IPv6 day @ 8 June 2011

IPv6 has been considered the internet of the future for the past 15 years. I played with it in the later 1990′s. And after it waiting when it will take on, or will it fail. Disruption might be the only way to force companies into deploying IP version 6 (IPv6) networks. The expected ending of IPv4 addresses has not caused panic. World IPv6 Day coming at 8 June, 2011 (after a few days) might be the extra disruption that is needed. The goal of the Test Flight Day is to motivate organizations across the industry to prepare their services for IPv6 to ensure a successful transition as IPv4 addresses run out.

Google, Facebook, Yahoo!, Akamai and Limelight Networks will be amongst some of the major organisations that will offer their content over IPv6 for a 24-hour “test flight”. I expect to see some hiccups, although most of the things should work without problems. Google expects less than one per cent of requests to fail on IPv6 day. The vast majority (99.95%) of Internet users shouldn’t see anything out of the ordinary. For the remaining 0.05% of users, misconfigured or misbehaving network equipment, particularly in home networks, may impair access to participating websites during the trial.

You can test your IPv6 connectivity in advance with http://www.kame.net/, http://test-ipv6.com/, Wireshark IPv4 and IPv6 Connectivity Test or ipv6test.google.com. Don’t worry if you don’t have IPv6 at all (just “old” IPv4 connectivity), you shouldn’t have problems on websites that add IPv6 support on World IPv6 Day.

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16 Comments

  1. Tomi says:

    Can’t reach your favorite site? IPv6 may be to blame
    http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9217412/Can_t_reach_your_favorite_site_IPv6_may_be_to_blame

    A small number of Internet users will experience delays or time-outs as they attempt to visit Facebook, Google, Yahoo and other popular websites tonight and tomorrow, due to a 24-hour trial of a new Internet standard called IPv6.

    Estimates of how many will experience problems with IPv6 range from 0.03% to 0.05% of all Internet users — or as many as 1 million of the Internet’s 2 billion users worldwide.

    Internet engineers have dubbed this problem “IPv6 brokenness.” The term refers to PCs and smartphones that have IPv6 addresses and run operating systems such as Apple Mac OS X or Microsoft Windows 7 that default to IPv6. However, these systems do not have end-to-end IPv6 connectivity due to misconfigurations somewhere along their paths to the Internet. Broken IPv6 connections will cause these systems to suffer delays and timeouts when they try to visit websites running IPv6.

    Reply
  2. Tomi says:

    There were no major problems on IPv6 day
    http://www.tietoviikko.fi/kaikki_uutiset/article640005.ece?s=r&wtm=tietoviikko/-09062011

    Facebook said that only 0,03% of test used had some problems in logging to the service on the test day.

    Reply
  3. tomi says:

    World IPv6 Day fails to kill the internet
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/06/09/ipv6_fails_to_kill/

    Publicity stunt over, now the work begins

    Facebook intends to continue to dual-stack its developer pages with both IPv4 and IPv6 now that World IPv6 Day is over, Lee said.

    Google “IPv6 Samurai” Lorenzo Colitti was similarly enthused.

    Reply
  4. Tomi says:

    http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2078219/ipv6-blocking-software-claims-ip-geolocation-firm?WT.rss_f=&WT.rss_a=IPv6+is+the+best+ad-blocking+software%2C+claims+IP+geolocation+firm

    IPv6 is the best ad-blocking software, claims IP geolocation firm
    Advertisers are waiting for consumers to upgrade before getting onboard

    Jeff Burdette, director of research and development at Digital Element said that even on IPv6 day web sites that had IPv6 enabled were serving adverts over IPv4. Single stack IPv6 configurations, meaning no IPv4 connectivity, would not have been served any adverts.

    Those who think that IPv6 networks will be immune from advertisers will be bitterly disappointed, however. Burdette told The INQUIRER that it is only a matter of time before advertisers move over to IPv6, saying, “Currently there [aren't] enough eyeballs on IPv6 to make it worthwhile for advertisers to adopt it at the moment.”

    Read more: http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2078219/ipv6-blocking-software-claims-ip-geolocation-firm#ixzz1P8CbwjV2
    The Inquirer – Computer hardware news and downloads.

    Reply
  5. Tomi says:

    Use best practices to deploy IPv6 over broadband access
    http://www.eetimes.com/design/communications-design/4217080/Use-best-practices-to-deploy-IPv6-over-broadband-access?Ecosystem=communications-design

    While the Internet is rich with IPv6 content and services- Google is already supporting IPv6 on its search, news, docs, maps and YouTube- IPv4 won’t just “go away” as IPv6 comes on board. This creates a challenging situation for service providers that must upgrade their network infrastructure to handle IPv4 and IPv6 co-existence.

    Network cores are well equipped for handling both IPv4 and IPv6, however broadband access networks are not. IPv4 and IPv6 co-existence puts tremendous stress on the underlying network systems.

