Internet Routing Glossary

Operational relevance

Announcements, filters, and peering all key on it. To speak for your own network, you need a number.

Operational relevance

"Autonomous" describes one external policy. An ASN becomes relevant when one organisation runs that policy for its network.

Operational relevance

An independent external policy needs a routing identity that the organisation can use and maintain.

Operational relevance

Sponsorship gives an End User a path to ASN and IPv6 resources while the LIR administers the registry relationship. The agreement defines the boundary on both sides.

Operational relevance

There is no central routing table on the Internet — BGP is the distributed one. Every path, and every filter, flows through it.

Operational relevance

Routing, registries, and authorisations all speak in prefixes. Writing one precisely — length included — is step one of reading any result.

Operational relevance

RPKI and IRR both use the origin. The recorded ASN identifies the network claiming the prefix and gives operators a concrete value to compare.

Operational relevance

Resilience is the upside; the cost is a routing policy of your own. That moment is when many people start needing an ASN.

Operational relevance

Transit is a service you buy; peering is a relationship you exchange. Knowing which is which explains both your bill and your route table.

Operational relevance

Peering uses an agreed policy, compatible locations, and consent from both sides. A PeeringDB entry supplies context for that discussion.

Operational relevance

An IXP provides the meeting place. Each peer relationship is negotiated separately by the networks using the fabric.

Operational relevance

A registry object records routing intent, while an announcement shows current BGP activity. Together they show the published route information and the observed route state.

Operational relevance

IPv6 planning relies on the /48 and /64 hierarchy. That hierarchy determines subnet capacity and routing representation.

Operational relevance

The length decides how many subnets fit inside, and how the range appears in routing data.

Operational relevance

A /48 is a common planning unit. Its permitted use and lifecycle follow the resource model and service agreement.

Operational relevance

Count the /64s inside a larger prefix and you instantly see how much room your plan has.

Operational relevance

A PA prefix follows the provider relationship. Provider changes can require renumbering, which belongs in the network plan from the beginning.

Operational relevance

PI survives provider changes without renumbering; the price is your own registry relationship, annual fees, and ROA/IRR upkeep.

Operational relevance

Turning a resource prefix into site, service, and infrastructure boundaries is the most time-consuming — and most worthwhile — part of IPv6 planning.

Operational relevance

RPKI makes route-origin authorisation available to validators and filtering systems. That signal helps operators detect and handle mismatches in routing data.

Operational relevance

A ROA supplies the data used by RPKI validation. Its absence produces an Unknown result for that prefix and origin combination.

Operational relevance

An announcement more specific than the ROA maximum length validates as Invalid. The announced prefix length therefore belongs in every ROA review.

Operational relevance

IRR records routing-policy information, while RPKI records route-origin authorisation. A filter's data source determines the check it can perform.

Operational relevance

Operators can build filters from route objects. BGP observations provide the separate signal for a live announcement.

Operational relevance

ROUTE6 is the IPv6 counterpart of a route object. BGP observations provide a separate view of current announcements.

Operational relevance

A lease decision affects the prefix, intended use, routing model, reputation review, abuse path, and exit plan. Those facts belong in the Order.

Operational relevance

Reputation is evaluated for a specific block, use case, and review date. A traceable record gives the delivery and abuse workflows a concrete starting point.

Operational relevance

An LOA gives an operator or upstream a document to match against the requested Origin ASN and routing operation.

Operational relevance

AS-SET keeps a routing policy readable when a customer or routing provider operates more than one ASN or route set.

Operational relevance

Valid confirms a matching authorisation. Service availability and path reachability come from separate operational checks.

Operational relevance

An Invalid result points to a mismatch in the prefix, origin, or length. That mismatch identifies the configuration or policy detail that needs review.

Operational relevance

Unknown and Invalid describe different validation states. A network without an applicable ROA commonly appears as Unknown; the source and timestamp complete the reading of that result.