    Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                         G. Huston
    Request for Comments: 5736                                         APNIC
    Category: Informational                                        M. Cotton
    ISSN: 2070-1721                                                L. Vegoda
                                                                       ICANN
                                                                January 2010

                   IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry

    Abstract

       This is a direction to IANA concerning the creation and management of
       the IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry.

    Status of This Memo

       This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
       published for informational purposes.

       This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
       (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
       received public review and has been approved for publication by the
       Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
       approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
       Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

       Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
       and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
       http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc5736.

    Copyright Notice

       Copyright (c) 2010 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
       (http://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 Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
       the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
       described in the Simplified BSD License.

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 1]

    RFC 5736                 IPv4 Special Registry              January 2010

    Table of Contents

       1.  Introduction  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
       2.  IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Block . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
       3.  IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
       4.  Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       5.  Acknowledgements  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
       6.  Informative References  . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

    1.  Introduction

       This is a direction to [IANA] concerning the creation and management
       of the IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry.  The registry will
       be used for recording IETF protocol assignments from 192.0.0.0/24 and
       any other address prefixes allocated to the registry in the future,
       as described in Section 3.

    2.  IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Block

       [RFC5735] records the assignment of an IPv4 address prefix to IANA
       for IETF protocol assignments.

          192.0.0.0/24 - This block is reserved for IETF protocol
          assignments.

       This address allocation to IANA is intended to support IETF protocol
       assignments.  A more general view of the roles of IANA with respect
       to address allocation functions is documented in [RFC2860]:

          4.3. [...]  Note that [...] (b) assignments of specialised address
          blocks (such as multicast or anycast blocks), and (c) experimental
          assignments are not considered to be policy issues, and shall
          remain subject to the provisions of this Section 4.  (For purposes
          of this MOU, the term "assignments" includes allocations.)

       The reference to Section 4 here is to the general technical work for
       the IANA as described in [RFC2860]:

          4.1.  The IANA will assign and register Internet protocol
          parameters only as directed by the criteria and procedures
          specified in RFCs, including Proposed, Draft, and full Internet
          Standards and Best Current Practice documents, and any other RFC
          that calls for IANA assignment.

       This document directs IANA to designate special purpose address
       blocks in compliance with [RFC2860].

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 2]

    RFC 5736                 IPv4 Special Registry              January 2010

       This document directs IANA to open an IPv4 Special Purpose Address
       Registry for the management of these IANA-designated address blocks.
       Special Purpose registrations to be made from this registry include
       addresses for IETF protocol assignments and other special purpose
       cases, as documented in IESG-reviewed RFCs, according to the
       provisions described in Section 4.1 of [RFC2860].

    3.  IANA Considerations

       IANA maintains an "IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry".  The
       registry records current IANA address designations from the IANA-
       managed IPv4 Special Purpose address pool.

       This recommendation concerns the management of the address pool used
       for IETF protocol assignments as documented in [RFC5735] -- namely,
       192.0.0.0/24.  Following the policies outlined in [RFC5226], further
       assignments of address space to IANA for subsequent designation of
       address prefixes for the purposes listed here shall be undertaken
       only through an IETF Review action.

       IANA may make Special Purpose address designations to support testing
       or experimental usage activities initiated by the IETF, or for
       specialised use of a designated address block in a context (e.g.,
       anycast) associated with an Internet Standards Track protocol.  All
       such address designations must be documented in the "IANA
       Considerations" section of an IESG-reviewed RFC.

       The IANA IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry records, for all
       current address designations undertaken by IANA:

       1.  The designated address prefix.

       2.  The RFC that called for the IANA address designation.

       3.  The date the designation was made.

       4.  The date the use designation is to be terminated (if specified as
           a limited-use designation).

       5.  The nature of the purpose of the designated address (e.g.,
           unicast experiment or protocol service anycast).

       6.  For experimental unicast applications and otherwise as
           appropriate, the registry will also identify the entity and
           related contact details to whom the address designation has been
           made.

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 3]

    RFC 5736                 IPv4 Special Registry              January 2010

       7.  The registry will also note, for each designation, the intended
           routing scope of the address, indicating whether the address is
           intended to be routable only in scoped, local, or private
           contexts, or whether the address prefix is intended to be routed
           globally.

       8.  The date in the IANA registry is the date of the IANA action,
           i.e., the day IANA records the allocation.

       The IANA registry notes, as a general comment, that address prefixes
       listed in the IPv4 Special Purpose Address Registry are not
       guaranteed routability in any particular local or global context.

       IANA will not maintain further sub-registries for any IPv4 Special
       Purpose address block designated according to this direction.

    4.  Security Considerations

       Security of the Internet's routing system relies on the ability to
       authenticate an assertion of unique control of an address block.
       Measures to authenticate such assertions rely on validation that the
       address block forms part of an existing allocated address block, and
       that there is a trustable and unique reference in the IANA address
       registries.

       This registry is intended to provide an authoritative source of
       information regarding the currency and intended purpose of IPv4
       Special Purpose address blocks that are designated from the IANA-
       administered IPv4 Special Purpose address pool.  This is a small step
       towards the creation of a comprehensive registry framework that can
       be used as a trust point for commencing a chain of address
       validation.  Consideration should be given to the use of file
       signatures and associated certificate mechanisms to allow
       applications to confirm that the registry contents are current, and
       that they have been published by the IANA.

    5.  Acknowledgements

       This document is based on [RFC4773], which was prepared with the
       assistance of Leslie Daigle, Brian Haberman, Bob Hinden, David
       Kessens, Kurt Lindqvist, Thomas Narten, and Paul Wilson.  While all
       these individuals were not explicitly consulted in the preparation of
       this document, their original contribution is acknowledged here.

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 4]

    RFC 5736                 IPv4 Special Registry              January 2010

    6.  Informative References

       [IANA]     IANA, "IANA Matrix for Protocol Parameter Assignment/
                  Registration Procedures",
                  <http://www.iana.org/numbers.html>.

       [RFC2860]  Carpenter, B., Baker, F., and M. Roberts, "Memorandum of
                  Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the
                  Internet Assigned Numbers Authority", RFC 2860, June 2000.

       [RFC4773]  Huston, G., "Administration of the IANA Special Purpose
                  IPv6 Address Block", RFC 4773, December 2006.

       [RFC5226]  Narten, T. and H. Alvestrand, "Guidelines for Writing an
                  IANA Considerations Section in RFCs", BCP 26, RFC 5226,
                  May 2008.

       [RFC5735]  Cotton, M. and L. Vegoda, "Special Use IPv4 Addresses",
                  BCP 153, RFC 5735, January 2010.

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 5]

    RFC 5736                 IPv4 Special Registry              January 2010

    Authors' Addresses

       Geoff Huston
       Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
       PO Box 2131
       Milton, QLD  4064
       Australia

       Phone: +61-7-3858-3100
       EMail: gih@apnic.net
       URI:   http://www.apnic.net/

       Michelle Cotton
       Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
       4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
       Marina del Rey, CA  90292-6601
       USA

       Phone: +1-310-823-9358
       EMail: michelle.cotton@icann.org
       URI:   http://www.iana.org/

       Leo Vegoda
       Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers
       4676 Admiralty Way, Suite 330
       Marina del Rey, CA  90292-6601
       USA

       Phone: +1-310-823-9358
       EMail: leo.vegoda@icann.org
       URI:   http://www.iana.org/

    Huston, et al.               Informational                      [Page 6]