Also, with 32bit ASN's, also expect upto 2^32 routes in your routing table when each and every ASN would at least send 1 route and of course there will be ASN's sending multiple routes.
Only if EVERY ASN were allocated and active. You and I both know this doesn't begin to approach reality. Slightly more than half of current ASNs are actually in the routing table. The ASN issuance rate is not
These are the same arguments that are presented each time something new comes along to replace something old. When IPv4 first came along nobody thought all of the 4 billion plus address could ever be used; but we were wrong. 16-bit ASNs have served their place and will continue to serve for the time being. Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. It is highly doubtful that the policies in place will become more relaxed with the introduction of 32-bit ASNs, the more likely scenario is that they will stay the same or get far stricter as with assignments of IPv4 or IPv6 addresses. As you had mentioned though, in the near term this definitely would not be scalable, but who knows what is going to happen 10, 15, or more years from now. I think your numbers may be a little off 2^32 = 4,294,967,296; current world population give or take a few million is hovering around 6,300,000,000 according to the US Gov. If everyone and the mother would like an ASN (Which is highly unlikely) you would need just a few more to make that work. Chris -----Original Message----- From: owner-nanog@merit.edu [mailto:owner-nanog@merit.edu] On Behalf Of Pekka Savola Sent: Monday, November 29, 2004 11:41 AM To: Owen DeLong Cc: Jeroen Massar; Cliff Albert; nanog@merit.edu Subject: Re: 16 vs 32 bit ASNs [Re: BBC does IPv6 ;) (Was: large multi-site enterprises and PI] On Mon, 29 Nov 2004, Owen DeLong wrote: likely
to go up simply because we go to 32 bit ASNs. Probably we are really talking about a need for 20 bit ASNs or so, generally, but, 32 bits is a much more convenient boundary for lots of code implementations and lots of hardware, so, 32 bits is the chosen number for the sake of simplicity.
Of course, every ASN would not be active. But if we'd have 32 bit ASNs, there would be "no need" (or so folks would argue) to be strict in the policies -- everyone and their uncle could have one. Folks could even get ones for their homes, theis SOHO deployments, or their 3-person, on-the-side consulting companies. And logically, each of these should have their own PI prefixes and a slot in the global routing table. Scalable? NO. Not just the number of routes, but also the churn those routes would make.. Oh god. It's better to try to stick to 16 bit ASNs for now, and make stricter policies and reclaim the space if needed. -- Pekka Savola "You each name yourselves king, yet the Netcore Oy kingdom bleeds." Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings