The Internet Registry
System Definitions
IANA
The Internet Assigned
Numbers Authority has authority over all number spaces used in the
Internet, including IP address space. IANA allocates public Internet address
space to Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) according to their established
needs.
Regional Internet Registries
RIRs operate in large, geopolitical regions that are continental in scope.
Currently, there are five RIRs established:
| AfriNIC |
serving Africa |
| APNIC |
serving the Asia Pacific region |
| ARIN |
serving North America |
| LACNIC |
serving South America and the Caribbean |
| RIPE NCC |
serving Europe, Central Asia and the Middle East. |
The duties of an RIR include the co-ordination and representation of
the members in its region. Additional RIRs may be established in the future,
although their number will remain relatively low.
Local Internet Registries
Local Internet Registries (LIRs) are established under the authority
of an RIR. LIRs are typically operated by Internet Service Providers and
serve the customers of those ISPs. Other organisations such as large Enterprises
can also operate LIRs. Much of this document is concerned with the responsibility
of the LIR in the assignment process. In some cases, the LIR assigning
the address space is not run by the ISP that will provide connectivity.
It is important to note that the maintenance of the administrative information
regarding the assigned address space is the responsibility of the LIR
that makes the assignment and not of the ISP providing the connectivity.
Furthermore, only RIRs and LIRs can hold address allocations.
End User
An entity that uses IP address space for its network only and does not
provide IP/ASN services to customers is called an End User. Strictly speaking,
End Users are not part of the Internet Registry System. They do, however,
play an important role with respect to the goals defined above. In order
to achieve the conservation goal, for example, End Users should plan their
networks to use a minimum amount of address space. They must document
their addressing and deployment plans to the LIR and furnish any additional
information required by the LIR for making assignment decisions. To achieve
the aggregation goal, an End User should choose an appropriate LIR. End
Users should be aware that changing ISPs may require replacing addresses
in their networks. Finally, End Users must provide and update registration
data for the RIPE Whois Database in regards to the address space assigned
to them.
Requesters
In addition to these key players in the Internet Registry System, there
are often consultants who set up and manage networks for End Users. The
consultants may be the persons submitting a request for address space
to an LIR on behalf of an End User. We refer to the person making the
request for an End User as a requester, whether that person is employed
by the organisation, or is simply acting on behalf of the organisation
with respect to the address space request.
The RIPE NCC Service Region
Within the RIPE NCC Service Region,
the Internet Registry System hierarchy consists of the following entities
(from the top down):
- IANA,
- the RIPE NCC, and
- LIRs.
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