LIR21.10.20265 min lezen

How to get your own AS number in Europe: the RIPE process, what it costs, how long it takes

What an ASN is for, what the RIPE NCC asks before it assigns one, the two routes (become a member or use a sponsoring LIR), the real yearly cost, and the usual timeline from order to a working BGP session.

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With an AS number you can announce IP addresses with BGP under your own name, use several upstreams, set your own routing policy and keep your addresses when you change provider. People ask for one for a company network with two carriers, for a hosting project, for a presence at an internet exchange, and sometimes to learn BGP on real equipment. This is how it works in the RIPE NCC region, which covers Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

Do you need one?

You need an ASN when you will run BGP with more than one neighbour, or with one neighbour under a routing policy of your own. You do not need one to:

• have a fixed public address at home or in the office; a routed address or a tunnel does that
• host a website, mail or a VPN; a VPS does that
• use IPv6 space from a provider that announces it for you

The RIPE NCC's AS number policy (ripe-679) says that a new AS number is for a network with a routing policy different from its neighbours', which in practice means a multihomed network. This is why the request asks for two peers.

Who hands them out

The RIPE NCC assigns AS numbers in its region. It deals with two kinds of parties, its members (Local Internet Registries, LIRs) and End Users who reach it through a member, so there are two routes:

Become an LIR yourself. Membership of the RIPE NCC costs EUR 1,800 per year in 2026, plus a one-time sign-up fee of EUR 1,000, and EUR 50 per year per AS number on top (RIPE NCC Charging Scheme 2026, ripe-848; from 2027 the first ASN on the account is included in the membership fee). It gets you direct access to the registry and a vote at the general meeting, and it is the route for anyone who will hold many resources or wants a /24 of IPv4 from the waiting list.

Use a sponsoring LIR. A member files the request for you and sponsors the resource afterwards. The AS number is registered in the RIPE database to you, not to the sponsor. The sponsor is the contractual link and keeps your registration data current. This is the normal route for one ASN and some IPv6. What the sponsor is and is not responsible for is in What a sponsoring LIR does.

What the RIPE NCC asks for

Every request needs the same four things. Have them ready before you order:

1. Two peering partners.Networks that will exchange routes with your AS, each with their AS number and a contact e-mail. The RIPE NCC may write to them. Upstream carriers, an IXP route server or a friend's AS that will peer with you over a tunnel all count, as long as they are real and will confirm.
2. IP space to announce.Registered IPv4 or IPv6 space that the new ASN will originate. If you have none, order the ASN together with IPv6 space, and the request covers both.
3. A legal entity.The organisation in the RIPE database must be a real person or a registered company, with the name exactly as on the official documents.
4. Identification.Of yourself and, where applicable, the company.

Less often the RIPE NCC also asks for proof of infrastructure in the service region, or for invoices from the peering partners. A second ASN for the same organisation is only assigned when its routing policy is entirely different from the first one. "Another site" or "a separate project" is not accepted as a reason.

What it costs

The RIPE NCC charges the LIR EUR 50 per year for a sponsored ASN and EUR 75 per year for an IPv6 PI assignment (2026). The sponsoring LIR adds its own handling and the contract on top, and that gives the price you pay. At NovaNode:

PA is cheaper because it is not an independent resource under RIPE rules. It comes out of our allocation and goes back when the contract ends, whereas PI is yours and moves with you to any sponsor. Which one fits is explained in IPv6 PI or PA. IPv4 is not part of this. The RIPE NCC has none left to assign, and PI IPv4 can only be bought by transfer on the market.

Everything renews together on 1 December each year, and the first payment runs until 1 December of the following year.

How long it takes

• Order and details.The same day, if the four items above are ready.
• The sponsor files the request.A business day.
• The RIPE NCC evaluates.A clean request is usually approved within a few business days. One that raises questions (unclear peers, organisation data that does not match the documents) can take weeks, in rare cases months. Most delays come from item 1 or item 3.
• Registration.The number appears in the RIPE database as soon as it is approved. Expect a 32-bit AS number, since the old 16-bit ones are only assigned with a specific justification.

From order to a working BGP session, with peers ready and a router to hand, count on about two weeks.

After the number arrives

Once the number is in the database, three things still need doing:

• Register your routes.Create route/route6 objects in the RIPE database for each prefix you will announce, and ask your sponsor to enable RPKI so you can publish ROAs. Many networks drop announcements without a valid ROA today.
• Have somewhere to run BGP.A sponsor does not route your traffic. You need a router or a VPS with BGP (BIRD, FRR) and upstreams or peers willing to take your session.
• Keep the contact data current.An AS number that cannot be contacted, or whose sponsoring contract lapses, is returned to the RIPE NCC under its own rules. Renew before 1 December.

The step-by-step for a request through us is Request an AS number through NovaNode; prices and the order buttons are on LIR services.

NovaNode · 21.10.2026