Re: IPv6 in the network, please

Ironic given the recent press announcements by Airespace, which seemed
to have jumped the gun a little ;)

First fully IPv6-compatible WLAN kit available
- October 27, 2004, 11:40 BST
- Airespace has become the first WLAN OEM to announce support for the IPv6 
protocol in its products
- http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/networks/0,39020345,39171566,00.htm

Thanks for all the work on this though - much appreciated!

There are other real problems with companies/products like BlueSocket that
do not support authentication/admission for WLAN users based on IPv6 traffic,
and that have no plans to introduce such support.

Tim

On Wed, Nov 10, 2004 at 01:09:44PM -0500, Jeff Young wrote:

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From: Ben Crosby <ben(_dot_)m(_dot_)crosby(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>
Date: November 10, 2004 12:07:08 PM EST
To: jeffrey(_dot_)s(_dot_)young(_at_)alcatel(_dot_)com
Subject: IPv6
Reply-To: Ben Crosby <ben(_dot_)m(_dot_)crosby(_at_)gmail(_dot_)com>

Folks,

    To expand on Jeff's explanation of the IPv6 status here at IETF61;
The entire network, both wired and wireless, was designed from the
get-go as being IPv6 capable. It also had a very real and major
requirement to be stable in the face of hundreds of clients all at
100% transmit power, rogue APs,  and all the other problems that have
plagued previous IETF wireless networks. The good folks at Airespace
seemed to have a system that met this goal, and as we all can see, it
indeed works well.

    However, when we asked Airespace to join us in this adventure, it
became clear that the "intelligence" of their system worked through
tracking IPv4 DHCP requests, and thus wouldn't work with IPv6. This
lack of IPv6 support was nearly a show stopper, however Airespace
jumped through some major hoops to design, implement, and deploy code
that monitors RAs and RSs specifically to handle IPv6 for this
network.

    Like most brand new code, when we deployed it, we encountered
problems. Problems that lead to instability in ALL wireless network
access. After several long days and nights of working on this long
before the first attendees arrived (we've been on site since Tuesday
2nd - Election Day ;) we decided to disable the IPv6 support on the
wireless network, rather than risk the overall network stability.
Airespace continues to work on the problems, and we believe that we
have a reasonable interim solution.

    We have phased in a new image with limited deployment, which we will
monitor. If we experience no problems, IPv6 will be back on the
wireless lan, however we need to maintain the overall stability of the
wireless network as our highest priority.

    For those who need IPv6 on wireless:
    
    SSID: ietf61v6
    WEP Key: thisisav6wlan
    Hex: 746869736973617636776c616e

    Coverage will be available in Georgetown, Lincoln, Jefferson, Monroe,
Military and Hemisphere. You should not associate with this wireless
network if you need stable IPv4. This is a dedicated network with new
AP's and a new controller.

    My thanks to our volunteer staff who worked to deploy this network in
the late hours last night (and very early hours this morning) after
the social event.

    For those that are inconvenienced by the loss of IPv6, I sincerely
apologize, and remind you that native IPv6 is available at every wired
port in the terminal room.

    Thanks for bearing with us, and have a good meeting!

    - Ben Crosby
    Alcatel / IETF61 NOC

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-- 
Tim

North American IPv6 Task Force Technologist Seminar
More info at http://www.ipv6seminar.com/

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