Network Working Group G. Huston
Request for Comments: 5396 G. Michaelson
Category: Standards Track APNIC
December 2008
Textual Representation of Autonomous System (AS) Numbers
Huston & Michaelson Standards Track [Page 1]
RFC 5396 ASN Notation December 2008 1. IntroductionA textual representation for Autonomous System (AS) numbers is defined as the decimal value of the AS number. This textual representation is to be used by all documents, systems, and user interfaces referring to AS numbers.
2. Taxonomy of Representation Formats
A taxonomy of representation for AS numbers is as follows:
3. Representation of AS Number Values
To avoid confusion, a single textual notation is useful for documentation, configuration systems, reports, and external tools and information repositories. The decimal value representation, or "asplain" is proposed as the textual notation to use for AS numbers.
Huston & Michaelson Standards Track [Page 2]
RFC 5396 ASN Notation December 2008 4. IANA ConsiderationsIANA Registries should use decimal representation ("asplain") for AS numbers.
5. Security Considerations
This document does not refer to matters associated with security of routing systems.
6. Acknowledgments
The terminology of "asplain", "asdot", and "asdot+" was originally devised and described by Juergen Kammer in January 2007 [KAMMER2007].
7. Informative References
[KAMMER2007] Kammer, J., "AS Number Formats", Jan 2007,