Status field for inet6num objects

[** Mail posted to both APNIC and RIPE lists in the hopes of trying 
to find a solution suitable for all users of RIPE or RIPE-derived 
software **]

Dear all,

the inet6num, like the inetnum object, has a field named "status" 
which stores some information about the nature or position of a block 
of addresses in the delegation chain, from the RIR through to the end 
user.

Currently, the status field for inet6num object is generated by the 
Database software based on the size of the address block and its 
possible values are:

      o TLA
      o SubTLA
      o NLA
      o SLA

This notation has been deprecated and it is time to adapt the database.

Discussions on this matter have identified the usefulness of having 
the capability to distinguish between allocations made by the RIR, 
allocations made by an LIR or their customers and assignments to end 
users.

As such, we propose to modify the "status" attribute of the inet6num 
object to be:

a) not-generated. This means users must assign a value to the status 
attribute when creating the object, just as in the inetnum object

b) have the following possible values:
	RIR-allocated
	LIR-allocated
	Assigned

to be used according to the following set of rules:

   The RIR-allocated status can only be used in objects representing 
allocations created directly by the RIR.

   The LIR-allocated status can be used by LIRs and their customers to 
represent blocks of addresses that are not assigned to specific end 
users. There can be several levels of objects with this status.

   The Assigned status must be used in objects representing 
assignments to end users (households, companies, enterprises, etc)

We hope that with this modification the information in the Database 
will more accurately describe the registration of IPv6 address space.

A possible transition to the new values could be:

1) RIRs modify status fields for allocations
2) Any new objects and modifications to existing ones must have a 
value for the status field corresponding to the ones described above. 
Otherwise the update will fail.
3) RIRs contact LIRs to have the status of assignments and 
sub-allocations updated.

Best
regards,
Joao Damas
RIPE NCC