[6bone] Corporation wishing to get connected to the new v6 Internet

[Gert Doering]

Hi,

On Tue, Aug 05, 2003 at 09:02:52AM -0400, Matt.Carpenter@alticor.com wrote:
> I think I'm getting the picture to come in a little clearer now.  So v6 is 
> running over the same physical network as v4.  

It can be done, yes.  (The same way you can run IPX and IP over the
same wire).

> I knew this was possible 
> but wasn't sure how it was implemented.  

In the IP header, the first field is a version number - 4 or 6, and the
receiving machine knows how to handle the remainder of the packet.

> The 6bone, although sounding like 
> "backbone" is really the v6 version of the ARPA-net 10.x.x.x address-space 
> which is no longer in public use.  

Not exactly like 10.x.x.x, but similar, as it is phased out.

> The 6bone address-space is made up of 
> some large and many small "pockets", which are currently interconnected 
> largely through 6to4 tunnels through the v4-Internet.  

Not "6to4" (that's a specific tunnel variant) but a mixture of 
6to4, ipv6ip, and GRE tunneling.  Plus native connections.

> The 6bone is NOT, 
> to clear one of my myths, a "v6 Internet" which is all v6 throughout the 
> world, with all of its own links and interconnections (ie. it's not like 
> another Internet2 which has separate layers 1 and 2, but only lives at 
> layer 3+).

Yep.

> There is also new address-space available (specifically in the 2001:: 
> network as offered by he.net), which operates very much like the "6bone 
> network", but is simply different addressing.  Routing between 6bone 
> (3ffe::/16) and this new address-space works as if they were not different 
> at all.  The only difference is that the 6bone address space will be 
> phased out over the next several years, a clerical difference.

The addresses are different, but not more different than IPv4 addresses
192.* vs. 195.* - some of them are handed out under one set of rules, 
and the "newer ones" follow a different set of allocation rules.

Technically, there is no difference.

> How's that sound to everyone?
> 
> Now how do we obtain AS numbers for the new v6 Internet?

You use the existing AS number that you have for v4 (or apply for a
new one, as for v4).  BGP is the same, you just have to choose whether
you want to announce v4 or v6 addresses, or both.

Gert Doering
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