On Feb 28, 2011, at 12:34 PM, Joe Abley wrote: > > On 2011-02-28, at 15:27, Randy Bush wrote: > >> o if ipv6 can not operate as the only protocol, and we will be out >> of ipv4 space and have to deploy 6-only networks, it damned well >> better be able to stand on its own. > > Do you think I was suggesting that IPv6 as a protocol doesn't need to be able > to stand on its own two feet? Because I wasn't; that's patently absurd. > It is both absurd and pretty much exactly what you said.
> However, a fixation on v6-only operation makes no sense for general-purpose > deployment when most content and peers are only reachable via IPv4. > I guess this is a matter of perspective. For some of us that already have complete dual stack deployments, focusing on the issues present in IPv6-only operation is just the next logical step. In some cases, I would say that the v6-only considerations are well worth considering as you prepare to deploy dual-stack so that you don't deploy dual-stack in such a way as to create unnecessary inter-protocol dependencies that will hurt you later. The reality is that IPv6-only networks are not likely in the foreseeable future is only a true statement if your foreseeable future ends in the past. There are already a certain number of functional operating deployed IPv6-only networks. Further, it's not going to be more than a few months before we start seeing networks that have very limited or degraded IPv4 capabilities, if any, due to the inability to grant addresses to new networks in some areas. > I appreciate that there are walled gardens, captive mobile applications, > telemetry networks and other niche applications for which v6-only networks > make sense today. I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the network > that supports what the average user thinks of as the Internet. > And how do you think the average residential end user is going to see the IPv4 internet next year? > The immediate task at hand is a transition from IPv4-only to dual stack, > regardless of how many NATs or other transition mechanisms the IPv4 half of > the dual stack is provisioned through. > Yes, but, given the nearly immediate runout of IPv4, I would say that doing so in a way that best facilitates IPv6-only hosts being functional is very much worthy of consideration in this process. Owen
