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Network Working Group G. Huston
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Request for Comments: 5396 G. Michaelson
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Category: Standards Track APNIC
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Textual Representation of Autonomous System (AS) Numbers
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This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the
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Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for
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improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet
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Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state
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and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.
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Copyright (c) 2008 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
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document authors. All rights reserved.
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This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/
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license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document.
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Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights
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and restrictions with respect to this document.
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A textual representation for Autonomous System (AS) numbers is
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defined as the decimal value of the AS number. This textual
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representation is to be used by all documents, systems, and user
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interfaces referring to AS numbers.
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1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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2. Taxonomy of Representation Formats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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3. Representation of AS Number Values . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
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4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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6. Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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7. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
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Huston & Michaelson Standards Track [Page 1]
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RFC 5396 ASN Notation December 2008
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A textual representation for Autonomous System (AS) numbers is
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defined as the decimal value of the AS number. This textual
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representation is to be used by all documents, systems, and user
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interfaces referring to AS numbers.
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This document notes a number of potential representation formats and
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proposes the adoption of a decimal value notation for AS numbers, or
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"asplain" according to the representation taxonomy described here.
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2. Taxonomy of Representation Formats
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A taxonomy of representation for AS numbers is as follows:
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refers to a syntax scheme of representing all AS numbers using
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decimal integer notation. Using asplain notation, an AS number of
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value 65526 would be represented as the string "65526" and an AS
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number of value 65546 would be represented as the string "65546".
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refers to a syntax scheme of representing all AS numbers using a
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notation of two integer values joined by a period character: <high
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order 16-bit value in decimal>.<low order 16-bit value in
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decimal>. Using asdot+ notation, an AS number of value 65526
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would be represented as the string "0.65526" and an AS number of
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value 65546 would be represented as the string "1.10".
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refers to a syntax scheme of representing AS number values less
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than 65536 using asplain notation and representing AS number
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values equal to or greater than 65536 using asdot+ notation.
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Using asdot notation, an AS number of value 65526 would be
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represented as the string "65526" and an AS number of value 65546
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would be represented as the string "1.10".
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3. Representation of AS Number Values
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To avoid confusion, a single textual notation is useful for
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documentation, configuration systems, reports, and external tools and
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information repositories. The decimal value representation, or
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"asplain" is proposed as the textual notation to use for AS numbers.
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The "asplain" representation represents the number as its decimal
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value, without any field delimiter, corresponding to the lack of any
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internal structure required by the use of AS numbers in the inter-
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domain routing context.
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Huston & Michaelson Standards Track [Page 2]
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RFC 5396 ASN Notation December 2008
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4. IANA Considerations
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IANA Registries should use decimal representation ("asplain") for AS
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5. Security Considerations
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This document does not refer to matters associated with security of
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The terminology of "asplain", "asdot", and "asdot+" was originally
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devised and described by Juergen Kammer in January 2007 [KAMMER2007].
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7. Informative References
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[KAMMER2007] Kammer, J., "AS Number Formats", Jan 2007,
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<http://quagga.ncc.eurodata.de/asnumformat.html>.
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Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
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Asia Pacific Network Information Centre
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Huston & Michaelson Standards Track [Page 3]
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