It can be relatively inexpensive, depending on which RIR you’re using. There are providers like [Neptune Networks](https://neptunenetworks.org/) or [Vultr](https://www.vultr.com/) that you can peer with from a VPS so you don’t need to get “proper” IP transit in a datacenter.

Oh, interesting -- I assumed you had to have a membership to the RIR directly (APNIC in my case, which would have been upwards of 1000AUD/month). Hmm... Thanks!

APNICs info seems to show AUD 1180/year, not per month? Includes one ASN, one /24 on v4 and a /48 on v6. It's still significant, but not crazy.

Oh, you're right. 1180AUD / year + 500AUD sign-up fee.. Still a bit expensive. If I had a business use case for it I'd be able to justify it, but it's too much for a hobby, unfortunately.

This actually doesn't seem that bad for a hobby (I'd be using this almost as a fee to help me learn more about networking).

Does APNIC give out ASes for hobbyist and experimental use?

You "just" need to be in their reigon, and have justification. Usual justification is that you have two upstream networks and they'll announce your prefixes (generally with BGP). That's going to cost some more money, but there's specialist VPSes for this these days.

There’s no hobbyist program but neither is it corporate/for-profit only, from what I see.

There are few people(mostly network engineers or researchers by trade and/or business owners themselves) who are assigned ASN to their homelab gears from JPNIC. Knowing the right doors to knock etc.

Good to know. Thanks

i got my V6 and V4 space, along with my ASN though Hostus.us (https://my.hostus.us/cart.php?gid=55). I use Vultr and a few other providers. For V6 only, you can get the ASN and V6 space for around $50 per year, and the vultr server is around $5 per month... my own ASN is under https://as204994.net with links to some providers and details...

I never would have come across this myself when doing very cursory research. One step closer... Thanks!

Excuse my ignorance, but how do you peer on public ixps through Vultr? Do you have physical presence there?

Check out the dn42 community if you simply want to play with the tech stack for free. The network uses the private AS range, allocates addresses from the private address ranges and peering happens over point-to-point VPN links.

See https://dn42.eu

I walked through doing this with my AS (AS398328) in the US (ARIN), both for fun and for security research. Happy to chat with anyone who wants to go through the process, it was probably $1-2k in total for ARIN fees to get the AS and v4/v6 space. Real transit is a lot worse though.

1-2k is a bit tough for testing the water. But above there is another $50 one. One wonder what is the difference as $50 is very manageable!

going direct to ARIN/RIPE/APNIC etc have some stricter rules (IIRC, in RIPE you need a company or possibly business, plus a bank account in that name). by going for somone like HostUs, they are sponsoring the account, so they need to verify you and ask questions, then setup the ASN, etc. Also, going direct will provide you with V4/V6 space allocations. They might charge a yearly fee (IIRC, its like 50 per allocation) but v6 is "practally" free but V4 will be a in a wait list... Finally, going direct, there is some sort of "kick back"... if the RIR makes more money than it cost to run the place, they reallocate fees back to the LIRs... so, you some times get money back... I have been tempted, but for RIPE, its 1400 per year, plus 2k setup... ouch...

[EDIT] bit more on the RIPE fees: https://www.ripe.net/participate/member-support/payment/ripe...

I have my personal LIR with RIPE and they do allow signing up as an LIR without being a company. As an individual you need to provide proof of identity via government issued ID and pay 17% Dutch VAT.

When I signed up I got a /22 of V4 space and /29 of v6 space, although for new signups I believe there's now a wait list to get a /24 and that's it for V4.

Yeah, AFAIK the LIR model is specific to RIPE. The ARIN team does seem to put a decent amount of work into vetting and support/etc with pleasant interactions, so I don't think the fees are too unreasonable (but maybe not the best idea as an individual).