RFC 1518 (rfc1518) - Page 1 of 27
An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR
Alternative Format: Original Text Document
Network Working Group Y. Rekhter
Request for Comments: 1518 T.J. Watson Research Center, IBM Corp.
Category: Standards Track T. Li
cisco Systems
Editors
September 1993
An Architecture for IP Address Allocation with CIDR
Status of this Memo
This RFC specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
Official Protocol Standards" for the standardization state and status
of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
1. Introduction
This paper provides an architecture and a plan for allocating IP
addresses in the Internet. This architecture and the plan are
intended to play an important role in steering the Internet towards
the Address Assignment and Aggregating Strategy outlined in [1].
The IP address space is a scarce shared resource that must be managed
for the good of the community. The managers of this resource are
acting as its custodians. They have a responsibility to the community
to manage it for the common good.
2. Scope
The global Internet can be modeled as a collection of hosts
interconnected via transmission and switching facilities. Control
over the collection of hosts and the transmission and switching
facilities that compose the networking resources of the global
Internet is not homogeneous, but is distributed among multiple
administrative authorities. Resources under control of a single
administration form a domain. For the rest of this paper, "domain"
and "routing domain" will be used interchangeably. Domains that
share their resources with other domains are called network service
providers (or just providers). Domains that utilize other domain's
resources are called network service subscribers (or just
subscribers). A given domain may act as a provider and a subscriber
simultaneously.
Rekhter & Li
