Additional Private IPv4 Space Issues
draft-azinger-additional-private-ipv4-space-issues-04

Abstract

When a private network or internetwork grows very large it is sometimes not possible to address all interfaces using private IPv4 address space because there are not enough addresses. This document describes the problems faced by those networks, the available options and the issues involved in assigning a new block of private IPv4 address space.

While this informational document does not make a recommendation for action, it documents the issues surrounding the various options that have been considered.

Status of this Memo

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Table of Contents

1.  Introduction
2.  Large Networks
3.  Network Address Translation
4.  Available Options
    4.1.  Unique Globally Scoped IPv6 Unicast Addresses
    4.2.  Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses
    4.3.  Address Transfers or Leases From Organizations with Available Address Space
    4.4.  Using Unannounced Address Space Allocated to Another Organization
    4.5.  Unique IPv4 Space Registered by an RIR
5.  Options and Consequences for Defining New Private Use Space
    5.1.  Redefining Existing Unicast Space as Private Address Space
    5.2.  Unique IPv4 Space Shared by a Group of Operators
    5.3.  Potential Consequences of Not Redefining Existing Unicast Space as Private Address Space
    5.4.  Redefining Future Use Space as Unicast Address Space
6.  Security Considerations
7.  IANA Considerations
8.  References
    8.1.  Normative References
    8.2.  Informative References
Appendix A.  Acknowledgments
§  Authors' Addresses

1.  Introduction

[RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) sets aside three blocks of IPv4 address space for use in private networks: 192.168.0.0/16, 172.16.0.0/12 and 10.0.0.0/8. These blocks can be used simultaneously in multiple, separately managed networks without registration or coordination with IANA or any Internet registry. Very large networks can find that they need to connect more interfaces than the number of addresses available in these three ranges. It has occasionally been suggested that additional private IPv4 address space should be reserved for use by these networks. Although such an action might address some of the needs for these very large network operators it is not without consequences, particularly as we near the date when the IANA free pool will be fully allocated.

2.  Large Networks

The main categories of very large networks using private address space are: cable operators, wireless (cell phone) operators, private internets and VPN service providers. In the case of the first two categories, the complete address space reserved in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) tends to be used by a single organization. In the case of private internets and VPN service providers there are multiple independently managed and operated networks and the difficulty is in avoiding address clashes.

3.  Network Address Translation

The address space set aside in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) is a finite resource which can be used to provide limited Internet access via Network Address Translation (NAT). A discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of NATs is outside the scope of this document. Nonetheless, it must be acknowledged that NAT is adequate in some situations and not in others. For instance, it is often technically feasible to use NAT or even multiple layers of NAT within the networks operated by residential users or corporations where peer to peer communication is not needed. Where true peer to peer communication is needed or where services or applications do not work properly behind NAT, globally unique address space is required. In other cases, NAT traversal techniques facilitate peer-to-peer like communication for devices behind NATs.

In many cases it is possible to use multiple layers of NAT to re-use parts of the address space defined in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.). It is not always possible to rely on CPE devices using any particular range, however. In some cases this means that CPE devices can use unallocated address space or address space allocated to other network operators. In other cases, organizations choose to operate multiple separate routing domains to allow them to re-use the same private address ranges in multiple contexts. One consequence of this is the added complexity involved in identifying which system is referred to when an IP address is identified in a log or management systems.

Another option is to share one address across multiple interfaces and in some cases, subscribers. This model breaks the classical model used for logging address assignments and creates some risks [CLAYTON] (Clayton, R., “Practical mobile Internet access traceability,” January 2010.). This concept is more fully explored in [FORD] (Ford, M., Boucadair, M., Durand, A., Levis, P., and P. Roberts, “Issues with IP Address Sharing,” March 2010.).

4.  Available Options

When a network operator has exhausted the private address space set aside in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) but needs to continue operating a single routing domain a number of options are available. These include:

4.1.  Unique Globally Scoped IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Using unique, globally scoped IPv6 unicast addresses is the preferred option as it removes any concerns about address scarcity. In some cases implementing a new network protocol on a very large network takes more time than is available, based on network growth and the proportion of private space that has already been used. In these cases, there is a call for additional private address space that can be shared by all network operators. [DAVIES] (Davies, G. and C. Liljenstolpe, “Transitional non-conflicting reusable IPv4 address block,” November 2009.) makes one such case.

4.2.  Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses

Using the unique, local IPv6 unicast addresses defined in [RFC4193] (Hinden, R. and B. Haberman, “Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses,” October 2005.) is another approach and does not require coordination with an Internet registry. Although the addresses defined in [RFC4193] (Hinden, R. and B. Haberman, “Unique Local IPv6 Unicast Addresses,” October 2005.) are probabilistically unique, network operators on private internets and those providing VPN services might not want to use them because there is a very low probability of non-unique locally assigned global IDs being generated by the algorithm. Also, in the case of private internets, it can be very challenging to coordinate the introduction of a new network protocol to support the internet's continued growth.

