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No Rules in the IP Market

Members of the ISP-Webhosting list discuss obtaining IP addresses from the upstream provider. Some need only ask, while others need to justify their requests. Can anyone explain the differences between the upstreams?

[April 9, 2001]

On the ISP-Webhosting list in March, RG queried,

"My network admin is saying that he cannot deliver 14 IP addresses to me for an application because ARIN is 'not making it easy to request IP addresses.' I cannot accept this answer. How can I get more IP addresses?"

Some respondents suggested that the process had been pretty simple for them:

[AR noted] "I asked my upstream if it would be a problem if we used individual IPs for each domain hosted because of ARIN, and they said not to worry about it."

[TH added] "We asked our upstream and they said, 'here ya go,' and we had another 64 just like that. Just cost us $50 for them to set up the reverse mapping in their DNS servers for us."

[PH agreed] "We were able to get another 32 IPs, no problem. They did want justification as to why we needed them as opposed to using private IPs. We needed them for separate SSL connections, so that was a good enough reason."

DH, on the other hand, recalled having had the exact opposite experience:

"I called my upstream to get some more IPs and they simply said, 'no.' I don't know what I'm supposed to do at this point. I will be needing to add another web server sometime in the next few months, and I don't have an IP for it. I thought about changing providers, but I really wanted to avoid that since I had such a hard time moving name servers the last time I had to do it."

A number of respondents suggested that simple persistence may be all it takes:

[AP explained] "We do give it to our customers if they insist on getting it. Of course, we first encourage them to use private IPs, but if they are high-end customers (T1s, Frame Relay, SDSL, etc.), we just give it to them."

[RJ added] "If your upstream doesn't offer additional IPs through the plan you're on, find out what other plans they offer that will meet your needs. It is possible to get them via ARIN, but they have requirements and qualifications you must meet."

Others added that it should just be a matter of justifying the request:

[EK suggested] "You need to justify the need for IPs to them. If you just want them because you want them, then there is a reason they are saying no. If you have a legitimate use, such more servers/computers, etc., then they need to issue you the IP addresses."

[JB explained] "In our case, the customer is assigned an engineer to their account. If the customer needs more IPs, they work with their engineer to build a business case to justify the additional addresses, and then that business case is presented to ARIN. They are usually pretty agreeable to granting the additional addresses: I have seen customers granted a whole C block without ARIN blinking an eye."

PF countered with a far more aggressive position:

"Here's a hint: lie. Are they really gonna check? If you over-allocate, then you will have room to grow, and you won't have to go through this every time you need more IPs. Contrary to public belief, there are plenty of IPs out there. We just have to get them from ARIN and into circulation."

—End