LIR Route
Hello! Welcome to Beako's learn networking page, Today I'm going to assume you are here as you wish to get an ASN for starting your journey, and assuming this is the case, welcome!
Networking can absolutely be a fun way to kill time or grow or drive you insane and getting an ASN is the start of an adventure with BGP!
So today we will be looking at the LIR route, which is for people just looking to run there own personal network, or learn BGP on the public space is by far the more common route, due to the costs being significantly lower than going with a RIR. The average cost of an ASN via LIR is about 60$ vs a LIR where it could be hundreds or even thousands just to get started.
Now then, into the main point of this section, how to get an ASN.
There are hundreds of LIRs out there you can choose from, but obviously some are better than others. I from my own personal experience have some suggestions of good LIRs to go with, but you can also just search up your own, a quick drop to google will yield many LIRs who will help you with getting an ASN. RIPE is by far the most common place for LIRs to set up shop, and much easier with regards to actually getting an ASN, so you should check to see if your LIR uses RIPE. Assuming they do, here's what it typically should cost.
As with RIPE, at least currently there is no cost to a LIR for issuing an ASN to a user. It costs nothing. Which means it's only administration time during creation that it costs a LIR, so any LIR trying to sell a yearly fee for an ASN should be avoided for this reason alone. Average charges from admin costs vary from $25 to $100, but around 50-60 is pretty fair and what is normally charged for an ASN.
If you don't want to look around on your own to find one the LIRs I list below are reputable and safe to deal with
Regardless of what LIR you choose, you will need to provide information to them, and this information will vary slightly depending on what you are requesting this ASN as, be it a natural person (yourself) or a company/LLC
You will also need to create an role/mnt pair and an organization, using the name you intend to register the ASN as. Do not use any name but the name of yourself or your company, it's a requirement that the two match. You can find more information on RIPE objects here!
Both require the creation of RIPE objects in advance, see this page for how to make RIPE objects. (the LIR will tell you which ones to make)
If you request an AS as yourself (natural person) You will need a scan of your ID, and a reason for requesting an ASN, and sometimes proof of operation in Europe/multihoming (this is easy to get by buying a VM from vultr)
Under no circumstances should the LIR request your ID directly. It should be a link from an identity verification service.
A special note for applying as a natural person: You need to provide your FULL legal name. Not only some parts of it.
Requesting an AS as a company (LLC, corp, etc) requires all of the above, with the inclusion of your articles of formation (proof your company exists)
Provide all this information to your LIR, and in a few days you should have your very own ASN!