<?xml version='1.0' encoding='utf-8'?>
<!DOCTYPE rfc [
  <!ENTITY nbsp    "&#160;">
  <!ENTITY zwsp   "&#8203;">
  <!ENTITY nbhy   "&#8209;">
  <!ENTITY wj     "&#8288;">
]>
<?xml-stylesheet type="text/xsl" href="rfc2629.xslt" ?>
<!-- generated by https://github.com/cabo/kramdown-rfc version 1.7.13 (Ruby 3.0.2) -->
<rfc xmlns:xi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XInclude" ipr="trust200902" docName="draft-carpenter-6man-addr-assign-01" category="bcp" consensus="true" submissionType="IETF" updates="7249" tocInclude="true" sortRefs="true" symRefs="true" version="3">
  <!-- xml2rfc v2v3 conversion 3.21.0 -->
  <front>
    <title abbrev="IPv6 Address Assignment Policy">Clarification of IPv6 Address Assignment Policy</title>
    <seriesInfo name="Internet-Draft" value="draft-carpenter-6man-addr-assign-01"/>
    <author initials="B. E." surname="Carpenter" fullname="Brian E. Carpenter">
      <organization abbrev="Univ. of Auckland">The University of Auckland</organization>
      <address>
        <postal>
          <postalLine>School of Computer Science</postalLine>
          <postalLine>PB 92019</postalLine>
          <postalLine>Auckland 1142</postalLine>
          <postalLine>New Zealand</postalLine>
        </postal>
        <email>brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>
    <author initials="S." surname="Krishnan" fullname="Suresh Krishnan">
      <organization>Cisco</organization>
      <address>
        <email>suresh.krishnan@gmail.com</email>
      </address>
    </author>
    <author initials="D." surname="Farmer">
      <organization>University of Minnesota</organization>
      <address>
        <postal>
          <postalLine>Office of information Technology</postalLine>
          <postalLine>United States of America</postalLine>
        </postal>
        <email>farmer@umn.edu</email>
      </address>
    </author>
    <date year="2024" month="May" day="23"/>
    <area>Internet</area>
    <workgroup>6man</workgroup>
    <keyword>Internet-Draft</keyword>
    <abstract>
      <?line 70?>

<t>This document specifies the approval process for changes to the
IPv6 Address Space registry. It also updates RFC 7249.</t>
    </abstract>
    <note removeInRFC="true">
      <name>About This Document</name>
      <t>
        Status information for this document may be found at <eref target="https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-carpenter-6man-addr-assign/"/>.
      </t>
      <t>
        Discussion of this document takes place on the
        6MAN Working Group mailing list (<eref target="mailto:ipv6@ietf.org"/>),
        which is archived at <eref target="https://mailarchive.ietf.org/arch/browse/ipv6/"/>.
        Subscribe at <eref target="https://www.ietf.org/mailman/listinfo/ipv6/"/>.
      </t>
    </note>
  </front>
  <middle>
    <?line 75?>

