Internet Routing Registry FAQ

My ISP said I have to publish information in an IRR. What does that mean?

An IRR (Internet Routing Registry) record tells ISPs how you authorize your resources to be used. ARIN maintains an IRR that allows registrants of AS numbers and IP addresses to publish that information so that ISPs can make appropriate routing decisions. This helps ensure ISPs will recognize your routes as legitimate and enables them to ignore unauthorized routes published by someone else.

I just got an IP address block and/or an ASN from ARIN. What do I do next?

To create a routing record for an IP address block (a route or route6 object), you’ll need to perform these steps.

1. Log in to your ARIN Online account.
2. From the navigation menu, choose IRR Object Records.
3. In the IRR route/route6 Objects window, you can create your routing records. (IPv4 address blocks use route objects and IPv6 address blocks use route6 objects, but they’re created in the same window.) Choose Create an Object.
4. In the Maintained By field, select your organization.
5. In the Prefix field, enter the IP address block for which you’re creating a record. (Hint: You can find a list of your IP address blocks by choosing IP Addresses > Search from the navigation menu. You may want to copy the address to paste into the window when you’re creating your IRR record.)
6. In the Origin field, enter your Autonomous System Number (ASN). This tells others the ASN that is used with your IP address block; for example, Internet traffic from your address block is only valid if it’s coming from that ASN. This ASN does not have to be registered to you–-for example, you may need to enter your ISP’s ASN.
7. In the description, enter any information you think needs to be here. This could be your name and address, your ISP’s name, or a network name or location.
8. Choose Review. In the next window, if the information is correct, press Submit.

You may need to create a routing record (an aut-num object) that describes the “routing policies” for your ASN. This object tells who you’ll give routing information to and who you’ll accept routing information from (for example, your upstream ISPs–-peers–-and customers). To create an aut-num object, you’ll need to perform these steps.

1. Log in to your ARIN Online account.
2. From the navigation menu, choose IRR Object Records. Select aut-num from the menu of objects.
3. Choose Create aut-num Object.
4. In the Maintained By field, select your organization.
5. From the drop-down list, choose the ASN for which you want to create a record. (An aut-num object can only cover one ASN.)
6. In the AS Name field, create a name for the aut-num; you can use letters, numbers, and single dashes. You might want to enter the name or location of your site.
7. In the description, enter any information you think needs to be here. This could be your name and address, your ISP’s name, or a network name or location.
8. The Routing Policy Specifications field is used to enter statements about the ASNs you’ll accept routed traffic from, or to which you’ll route traffic. ARIN doesn’t “validate” these statements, so if you make an error, it’s possible you could route traffic to the wrong place. In other words, be sure that you enter the correct information and verify it! Routing statements can be very complicated, but as a simple example, if you have one ISP that has AS65536:

• In the Import field, if you enter the statement from AS65536 accept ANY, that means that you’ll accept any traffic from them.
• In the Export field, if you enter the statement to AS65536 announce ANY, that means that you’ll announce (send) all traffic to them.

9. Choose Review. In the next window, if the information is correct, press Submit.

I have “reassigned IP address blocks” that have been reassigned to me by my ISP. How do I get control of them in the IRR?

They need to have been reassigned to you using a detailed reassignment or a reallocation, which means they were assigned to you with an Org ID associated with them. That Org ID must have you as a point of contact. You may need to contact your ISP if they have not published the block as reassigned or reallocated to you.

I’m trying to create records for an IP address block or an ASN but am getting an error. Why?

Check the following:

• That the IP address block or ASN is assigned to you. (In ARIN Online, check IP Addresses >Search and ASNs > View to make sure these resources are listed.)
• That you have a Registration Services Agreement (RSA) or Legacy RSA for the IP address or ASN.
• That you are logged in as a user with permissions for the organization for which you are trying to create records (you need to be an Admin, Tech, or Routing POC that is associated with that organization).

Why can’t I edit “migrated” IRR in ARIN Online? I don’t want to delete them and recreate them in IRR-online.

Due to the differences in how IRR data is stored in the two different systems, unfortunately editing migrated objects in ARIN Online is not possible. You can use the RESTful API with RPSL headers/payloads to edit migrated objects; visit the ARIN IRR RESTful API User Guide for more information.

Do I need to create as-set records?

You don’t have to create them, but they are helpful if you have long lists of ASNs that you need to use in routing objects (for example, lists of routing peers or customers). The as-set objects are used to group ASNs so that they can be referred to as a set and you don’t have to refer to them individually. For example, if you have a list of customer ASNs, you can update the as-set when customers are added or removed, and you can refer to this as-set in other routing records without having to update long lists of ASNs in those places.

Can I create IRR objects using an Application Programming Interface (API) or RESTful calls?

Yes; visit the ARIN IRR RESTful API User Guide for more information.

I am using another IRR (for example, Merit’s RADB). Is my information automatically available in ARIN’s IRR?

No, ARIN does not mirror any other IRRs. In practice, most people use an IRR “aggregator,” which pulls IRR information from all the IRRs and publishes it all together. Most IRR aggregators will incorporate sources such as ARIN, RADB, and other sources.

Is submitting my information to ARIN’s IRR enough, or do I need to submit routing data to any other IRRs?

Generally, most IRR aggregators will pick up your information and entering your routing information in our IRR is sufficient. However, if you have resources in regions served by other IRRs (for example, in Asia Pacific), you may have to submit information to other RIR routing databases.

I need to do “batch processing” for IRR. How do I enter more than one record at a time?

ARIN provides a RESTful API to allow you to submit multiple REST commands to create, view, update, and delete IRR objects through scripts or software. Visit the ARIN IRR RESTful API User Guide for more information. (Currently performing multiple actions in the same REST call is not supported; individual calls are needed for each object, but multiple calls can be combined in a single script.)