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RE: Another driver for v6?

  • From: michael.dillon
  • Date: Thu Oct 30 06:45:33 2008

> It is almost lunacy to deploy IPv6 in a customer-facing sense 
> (note for example Google's choice to put its AAAA on a 
> separate FQDN). 

If you're going to use emotionally charged language then
don't shoot yourself in the foot by using such an
illogical and contrary example.

Google is a very big network-oriented company and they
have indeed deployed IPv6 in a customer-facing sense.
To follow in their footsteps is not lunacy.
They have shown that when you have a large distributed
load-sharing platform, it is perfectly safe to deploy
IPv6 as an alternate service entry point, in the same 
way that they have mail.google.com and docs.google as
separate service entry points.

Most people who are urging ISPs to deploy IPv6 are not
telling them to do stupid things like run out and add
AAAA records to all their domain names. We are telling
people to trial and test IPv6 in the lab, and then roll
out specific targeted IPv6 services like a 6to4 relay.
Above all, don't be a lunatic, and do educate yourself
and your staff before you make a move. IPv6 deployment
is not a greenfield deployment so you have to weave it
into the fabric of your own unique network architecture.
That requires understanding of IPv6 which you can only 
get by trying it out yourself in your lab environment.

> At this point, I'd say people are still 
> trying to figure out how clients will migrate to IPv6.  

That is a pretty dumb thing to do. Clients have already
migrated to IPv6 years ago using the technology given
to them by Apple, Microsoft and the free UNIXes. 
Job 1 is to support those clients. Job 2 is to figure
out how you can deploy IPv6 at your network edge in 
such a way that you can grow the edge without consuming
IPv4 addresses. For many small and mid-size ISPs, Job 2
does not involve anything to do with the customer's "modem"
device because you don't have the kind of relationship
with "modem" vendors to influence their product development.
So focus on your own network edge, not on your customers'
network edges.

> It is at this time more a question of strategic positioning.  
> The kind of thing your boss should be thinking about.

Bosses really appreciate well-reasoned white papers with
a clear and straightforward management summary on the first
page. Do you have the information and understanding of IPv6
in order to write such a white paper?

> Switching your management network to IPv6 single-stack

This may actually be the last and toughest thing that ISPs
do because of the variety of software and stuff in the
management network.

--Michael Dillon