<section anchor="intro">
      <name>Introduction</name>
      <t>Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) and its address space are
currently defined by <xref target="STD86"/> and <xref target="RFC4291"/>.
The management of the IPv6 address space was delegated to IANA
by <xref target="RFC1881"/>, some years before the current relationship
between the IETF and IANA was formalized <xref target="RFC2860"/>
and registry details were clarified <xref target="RFC7020"/>, <xref target="RFC7249"/>.</t>
      <t>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 <xref target="I-D.ietf-6man-sids"/>.</t>
      <t>The present document clarifies the status of RFC 1881 and the
approval level needed for non-routine address allocations.</t>
      <t>This clarification is necessary because RFC 1881, a joint
publication of the IAB and IESG, is incorrectly listed in
the RFC index at the time of writing as "legacy", whereas
it remains current. Also the allocation policy in the IANA
IPv6 Address Space registry <xref target="IANA"/> is shown as "IESG approval",
whereas for major allocations a more stringent policy
is appropriate.</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="approval-level-of-ipv6-address-allocations">
      <name>Approval Level of IPv6 Address Allocations</name>
      <t>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.</t>
      <t>RFC 1881 did not specify an allocation policy for this. At some
point, IANA listed "IESG approval". This is defined in <xref target="BCP26"/>
as 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 as "a fall-back
mechanism in the case where one of the other allowable approval
mechanisms cannot be employed...".</t>
      <t>For something as important as the majority of the spare IPv6 address
space, this is clearly insufficient. The present document replaces
this 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.</t>
      <t>This change requires an extension to section 2.3 of <xref target="RFC7249"/>. The phrase
', through "IETF Review" as defined in <xref target="BCP26"/>' is added to the end of
the first paragraph.</t>
      <t>It may be noted that the recent allocation for <xref target="I-D.ietf-6man-sids"/>, which
was processed as a working group document, did indeed follow the more
stringent "IETF Review" process proposed by this document.</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="rfc-editor-considerations">
      <name>RFC Editor Considerations</name>
      <t>The RFC Editor is requested to update the "Stream" information
for <xref target="RFC1881"/> to "IAB" in place of "Legacy".</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="iana-considerations">
      <name>IANA Considerations</name>
      <t>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".</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="security-considerations">
      <name>Security Considerations</name>
      <t>Carefully reviewed address allocation mechanisms are necessary for any form of address-based security.</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="acknowledgements">
      <name>Acknowledgements</name>
      <t>Useful comments were received from [TBD] ...</t>
    </section>
  </middle>
  <back>
    <references>
      <name>References</name>
      <references anchor="sec-normative-references">
        <name>Normative References</name>
        <referencegroup anchor="STD86" target="https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/std86">
          <reference anchor="RFC8200" target="https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8200">
            <front>
              <title>Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification</title>
              <author fullname="S. Deering" initials="S." surname="Deering"/>
              <author fullname="R. Hinden" initials="R." surname="Hinden"/>
              <date month="July" year="2017"/>
              <abstract>
                <t>This document specifies version 6 of the Internet Protocol (IPv6). It obsoletes RFC 2460.</t>
              </abstract>
            </front>
            <seriesInfo name="STD" value="86"/>
            <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="8200"/>
            <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC8200"/>
          </reference>
        </referencegroup>
        <referencegroup anchor="BCP26" target="https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/bcp26">
          <reference anchor="RFC8126" target="https://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc8126">
            <front>
              <title>Guidelines for Writing an IANA Considerations Section in RFCs</title>
              <author fullname="M. Cotton" initials="M." surname="Cotton"/>
              <author fullname="B. Leiba" initials="B." surname="Leiba"/>
              <author fullname="T. Narten" initials="T." surname="Narten"/>
              <date month="June" year="2017"/>
              <abstract>
                <t>Many protocols make use of points of extensibility that use constants to identify various protocol parameters. To ensure that the values in these fields do not have conflicting uses and to promote interoperability, their allocations are often coordinated by a central record keeper. For IETF protocols, that role is filled by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA).</t>
                <t>To make assignments in a given registry prudently, guidance describing the conditions under which new values should be assigned, as well as when and how modifications to existing values can be made, is needed. This document defines a framework for the documentation of these guidelines by specification authors, in order to assure that the provided guidance for the IANA Considerations is clear and addresses the various issues that are likely in the operation of a registry.</t>
                <t>This is the third edition of this document; it obsoletes RFC 5226.</t>
              </abstract>
            </front>
            <seriesInfo name="BCP" value="26"/>
            <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="8126"/>
            <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC8126"/>
          </reference>
        </referencegroup>
        <reference anchor="RFC4291">
          <front>
            <title>IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture</title>
            <author fullname="R. Hinden" initials="R." surname="Hinden"/>
            <author fullname="S. Deering" initials="S." surname="Deering"/>
            <date month="February" year="2006"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>This specification defines the addressing architecture of the IP Version 6 (IPv6) protocol. The document includes the IPv6 addressing model, text representations of IPv6 addresses, definition of IPv6 unicast addresses, anycast addresses, and multicast addresses, and an IPv6 node's required addresses.</t>
              <t>This document obsoletes RFC 3513, "IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture". [STANDARDS-TRACK]</t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="4291"/>
          <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC4291"/>
        </reference>
      </references>
      <references anchor="sec-informative-references">
        <name>Informative References</name>
        <reference anchor="RFC1881">
          <front>
            <title>IPv6 Address Allocation Management</title>
            <author>
              <organization abbrev="IAB">Internet Architecture Board</organization>
            </author>
            <author>
              <organization abbrev="IESG">Internet Engineering Steering Group</organization>
            </author>
            <date month="December" year="1995"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>The IPv6 address space will be managed by the IANA for the good of the Internet community, with advice from the IAB and the IESG, by delegation to the regional registries. This memo provides information for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind.</t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="1881"/>
          <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC1881"/>
        </reference>
        <reference anchor="RFC2860">
          <front>
            <title>Memorandum of Understanding Concerning the Technical Work of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority</title>
            <author fullname="B. Carpenter" initials="B." surname="Carpenter"/>
            <author fullname="F. Baker" initials="F." surname="Baker"/>
            <author fullname="M. Roberts" initials="M." surname="Roberts"/>
            <date month="June" year="2000"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>This document places on record the text of the Memorandum of Understanding concerning the technical work of the IANA that was signed on March 1, 2000 between the IETF and ICANN, and ratified by the ICANN Board on March 10, 2000. This memo provides information for the Internet community.</t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="2860"/>
          <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC2860"/>
        </reference>
        <reference anchor="RFC7020">
          <front>
            <title>The Internet Numbers Registry System</title>
            <author fullname="R. Housley" initials="R." surname="Housley"/>
            <author fullname="J. Curran" initials="J." surname="Curran"/>
            <author fullname="G. Huston" initials="G." surname="Huston"/>
            <author fullname="D. Conrad" initials="D." surname="Conrad"/>
            <date month="August" year="2013"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>This document provides information about the current Internet Numbers Registry System used in the distribution of globally unique Internet Protocol (IP) address space and autonomous system (AS) numbers.</t>
              <t>This document also provides information about the processes for further evolution of the Internet Numbers Registry System.</t>
              <t>This document replaces RFC 2050.</t>
              <t>This document does not propose any changes to the current Internet Numbers Registry System. Rather, it documents the Internet Numbers Registry System as it works today.</t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="7020"/>
          <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC7020"/>
        </reference>
        <reference anchor="RFC7249">
          <front>
            <title>Internet Numbers Registries</title>
            <author fullname="R. Housley" initials="R." surname="Housley"/>
            <date month="May" year="2014"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>RFC 7020 provides information about the Internet Numbers Registry System and how it is used in the distribution of autonomous system (AS) numbers and globally unique unicast Internet Protocol (IP) address space.</t>
              <t>This companion document identifies the IANA registries that are part of the Internet Numbers Registry System at this time.</t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="RFC" value="7249"/>
          <seriesInfo name="DOI" value="10.17487/RFC7249"/>
        </reference>
        <reference anchor="I-D.ietf-6man-sids">
          <front>
            <title>SRv6 Segment Identifiers in the IPv6 Addressing Architecture</title>
            <author fullname="Suresh Krishnan" initials="S." surname="Krishnan">
              <organization>Cisco</organization>
            </author>
            <date day="15" month="February" year="2024"/>
            <abstract>
              <t>   The data plane for Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) is built using
   IPv6 as the underlying forwarding plane.  Due to this underlying use
   of IPv6, Segment Identifiers (SIDs) used by SRv6 can resemble IPv6
   addresses and behave like them while exhibiting slightly different
   behaviors in some situations.  This document explores the
   characteristics of SRv6 SIDs and focuses on the relationship of SRv6
   SIDs to the IPv6 Addressing Architecture.  This document allocates
   and makes a dedicated prefix available for SRv6 SIDs.

