OMB: IPv6 by June 2008

Wed Jul 6 19:46:53 UTC 2005

On 6-jul-2005, at 19:55, Edward Lewis wrote:

> At 19:23 +0200 7/6/05, Iljitsch van Beijnum wrote:
>
>

> With the chicken little-ing again...
>
>

?

>> You are approaching the problem at the wrong end by asking "what's  
>> in it for
>> me to adopt IPv6 now". The real question is "is IPv6 inevitable in  
>> the long
>> run".
>>
>>

> Pardon my skepticism, but I recall hearing about the coming of the  
> world due to pollution in the 1970's and the end of the oil supply  
> by the 1980's.
>
>

That's nice, but maybe we should judge this issue own its own merits  
rather than adopt the position that since other people talking about  
other issues made mistakes in the past, surely there is a mistake  
this time too.

We know how many IPv4 addresses there are. We know how many are  
unusable (although this number isn't 100% fixed). We know how many  
were given out. We know how many are given out now each year. What  
kind of magic do you expect will make this problem that's coming go  
away?

And that's discounting that we already have a problem NOW. People are  
already moderating their requests because they know they can't get  
what they really want.

> The point isn't whether IPv6 is good or not - it's that long-range  
> predictions are often wrong.
>
>

It's very simple. IPv4 addresses will become scarce and expensive,  
unless either this internet fad blows over or a new technology  
replaces IPv4. Tell me how this "prediction" can be wrong. Are there  
hidden pockets of yet undiscovered address space? Is some government  
agency working on secret technology that lets you communicate over  
the net without the need for addresses?

> My experiences were that IPv6 was painful - I ran into a lot of  
> application bugs, OS's didn't deal with it well, and the ISP's were  
> tough to deal with - as in, not many suppliers, not enough  
> expertise to deliver on promises.
>
>

> Maybe things are better now (note the use of past tense in the  
> previous paragraph), I don't deal with IPv6 at this time.
>
>

It's getting better all the time, but there are still strange bugs in  
the applications, OSes and even the standards. IPv6 works very well  
for many things but not so well for others. Fortunately, there is  
still plenty of time to work out all the kinks before we need IPv6 to  
step up to the plate. In the mean time, we need SOME IPv6 so that the  
early adopters can find those kinks, and that part is right on track.

We who are running IPv6 salute you.