6man B. E. Carpenter Internet-Draft Univ. of Auckland Updates: 7249 (if approved) S. Krishnan Intended status: Best Current Practice Cisco Expires: 14 June 2025 D. Farmer Univ. of Minnesota 11 December 2024 Clarification of IPv6 Address Assignment Policy draft-ietf-6man-addr-assign-02 Abstract This document specifies the approval process for changes to the IPv6 Address Space registry. It also updates RFC 7249. About This Document This note is to be removed before publishing as an RFC. Status information for this document may be found at https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-ietf-6man-addr-assign/. Discussion of this document takes place on the 6MAN Working Group mailing list (mailto:ipv6@ietf.org), which is archived at https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ipv6/. Subscribe at https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipv6/. Status of This Memo This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." This Internet-Draft will expire on 14 June 2025. Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 1] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 Copyright Notice Copyright (c) 2024 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (https://trustee.ietf.org/ license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Revised BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Revised BSD License. Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Approval Level of IPv6 Address Allocations . . . . . . . . . 3 3. RFC Editor Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Appendix A. IPv6 Registry Title Inconsistencies . . . . . . . . 6 Appendix B. Change Log [RFC Editor: please remove] . . . . . . . 6 B.1. draft-carpenter-6man-addr-assign-00 . . . . . . . . . . . 6 B.2. Draft-01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 B.3. Draft-02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 B.4. draft-ietf-6man-addr-assign-00 . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 B.5. Draft-01 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 B.6. Draft-02 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Authors' Addresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 1. Introduction Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) and its address space are currently defined by [STD86] and [RFC4291]. The management of the IPv6 address space was delegated to IANA by [RFC1881], some years before the current relationship between the IETF and IANA was formalized [RFC2860] and registry details were clarified [RFC7020], [RFC7249]. Occasionally, IPv6 address space allocations are performed outside the scope of routine allocations to regional address registries. For example, recently a substantial allocation was requested by an IETF document approved by the IESG [RFC9602]. Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 2] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 The allocation policy in the IANA IPv6 Address Space registry [IANA1] is currently shown as "IESG approval", whereas for major allocations a more stringent policy is appropriate. The present document therefore strengthens the approval level needed for non-routine address allocations, which requires an update to RFC 7249. This document also clarifies the status of RFC 1881. This clarification is necessary because RFC 1881, a joint publication of the IAB and IESG following an IETF Last Call, is incorrectly listed in the RFC index at the time of writing as "legacy", whereas it remains current. 2. Approval Level of IPv6 Address Allocations Portions of the IPv6 address space are shown in the registry as "Reserved by IETF". This is the address space held in reserve for future use if ever the current 125-bit unicast space (2000::/3) is found inadequate or inappropriate. RFC 1881 did not specify an allocation policy for this space. At some point, IANA listed "IESG approval". As defined in [BCP26], this is a rather weak requirement ("Although there is no requirement that the request be documented in an RFC, the IESG has the discretion to request documents...") and is "a fall-back mechanism in the case where one of the other allowable approval mechanisms cannot be employed...". For something as important as the majority of the spare IPv6 address space, the currently defined process is clearly insufficient. The present document replaces the "IESG approval" process by the "IETF Review" process as defined by BCP 26. It is not considered necessary to require the stricter "Standards Action" policy, because there might be cases where opening up a new range of address space did not in fact require a new protocol standard. It may be noted that the recent allocation for [RFC9602], which was processed as a working group document, did indeed follow the more stringent "IETF Review" process proposed by this document. Indeed, the other two related registries [IANA2] [IANA3] do cite the "IETF Review" policy, consistently with RFC 7249. This document therefore extends the first paragraph of section 2.3 of [RFC7249] as follows: OLD: Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 3] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 | The vast bulk of the IPv6 address space (approximately 7/8ths of | the whole address space) is reserved by the IETF [RFC4291], with | the expectation that further assignment of globally unique unicast | address space will be made from this reserved space in accordance | with future needs. NEW: | The vast bulk of the IPv6 address space (approximately 7/8ths of | the whole address space) is reserved by the IETF [RFC4291], with | the expectation that further assignment of globally unique unicast | address space will be made from this reserved space in accordance | with future needs, through "IETF Review" as defined in [BCP26]. 