RFC 1744 (rfc1744) - Page 2 of 12
Observations on the Management of the Internet Address Space
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1744 Management of Internet Address Space December 1994
- the finite nature of the resource
This attribute is a consequence of the underlying technology
which has defined addressed entities in terms of a 32 bit address
value. The total pool is composed of 2**32 distinct values (not
all of which are assignable to end systems).
- the address space has considerable market value
This valuation is a consequence of the availability and extensive
deployment of the underlying Internet technology that allows
uniquely addressed entities the capability to conduct direct end-
to-end transactions with peer entities via the Internet. The
parameters of this valuation are also influenced by considerations
of efficiency of use of the allocated space, availability of end
system based internet technologies, the availability of Internet-
based service providers and the resultant Internet market size.
- address space management is a necessary activity
Management processes are requires to ensure unique allocation and
fair access to the resource, as well as the activity of continuing
maintenance of allocation record databases.
Increasing rates of Internet address allocation in recent years imply
that the IPv4 address space is now a visibly finite resource, and
current projections, assuming a continuation of existing demand for
addresses predict unallocated address space exhaustion in the next 6
- 12 years (rephrasing current interim projections from the IETF
Address Lifetime Expectancy Working Group). There are two derivative
questions that arise from this prediction. Firstly what is the
likely outcome of unallocated address space exhaustion if it does
occur, and secondly, are there corrective processes that may be
applied to the current address management mechanisms that could allow
both more equitable allocation and potentially extend the lifetime of
the unallocated address space pool. These two issues are considered
in the following sections.
2. Outcomes of Unallocated Address Space Exhaustion - No change in
current Address Management Policies
As the pool of available addresses for allocation depletes, the
initial anticipated outcome will be the inability of the available
address pool to service large block address allocation requests.
Such requests have already been phrased from various utility
operators, and the demand for very large address blocks is likely to
be a continuing feature of address pool management. It is noted that
the overall majority of the allocated address space is very
Huston