Address management objectives
The principles that guide the distribution of internet address space.
These guiding principles of address space management were formulated by the Internet community and reflect the mutual interest of all Affiliates in ensuring that the internet is able to function and grow to the maximum extent possible. IRINN's mandate is to uphold these principles in the allocation of resources, and to ensure compliance and adherence to them by its Affiliates.
Uniqueness
Every assignment and allocation of address space must be guaranteed as globally unique. This is an absolute requirement for ensuring that every public host on the internet can be uniquely identified.
Registration
Every assignment and allocation must be recorded in a registry accessible to network operators, so that resource holders can be identified for troubleshooting and abuse handling.
Aggregation
Wherever possible, address space should be distributed hierarchically according to the topology of network infrastructure. This is necessary to permit the aggregation of routing information by ISPs and to limit the expansion of internet routing tables. Under current policy, the minimum IPv4 delegation is /24; the minimum IPv6 delegation is /32 for LIRs and /48 for direct affiliates.
Conservation
To maximise the lifetime of the available resources, address space must be distributed according to actual need and must be for immediate use. Stockpiling address space and maintaining reservations run contrary to this goal. Conservation also implies efficiency: all users of address space should adopt techniques such as Variable Length Subnet Masking (VLSM) and other appropriate technologies so that address space is not used wastefully.
Fairness
All policies and practices relating to the use of address space should apply fairly and equitably to all existing and potential Affiliates of the internet community, regardless of location, nationality, size, or any other factor.
Documented purpose
Assignments are made for specific, documented purposes only. Addresses cannot be redistributed or sub-assigned by the receiving organisation beyond what the assignment permits.
Conflict of goals
The goals of conservation and aggregation often conflict with each other. Also, some or all of the goals may occasionally conflict with the interests of individual internet registries or end users. IRINN must therefore carefully analyse all relevant considerations and balance the needs of the requester with the needs of the internet community as a whole.
Address space is not reserved during the application process. Evaluations are based on current and provisionally-active policies at the time the application is assessed.
See the full IRINN Policy Document for how these objectives are applied in detail.