IANA IPv4 Address Registry - Current Issues

The IANA IPv4 registry has a number of consistency problems.

  1. IETF Reserved address space vs IANA Reserved Address Space

    Why are these entries listed the same way as IPv4 unicast space?

    240/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    241/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    242/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    243/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    244/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    245/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    246/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    247/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    248/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    249/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    250/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    251/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    252/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    253/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    254/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved
    255/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved

    It would be useful for the IANA registry to consistently distinguish
    between IPv4 global unicast address space that is assignable and useable as
    unicast address space, and those blocks of address space that are currently
    reserved by the IETF pending a protocol standards action to define their
    interpretation and use

  2. Log vs Current Status.
    The history of who had a /8 is not relevant to its current status - the history of a particular allocation should be recorded is a log of transactions performed to the registry. The registry itself should refelct the current allocation status only. The use of "formerly" here is at best confusing

    3. 036/8 Jul 00 IANA - Reserved (Formerly Stanford University - Apr 93)

  3. Clarity
    Some entries are not sufficiently clear. Are the following blocks reserved by IANA for future allocation or not?

    4. 049/8 May 94 Joint Technical Command (Returned to IANA Mar 98)
    050/8 May 94 Joint Technical Command (Returned to IANA Mar 98)

  4. Currency
    Is this still current? - it appears to be inactive, and the /8 is underutilized.

    5. 014/8 Jun 91 IANA - Public Data Network

    The associated registry, "public data network numbers" should be listed with the other IANA address resource registries.

  5. Current Status Unclear
    There is a difference between a current allocation listing and a log of historical actions. How is this data maintained? Digital Equipment Corporation no longer exists. Where is this address space?

    6. 015/8 Jul 94 Hewlett-Packard Company
    016/8 Nov 94 Digital Equipment Corporation

  6. Consistency in listings
    I    sn't all space "formerly IANA"? An ARIN allocation is documented in all other cases as "ARIN (whois.arin.net)"


    7. 024/8 May 01 ARIN - Cable Block (Formerly IANA - Jul 95)

  7. Maintenance appears to be missing
    Is this a 'live' document or an historical archive actions? Do these entities exist and continue to use the space or not? Who maintains these records and validates their continuing accuracy?


    8. 003/8 May 94 General Electric Company
    004/8 Dec 92 Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
    006/8 Feb 94 Army Information Systems Center
    008/8 Dec 92 Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
    009/8 Aug 92 IBM
    011/8 May 93 DoD Intel Information Systems
    012/8 Jun 95 AT&T Bell Laboratories
    013/8 Sep 91 Xerox Corporation
    015/8 Jul 94 Hewlett-Packard Company
    016/8 Nov 94 Digital Equipment Corporation
    017/8 Jul 92 Apple Computer Inc.
    018/8 Jan 94 MIT
    019/8 May 95 Ford Motor Company
    020/8 Oct 94 Computer Sciences Corporation
    021/8 Jul 91 DDN-RVN
    022/8 May 93 Defense Information Systems Agency
    025/8 Jan 95 Royal Signals and Radar Establishment
    026/8 May 95 Defense Information Systems Agency
    028/8 Jul 92 DSI-North
    029/8 Jul 91 Defense Information Systems Agency
    030/8 Jul 91 Defense Information Systems Agency
    032/8 Jun 94 Norsk Informasjonsteknology
    033/8 Jan 91 DLA Systems Automation Center
    034/8 Mar 93 Halliburton Company
    035/8 Apr 94 MERIT Computer Network
    038/8 Sep 94 Performance Systems International
    040/8 Jun 94 Eli Lily and Company
    043/8 Jan 91 Japan Inet
    044/8 Jul 92 Amateur Radio Digital Communications
    045/8 Jan 95 Interop Show Network
    046/8 Dec 92 Bolt Beranek and Newman Inc.
    047/8 Jan 91 Bell-Northern Research
    048/8 May 95 Prudential Securities Inc.
    051/8 Aug 94 Deparment of Social Security of UK
    052/8 Dec 91 E.I. duPont de Nemours and Co., Inc.
    053/8 Oct 93 Cap Debis CCS
    054/8 Mar 92 Merck and Co., Inc.
    055/8 Apr 95 Boeing Computer Services
    056/8 Jun 94 U.S. Postal Service
    057/8 May 95 SITA

  8. See RFC3330 - Various kinds of "Reserved" status

    9. 127/8 Sep 81 IANA - Reserved See [RFC3330]

    From RFC3330:

    39.0.0.0/8       Reserved but subject to allocation
    128.0.0.0/16     Reserved but subject to allocation
    191.255.0.0/16   Reserved but subject to allocation
    192.0.0.0/24     Reserved but subject to allocation
    223.255.255.0/24 Reserved but subject to allocation

    240.0.0.0/4      Reserved for Future Use


    What is the difference between “Reserved”, “Reserved for Future Use” and “Reserved but subject to allocation”?

  9. Reference Consistency

    The IANA IPv4 registry lists as references RFCs 1466, 1918 and 3330. RFC1466 has been obsoleted by RFC2050. The IANA IP Address Services directory lists RFCs 1518, 1918, 2050 and 3330. What are the references used by the IANA for these registries?

Geoff Huston
July 2003