4.3.  Address Transfers or Leases From Organizations with Available Address Space

The Regional Internet Registry (RIR) communities have recently been developing policies to allow organizations with available address space to transfer such designated space to other organizations [RIR‑POLICY] (Number Resource Organization, “RIR Comparative Policy Overview, October 2009, Section 1.3.2 Transfer of Custodianship,” .). In other cases, leases might be arranged. This approach is only viable for operators of very large networks if enough address space is made available for transfer or lease and if the very large networks are able to pay the costs of these transfers. It is not possible to know how much address space will become available in this way, when it will be available and how much it will cost. However, it is unlikely to become available in large contiguous blocks and this would add to the network managment burden for the operator. For these reasons, address transfers will not be an attractive proposition to many large network operators. Leases might not be attractive to some organizations if both parties cannot agree a suitable length of time. Also, the lessor might worry about its own unanticipated needs for additional IPv4 address space.

4.4.  Using Unannounced Address Space Allocated to Another Organization

Some network operators have considered using IP address space which is allocated to another organization but is not publicly visible in BGP routing tables. This option is very strongly discouraged as the fact that an address block is not visible from one view does not mean that it is not visible from another. Furthermore, address usage tends to leak beyond private network borders in e-mail headers, DNS queries, traceroute output and other ways. The ambiguity this causes is problematic for multiple organizations. This issue is addressed in [RFC3879] (Huitema, C. and B. Carpenter, “Deprecating Site Local Addresses,” September 2004.), section 2.3.

It is also possible that the registrant of the address block might want to increase its visibility to other networks in the future, causing problems for anyone using it unofficially. In some cases there might also be legal risks involved in using address space officially allocated to another organization.

Where this has happened in the past it has caused operational problems [FASTWEB] (Aina, A., “41/8 announcement,” May 2006.).

4.5.  Unique IPv4 Space Registered by an RIR

The policy framework shared by the RIRs does not discriminate based on what an address is used to do, just on how efficiently the assigned addresses are used. Unique IPv4 addresses registered by an RIR are potentially available to organizations whose networks have used all the addresses set aside in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.). Nonetheless, network operators are naturally disinclined to request unique IPv4 addresses for a purpose that could be met with private addresses were it not for the size of the network because addresses assigned in this way are not available for anyone else to use and so their registration denies them to new entrants, including potential customers.

It is likely to become more difficult for network operators to obtain large blocks of unique address space as we approach the point where all IPv4 unicast /8s have been allocated. Several RIRs already have policies how to allocate from their last /8 [RIR‑POLICY‑FINAL‑8] (Number Resource Organization, “RIR Comparative Policy Overview, October 2009, 2.6. Use of Final Unallocated IPv4 Address Space,” October 2009.) and there have been policy discussions that would reduce the maximum allocation size available to network operators [MAX‑ALLOC] (Spenceley, J. and J. Martin, “prop-070: Maximum IPv4 allocation size,” January 2009.) or would reduce the period of need for which the RIR can allocate [SHORTER‑PERIODS] (Karrenberg, D., O'Reilly, N., Titley, N., and R. Bush, “RIPE Policy Proposal 2009-03,” April 2009.).

5.  Options and Consequences for Defining New Private Use Space

5.1.  Redefining Existing Unicast Space as Private Address Space

It is be possible to re-designate a portion of the current global unicast IPv4 address space as private unicast address space. Doing this could benefit a number of operators of large network for the short period before they complete their IPv6 roll-out. However, this benefit incurs a cost by reducing the pool of global unicast addresses available to users in general.

When considering re-designating a portion of the current global unicast IPv4 address space as private unicast address space it is important to consider how much space would be used and for how long it would be sufficient. Not all of the large networks making full use of the space defined in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) would have their needs met with a single /8. In 2005, [HAIN] (Hain, T., “Expanded Address Allocation for Private Internets,” January 2005.) suggested reserving three /8s for this purpose while in 2009 [DAVIES] (Davies, G. and C. Liljenstolpe, “Transitional non-conflicting reusable IPv4 address block,” November 2009.) suggested a single /10 would be sufficient. There does not seem to be a consensus for a particular prefix length nor an agreed basis for deciding what is sufficient. The problem is exacerbated by the continually changing needs of ever expanding networks.

