IPv6 – What You Need
To Know
Tom Hollingsworth
CCNP,CCVP,CCSP, MCSE
What is IP?
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Internet Protocol version 4 – ARPANet
IPv4 Address – 192.0.2.22/24
2^32 IPv4 addresses != 4 billion
Classful networking – later developed into
CIDR
Network Address Translation (NAT) used to
extend life of IPv4
IPv4 – Exit, Stage Right
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ICANN/IANA exhaustion occurred 2/3/2011
First RIR to reach depletion – APNIC
(8/10/2011)
Last projected RIR depletion date – 7/23/2012
Rate of consumption at exhaustion was approx.
4 million addresses per day
How Did We Run Out?
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Every networked device needs an address
Explosion of networked devices
Desire for connection vs. Need for addressing
Bad /8 management – 1.0.0.0/8, 127.0.0.0/8,
and Class E
Version 6? Where’s Version 5?
Version 5 = Stream protocol – incorporated into
IPv6
 Version 6 – In development since 1993
 Classless Networking
 2^128 = 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,
431,768,211,456 (340 undecillion) addresses
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What Does It Look Like?
IPv4 – 10.10.1.1
IPv6 – 2001:470:1f0f:80c:beef:cafe:abcd:54
Link Local – fe80::beef:cafe:abcd:54
IPv6 – In Detail
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Hexadecimal (base 16) addressing – 0-9, a-f
Removed unnecessary header fields
Removed broadcast in favor of multicast
ARP is gone in favor of ICMPv6 and ND
::1 is the only loopback
Much more reliance on DNS for hosts
Hands-Off Configuration
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IPv6 uses Stateless Autoconfiguration
EUI-64 standard using MAC address
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Address hiding available for security needs
Neighbor Solicitation to discover addresses
Router Advertisement announces network
DHCP available, but less needed (only for DNS
resolution)
IPv6 Configuration – Dual Stack
or Tunnels?
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6to4 tunnel – each IPv4 has its own /48 –
doesn’t work with NAT or RFC 1918
Teredo - MS tunnel for use with NAT
ISATAP – allows v4 addresses to convert to v6,
but very complicated and relies on DNS
Dual Stack – Running IPv4 and IPv6
simultaneously (expensive)
Host Readiness – Windows 7
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Windows 7 – full IPv6 network stack
Enabled by default
Full IPv6 DNS record (AAAA) support
Host Readiness – Windows XP
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IPv6 supported in SP2 – Must be enabled
Does NOT support DNS lookups over IPv6
Host Readiness – OS X
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Supported in Jaguar (10.2.x) but much better in
Snow Leopard (10.6.x)
Issues with IPv6 networks being “broken” and
not failing to IPv4 as well as DNS server issues
Make sure to be on 10.6.5 or later for best
results
Are My Servers IPv6-ready?
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Upgrade to Windows Server 2008
Snow Leopard 10.6.5 or later
Verify Linux Kernel support
For appliances, check vendor release notes
Router Readiness
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Older equipment doesn’t have support for IPv6
Ensure your network equipment is updated
IPv6 Firewalls
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IPv6 is a different protocol and requires
different rules
No NAT66 means rules must be more detailed
Check your firewall vendor to find code level for
IPv6 support
Another good site:
https://www.icsalabs.com/technology-program/ipv6/ipv6capable-security-products
What Happens if I Don’t Use
IPv6?
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Major sites are moving to IPv6 content
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Facebook, Google, Netflix, Yahoo
When IPv4 is depleted, new websites will be
IPv6-only
Both protocols needed to access 100% of the
Internet going forward
World IPv6 Day – June 8
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Google, Yahoo, and many others are enabling
IPv6 along with IPv4 for 24 hours as a test
About 0.05% of Internet users are expected to
have IPv6 related issues
Test things out to see how IPv6 works for you
How can I be ready for IPv6
today?
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Talk to your ISP and find out their plans
Ensure your network equipment is up to date
Document your network to make renumbering
simple when D-Day comes
Talk to peers and colleagues to refine best
recommendations
Spread the Word
Don’t let stories like this be the face of IPv6:
Web developers have tried to compensate for this problem by
creating IPv6 -- a system that recognizes six-digit IP
addresses rather than four-digit ones.
Read
more: http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/01/26/internet
-run-ip-addresses-happens-anyones-guess/#ixzz1CFQVefc0
More Information
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World IPv6 Day http://isoc.org/wp/worldipv6day/
ARIN IPv6 Information https://www.arin.net/knowledge/v4-v6.html
Microsoft IPv6 Resources http://technet.microsoft.com/enus/network/bb530961
More Information
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Apple IPv6 Info http://www.apple.com/server/macosx/technol
ogy/networking.html
IPv6 Wikipedia Page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6
IPv6 enabled address page – http://ip6.me
Renumbering a network without a flag day http://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc4192