The American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is a nonprofit, member-based Regional Internet Registry (RIR). It manages and registers IPv4 and IPv6 addresses and Autonomous System Numbers (ASNs) for its service region, which includes the United States, Canada, and many Caribbean and North Atlantic countries. It does not provide the Internet connection in your home.
What does ARIN stand for?
ARIN stands for American Registry for Internet Numbers. ARIN says it was established in December 1997. It is one of five Regional Internet Registries, organizations that coordinate Internet number resources and related registry records across different parts of the world.
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What does ARIN do?
ARIN administers Internet number resources in its region. Its work includes allocating and assigning address space and ASNs, handling transfers, and maintaining resource records.
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- Autonomous System Numbers: Identifiers associated with autonomous systems for Internet routing.
- Related services: ARIN lists support for the Internet Routing Registry, Resource Public Key Infrastructure (RPKI), reverse DNS, and resource-record management.
ARIN also coordinates community policy development for Internet number resources and provides informational outreach. Its stated mission emphasizes an open, transparent, multistakeholder process for registry policy development.
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Where does ARIN operate?
ARIN’s service region covers the United States, Canada, and many Caribbean and North Atlantic countries. The five RIRs divide responsibility geographically; ARIN’s role applies to its defined region rather than to every Internet address worldwide.
What can you find in ARIN Whois or RDAP?
ARIN provides public registration-data access through its Whois service, RDAP, and its ARIN-specific Whois-RWS interface. A lookup can show information associated with a registered Internet number resource, including organizations and Points of Contact.
A registry result is not proof of which individual used an IP address at a particular moment. It describes registration records and associated organizations or contacts, not the identity of a person behind a specific connection. ARIN also says that additional operational information it collects is generally not public.
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No. ARIN manages and registers number resources; it is not the Internet service provider that connects a household or device to the Internet. Your provider supplies that connection, while ARIN’s registry role concerns Internet number resources and their records.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How large is ARIN?
In its 2024 annual report, ARIN reported serving approximately 40,000 organizations and maintaining roughly 8 million registration records. These are figures from that report, not current live counts.
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