Important IPv6 Policy Issue -- Your Input Requested

Mon Nov 8 20:46:05 UTC 2004

At 02:36 PM 11/8/2004, you wrote:

>On 8 Nov 2004, at 14:25, Leo Bicknell wrote:
>
>>    In the end I think we need 1918 style space, and that it should
>>    simply be set aside as a large block and expected to never be
>>    useful in the context of other organizations, just like 1918
>>    space is today.
>
>Just out of interest, why do you think 1918-style space for v6 is needed?

Well, you asked the original poster, but since you asked publicly, I'll 
answer with my reasons.

Reason #1: Lab use. People should NEVER, EVER pick random space from public 
space for doing experiments in the lab. Sooner or later something leaks, 
and people get really honked off. This happened a LOT with IPv4, prior to 
RFC 1597 and 1918. Let's not repeat the same mistake, and make sure people 
have a specific place to get address space from for experiments.

Reason #2: Disjoint networks: though we may think the only reason to use 
the IP protocol suites (v4 or v6) is to connect to other places in the 
world, there are networks which do not (or are at least not supposed to) 
intersect with the public Internet. Address allocation policies are based 
on what space you're going to advertise, and registries want money for the 
space. Networks that are not connected should be able to use the IP 
protocol suites too.

Reason #3: A separate set of blocks should be set aside for use ONLY in 
documentation. Otherwise people use whatever addresses are in the examples 
in their router manuals and leak packets. I was seeing RIP packets claiming 
to come from 128.185/16 the entire time in the 1990's I worked at Proteon. 
Of course implementing BCP38 would help with the misconfigured user 
networks that were spewing that stuff. Nonetheless, documentation examples 
are a legitimate case for which space should be set aside.

Reason #4: Initial configuration of equipment which lacks a console port. I 
know, you're going to suggest the use of autoconfiguration mechanisms or 
DHCP. That's sometimes hard, for example in the case of a broadband 
"router" (home gateway) box that's going to be the DHCP server, print 
servers, and other such equipment. Having some block for this (or just use 
some subnet of the RFC-1918-like space) is a reasonable use.