Sean Doran wrote:
Brian Carpenter writes -
| Please, please, nobody ever pick a prefix at random.
Why not? The chances of collision are quite small. Moreover, in
the event of collision, IPv6 is supposed by design to facilitate
automatic renumbering, so moving to another prefix should be easy, right?
That's the hype.
Those who fail to learn from history...
Also, since automatic configuration and extra addresses in hosts
and routers is part of the IPv6 multihoming architecture, then
surely when there *IS* a TLA from which addresses percolate down,
surely the easy renumbering and ease of identifying which addresses
to prefer and which to deprecate -- stuff we hear is among the great
features of IPv6, incidentally -- means there is nearly no penalty
for having chosen a random prefix in the first place.
Therefore, shouldn't you (as an IPv6-Lover) be saying:
| Your prefix should *always* come from your upstream provider
"Your prefix should *eventually* come from your upstream providers,
when and if you acquire them"? Or am I missing something fundamental?
What'd be better is for SOME organization, perhaps IANA, setting up one
provider-sized block of addresses for early adopters to USE.
Here's where the general wisdom that we should all shift to IPv6 meets
the reality that SOMEONE has to ante up and provide a way for folks to
start really working with the protocol, with REAL and routable
addresses.
The policies and procedures as the Internet grew (policies forged by
IETF, IANA and the realities of what was wrought) helped foster NAT. IP
address space was treated as a scarce commodity, so people found ways to
avoid wasting it. Now we're telling them to reinvest in a better way
with IPv6, and there's understandable resistance to betting on it. Of
course the lack of IPv6 stacks on many environments isn't helping
matters either.
Someone's going to have to find a way to break this logjam, or we'll be
stuck with the IPv4 world and layers of NAT/NAPTs forever. Breaking this
logjam won't happen at the IETF/IAB/IESG level. It'll happen through the
actions of IANA, ARIN/RIPE/APNIC, and it'll happen if a large ISP
decides it's the right thing for the Internet community.
--
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Daniel Senie dts(_at_)senie(_dot_)com
Amaranth Networks Inc. http://www.amaranth.com