N-1-1-040.25  The IANA Story
by Jon Postel* <postel@isi.edu>


The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) provides for the
assignment of numbers, keywords, and other protocol parameters for the
Internet community.

For example, the assignment of network numbers, protocol numbers, port
numbers, and MIB numbers are the responsibility of the IANA.

The Internet Activities Board (IAB) has the responsibility for the
management of the Internet including its address spaces.  The IAB has
delegated the management of the Internet address spaces to the IANA.

The IANA is located at USC's Information Sciences Institute in Marina
del Rey, California, and is staffed by Joyce K. Reynolds and Jon Postel.

The assignment and recording of network numbers is a substantial part
of the activity and this has been identified as the Internet Registry.
The support of the Internet Registry is currently delegated to the
Network Information Center.  For the assignment of an Internet network
number (an IP address) please contact "Hostmaster@NIC.DDN.MIL".

The following is a list of the types of numbers, keywords and other
parameters currently registered or recorded directly by the IANA:

	Version Numbers
	Protocol Numbers
	Port Numbers
	Unix Ports
	Internet Multicast Addresses
	IANA Ethernet Address Block
	IP Type of Service Parameters
	IP Time to Live Parameter
	Domain System Parameters
	BOOTP Parameters
	Network Management Parameters
	ARPANET and MILNET Logical Addresses
	ARPANET and MILNET Link Numbers
	ARPANET and MILNET X.25 Address Mappings
	IEEE 802 Numbers of Interest
	ETHERNET Numbers of Interest
	ETHERNET Vendor Address Components
	ETHERNET Multicast Addresses
	XNS Protocol Types
	PRONET 80 Type Numbers
	Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
	Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
	Dynamic Reverse Address Resolution Protocol Parameters
	X.25 Type Numbers
	Public Data Network Numbers
	Telnet Options
	Mail Encryption Types
	Machine Names
	System Names
	Protocol and Service Names
	Terminal Type Names

The IANA records the assignment of these and other numbers and
occasionally publishes lists of the currently assigned numbers and
parameters in an RFC titled "Assigned Numbers" (most recently as
RFC-1060).

A common request to the IANA is for the assignment of an enterprise or
"company private" management information base (mib) number.

A more interesting case is a request to assign a port number for a new
application or service based on UDP or TCP.  In these cases, there is
often some discussion to understand the protocol aspects of the use of
the port.  Normally, a two-page description of the application
(focusing on the protocol aspects) is required before a port number is
assigned.

Other types of assignments are less frequent.  It is always helpful
when a request is accompanied by a description of the proposed use of
the parameter to be assigned.

To contact the IANA for information or to request a number, keyword or
parameter assignment send an electronic mail message to "iana@isi.edu".


*Communications Division Director, Information Sciences Institute,
University of Southern California