Definitive Guide to IPv6 adoption

Tue Oct 19 01:25:49 UTC 2010

RS,

On Oct 18, 2010, at 2:16 PM, Robert E. Seastrom wrote:
> If we were to give a /48 to every human on the face of the planet, we
> would use about .000025 of the total available IPv6 address space.

Sure.  I once did the math that suggested that even if you multiplied the current IPv4 consumption rate by 1000 and applied that consumption rate to IPv6 /48s, the 1/8th of the IPv6 address space used for global unicast would last over 100 years.

The problem is that allocation policy depends on who shows up at RIR meetings.  Marshall has pointed out the (potential) implications of that policy with respect to 6rd. My math didn't take 6rd into account.  

Simply, there is no finite resource that people can't figure out a way to waste in an insane fashion. Since IPv6 is a finite resource, I personally think it makes sense for folks to be reasonably conservative in assignment to customers.

Regards,
-drc