Creating an IPv6 implementation plan

JORDI PALET MARTINEZ jordi.palet at consulintel.es
Wed Aug 22 16:55:39 CEST 2007


Forgot this before ... Lots of info also available at www.ipv6tf.org

Regards,
Jordi




> De: Jeroen Massar <jeroen at unfix.org>
> Organización: Unfix
> Responder a: <ipv6-ops-bounces+jordi.palet=consulintel.es at lists.cluenet.de>
> Fecha: Wed, 22 Aug 2007 15:32:09 +0100
> Para: Rebecca Karpinski <rkarpinski at cablesystem.com>
> CC: <ipv6-ops at lists.cluenet.de>
> Asunto: Re: Creating an IPv6 implementation plan
> 
> Rebecca Karpinski wrote:
>> Well, here's hoping we're not too late to join the party.
>> This will probably be long, and for that I apologize in advance.
> 
> Asking before breaking is a good practice.
> 
>> My Goal:
>> Create an IPv6 implementation plan for our company (smallish cable company &
>> ISP in mid-west USA) that accommodates our plans for growth (SIP anyone?)
>> through the projected IPv4 runout but does not hinder said growth by being
>> generally defective and losing our established customer base to the big-boys
>> playing in our sandbox.
> 
> You can always request more IPv4 space from the RIR in advance, just to
> be sure that it won't run out on you, and claim that you have a business
> plan which requires that IP address space,. Of course you will need to
> satisfy the needs of the RIR before they will allocate you more space.
> 
> [..]
>> "Challenges"
>> Much of the documentation that I'm finding that details implementation plans
>> for ISPs deploying IPv6 predate 6bone being dismantled, and all predate the
>> issues with Type 0 Routing Headers. (Does that matter?  I don't know.)  I
>> find myself trying to correlate many disparate and contradictory sets of
>> instructions and it is beyond confusing. (6 to 4, 6 over 4, tunneling, NAT,
>> DON'T NAT, p2p link numbering, and so much more)
> 
> 6to4 is RFC3056, which is what everybody can use who has a public IPv4
> address. Reverses can be got from http://6to4.nro.net/. Big problem with
>  6to4 is that the path taken by packets is fairly unknown and quite
> uncontrollable, when something is broken it is hard to figure out where.
> Having a local 6to4 relay, which is anycasted, helps only a bit.
> Good reading: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6to4
> 
> 6over4 is RFC2529 and has been deprecated since and afaik also never
> really used. (See also http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6over4).
> 
> tunneling, is what you use when you can't reach the other endpoint/site.
> NAT is horrible in IPv4 and you should simply avoid it for IPv6, if you
> are going to NAT anyway, better stick to IPv4.
> 
> p2p link numbering, most people tend to use ::1 + ::2 in a /64. Some
> choose /80's or even /126's. Don't use /127's though as the
> subnet-anycast address (which is <pfx>::/126) messes your routing up,
> using 2x /128 of course works again. /64 prefix sizes are the standard.
> 
> For the rest, directed questions and/or a good book might help.
> I might suggest (amongst others):
>   http://www.runningipv6.net
>   http://www.sunny.ch/publications/f_ipv6.htm
>   http://www.benedikt-stockebrand.de/books_e.html#ipv6-in-practice
>   http://www.deployingipv6.net/
> 
> All have their niche, depending on what you are looking for one is more
> appropriate than the other. The "IPv6 Bible" used to be
> http://www.huitema.net/ipv6.asp but as it is aging quite a few things
> are not up to date anymore in there.
> 
> 
>> Plan thus far:
>> 1. Dual stack our core network, which currently consists of a mix of
>> Foundry, Juniper, and Cisco gear.
>>    a. Can't find consensus on BCP for numbering this network.  It doesn't
>> help that we don't follow BCP for numbering in IPv4, but this might be an
>> opportunity to do things "right" - if I could figure out what that means.
> 
> Depends completely on your network, which is why there is not a real
> BCP. It seems that there are a couple of 'common' methods though, which
> are a mix of ideas from:
>  - Chop the network in two /33's, use only the first part
>  - Counting the number of current PoPs/clients + expected future ones
>    and splitting the /32 based on that into chunks of /44's or similar
>  - Using a single /48 (usually the first or the last in the /32) for
>    numbering backbone links
> 
> In the ARIN request you should actually have provided a possible network
> layout, you can start off from there. One general thing: each customer
> gets a /48, as such that /32 is not that much address space in quite a
> number of cases. Also you want to try and have the minimal amount of
> iBGP, which becomes easy if you split the network into regions and just
> route based on the aggregates. You can always have a more specific for
> special cases.
> 
>>    b. Still need to find out where each piece of hardware is on the spectrum
