LOA: Letter of Authorization announcing IPv4 space
Kort antwoord
Worldstream announces IPv4 space that you hold, as a service usually called bring your own IP range. Four things have to be in place: a signed Letter of Authorization (LOA), a range that is not announced anywhere else, a route object at your regional internet registry naming AS49981 or your own ASN, and an RPKI ROA. Send the request to support@worldstream.com. A one-time administrative fee per subnet applies.
What an LOA is
An LOA is a short, signed statement from the holder of an IP address range, as registered with the relevant regional internet registry (RIR) such as RIPE NCC in Europe. It gives another network explicit permission to announce that address space via BGP. It exists to stop networks announcing IP space they do not control, whether by mistake or otherwise. Registries and upstream providers treat it as the paper trail that shows an announcement is legitimate.
For a Worldstream announcement, the LOA is the document that authorises Worldstream to originate your range.
When you need one
- You hold your own IPv4 space, or lease space you are authorised to use, and you want it announced from your Worldstream infrastructure instead of using addresses Worldstream assigns you.
- You are moving that space to Worldstream from another provider.
If you are happy using addresses from Worldstream's own pool, you do not need any of this. One IPv4 address is included with every dedicated server and more can be added, see IPv4 and IPv6 addresses on your server.
What has to be in place
| Requirement | What it means in practice |
|---|---|
| A Letter of Authorization | A signed statement from the registered holder of the range, authorising Worldstream to announce it. See the contents below. |
| The range is not announced anywhere else | Stop the existing announcement before Worldstream starts its own. The same prefix being originated in two places at once causes routing problems and is the usual reason a request stalls. |
| A route object at your RIR | Create it against AS49981, Worldstream's ASN, or against your own ASN. Both are accepted. |
| An RPKI ROA | Create a Route Origin Authorisation for the range at your RIR, matching the origin ASN in the route object. If you lease the space, ask the party you lease it from to create it. |
Getting the route object and the ROA to agree with each other matters. Networks that validate RPKI will drop an announcement whose origin ASN does not match the ROA, so a mismatch shows up as your range being unreachable from parts of the internet rather than as an obvious error.
What to put in the LOA
- The IP range or ranges covered, in CIDR notation.
- The name of the organisation authorising the announcement, matching the registry record for that range.
- The network authorised to announce the space, including its AS number.
- A date and an authorised signature.
Keep it on company letterhead and sign it as an authorised representative of the organisation named in the registry record. That is what makes it verifiable.
How to start the request
Send the request to support@worldstream.com, with the signed LOA attached and the prefixes listed in CIDR notation. Say which ASN the route object uses, and confirm the range is no longer announced elsewhere. Support picks it up from there and tells you what is still missing, if anything.
A one-time administrative fee applies per subnet. This article does not state the amount, because published figures go stale: ask support for the current fee, or check worldstream.com.
Next step: prepare the LOA and the route object, then mail both details to support@worldstream.com with the prefixes you want announced.