Becoming an Autonomous System
I dreamt of starting an ISP when I was young. I envied friends with better internet service. I was an absolute grouch when a down modem got in the way of gaming. I thought I could do better, or at least understand it better. This dream stuck with me, and in 2019 I finally did it. According to the authorities, I am now an ISP.
I had a bit of guidance from Kenneth Finnegan’s blogpost and nigelvh. It’s not particularly difficult, but there are some caveats. In my case, the regulatory body ARIN shaped what procedures I had to follow. It would have been different had I lived outside of ARIN’s juristiction.
Registering an organization
To get started with ARIN, I first had to create an account. This gave me access to submit requests, make payments, and manage data.
In ARIN, organizations own resources, not user accounts. So next I had to create an organization, “Ryan Turner Sole Proprietor”. This is a bit of an awkward name, but necessary because I have no separate business entity. But, my org ID is “RTSP”, which is certainly easy to remember. I had to specify my organization’s contacts, and that information is public. I’m OK with this, but I can see some people wanting to use a PO box.
ARIN had me confirm my identity by attaching a picture of my ID. To confirm my organization though, I had to create an affidavit pledging my name to be true. Basically, I wrote a letter that said I use my name for internet stuff and had a notary-friend stamp it.
This process took about five days end-to-end, and it was free.
Getting my first IPv6 block
Now that ARIN recognized me, I could request IP blocks. I plan to use these for my home lab, interconnecting with a regional WAN, and offering services to friends and family. Thanks to this I am an ISP as defined by ARIN. To determine how big a block I needed, I needed to come up with a basic network plan. I decided to segment the network by different users. The next factor in “how big” came down to how many places I planned to be in. I could immediately point to two, and as a result, an ISP-Small allocation of /36 was a good fit.
Next I submitted an IP address request including those details. ARIN required me to prove network service, which meant sharing a master sales agreement and sales order form from my ISP. Additionally, even though it didn’t really apply since I’m a sole proprietor, I had to include an officer attestation of accuracy.
It took me a few days to get all this information submitted, but the last step was paying a $500 fee. In about seven days, I became the proud lesee of 2602:FDAB::/36. I call it the dabnet.
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On to get an IPv4 block
I knew I wanted my networks to be single-stack IPv6, but you can’t really use the internet that way still. Luckily ARIN understands this, and if you have IPv6 space allocated you can request an IPv4 /24. The request requires justification, but that’s trivial if you’re familiar with IPv6. I intend to use it for DNS and NAT64. I had to attach the officer attestation again, but other than that it was pretty straightforward.
In about 7 days start to finish, I was the proud lessee of 23.143.48.0/24 for $0.
Registering my Autonomous System (AS)
Finally, I needed my own AS number. With it, I can define my own routing policies for my network block. I avoided this for years by using a private ASN, but that doesn’t scale once your network is multihomed. This was my justification.
In submitting the request, I had to include proof of multiple network providers. This meant again sharing the master services agreement and sales order forms from my providers. The last step was to sign a registration services agreement, which I’ll discuss more shortly.
This is actually where I started, as I already had an IPv4 block subleased. It could’ve come last though. After about a week and $550, I received AS397968.
Switch to ARIN’s Registration Services Plan
Each of these products is expensive initially, but ARIN has a cheaper annual maintenance option. Since I was registered as an ISP, this was automatic. End users might need to submit a request. This will save hundreds per year, bringing my annual costs to $450.
What’s next
Now, it’s just a matter of putting these resources to use! I have a freshly minted ASN to act as an ISP. I have my own IP space to segment resources by use. I can now interoperate with other networks and lease IPv6 space to my WAN project.
I gained some good learning from this experience. I’m even a voting member of ARIN now. If you’re interested in learning more about how the internet works, especially on the business side, consider this. These steps can take time, but ARIN still beat my ISP’s installation (which still hasn’t happened…). I hope with this information you can expect some of what’s needed and speed up your own experience. If you want to become your own ISP, take it from me that buying the numbers is the easy part.