    Reply
  6. Tomi Engdahl says:

    HP says networking vendors can’t make money on IPv6
    http://www.theinquirer.net/inquirer/news/2115653/hp-networking-vendors-money-ipv6

    Yanick Pouffary, HP’s IPv6 worldwide leader told The INQUIRER that most network firms can’t expect to make a penny from new hardware sales. Pouffary pointed to the fact that IPv6 had been seen so far ahead by vendors that most users won’t need to buy new hardware because current kit, regardless of vendor, most likely already supports IPv6.

    Just as there has been pressure for governments and the European Union to push firms to deploy fiber-optic broadband, Pouffray said that similar interventions should also be pressed for IPv6. “Government incentives and mandates are extremely important in addressing the transformation [to IPv6]. We’re talking about infrastructure here [...] and it’s all about restoring the criticality of the infrastructure.”

    Given that few internet service providers (ISPs) have deployed IPv6 on the last mile, it is possible that the built-to-a-budget routers they have sent to customers might need to be changed out.

    Reply
  7. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Some interesting article links on IPv6:

    IPv6 Gets Ready for the Smart Grid and the Internet of Things
    http://www.rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/102263?utm_source=ePubXpress&utm_medium=email&utm_term=Read+More&utm_content=RTC+Magazine+Digital+E-Newsletter&utm_campaign=111004_RTC_E-Letter

    As intelligent devices proliferate into diverse and special-purpose networks, the enhanced address space, routing and security features of IPv6 will be required for universal connectivity.

    The World Is Moving to IPv6: Are You and Your Product Ready?
    http://www.rtcmagazine.com/articles/view/102290?utm_source=ePubXpress&utm_medium=email&utm_term=The+World+Is+Moving+to+IPv6%3A+Are+You+and+Your+Product+Ready%3F&utm_content=RTC+Magazine+Digital+E-Newsletter&utm_campaign=111004_RTC_E-Letter

    The transition to IPv6 is more than just a move to an expanded address space. It involves a system of routing and address formats that will make the Internet more versatile. Compatibility with IPv4 is not automatically assured, and a rigorous program of certification is needed to ensure interoperability.

    Reply
  8. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Adventures in Tech: Taking the plunge into IPv6
    http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/10/31/ipv6_transport/page2.html

    Let’s put aside for the moment the matter of whether you’re going to upgrade your client or app or server to support IPv6, what would need consideration if you did?

    Recent commodity operating system versions such as Windows and *nix (including Linux and Mac OS X), and language libraries (eg C/C++/C#, Java, etc) support IPv6 one way or another, and network tools and browsers generally do too.

    The real IPv6 Gordian Knot is likely in many cases to be that soup of half-brained it-kinda-works stuff known as in-house code. It may assume that an IP address is always 4 bytes (or can be entered or displayed as a dotted-quad) for example; think of space on reports, in database fields, log formatting, etc, etc.

    Reply
  9. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Go Daddy Has Lion’s Share of IPv6 Address Space
    http://www.readwriteweb.com/enterprise/2011/11/godaddy-accounts-for-lions-sha.php

    In their census, the number of active IPv6 addresses went from 1.27% of all overall IP addresses in the 2010 sample to 25.4% in the 2011 sample. And more than 80% of the v6 addresses are being hosted by Go Daddy.

    Go Daddy’s Chief Technology Officer, Dave Koopman, told us that “Go Daddy sees IPv6 enabled services as critical to the continued growth of the Internet.”

    Reply
  10. Tomi Engdahl says:

    Google Deploys IPv6 For Internal Network
    http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/11/1240258/google-deploys-ipv6-for-internal-network

    “Google is four years into a project to roll out IPv6 to its entire internal employee network. At the Usenix Large Installation System Administration (LISA) conference in Boston last week, Google network engineer Irena Nikolova shared some lessons others can learn from Google’s experience. For example: It requires a lot of work with vendors to get them to fix buggy and still-unfinished code. ‘We should not expect something to work just because it is declared supported,’ the paper accompanying the presentation concluded.”

    Usenix: Google deploys IPv6 for internal network
    Though the project is only halfway finished, Google’s IPv6 network is already bearing fruit
    http://www.itworld.com/networking/231929/usenix-google-deploys-ipv6-internal-network

    From the experience, Google has learned that an IPv6 migration involves more than just updating the software and hardware. It also requires buy-in from management and staff, particularly administrators who already are juggling too many tasks. And, for early adopters, it requires a lot of work with vendors to get them to fix buggy and still-unfinished code. “We should not expect something to work just because it is declared supported,” the paper accompanying the presentation concluded.

    “I think everyone who has tried to migrate to IPv6 has run into the same problems we have,” Nikolova said.

    Even though it was a private network, Google’s internal network used public IP addresses, and Google was running out of internal IPv4 addresses. Also, Google engineers were developing IPv6 versions of Google’s own tools and applications and needed to test this software internally before releasing it to the public.

