[6bone] Getting ISPs to use IPv6

[Jeroen Massar]

Michael Richardson wrote:

> So, there are two ways to get /48s that you can use.
> 
> 1) from places like freenet6 or xs6.
> 2) via 6to4.
> 
> The problem with freenet6-type things is that they depend upon tunnels
> to places that aren't necessarily that well connected. xs6 is 
> much better, but not perfect.
> 
> But, you can't advertise 6to4 addresses to the DFZ. You could do so
> via private peering arrangements, but the peer could as 
> easily configure a 6to4 interface, and you wouldn't need to IPv6 peer
at all.
> 
> The problem with 6to4 is ironic - traffic to any other 6to4 
> peer is very efficient - following the IPv4 routing table. The problem
is 
> that 6bone is SO POORLY CONNECTED from the 6to4 user's point of view.


One first should differentiate between "6bone IPv6" and "Production
IPv6".
Though there are sites using 6bone space that qualify for "Production".
A better way to describe it is when a site is MIPP compliant or not,
see:
http://ip6.de.easynet.net/ipv6-minimum-peering.txt

Users won't want to only access the 6bone they want to access the
IPv6 enabled internet, of which 6bone is only a small, but significant
part.

> A lot of purists want to run IPv6 natively, and don't seem to 
> care about connecting to actual end users... result, no traffic on the

> native backbone.

The problem with connecting end-users is the infra in between which
mostly
consists of hardware which simply doesn't support IPv6.
In my case the 'problem' is a Redback SMS 1800, I got native IPv4 over
ADSL,
but those SMS's don't understand IPv6 at all. But using a 6in4 tunnel it
only adds ~2ms to my latency as it crosses the IX, so that isn't that
bad.

Fortunatly there are a number of transition methods to overcome those
problems.

> So, we need more sites people on the 6bone that have local 6to4
> encapsulators, and we need more 6to4 relays out there so that 
> the 6to4 end users can get things done efficiently. The question is
how, 
> given that many ISPs are not interested in IPv6 at all yet.
> 
> I was thinking of putting together a machine for a local IX that would
> advertise the 6to4 anycast address. The issue is what do you 
> do with the resulting IPv6 packets?  You have to get IPv6 transit from
somewhere.
> In some cases, it may well be available for low cost. Not at our IX.

Effectively this is what we are doing with SixXS, a LIR can come to us*,
and we'll fix them up with a POP from which they can provision their
users
to get them connected to IPv6. This currently only is done using 6in4
tunnels
but the system is capable of doing other methods (ppp over ssh, to name
one ;)
The autoconfig tool, which also allows dailup/non-static, non-24/7 users
to benefit from this, is currently in internal beta.

Currently IPv6 "transit" isn't a big problem as most sites will happily
do it
for free, ofcourse in certain limits. So one doesn't have to worry about
that.
Just make sure you are at a IX where some other ISP's do IPv6 and your
off.
For 'better' connectivity one can ofcourse make a few tunnels to remote
sites.
Though one should stay inside the specs given in the MIPP draft.

Note that this talk and related have been held last month on the v6ops
mailing
list mainly because it is 'bigger' than the 6bone.

Greets,
 Jeroen

* = http://www.sixxs.net/pops/requirements/
(and no, it doesn't cost anything except for some traffic and some
hardware for the POP)