[AusNOG] IPv6 is hard.

[Mark Newton]

On Thu, Jul 19, 2012 at 10:39:04PM +0930, Tom Lanyon wrote:

 > On 05/07/2012, at 12:01 PM, Mark Newton wrote:
 > > I'm probably a bigger IPv6 proponent than just about anybody,
 > > but I don't think it's going to be realistic to do v6-only for 
 > > quite some time.
 > > At the very least, some lagacy NATted IPv4 connectivity will be
 > > needed.
 > 
 > 
 > Sorry for the delayed response.
 > I just don't think this is acceptable in the current climate. 

Yet it's what we have.

 > If we still need v4 all the way down to the end-user, why bother
 > with v6 at all?  If v6-only networks don't work acceptably, then
 > there won't be any v6-only networks spring up in the near future

Why is it important for networks to be v6-only?

v6-only networks "work acceptably" with v6-only applications.  
We don't have any of those right now; and the few that do exist 
interact with the v4 world too (e.g., by making DNS lookups)

Why is it important to you for a network to be v6-only?  What's
actually wrong with a legacy NAT presence?  Whether it's actually
used or not will depend entirely on your applications;  if it's
an application requirement, you're just going to have to build it,
but that's hardly the IPv6 Internet's fault.

 > (e.g. what some are predicting in developing countries with no
 > v4 available) and so there will be no need for any of us to
 > even make our services available on v6.  What a vicious circle.

The fact that new IPv4 won't be available in some territories 
sounds like a perfect reason to make applications available 
via both protocol stacks.

Otherwise you're excluding those territories from your audience.

Why would you want to do that?

(it's only a matter of time before those territories encompass
parts of the USA and Europe, so it's not actually a "developing
countries" problem at all)

 > Which is a shame, because deploying an IPv6-only network using
 > a different mindset to IPv4 has such an 'unrestrained' feel to it.  :)

So do that then.

Why wouldn't you?

 - mark