              </t>
            </abstract>
          </front>
          <seriesInfo name="Internet-Draft" value="draft-ietf-6man-sids-06"/>
        </reference>
        <reference anchor="IANA" target="https://www.iana.org/assignments/ipv6-address-space/ipv6-address-space.xhtml">
          <front>
            <title>IPv6 Address Space registry</title>
            <author>
              <organization/>
            </author>
            <date>n.d.</date>
          </front>
        </reference>
      </references>
    </references>
    <?line 151?>

<section anchor="ipv6-registry-title-inconsistencies">
      <name>IPv6 Registry Title Inconsistencies</name>
      <t>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 and the "IPv6 Global Unicast Address Assignments" registry. These two titles are inconsistent with the titles for the "IANA IPv6 Special-Purpose Address Registry" and the similar IPv4 registries, the "IANA IPv4 Address Space Registry" and the "IANA IPv4 Special-Purpose Address Registry."</t>
      <t>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.</t>
      <t>The "IANA IPv6 Address Space Registry" and the "IANA IPv6 Global Unicast Address Space Registry" are possibly more consistent titles for these registries.</t>
    </section>
    <section anchor="change-log-rfc-editor-please-remove">
      <name>Change Log [RFC Editor: please remove]</name>
      <section anchor="draft-00">
        <name>Draft-00</name>
        <ul spacing="normal">
          <li>
            <t>Original version</t>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </section>
      <section anchor="draft-01">
        <name>Draft-01</name>
        <ul spacing="normal">
          <li>
            <t>Added author</t>
          </li>
          <li>
            <t>Added citations</t>
          </li>
          <li>
            <t>Small update to RFC 7249</t>
          </li>
          <li>
            <t>Added appendix on registry names</t>
          </li>
        </ul>
      </section>
    </section>
  </back>
  <!-- ##markdown-source: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-->

</rfc>
