR category include but are not limited to the following:

  • Provision of Internet connectivity to customer organisations (corporate) using statically assigned IP addresses.
  • Provision of Internet connectivity to individuals using dynamically assigned IP addresses.
  • Provision of Internet connectivity through various technologies such as; 3G, LTE, WIMAX, Satellites, DSL, FTTx......etc
  • Provision of any cloud based and hosted services such as PaaS, Colocation, Web hosting, VPN's, etc
  • Provision of internet connectivity and services to educational institutions(e.g Research and Education Networks)

 

Terminology

These terminologies are referenced from the CPM

3.1 Allocation
To "allocate" means to distribute address space to LIRs for the purpose of subsequent distribution.

3.2 Sub-Allocation
To "sub-allocate" means to distribute address space (by LIRs) to ISPs for the purpose of subsequent distribution.

3.3 Assignment
An assignment is an IP block given by an LIR to the end-users for their own usage. To "assign" means to delegate address space to an ISP or End User for specific use within the Internet infrastructure they operate. Assignments must only be made for specific purposes documented by specific organisations and are not to be sub-assigned to other parties.

3.4 PA (Provider Aggregatable) IP space
PA space is what has been allocated to LIRs from which they can assign or sub-allocate to end-users / downstream networks as non-portable block. If the end-user / downstream network changes provider, the address space assigned or sub-allocated by the previous service provider (LIR) should be returned and the network renumbered.

3.5 PI (Provider Independent) IP space
PI (or portable) space cannot be aggregated and can only be assigned by RIR through an LIR. PI space is expensive to route and might not be globally routable. Sub-allocations cannot be made from this type of address space by the end user or LIR.

IPv4 Guidelines AFRINIC has made all efforts to ensure that requestors read the guidelines before submitting any request for IPv4 resources. This will ensure that AFRINIC Hostmasters receive complete requests and there is no time wasted before the request evaluation begins. Any request that is missing any of the identified items below will be regarded as incomplete and no evaluation shall commence until it is complete. The Resource Member will be advised by the AFRINIC Hostmaster to furnish same via an email response.


4.1 New LIR Membership Request

4.1.1 Internet Service Providers
Internet services providers mostly are authorized by national regulatory bodies before they can start operations in most of the countries in the region, as such, below is a checklist for requirements that would constitute a complete request:

  • The applicant shall  provide a certificate of incorporation.
  • The applicant shall provide service license from the regulator in the country of operation.
  • The applicant shall provide a detailed IP addressing plan for immediate requirements and 8 months projected needs. This can be backed up by a high level network design diagram.
  • The applicant shall provide evidence of equipment purchased for the service delivery, if IP requirements are above /20. This can be purchase orders, invoices, Letter of commitment to contractors or signed agreements with solution providers. The applicant may hide all financial information thereon.
  • The applicant shall provide current IP address ranges being used for service provision in the AFRINIC service region and utilisation statistic+s for the same.

 

4.1.2 Cloud and Hosted services providers

Unlike the ISP's, these services providers do not require service license from the regulators in their country of operation. As such, below is a checklist of what is required for a complete request submission:

  • The applicant shall provide a certificate of incorporation.
  • The applicant shall provide upstream bandwidth contract with their upstream Internet capacity provide.
  • The applicant shall  provide a detailed IP addressing plan for immediate requirement and a 12 months projected need. This can be backed up by a high level network design diagram.
  • The applicant shall submit evidence of equipment purchased for the service delivery for all IPv4 requirements. This can be in the form of  purchase orders, invoices, Letter of commitment to contractors or sign agreements with solution providers.
  • The applicant shall mention the current IP address ranges being used for service provision in the AFRINIC service region and utilisation statistics for the same.

