On Jul 14, 2008, at 1:21 PM, Leo Vegoda wrote:
On 14/07/2008 6:36, "Nick Hilliard" <nick@inex.ie> wrote:
Leo Vegoda wrote:
What would you propose the RIPE NCC do with revoked address space assignments? Should they just keep them in a "sin bin" or should they allocate or assign the address space to other network operators?
Phone companies reassign telephone numbers all the time, and people don't get terribly upset by the idea of it.
I'm sure that's covered in the contracts their customers sign. Also, phone companies tend not to reassign numbers to which they continue to provide a service.
If the phone company called me up and said, "we are changing your phone number starting August 1, have a nice day," I would get pretty upset, and I know a lot of businesses that would get upset. I dare say that some would sue. If, however, I don't pay the phone bill, eventually the number would be reassigned, and that does happen all of the time. That is a much closer analogy to revoked address assignments, and I don't think that they would be a problem to reuse them. It would be reasonable to have a Oldest-Revocation-First queue policy (so that blocks are not immediately reassigned), to provide a margin for the possibility of revocations in error, people who change their minds, etc. I also believe that the phone company does something similar to that. If a company goes out of business, it takes a while before the number gets assigned to someone else. Regards Marshall
The RIPE NCC isn't the phone company and its main service is registration, not voice calls. It's a service that many registrants may not realise they receive or benefit from. So while the concept of revoking unused resources is attractive, the practicality of it is awkward.
Is there a serious problem with revocation? Re-using scarce resources is something that's going to happen, regardless of 2007-01.
Of course there will be all sorts of re-use and 'hijacking'. I suspect that a simple transfer policy is the least painful way of minimising the problem. Experience shows that top-down reclamation activities are difficult and slow.
Regards,
Leo