IPv6 at UCAR

Pete Siemsen

1/14/2014

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What is IPv6?

• Next generation of the Internet Protocol.

• Design started in 1993

• First standards: 1998

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What’s wrong with IPv4?

• Address exhaustion

• Routing tables getting large (400k+)

• Improved end-to-end connectivity

(no NAT)

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Features of IPv6

• Ugly 128-bit addresses– Old: 128.117.63.6

– New: 2001:468:503:3f::94eb

• Co-exists with IPv4, called “dual-stack”

• Can auto-configure end hosts (we won’t)

• Minor new things: Anycast, Mobile,

Security

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IPv6 at NCAR today

• Not much demand

• We’ve had limited IPv6 for years

• Test VLANs exist at ML and FL

• Very little traffic

• Works well

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IPv6 Future at NCAR

• NETS leading, with NCAB oversight

• Will convert existing VLANs to dual-stack

• Gradual, division-by-division, when asked to

• Wireless too

• NETS is testing IPv6 DNS/DHCPv6/IPAM servers

• Won’t use auto-configuration

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Impact of IPv6 at NCAR

• We expect little negative user impact

• More network complexity

• More security complexity

• Better reachability to IPv6-capable

sites

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Questions?

siemsen@ucar.edu