 
4.2 Resource Allocation Request
IPv4 additional resource requests are usually submitted by the AFRINIC LIR Resource Members.
Below is a checklist for what constitutes a complete IPv4 additional resources request:

  • The request must originate from a registered contact of the resource member through the myafrinic member portal https://my.afrinic.net.
  • The Resource member must be in good standing, i.e  its account balance is settled in accordance with the billing policy.
  • The current utilisation must be registered in the WHOIS database and the utilisation must be  at least 90% of all previous allocations, as stipulated in section 5.4.6.1 of the CPM.
  • The Resource member shall provide a detailed IP addressing plan for its immediate needs and an 8 months projection of the required IPv4 range.
  • Access(read-only) to an online monitoring system of IP address allocations' usage
  • Proof of equipment purchased for the service delivery, if IP requirements are above /20. This can be purchase orders, invoices, Letter of commitment to contractors or sign agreements with solution providers. The Resource Member may hide all financial information thereon.
  • Aggregate bandwidth statistics

 

Adherence To "Needs Basis" Condition and Change Requirements

AFRINIC resources are meant to be deployed for services originating from the AFRINIC service region and any use outside our service region should be solely in support of connectivity back to the AFRINIC region as per section 5.4.6.2 of the CPM,

The IPv4 allocation policy mentioned that resource allocations will be a balance of the applicant's needs and the needs of the community as stipulated is Section 5.2.2 of the CPM. Therefore, any change to the usage of the the allocated resources, different from what the allocation was approved for shall be communicated to AFRINIC in advance. The member shall send an email to  hostmaster@afrinic.net with subject " Change Request for IP address usage "based on the principle that 70% of an allocated resource will be deployed for the provision of new services. The AFRINIC hostmasters may at their discretion, evaluate the change of needs.
This condition is duly enforced in section 4.c(iv) and 6.d.(iii) - (v) of the Registration Service Agreement (RSA) which every Resource Member signs as a binding contract with AFRINIC.


1. AFRINIC has the following duties and responsibilities in return :

  • To audit the assignments and establish the resource usage is valid as per Section 5.5.1.14 of CPM
  • To use all information provided to AFRINIC in the ticket solely for evaluation purposes.
  • To comply with all applicable data protection and privacy laws of the Republic of Mauritius in its handling of data and information submitted to it by the Applicant in furtherance of an application for services and use thereof
  • To request for further information/clarification, to ensure due diligence during the evaluation process that shall result in an informed conclusion.

 

2. Record Keeping by LIR
As per section 5.5.1.14 of the CPM, LIR's must keep and maintain records of any documentation regarding assignments and sub-allocations to end-users. It is needed for future reference when evaluating requests from the same organisation and for any audits being conducted by AFRINIC. These documents should be kept electronically for easier access. It's advisable that these records should include but not be limited to:

  • The original request.
  • Supporting documentation.
  • Related correspondence between LIR and end-user.
  • Decision of the assignment, and reasons behind any unusual decision.
  • Role of person that made the decision.

Electronic data refers to information kept on IT systems , based on real-time data and are verifiable. Verification by hostmasters can be conducted and the member shall be requested to demonstrate the usage in real-time in a remote session. From experience, most AFRINIC members of category Medium and above have a system in place to provide this data. Those members who use their own proprietary applications are recommended to ensure that they have a dashboard (or other method) of being able to demonstrate the data. This is to ensure that "electronic data" are not tampered with , just to demonstrate 90% usage of current allocations.

AFRINIC Hostmasters reserve the right to stop the evaluation of an additional resource request , should they detect that fraudulent information is being provided. The hostmasters, upon consultation with AFRINIC management & legal team may then trigger a full audit of the resource member.

3. What kind of information will be requested by AFRINIC during the evaluation of the request?

  • Information about the name, industry and IP addresses utilisation of static assignments.
  • Access to the monitoring system for the dynamic assignments and snapshots during peak/busy hour. If direct access is not possible, remote access application like WebEx, TeamViewer,...etc can be used. The monitoring system information should be in English. For Telcos, this information can be found in the APNs of the private IP addresses if you are using NAT or PAT. It can also be found in GGSN, SGSN, DHCP servers, VPN logs or Cloud management and monitoring tools.
  • History of at least 3 months prior to the request is recommended to be kept to ascertain the growth rate.
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