[6bone] Request: two 6bone pTLAs

[Iljitsch van Beijnum]

Now that I have your attention...

For some time, I've been unhappy with the progress (or rather, lack 
thereof) in the area of DNS resolver discovery/configuration in IPv6.

I've been advocating the well-known address (WKA) approach, as setting 
up DNS resolvers at well-known addresses doesn't require changes to 
existing implementations, and thus provides instant relief to those of 
us who want to experiment with running IPv6 in environments where 
having a way to automatically determine IPv6 DNS resolver addresses is 
important.

Now obviously it would be possible to write a draft, try to get it 
published as an RFC and so on. But it's unlikely this will get 
consensus, and it's going to take a long time until such an RFC is 
published if it does.

So what I'd like to do is put the final days (ok, years) of the 6bone 
to good use, and simply start a public resolver service using 6bone 
addresses. The idea is to use two addresses, that are then anycast, not 
unlike what's happening with the IPv4 root DNS servers. Note that this 
type of anycasting is different from regular IPv6 anycasting. Rather, 
the address block that contains the address(es) in question is sourced 
in BGP in different places at the same time. Anyone who wants to can 
then run an anycast instance, either public or private, just as with 
6to4 relays.

In order to be able to do this, it's important that the address blocks 
are big enough so that most people don't filter them. There must be at 
least two so that a problem with a specific instance of the address 
doesn't make the service unavailable. Additionally, it's possible that 
these well-known addresses find their way into software distributions 
and keep receiving lots of traffic for a long time. In order to avoid 
collateral damage in this case, it's a good idea to use two pTLAs for 
just this purpose and nothing else. These pTLAs can then be removed 
from BGP if and when the well-known addresses create operational 
problems.

Even though new pTLAs aren't supposed to be given out anymore, I think 
this is a very useful experiment that fits well with the purpose of the 
6bone, so an exception would be in order. Also, since the 6bone will be 
shut down in two years, this is the perfect opportunity to experiment 
with WKAs in IPv6 without having to fear long-lasting ill effects.