legacy /8

Sat Apr 3 01:00:00 UTC 2010

On 4/2/2010 17:22, Randy Bush wrote:
> ipv4 spae is not 'running out.'  the rirs are running out of a free
> resource which they then rent to us.  breaks my little black heart.
>
> even if, and that's an if, ipv6 takes off, ipv4 is gonna be around for a
> loooong while.  when 95% of the world has end-to-end ipv6, do you think
> amazon et alia are gonna blow 5% of their market by decomissioning ipv4?
>
> we are gonna learn how to distribute and use ipv4 more efficiently.
> it's not that hard, we know how to do it.  internet engineers have
> worked through and around a lot of problems, it's our job.  making
> connectivity continue work for folk who, for whatever reason, delay
> migration from ipv4 is just part of our job.  not to panic.
>
> the hard part is figuring out how the rirs make money off ipv4 holders
> redistributing it among themselves.  if that becomes a non-goal, things
> get a lot simpler.
>   
So, jump through hoops to kludge up IPv4 so it continues to provide
address space for new allocations through multiple levels of NAT (or
whatever), and buy a bit more time, or jump through the hoops required
to deploy IPv6 and eliminate the exhaustion problem?  And also, if the
IPv4 space is horse-traded among RIRs and customers as you allude to
above, IPv6 will look even more attactive as the price and preciousness
of IPv4 addresses increases.

The idea isn't for IPv4 to be replaced (decommissioned).  The idea is
for IPv6 to be added, then things will slowly transition.  IPv4 will be
around for a long time indeed, but increasingly, new sites/services, and
old sites/services will be adding IPv6 as a way to connect to them. 
Then at some point, IPv6 will become the "normal" way to connect, and
IPv4 will be a the "legacy" way, with fewer and fewer using it.

Also, reading your other post, if you don't understand the difference
between 2^32 and 2^128, please start here: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exponential_growth

Anyway, I see it as pretty much moot, since many major players (Comcast,
Google, etc) are in the midst of major IPv6 deployments as we speak. 
Eventually you will have to jump on the bandwagon too.  :-)

- Jim