Hi, On Mon, Jan 13, 2003 at 08:05:38PM +0000, Robert Kiessling wrote:
RIPE uses addresses which are unassigned:
host -t aaaa ns.ripe.net. ns.ripe.net IPv6 address 2001:610:240:0:193::193
whois 2001:610:240:0:193::193 inet6num: 2001:0610:0240::/42 netname: RIPE-NCC-IPv6 descr: RIPE NCC status: ALLOCATED-BY-LIR
In my understanding, this is not an allowed usage sice RIPE must assign a /48 to themselves before the use the address space.
However, I rose this issue with them, and they claim there is not need for this.
Could someone please explain to me where my understanding of the allocation and assignment rules is flawed?
I tend to agree with you. The /42 has been sub-allocated from Surfnet to the RIPE NCC (the NCC being "Just any Surfnet customer" here, not acting in their function as RIR). Out of that /42, the NCC is using a /48 for "NCC network", and further /48s for "employee home networks". [Personally, I see this as wastive, but I've mentioned before that "/48 per site" is a stupid rule in the context of "employee networks" and "student homes", as it means most companies will then want more than a /48, which is NOT what was intended. But that's a separate discussion]. Following the basic principles of "conservation, aggregation, documentation", I think the usage of the individual /48s inside the /42 really should be documented. On the other hand, the guidelines are not really clear. After all, it's *Surfnet* who has to document what they do inside their /32, and they *have* documented that this /42 is used by the RIPE NCC. Tricky. And setting interesting (and important) precedence. Gert Doering -- NetMaster -- Total number of prefixes smaller than registry allocations: 55593 (55180) SpaceNet AG Mail: netmaster@Space.Net Joseph-Dollinger-Bogen 14 Tel : +49-89-32356-0 80807 Muenchen Fax : +49-89-32356-299