Throw me a IPv6 bone (sort of was IPv6 ignorance)

Fri Sep 21 14:04:22 UTC 2012

On Sep 21, 2012, at 9:31 AM, Mark Radabaugh wrote:
> The part of IPv6 that I am unclear on and have not found much documentation on is how to run IPv6 only to end users.   Anyone care to point me in the right direction?

This all depends on how your manage your last-mile and terminate users now.  I have a friend with a local WISP here and he gives everyone a /24 out of 172.16/12 and dumps them through his load-balancer for his few connections.  His "CGN" box seems to handle this fine.

> Can we assign IPv6 only to end users?  What software/equipment do we need in place as a ISP to ensure these customers can reach IPv4 only hosts?

I would say you want to do dual-stack, but shift the users that don't *need* public IPs into 1918 space and deliver v6 native as feasible.  If you have a server lan, you can do this with SLAAC, but to get the other information to your hosts, either via RA's and otherwise, it's just becoming easier to do.

PPPo* you can get IPv6 IPCP up and going, but the device has to support it.

> The Interwebs are full of advice on setting up IPv6 tunnels for your house (nice but...).  There is lots of really old documentation out there for IPv6 mechanisms that are depreciated or didn't fly.

ASR1K and other devices can serve as nat64.. (I think Juniper does the same, but I don't recall their roadmap/product set).  I'm sure you can do it with a Linux or *BSD box as well.

> What is current best practice?

I would say there is none as it largely depends on how you terminate that transport, and there are a few ways one can do that.

Hope this helps,

- Jared