IPv4 depletion, whats the deal?

[Wambo]

While reviewing a lot of offers and contacting companies the past month or so it seems that the IPv4 depletion has caused a split. Some companies seem to be giving out IP addresses like candy and other companies are holding onto them and being very strict in who/how they issue them. Whats the deal?

How is it that if I want one extra IP address with a server that only came with 1, that I have to fill out a justification form to have it reviewed. And if my reasoning for justification is appropriate, then I get the IP. (In my case it was for a SSL Certificate and I showed proof I had a cert to install). I imagine if I provided an inadequate reason such as 'SEO' or 'email' or something that I would be denied.

Other companies seemingly want you to take their IPs and don't ask questions, just give give give.

So whats the difference? How is the IPv4 depletion impacting companies and how they issue these things? It's a bit annoying to jump through loops with one provider to get an extra IP (granted they are well established, professional and likely doing things properly) and then see offers from small hosts who seemingly are trying to give them away by offering lots of IPs with their service.

What gives?

 

[Serveo]

Basically RIPE is demanding a justification in order to got the ranges granted in the first place. Getting subnets was easy before 2012, nowadays it ain't. So if you have a stack laying around, my bet these hosts use them as marketing to get the clients.

Established company's follow the TOS so they need a proper justification for every single IPv4.

 

[drmike]

There is other issue all those providers don't want you the customer to know about ....

They take your info, put that on IPs if SWIP properly done.  Should be marked as private customer, many are not doing that.

The bigger issue, ARIN and other similar entities wants and can require justification for their large pre-issued blocks they have.   So these companies may have transmitted your information to ARIN.  Inclusive of IPs, name, address, phone number, email, etc.

ARIN doesn't disclose that to public, but should such happen, ARIN says too bad they aren't liable to your provider or to you for such.

Plus on top of all of that, there are groups of providers trading your name and likeness to others who mix and mash that into more IP justifications for other large blocks.

So, be forewarned, IP justification has a seedy side and it involves you and your name.

 

[Francisco]

There are a lot of hosting providers that aren't in the business of hosting, but rather in the business of (long term) selling IP addresses.

You have providers like ServerHub, EGIHosting, ServerMania, ENZU, & even the community favorite CC, that are in the business to some day sell for the value of their IP's since they've bottomed out their pricing super hard.

You have other providers that try their best to fill justification forms legit and ARIN still breaks their jaws over it and won't allocate them more.

You also get the providers that either don't have their own IP space or are not wanting to be pushed into a new pricing bracket. While there's proposals from ARIN to change pricing into a gradual ramp up instead of a huge kick in the nuts, but there's not been much said since the public poll for feedback.

While it can be funny to poke fun at CC for their unwillingness to roll out IPV6, there just isn't enough business side demand for it. Sure, VPS providers and such want it so they aren't at a disadvantage to anyone else but I doubt many (if any) of their true enterprise customers are asking for it or even know what it is. Why should they? Their main upstream has gone out of their way to make sure they'll never, ever, have issues meeting legitimate IP address demands.

Francisco

 

[Wambo]

Ok, wow. Thanks for the fast responses. So I see this is more complicated than I imagined. I will probably return with more questions later after I read up more on this.

 

[KuJoe]

We've started making clients jump through hoops if they want more than one IP address for certain services but not because of the IPv4 shortage. The main reason for this is that 90% (being generous, much much closer to 100%) of new orders for this product have been spammers (in 2014 I think we had 2 legitimate orders for this service with more than 1 IP that are still clients and haven't had their IPs blacklisted).

 

[Kris]

Expect a lot of cheap 2 - 10 IP address VPS deals from providers jumping through ARIN's hoops who aren't used to needing actual detail.

This way they can copy and paste in your name as justification and pick up another subnet. 

Some are being smart, some are trying to get their final requests in and passing IP justification is likely worth more than the cheap deals they're handing out.

 

[Francisco]

Expect a lot of cheap 2 - 10 IP address VPS deals from providers jumping through ARIN's hoops who aren't used to needing actual detail.

This way they can copy and paste in your name as justification and pick up another subnet. 

Some are being smart, some are trying to get their final requests in and passing IP justification is likely worth more than the cheap deals they're handing out.

There's 2 providers that come to mind doing this. They're both doing deals around $3 - $5/year for a 512MB OVZ and a /29 included. The first one to do it is requesting blocks every couple weeks and also refuses to lock pricing for renewals for obvious reasons they won't disclose.

Francisco