Let’s talk about how IP addresses are allocated?

In the IPV4 era, IP addresses are a scarce resource, with only 2^32, or about 4.3 billion. In the IPV6 era, the number of IPV6 addresses is 2^128, or about 3.4E+38. Considering the current capacity of the earth, it will not be exhausted. However, for some networks that charge traffic by IP addresses, IP addresses are still scarce. So who manages IP addresses? How are they allocated?

What is IANA?

IANA (The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority) is a standards organization under ICANN, responsible for the global allocation of IP addresses and ASNs, the management of DNS root zones, and protocol allocation. In terms of IP number management, IANA is mainly responsible for allocating unallocated IP block pools to RIRs according to global policies to ensure fair distribution of IP addresses across regions.

IANA also manages the DNS root zone for ccTLDs and gTLDs and maintains a database of all top-level domains (TLDs). In addition to IP number management and DNS root zone management, IANA also works with ITEF (Internet Engineering Task Force) to maintain a central repository for protocol name and number registries used in the IP protocol (protocol assignments). IANA also maintains a time zone database and allows computers and electronic devices to use this information to maintain the correct time zone around the world.

So you can think of IANA as the administrator of the Internet. It manages domain names, IP addresses, and ASNs, as well as the protocols used by the Internet. IANA's goal is to help the Internet run smoothly.

IP Number Allocation

The allocation of IP addresses is done by the RIRs, and the allocation is reported to IANA for record keeping. The global management of domain names and IP numbers is done by ICANN, which delegates the management of Internet numbers (IP addresses and ASNs) to IANA, a sub-organization of ICANN. IANA then delegates the allocation of Internet numbers to 5 Regional Internet Registries (RIRs). The five RIRs include ARIN (North America), AFRINIC (Africa), APNIC (Asia Pacific), LACNIC (Latin America), and RIPENCC (Europe). IANA and the RIRs ensure that unique blocks of IP addresses are allocated to an organization in each of the 5 regional groups.

Dealing with IP address abuse

People often report spam, hacker attacks, and other forms of IP address abuse to IANA, but IP address abuse should be reported to the organization that owns (allocates) the IP address, not IANA. Moreover, we can query IP address ownership and find abuse contact information through ARIN's WHOIS query tool. So IANA is the record manager of Internet numbers (IP addresses and ASNs), and it does not solve problems related to IP address abuse.

Protocol Allocation

IANA and ITEF work together to define protocol standards, including network protocols and their parameters. Common network parameters include but are not limited to:

Port Numbers: Along with IP addresses, TCP and UDP ports are defined to allow applications to communicate with each other within a TCP/IP network.

HTTP Status Code: When a web client makes an HTTP request, the server responds with a response with an HTTP status code to indicate whether the request was processed successfully, or an error with a reason code.

Media Types: IANA maintains a registry of media types that can be used in the Internet.

In addition to protocol numbers, IANA also maintains 2-letter language attributes (en: English, es: Spanish, etc.), private enterprise numbers, and a time zone database, etc.

IANA is a department of ICANN that manages IP numbers (IP addresses and ASNs), DNS root zones, and protocol allocations. It delegates the allocation of IP numbers to 5 regional RIRs. IANA's goal is to keep the Internet running smoothly and oversee the technical aspects of IP standards.