- There's no place like ::1
If you use iGoogle and you want to know your IPv6 connectivity, here is a gadget to report your IPv6 address and IPv6 network connectivity.
See the screendump for an example output:
It works for all operatings systems (Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, iPhone, iPad, Android, etc) and all browsers able to view iGoogle.
Or just click the button below to add this gadget to your iGoogle:
In the future, will having IPv6 on your web-server affect it’s ranking in search engines?
Over recent years there has been much discussion in the networking community on how to encourage the adoption of IPv6. One idea that has been put forward, is the possibility of search engines such as Google, Bing and others adding whether a web-server is IPv6 enabled to the many factors used to determine a page’s ranking.
With the imminent exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, this idea has again come to the fore. As a result, Jan Zorz and others have put together a proposal which can be seen at, http://go6.si/2010/08/suggestion-for-internet-search-engines-proposed-ipv6-impact-on-search-engine-scoring-algorithms/. This proposal recommends the inclusion of IPv6 in the factors used by search engines.
The idea is simple. Just as search engines include a web-site’s availability and other non-content related factors into their ranking calculations, it seems reasonable to include a weighting for an IPv6 enabled web-site. This would give web-sites that have IPv6 and IPv4 connectivity a slight edge in rankings over those that only have IPv4.
For many companies, site ranking is a critical part of their marketing profile. Even a small factor in favour of IPv6, as suggested in this proposal, would be taken seriously as it could make the difference between beating competitors in the ranking and following them in the rankings.
In the IPv6 community, there is significant support for this idea, however it remains to be seen if the search engine providers implement it. Regardless of how soon or if this idea is adopted, any organisation whose marketing profile depends on their web-site’s ranking in search engines will need to look seriously at implementing IPv6, just in case.
As of today all the customers of the Dutch Internet provider XS4ALL have the ability to enable IPv6 (Dutch) on their Internet connection. However you will need an supported modem.
The following, tested by XS4ALL, modems are supported on their Internet connection:
[1] Beta firmware and updates via www.avm.de/en/ipv6
[2] Firmware and manuals via www.draytek.nl/ipv6/
[3] Software release 12.4T + advanced IP services license
But it is also possible to use your own router. The minimal requirements for the CPE are:
It is good to see such a large ISP offer native IPv6 for all of their customers. However they still dont supply new customers with an modem that has IPv6 enabled by default. So the next big step for them is to supply IPv6 enabled CPE by default for new connections.
At IETF76 in Maastricht I had a long discussion with Sander Steffann, IPv6 advocate and RIPE Address Policy WG co-chair. We talked about my idea, how could Google and all other search engines really trigger massive transition of internet content (and content providers) to IPv6. After long discussion Sander managed to put the idea into text.
More on go6…
You probably have tested your Internet connections speed in the past. One of the biggest test sites is Speedtest.net. But did you know that if you have an IPv6 capable Internet connection and you pick the right mirror you can test the speed using IPv6?
Totaalnet has IPv6 enabled on their Speedtest.net mirror and you can check out using their mirror. Or you can find it under The Netherlands/Arnhem.
The only drawback it that your test history will not be stored on the Speedtest website.
So… how fast is your IPv6 connection?
APNIC continues to delegate large IPv4 networks to organizations in Asia. This makes the global allocation rate skyrocket. Globally, the RIRs delegated almost half a /8 this week so far (Wednesday), this is an extraordinary pace considering the usual pace of slightly over one /8 per month.
Here are some of the most significant delegations made this week so far:
223.32.0.0/11 or about 2 million addresses to SK Telecom in South Korea
14.160.0.0/11 and 14.224.0.0/11 or about a total of 4 million addresses to VietNam Post and Telecom Corporation in Vietnam
14.104.0.0/13 or about 500k addresses to China Telecom Chongqing Province Network
14.8.0.0/13 or about 500k addresses to KDDI corporation in Japan
Source: http://ipv4depletion.com
Microsoft’s annual event for IT professionals, Tech.Ed, will this year deploy IPv6 (Internet Protocol version 6) for the first time in an effort to drive education and awareness about the technology.
Microsoft Australia’s Web platform evangelist, Jorke Odolphi, said whole industries were currently viewing IPv6 as “a bit too hard” and were unsure of how the next generation protocol worked.
“There’s been a lot of talk about IPv4 being depleted and reached exhaustion, saying the internet is getting full and that’s one way of thinking about it,” Odolphi said.
