As a member of the RIPE NCC we're able to offer various LIR services to customers wishing to obtain Autonomous System Numbers or IP addresses. We'll work with you to give you the best shot at a sucessfull application to the RIPE NCC, and we'll help you get started with your new resources. For pricing information see our pricing page.
Autonomous System Numbers (or ASNs) are what identify different networks on the internet. Having one is essential to getting started with BGP. Getting an ASN from RIPE requires a LIR (Local Internet Registry, thats us!) to sponsor the application. We'll guide you through the RIPE process and help you familiarise with the systems required to make effective use of your ASN.
We'll discuss your needs and why you want an ASN, setup your objects in the RIPE database, and discover who you'll be peering with. If you need a 16-bit ASN for legacy hardware we'll collect the required documentation for that at this time.
Before we can submit the application to RIPE you'll have to sign an "Assignment Request and Maintenance Agreement" with us. This sets out our responsibilites as your LIR, and your responsibilites to us and to RIPE. We're also required to collect a form of identification, such as a formation document or trade register extract for body corporates; and a passport, driving license, or national ID card for individuals.
The contract will be sent via electronic means, no wasteful paper signatures here! We'll send an invoice for the application once the contract is signed and we're satisfied everything is read.
We'll collate everything you've given to us and liase with the RIPE NCC to hand the application over to them. Once they have everything an ASN will usually be assigned within 2 days.
As a LIR we can also assign you IPv6 address blocks from our RIPE allocation as Provider-aggregatable address space, or sponsor Provider-independent address space (be it IPv4 or IPv6).
In normal day to day operations there's not much different between them. The difference comes when you decide to change your LIR. PA space is tied to the LIR so you will have to renumber when this happens, PI space is tied to yourself so it can be moved between LIRs. So why use PA at all? Simply; it is cheaper. RIPE charges each LIR an annual fee per PI block they sponsor, whereas PA space is included in the membership. For more a more detailed look at PI vs PA please refer to the RIPE policy on IP assignments; currently ripe-738.