Getting your own ASN (Autonomous System Number) and IP space is the upgrade most growing networks make. It lets you multi-home, control your own routing policy, build a real network rather than rent space on someone else's. This is the practical guide to doing it without surprises.
Why You Might Want Your Own ASN
- Multi-homing. Announce the same prefixes from two or more upstream providers for resilience.
- Routing control. Your own BGP policy, your own communities, your own traffic engineering.
- Portable IP space. Your prefixes follow you when you change providers.
- Operational independence. Reverse DNS, RPKI signing, peering at IXPs — all things you can do for yourself instead of asking a vendor.
- Brand and trust. Operating an ASN signals you're a real network, not just a customer.
What You Need Before You Apply
- A registered legal entity. Sole proprietor, LLC, or corporation depending on your country. RIRs require this.
- An RIR membership. ARIN (North America), RIPE (Europe/Middle East), APNIC (Asia-Pacific), AFRINIC (Africa), or LACNIC (Latin America) — pick by where your organization is registered.
- A real, multi-homing intent. RIRs prefer to allocate ASNs to networks that will peer with multiple upstreams.
- Annual fees. Membership and resource fees vary by RIR and entity size — typically a few hundred to a few thousand USD per year.
- A network plan. Where you'll announce, who your upstreams are, what your prefixes are for.
Step 1: Become an RIR Member
This is paperwork. You'll fill out membership forms, prove your legal entity exists, sign the RIR's policy agreements, and pay the joining fee. Turnaround varies — RIPE is usually fast, ARIN is more formal.
Many smaller operators go through an RIR-accredited LIR (Local Internet Registry) sponsor instead of joining directly. That's fine and often cheaper at the bottom end.
Step 2: Apply for an ASN
Once you're a member or sponsored, you submit an ASN request. Expect to demonstrate:
- You have or are signing contracts with at least two BGP-capable upstream providers (or one upstream plus an IXP).
- You have a routing policy and a public-facing description.
- You're not just stockpiling resources.
Modern ASN allocations are 32-bit. Most are issued in the high range (e.g., AS4200000000+). Plan for 32-bit communities or use large communities (RFC 8092).
Step 3: Get IP Space
Independent of the ASN, you'll request a prefix. Common starting allocations:
- IPv4 — typically a /24 from RIR or transferred. Many RIRs are out of fresh IPv4 and route allocations through the transfer market.
- IPv6 — a /48 minimum is standard for most networks; /32 for ISPs.
IPv4 will be the painful part. Costs in the transfer market in 2026 are nontrivial. If you don't strictly need IPv4 for your use case, start IPv6-first and add IPv4 later from your upstream's allocations.
Step 4: Set Up RPKI
Before you announce anything, sign your prefixes with RPKI ROAs (Route Origin Authorizations). This tells the world that your ASN is allowed to originate your prefixes, and it lets validators reject hijacks.
RIR portals all have ROA management tools. It's a 5-minute job per prefix and it's table stakes in 2026. Read our guide on RPKI for the deeper dive.
Step 5: Set Up BGP With Upstreams
Order BGP-capable transit from at least two providers. Each will give you a peering form to fill out — your ASN, the prefixes you'll announce, your contact info, and your max-prefix limits.
Best practices for the first session:
- Filter your own announcements to exactly the prefixes you mean to send. Use prefix lists, not just AS-path filters.
- Apply the upstream's communities for prepending or scoping where useful.
- Set BGP max-prefix as a safety net.
- Test failover by manually disabling a session in a maintenance window before you trust the redundancy.
Step 6: Document Yourself
- Update your PeeringDB record — peers will check it before agreeing to peer.
- Set up an IRR object for your ASN and prefixes (RADB, RIPE, ARIN-IRR).
- Publish a peering policy on a real website.
- Set up reverse DNS for your IP space.
Step 7: Peer at IXPs (Optional but Recommended)
Once you're stable on transit, look at peering with an IXP. Membership fees are usually low; the latency and cost wins for traffic to other peered networks can be substantial.
Common Mistakes
- Applying for an ASN with only one upstream. Some RIRs will reject this. Even if approved, it defeats most of the point.
- Skipping RPKI. Increasingly, networks reject unsigned prefixes. Sign before you announce.
- No prefix filtering on outbound. A misconfiguration that announces extra prefixes can cause real-world incidents. Filter both directions.
- Letting your IRR objects rot. Many networks build prefix filters from IRR data. Stale records mean dropped traffic.
How Noded Helps
Noded.cloud is BGP-friendly. We sell IP transit to customers running their own ASN, support customer-announced anycast, RPKI-validate everything, and document our community list publicly. We can be one of your upstreams or your peering point.
If you're building toward your own ASN, talk to us. We've helped a lot of customers through this process.
FAQ
How long does the whole process take?
RIR membership and ASN issuance: 1–4 weeks typically. IPv4 acquisition: variable, sometimes weeks. First BGP session up: a day after the ASN is issued, assuming your transit provider is ready.
Do I need a /24 to multi-home?
For IPv4, yes — most networks won't accept anything more specific than /24 globally. For IPv6, /48 is the de facto minimum.
Can I rent an ASN instead of getting my own?
Some networks rent ASNs and IP space. It works but you're a tenant — your routing policy is constrained, and the resources don't move with you cleanly. For long-term operations, your own ASN is worth it.
What hardware do I need to run BGP?
A modern router or a Linux box with FRR/BIRD will do. Most operators start with software routing on commodity hardware before moving to dedicated gear.
Does Noded help with the application paperwork?
We can advise and we've been through the process for ourselves. We don't act as an LIR sponsor, but we'll point you at trustworthy ones.