[AusNOG] "How to use IPv6 Link-Local Addresses in Applications"

[Mark Smith]

On 20 October 2015 at 01:04, Paul Wilkins <paulwilkins369 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Mark,
> How to  scale beyond the local segment?

It sounds like you think I'm advocating only using Link-Local for
applications. Is that the case?

I'm saying if the application end-points are on the same link, the
application should use Link-Local addresses if it can. This isn't
really me saying it, the IPv6 default address selection RFC prefers
Link-Local addresses over GUA and ULA addresses if there is a choice.

This draft is about why using Link-locals is a good idea for
applications when possible, and how to do it.

> Will you need to rewrite the
> application when you hit the upper limit and the developers are long gone?

Not unless you've hired really bad developers who've gone out of they
way to prevent other address types from being used when they shouldn't
have.

Supporting Link-Locals in applications requires a little bit more
effort than supporting other address types, because the application
also needs to deal with the Link-Local scope or zone information,
however support for other address types is basically inherent in
support for Link-Locals.

> Sounds like a world of pain.

More robustness and more security usually results in less pain.

>
> Kind regards
>
> Paul Wilkins
>
> On 19 October 2015 at 21:54, Mark Smith <markzzzsmith at gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> Hi,
>>
>> People on this list who do any sort of IPv6 network programming (which
>> in theory will eventually be all of us) might be interested in this
>> Internet Draft. Even if you aren't interested in the programming
>> related parts of it, the section on the attributes of the Link-Local
>> Prefix and Addresses is probably useful to know, as always present
>> Link-Locals are one of the more significant differences between IPv4
>> and IPv6.
>>
>> If you have any feedback or suggestions, feel free to email me off-list.
>>
>> Regards,
>> Mark.
>>
>>
>> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>> From:  <internet-drafts at ietf.org>
>> Date: 19 October 2015 at 21:04
>> Subject: New Version Notification for
>> draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps-00.txt
>> To: "markzzzsmith+ietf-dt at gmail.com" <markzzzsmith at gmail.com>
>>
>>
>>
>> A new version of I-D, draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps-00.txt
>> has been successfully submitted by Mark Smith and posted to the
>> IETF repository.
>>
>> Name:           draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps
>> Revision:       00
>> Title:          How to use IPv6 Link-Local Addresses in Applications
>> Document date:  2015-10-19
>> Group:          Individual Submission
>> Pages:          9
>> URL:
>>
>> https://www.ietf.org/internet-drafts/draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps-00.txt
>> Status:
>> https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps/
>> Htmlized:
>> https://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-smith-ipv6-link-locals-apps-00
>>
>>
>> Abstract:
>>    IPv6 Link-Local addresses can be used by applications.  Doing so when
>>    possible will provide robustness and security benefits to the
>>    application.  This memo describes the properties of Link-Local
>>    addresses and the benefits and limitations of using them in
>>    applications.  It then describes how to use them in applications that
>>    use the Sockets API.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Please note that it may take a couple of minutes from the time of
>> submission
>> until the htmlized version and diff are available at tools.ietf.org.
>>
>> The IETF Secretariat
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>
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