Why do we still need IPv4 when we are migrating to IPv6...

[Emmanuel Thierry]

Hello,

Le 11 févr. 2015 à 21:42, Anfinsen, Ragnar a écrit :

> Hi guys.
> 
> I am working with my management team to implement IPv6, but I got an 
> interesting question from one of the managers; Why do we need more IPv4 if 
> we are moving towards IPv6?
> 
> A quick background; We are having discussions around IPv4 and IPv6 and the 
> need to eventually buy more IPv4 addresses to keep a premium level on our 
> Internet access.
> 
> My argument is that we need addresses as long as there are important 
> services that only do IPv4 (yes, there are still a few, especially in 
> Norway), and as long as the other ISP are reluctant to implement IPv6 
> (luckily in Norway, all the major ISPs have already come a long way). When 
> IPv6 reaches critical mass is the $5000 dollar question which I wish I had 
> the answer for.
> 
> So, any thoughts on this topic, and any qualified guesses on when we no 
> longer need to do IPv4 and still be able to call our internet product 
> premium?

Actually it depends on whether you are on the content or ISP side. But both showed a benefit.
* On content side, there is an example of a french hosting company named Gandi who rents its VMs with an IPv6-only option. Benefit for the hoster : less IPv4 to find out, benefit for the client : a cheeper VM.
* On ISP side, you can think about 464XLAT deployments where users may have an unfiltered IPv6 but a kind of CGN on IPv4. Benefit for the ISP : less traffic through the CGN (i never seen studies on this point but it would be really interesting), benefit for the customer : a reliable access to its favorite websites (Google, Youtube, Facebook) without the CGN factory.
* On big infrastructures, you can also think about having your servers addressed IPv6-only and put an IPv4 only on your load-balancers

Anyway, i think you can find a way to show a benefit according to your case.

Best regards
Emmanuel Thierry