    Lastly, Google engineers realized they faced a chicken-and-egg problem with deploying IPv6

    The engineers modeled the IPv6 network as closely as possible on the existing IPv4 one, to keep the routing and traffic flow largely the same.

    To assign IPv6 numbers to devices, Google followed the guidelines in the Internet Engineering Task Force’s RFC 5375. Each campus or office got a /48 address block, which meant that it was allotted 280 addresses. In turn, each building got a /56 block of those addresses (or about 272 addresses) and each VLAN (Virtual Local Area Network) received a /64 block, or about 264 addresses. To assign numbers to specific devices, the engineers used the Stateless Address Auto-Configuration capability (SLAAC), which allows the devices to assign numbers to themselves.

    Many network devices now only support IPv6 in software, meaning that much of the traffic processing is carried out in software, rather than with customized hardware. As a result, IPv6 network operations consume more processor cycles than IPv4 operations do.

    Application and OS compatibility also proved to be a challenge

    Reply
  11. Tomi Engdahl says:

    No IPv6 Doomsday In 2012
    http://tech.slashdot.org/story/11/12/29/1754217/no-ipv6-doomsday-in-2012

    “Yes, IPv4 addresses are running out, but a Y2K-style disaster/frenzy won’t be coming in 2012. Instead, businesses are likely to spend the coming year preparing to upgrade to IPv6, experts say. Of course there’s a chance that panic will ensue when Europe’s RIPE hands out its last IPv4 addresses this summer, but ‘most [businesses] understand that they can live without having to make any major investments immediately,’ said IDC analyst Nav Chander. Plus, it won’t be until 2013 that North America will run out of IPv4 addresses and there’s no sense getting worked up before then.”

    ISP’s and hosting companies will not run out of IPs. This only means that the price per IP will start to slowly grow.

    Sounds just like a Y2K-style disaster/frenzy.

    The question I’d like to ask is why don’t they just hand out a static IP by default? The vast majority of broadband connections are always on; they aren’t saving IPs by handing out dynamic assignments.
    There’s a few good reasons off the top of my head that I can think of:
    – Dynamic IPs cut a lot of bullshit out of support calls
    – DHCP servers hand out more information that just IPs (default gateway, DNS servers, domain, etc)
    – ISPs like to have the option of re-allocating blocks of IPs without having to call hundreds/thousands of customers to have them renumber their equipment

    Reply
  12. Tomi says:

    Apple under fire for backing off IPv6 support
    IPv6 proponents slam AirPort Utility v6.0 for removing support for next-gen Internet protocol
    http://www.networkworld.com/news/2012/041312-apple-ipv6-258241.html?hpg1=bn

    Apple Computer came under fire for back-pedaling on its support for IPv6, the next-generation Internet Protocol, at a gathering of experts held in Denver this week.

    Presenters at the North American IPv6 Summit expressed annoyance that the latest version of Apple’s AirPort Utility, Version 6.0, is no longer compatible with IPv6. The previous Version, 5.6, offered IPv6 service by default.

    “Home gateways have been one of the areas that was slowing IPv6 adoption,”

    In order to pass the UNH-IOL test, home gateways must enable IPv6 by default and pass a set of interoperability tests. So far, the lab has approved six home gateways as passing 100% of its interoperability tests

    While home networking vendors like Cisco and D-Link are adding IPv6 across their product lines, Apple appears to be the only vendor that is removing this feature.

    Home gateways are a critical class of networking gear that requires upgrading as the Internet migrates from IPv4, the original version of the Internet Protocol, to IPv6.

    IPv6 is needed because IPv4 is running out of addresses to connect new users and new devices to the Internet. IPv6 solves this problem with a vastly expanded address space, but it is not backwards-compatible with IPv4. So ISPs like Comcast have to upgrade their routing, edge, security, network management and customer premises equipment to support IPv6.

    The alternative is for carriers to translate between IPv4 and IPv6 addresses, which adds latency and cost to network operations.

    Reply
  13. Tomi Engdahl says:

    IPv6 testing: Tips you need to know
    http://www.eetimes.com/design/embedded-internet-design/4371499/IPv6-testing–Tips-you-need-to-know?Ecosystem=communications-design

    Today’s IPv4 networking software and hardware has been proven over time – you know how they work and you have confidence in your network. You know how many routes a specific device can hold and you know your PE routers will handle a routing update, and how much data can be forwarded because the router is working today.

    The quality of IPv6 software and features in vendor equipment is unproven and largely untested. While vendors are delivering IPv6 features to their products as new hardware or software updates, these features aren’t necessarily perfect, reliable or performing properly. In this article, we consider the causes of poor IPv6 compatibility and how to address them by running a testing environment to detect problems, test vendor fixes and establish a validation process for network equipment.

    Reply
  14. World IPv6 Launch 6.6.2012 « Tomi Engdahl’s ePanorama blog says:

    [...] on IPv6 was tried for one day about one year go at IPv6 day @ 8 June 2011. At the time only very few people at the time had problems at that time, so no major problems are [...]

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