IANA / RIPE NCC Relationship
The RIRs have been delegated the task to distribute and register Internet number resources (IP addresses and Autonomous System Numbers, or ASNs) in their respective service regions. Network operators who require globally unique Internet number resources make a request to their RIR, who will allocate them resources according to policies that have been agreed by consensus in the regional community. The RIRs also register reverse DNS delegations (which allow applications to map to a domain name from an IP address).
It is the IANA's role to allocate IP addresses and AS Numbers from the global pool of unallocated resources to the RIRs, and to document protocol assignments made by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) - the latter include IP address ranges reserved for purposes such as multicast, experimental use or documentation purposes.
When an RIR requires additional IP addresses or ASNs, they submit a request to the IANA, which will delegate additional resources, based on policies set by the global Internet community. The IANA updates its registries each time an RIR receives a delegation of Internet number resources from the global pool.
While the IANA plays a vital role, the interaction between an RIR and the IANA function operator is actually quite limited, and primarily in connection with requests for additional number resources and administrative matters relating to reverse DNS activities.
RIPE NCC Resource Requests to IANA
The table below shows the total number of resource requests submitted by the RIPE NCC to ICANN (in its role as the IANA functions operator) since 2010:
2010 |
Two IPv4 allocation requests |
2011 |
One IPv4 allocation request, one ANS request (16-bit and 32-bit blocks) |
2012 |
One ASN block request (16-bit and 32-bit blocks) |
2013 |
One ASN block request (16-bit and 32-bit blocks) |
For the IANA operator to evaluate requests, the RIPE NCC maintains an automated process which, on a daily basis, provides statistics about resource usage in the RIPE NCC service region. These statistics are available publicly on the IANA website.
DNS-Related Communication
The RIPE NCC and IANA staff interact several times each year on specific administrative matters relating to DNS activities (such as the roll out of new DNSSEC Key-Signing Keys or the renewal of access certificates for IANA's automated reverse DNS provisioning system).
In addition, the RIPE NCC provides secondary DNS name service to a number of country code Top-Level Domains (ccTLDs). On occasion (such as when ccTLDs change a name server), coordination with IANA is required to confirm or double-check the change requests coming from the ccTLD operators.
Finally, there are also regular meetings between IANA staff and representatives of the five RIRs, to assist with coordination.