Network Working Group R. Bush
Request for Comments: 3152 RGnet
BCP: 49 August 2001
Updates: 2874, 2772, 2766, 2553, 1886
Category: Best Current Practice

Delegation of IP6.ARPA

Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Internet Best Current Practices for the
Internet Community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This document discusses the need for delegation of the IP6.ARPA DNS
zone, and specifies a plan for the technical operation thereof.

1. Why IP6.ARPA?

In the IPv6 address space, there is a need for 'reverse mapping' of
addresses to DNS names analogous to that provided by the IN-ADDR.ARPA
zone for IPv4.

The IAB recommended that the ARPA top level domain (the name is now
considered an acronym for "Address and Routing Parameters Area") be
used for technical infrastrUCture sub-domains when possible. It is
already in use for IPv4 reverse mapping and has been established as
the location for E.164 numbering on the Internet [RFC2916 RFC3026].

IETF consensus was reached that the IP6.ARPA domain be used for
address to DNS name mapping for the IPv6 address space [RFC2874].

2. Obsoleted Usage

This document deprecates references to IP6.INT in [RFC1886] section
2.5, [RFC2553] section 6.2.3, [RFC2766] section 4.1, [RFC2772]
section 7.1.c, and [RFC2874] section 2.5.

In this context, 'deprecate' means that the old usage is not
appropriate for new implementations, and IP6.INT will likely be
phased out in an orderly fashion.

3. IANA Considerations

This memo requests that the IANA delegate the IP6.ARPA domain
following instructions to be provided by the IAB. Names within this
zone are to be further delegated to the regional IP registries in
accordance with the delegation of IPv6 address space to those
registries. The names allocated should be hierarchic in accordance
with the address space assignment.

4. Security Considerations

While DNS spoofing of address to name mapping has been eXPloited in
IPv4, delegation of the IP6.ARPA zone creates no new threats to the
security of the internet.

5. References

[RFC1886] Thomson, S. and C. Huitema, "DNS Extensions to support IP
version 6", RFC1886, December 1995.

[RFC2553] Gilligan, R., Thomson, S., Bound, J. and W. Stevens,
"Basic Socket Interface Extensions for IPv6", RFC2553,
March 1999.

[RFC2766] Tsirtsis, G. and P. Srisuresh, "Network Address
Translation - Protocol Translation (NAT-PT)", RFC2766,
February 2000.

[RFC2772] Rockell, R. and R. Fink, "6Bone Backbone Routing
Guidelines", RFC2772, February 2000.

[RFC2874] Crawford, M. and C. Huitema, "DNS Extensions to Support
IPv6 Address Aggregation and Renumbering", RFC2874, July
2001.

[RFC2916] Faltstrom, P., "E.164 number and DNS", RFC2916,
September 2000.

[RFC3026] Blane, R., "Liaison to IETF/ISOC on ENUM", RFC3026,
January 2001.

6. Author's Address

Randy Bush
5147 Crystal Springs
Bainbridge Island, WA US-98110

Phone: +1 206 780 0431
EMail: randy@psg.com

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