3. RFC Editor Considerations The RFC Editor is requested to update the "Stream" information for [RFC1881] to "IETF" in place of "Legacy". 4. IANA Considerations IANA is requested to update the "Registration Procedure(s)" section of the Internet Protocol Version 6 Address Space registry to show the policy as "IETF Review". 5. Security Considerations Carefully reviewed address allocation mechanisms are necessary for any form of address-based security. 6. Acknowledgements Useful comments were received from Dale Carder, Bob Hinden, Philipp Tiesel, and others. 7. References 7.1. Normative References [BCP26] Best Current Practice 26, . At the time of writing, this BCP comprises the following: Cotton, M., Leiba, B., and T. Narten, "Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 8126, DOI 10.17487/RFC8126, June 2017, . Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 4] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 [RFC4291] Hinden, R. and S. Deering, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture", RFC 4291, DOI 10.17487/RFC4291, February 2006, . [STD86] Internet Standard 86, . At the time of writing, this STD comprises the following: Deering, S. and R. Hinden, "Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification", STD 86, RFC 8200, DOI 10.17487/RFC8200, July 2017, . 7.2. Informative References [IANA1] "IPv6 Address Space registry", n.d., . [IANA2] "IPv6 Global Unicast Address Assignments", n.d., . [IANA3] "IANA IPv6 Special-Purpose Address Registry", n.d., . [RFC1881] IAB and IESG, "IPv6 Address Allocation Management", RFC 1881, DOI 10.17487/RFC1881, December 1995, . [RFC2860] Carpenter, B., Baker, F., and M. Roberts, "Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority", RFC 2860, DOI 10.17487/RFC2860, June 2000, . [RFC7020] Housley, R., Curran, J., Huston, G., and D. Conrad, "The Internet Numbers Registry System", RFC 7020, DOI 10.17487/RFC7020, August 2013, . [RFC7249] Housley, R., "Internet Numbers Registries", RFC 7249, DOI 10.17487/RFC7249, May 2014, . Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 5] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 [RFC9602] Krishnan, S., "Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) Segment Identifiers in the IPv6 Addressing Architecture", RFC 9602, DOI 10.17487/RFC9602, October 2024, . Appendix A. IPv6 Registry Title Inconsistencies The authors would like to draw attention to inconsistencies in the titles for two of the IPv6 Address Registries: the "Internet Protocol Version 6 Address Space" registry [IANA1] and the "IPv6 Global Unicast Address Assignments" registry [IANA2]. These two titles are inconsistent with the titles for the "IANA IPv6 Special-Purpose Address Registry" [IANA3] and the similar IPv4 registries, the "IANA IPv4 Address Space Registry" and the "IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry." While these are mostly editorial issues, likely within IANA's control, confusion caused by these different titles could have easily contributed to not updating the Registry Procedures for the "Internet Protocol Version 6 Address Space" registry at the time of RFC 7249. The "IANA IPv6 Address Space Registry" and the "IANA IPv6 Global Unicast Address Space Registry" are possibly more consistent titles for these registries. Appendix B. Change Log [RFC Editor: please remove] B.1. draft-carpenter-6man-addr-assign-00 * Original version B.2. Draft-01 * Added author * Added citations * Small update to RFC 7249 * Added appendix on registry names B.3. Draft-02 * Clarified some details Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 6] Internet-Draft IPv6 Address Assignment Policy December 2024 B.4. draft-ietf-6man-addr-assign-00 * Adopted by WG B.5. Draft-01 * Changed stream for RFC 1881 to IETF * Editorial improvements B.6. Draft-02 * Further editorial improvements Authors' Addresses Brian E. Carpenter The University of Auckland School of Computer Science PB 92019 Auckland 1142 New Zealand Email: brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com Suresh Krishnan Cisco Systems, Inc. Email: suresh.krishnan@gmail.com David E. Farmer III University of Minnesota Office of Information Technology Minneapolis MN 55455 United States of America Email: farmer@umn.edu Carpenter, et al. Expires 14 June 2025 [Page 7]