RFC 1916 (rfc1916) - Page 2 of 8
Enterprise Renumbering: Experience and Information Solicitation
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
RFC 1916 Enterprise Renumbering Solicitation February 1996
1. Introduction
There are immediate and increasingly severe requirements to renumber
both small and large-scale networks. The Procedures for
Internet/Enterprise Renumbering (PIER) working group in the IETF
urgently requests specific input for producing concrete guidance for
the renumbering task as quickly as possible. As part of collecting
such information, the PIER working group therefore is soliciting
input from people and organizations with experience in changing the
IP addresses of enterprise networks or in making major changes in the
subnetting of existing networks. We are especially interested in
actual case studies -- that is, accounts describing what was actually
done to renumber one or more networks. Information is also solicited
on specific tools used in the process, and on areas in which tools
were needed but not available. Because applications that use IP
addresses directly in their configuration or security mechanisms pose
specific difficulties and coordination issues for renumbering, a
catalogue of such applications is being compiled.
All interested parties are invited to submit material in any of these
areas:
A) Accounts of the experience of renumbering networks:
-- Retrospective reports on renumbering efforts.
-- Journals or running accounts of a renumbering effort, written
while the task is underway.
B) Information on tools to help renumbering:
-- Descriptions of tools used, whether commercial, freeware, or ad
hoc (such as perl scripts).
-- Descriptions of specific needs where a tool could clearly have
helped, but none was found.
C) Information on applications using embedded IP addresses:
-- Software applications that use embedded IP addresses for security
keys, authentication, or any other "inappropriate" purposes.
-- Hardware devices whose IP addresses are hardcoded into the
hardware design (and so may require extensive time lags to
retool).
-- Both software and hardware whose vendors are no longer in business
and that may require replacement or specialized solutions.
The focus of this solicitation is on experience with renumbering that
has been done or is now underway in IPv4 networks, and not on future
changes to protocols or environments that may eventually be useful.
We are especially concerned with the most common situation faced
today: single-homed networks that are not transit providers. However,
experience with renumbering more complex environments is also
Berkowitz, et al Informational