A further consideration is which of the currently unallocated IPv4 unicast /8 blocks should be used for this purpose. Using address space which is known to be used unofficially is tempting. For instance, 1.0.0.0/8, which was unallocated until January 2010, was proposed in [HAIN] (Hain, T., “Expanded Address Allocation for Private Internets,” January 2005.) and is known to be used by a number of different users. These include networks making use of HIP LSIs [RFC4423] (Moskowitz, R. and P. Nikander, “Host Identity Protocol (HIP) Architecture,” May 2006.), [WIANA] (WIANA, “The Wireless Internet Assigned Numbers Authority,” .), [anoNet] (anoNet, “anoNet: Cooperative Chaos,” .) and others. There is anecdotal [VEGODA] (Vegoda, L., “Awkward /8 Assignments,” September 2007.) and research [WESSELS] (Wessels, D., “Searching for Evidence of Unallocated Address Space Usage in DITL 2008 Data,” June 2008.) evidence to suggest that several other IPv4 /8s are used in this fashion. Also there have been discussions [NANOG] (Dickson, B., “1/8 and 27/8 allocated to APNIC,” January 2010.) about some sections of these /8's being carved out and filtered therefore unofficially enabling the use of these sections for private use.

Although new IPv4 /8s are allocated approximately once a month, they are not easy to bring into use because network operators are slow to change their filter configurations. This is despite long-running awareness campaigns [CYMRU] (Greene, B., “The Bogon Reference,” .), [LEWIS] (Lewis, J., “This system has been setup for testing purposes for 69/8 address space,” March 2003.) and active work [ripe‑351] (Karrenberg, D., “De-Bogonising New Address Blocks,” October 2005.) to notify people whose filters are not changed in a timely fashion. Updating code that recognises private address space in deployed software and infrastructure systems is likely to be far more difficult as many systems have these ranges hard-coded and cannot be quickly changed with a new configuration file.

Another consideration when redefining existing unicast space as private address space is that no single class of user can expect the space to stay unique to them. This means that an ISP using a new private address range cannot expect its customers not to already be using that address range within their own networks.

5.2.  Unique IPv4 Space Shared by a Group of Operators

Where a group of networks find themselves in a position where they each need a large amount of IPv4 address space from an RIR in addition to that defined in [RFC1918] (Rekhter, Y., Moskowitz, R., Karrenberg, D., Groot, G., and E. Lear, “Address Allocation for Private Internets,” February 1996.) they might cooperatively agree to all use the same address space to number their networks. The clear benefit to this approach is that it significantly reduces the potential demand on the pool of unallocated IPv4 address space. However, the issues discussed in 4.4 could also be of concern here, particularly the possibility that one operator might decide to use the address space to number customer connections, rather than private infrastructure.

Nonetheless, this approach has the potential to create an unofficial new private address range without proper scrutiny.

5.3.  Potential Consequences of Not Redefining Existing Unicast Space as Private Address Space

If additional private address space is not defined and the large network operators affected by this problem are not able to solve their problems with IPv6 address space or by segmenting their networks into multiple routing domains, those networks will need unique IPv4 addresses. It is possible and even likely that a single network could consume a whole IPv4 /8 in a year. At the time of writing there are just 24 unallocated IPv4 /8s, so it would not take many such requests to make a major dent in the available IPv4 address space. [POTAROO] (Huston, G., “IPv4 Address Report,” .) provides an analysis of IPv4 address consumption and projects the date on which the IANA and RIR pools will be fully allocated.

5.4.  Redefining Future Use Space as Unicast Address Space

There have also been proposals to re-designate the former Class E space (240.0.0.0/4) as unicast address space. [WILSON] (Wilson, P., Michaelson, G., and G. Huston, “Redesignation of 240/4 from "Future Use" to "Private Use",” .) suggests that it should be privately scoped while [FULLER] (Fuller, V., Lear, E., and D. Meyer, “Reclassifying 240/4 as usable unicast address space,” March 2008.) does not propose a scope. Both proposals note that existing deployed equipment may not be able to use addresses from 240.0.0.0/4. Potential users would need to be sure of the status of the equipment on their network and the networks with which they intend to communicate.

It is not immediately clear how useful 240.0.0.0/4 could be in practice. While [FULLER] (Fuller, V., Lear, E., and D. Meyer, “Reclassifying 240/4 as usable unicast address space,” March 2008.) documents the status of several popular desktop and server operating systems, the status of the most widely deployed routers and switches is less clear and it is possible that 240.0.0.0/4 might only be useful in very large, new green field deployments where full control of all deployed systems is available. However, in such cases it might well be easier to deploy an IPv6 network.

6.  Security Considerations

This document has no security implications.

7.  IANA Considerations

This document makes no request of IANA.

8.  References

8.1. Normative References

8.2. Informative References

Appendix A.  Acknowledgments

The authors would also like to thank Ron Bonica, Michelle Cotton, Lee Howard and Barbara Roseman for their assistance in early discussions of this document and to Alex Bligh, Maria Blackmore, Ricardo Patara and Mat Ford for improvement suggestions.

Authors' Addresses