What are Legacy IPv4 Addresses?
The RIRs were created between 1992 and 2005. Addresses issued before they were created had no governing policy. The RIRs respected the distinct policy status of those addresses by not charging fees for basic services, like publishing registration data.
Organizations with legacy addresses can only get additional services, like RPKI, by signing a contract and paying fees.
- IPv4 addresses were being allocated for almost 10 years before the first RIR, the RIPE NCC, was created. These IPv4 addresses were allocated without any policy constraints.
- While APNIC no longer has any legacy IPv4 addresses, the other RIRs do. Organizations with those legacy addresses can get basic registration services without paying fees.
- RIRs don’t provide additional services, like RPKI, without an agreement and fees.
- Legacy addresses transferred to the RIPE NCC can retain their legacy status.
Some organizations value legacy status. It is lost when legacy addresses are transferred in most regions. But the RIPE NCC will respect the legacy status of addresses transferred within and into its region.
The value of legacy status can be quantified in fees. But the value of the other services, like RPKI, are similar to insurance. RPKI can reduce the likelihood of a misconfiguration in someone else’s network pulling traffic away from your network.