>> of IPv6 readiness.  (Not possible vs. needs upgrades vs. ready)
> 
> And if they actually work: only way to find out: lab tests and real life
> tests. Other way to find out: list your gear here and ask if people had
> problems with them.
> 
>> 2. Locate subscribers willing to become V6 testers.  It appears that it
>> would be much easier from a technical standpoint to do so with our Direct
>> Ethernet and Frame Relay customers than our Cable Modem subscribers as we
>> are still trying to find equipment to TEST that is/will be supposedly DOCSIS
>> 3 compliant.  Unfortunately, our business customers are... shall we say,
>> less adventurous than many of our residential cable modem subscribers, so we
>> may not have any takers until we can implement V6 capable CMTS and modem
>> equipment.
> 
> DOCSIS3 is the way to go there. In the mean time you can setup a Teredo
> relay to make sure that your customer traffic using Teredo stays close
> in the network. Setup 6to4 if you want too. And if you want setup a
> Tunnel Broker service in your network for your customers so that they
> can use that, for that you can of course DIY, get a box of Hexago or
> smile into the direction of me&pim (SixXS) to help you out for free.
> The tunnel stuff is temporary, and if you number clients with /64
> tunnels and /48 subnets you can later easily move them to native
> infrastructure where possible, thus them keeping the same address space.
> 
>> 3. Implement test environment for subscribers including
>>    a. DNS
> 
> Should not be a big problem, though biggest issue here is providing the
> configuration to them. DHCPv6 is an option and nowadays there is a draft
> for DNS options in RA's. But easiest way is to probably simply have
> <pfx>::53 and anycast that in your local network telling customers to
> use that. Most DNS traffic is IPv4 based anyway as the roots are not
> fully IPv6 enabled yet (yes there are rootservers doing it but they
> don't per default return the correct glue).
> 
>>    b. Hosted sites
> 
> Enable IPv6 on the box, enable Apache/lighttpd/etc to use IPv6,
> configure it correctly and then see a lot of scripts fall over as they
> expect x.x.x.x and not 2001:db8::/32
> 
>>    c. DHCP?
> 
> There are a couple of servers for that, but it doesn't seem they are in
> heavy use yet.
> 
> 
>>    d. BGP?  (We are currently multi-homed with 4 different providers, about
>> to add a fifth, and have 10 OC-12 & OC-3 circuits with said providers.  Of
>> those, I don't believe ANY have native IPv6, but I believe Sprint will do
>> tunneling if we bat our eyelashes whilst we hassle them endlessly)
> 
> A tunnel to hop into the upstream ASN is not bad, it does get you
> started and shows that you as a customer of theirs wants it.
> See also: http://www.sixxs.net/faq/connectivity/?faq=ipv6transit for a
> list of transit providers. and as we are pointing there anyway, might I
> ask you to signup for GRH (http://www.sixxs.net/tools/grh/) so that we
> have a view on your network and you can check up on problems too? :)
> 
>>    e. Email (this is outsourced so that is a big question mark...)
> 
> SMTP is probably one of the many things that is soooo easy to make IPv6
> capable that most people I guess don't even think about it. Just add
> AAAA's and most mail servers will get it. Mail clients are not so easy
> though, Outlook doesn't for instance which is a large portion of the
> commercial/business users. Thunderbird happily does (check headers in
> this email for instance :)
> 
>> 4. Implement a test environment for our internal/corporate network.  (this
>> may happen prior to # 2, but I have serious concerns that our billing
>> software will be... problematic.)
> 
> That, log files and a lot more that processes IP addresses are
> 'interesting' to move over to indeed. Asking vendors or simply testing
> is one of the many ways to go.
> 
> 
>> [..] Classes would be AMAZING, conferences would be good, and books and
>> articles to use vs. avoid would also be helpful.
> 
> Books, see above. Articles, depends, ask for the specific subject.
> Conferences, loads, but mostly political, not technical. Classes, I know
> that Silvia Hagen (http://www.sunny.ch/education/f_workshops.htm) does
> them, she wrote IPv6 Essentials listed above. Internet2 also has
> workshops I believe and even IBM has a course:
> http://www-304.ibm.com/jct03001c/services/learning/ites.wss/us/en?pageType=cou
> rse_description&courseCode=NCD90
> Though, they all depend on what you want to learn if they are actually
> appropriate. IMHO doing it yourself and playing with it is better.
> 
> Another good spot to look at is http://www.ipv6forum.com/ where Jim
> Bound and a lot of other people are doing great work in education and
> awareness. They can probably help you out with more information too,
> especially in the US.
> 
> Greets,
>  Jeroen
> 




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