No Reverse Unless Assigned

1. Summary of the Problem Being Addressed by this Policy Proposal

   The purpose of a Public Network Information Database such as the AfriNIC Database is so that contact information about public networks is made public by registering assignments as they are made in the database. It is the author's experience that AfriNIC members are not as diligent about registering assignments of IPv4 space as they could be.

   AFPUB-2005-v4-001 says, inter alia:

         9.5 Validity of an assignment
   

         Assignments remain valid as long as the original criteria on which the assignment was based are still in place and the assignment is registered in the AfriNIC whois database. An assignment is therefore invalid if it is not registered in the database and if the purpose for which it was registered has changed or no longer holds.

   This proposal is an enforcement mechanism of that long-standing policy.

2. Summary of How this Proposal Addresses the Problem

   This proposal limits LIRs and End-Users from obtaining reverse delegation (rDNS) from AfriNIC unless the address space is assigned or sub-allocated in the AfriNIC Database.

3. Proposal

   3.1 AfriNIC will no longer grant reverse delegation of IP address space that it administers unless an assignment or sub-allocation of that address space is registered appropriately in the AfriNIC Database.

   3.2 AfriNIC will contact those LIRs who currently have reverse DNS for allocations, but have not registered any assignments or sub-allocations under those allocations to remind them of the above text from AFPUB-2005-v4-001. It is envisioned that this will be done using MyAfriNIC and email, but specific details will be left to the Secretariat staff to implement.

   3.3 AfriNIC will NOT remove reverse delegation of any LIRs allocation that was approved before the date of ratification of this policy proposal by the AfriNIC Board. Only allocations made after ratification date will be affected by this proposal.