More from ComputerWorld…
The Internet Service Provider (ISP) community is carefully watching the impending depletion of the unassigned IPv4 address pool. Most estimates place the depletion of the central pool of unassigned IPv4 addresses by mid-2011. After that, each Regional Internet Registry (RIR) will continue to satisfy requests for additional IPv4 space for a limited time (depending on the rate of incoming requests and the amount of address space on hand in the RIR at the time of central pool depletion).
To continue growing, ISPs require access to a steady stream of IP addresses to connect new customers. In ARIN’s service region (Canada, the United States, and parts of the Caribbean), allocation policies have resulted in growing ISPs requesting additional IP addresses every 6 to 12 months. These policies emphasize that addresses are available based on documented need per community-developed criteria; similar policies exist in the four RIRs serving the other regions of the globe.
As the available supply of IPv4 address space dwindles, ISPs are encouraged to deploy IP version 6 (IPv6), which is the successor protocol to IPv4 developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). All of the application protocols that make the Internet a great success (e.g. HTTP for the world wide web, SMTP for email, etc.) work over IPv6, so it is predominantly a network change resulting in a new Internet that still looks to the end-user just like the IPv4 Internet today.
However, organizations looking to deploy IPv6 may be undertaking their most significant network change to date. While IPv6 has similar routing and performance properties when it comes to connecting new customers, the need to interoperate with the existing IPv4 Internet requires that ISPs must also provide IPv6/IPv4 address translation of customers’ traffic. This interoperability requirement creates a number of engineering and capital challenges that are of great concern to ISPs across the globe.
Because of these challenges, ISPs are also interested in alternatives to deploying IPv6, or ways to defer their IPv6 initiatives until a time they deem most appropriate. This is reasonable, as ISPs are businesses that must manage their resources as efficiently as possible to stay competitive, and each faces unique issues regarding the optimal time for additional infrastructure investment and deployment.
ISPs wishing to use IPv4 to continue connecting new customers for a short time post-depletion do have an option: to get usable IPv4 address space via a third-party. This approach may temporarily allow deferring the technical and capital challenges associated with introducing IPv6 infrastructure, but substitutes other potential costs and risks that may be manageable from the ISP’s perspective.
In the ARIN region, a transfer of IPv4 address space to a specified recipient is possible due to a relatively new policy that was formulated and endorsed by the community. The “Transfers to Specified Recipients” policy (contained in section 8.3 of the ARIN Number Resource Policy Manual – NRPM) recognizes that some organizations may wish to release IPv4 address space to ARIN for reassignment to a specified party that has documented need.
Since Internet number resource assignments ‘are valid as long as the criteria continues to be met’ (per IETF RFC 2050), address holders who no longer need their IPv4 addresses have always been encouraged to return them to the RIR system so that they can be assigned to those with need. In fact, many organizations (including the US Dept of Defense, BBN, and Stanford University) have returned significant amounts of IPv4 address space for the benefit of the Internet community.
It is relatively straightforward for organizations to return entire address blocks, but years of mergers, reorganizations, and equipment upgrades often result in organizations using addresses that are sparsely allocated out of many address blocks. Those that want to do the right thing and renumber to free up address space for return may face a formidable task, depending on the complexity and scale of their operation. One of the most significant benefits of the transfer policy is that it provides an incentive for the return of address space which otherwise would remain underutilized.
There are several things for organizations to consider before using this policy. First, the Specified Transfer policy provides a way of getting IPv4 address space once your need has been documented and approved by ARIN, per the normal IPv4 address space request process. (From a practical perspective, there’s very little reason for ISPs to use the Specified Transfer policy as long as ARIN has available resources for approved IPv4 requests). Second, any address space to be transferred must be under a registration services agreement with ARIN, as the process of bringing it under agreement allows for address holder verification. Later this year, ARIN will provide a listing service for organizations that have approved requests for address space and for those that may be able to make resources available for transfer.
ISPs considering extending their existing model with this approach have one additional item to consider: while continuing to use IPv4 for customer connections may be expedient in the immediate future, the cost-effectiveness of this approach will quickly diminish with the growth of IPv6-based Internet capabilities. ISPs deferring their transition to IPv6-based services will eventually have to compete with those who faced the challenge and built their IPv6 capabilities from the beginning.
Written by John Curran, President and CEO at American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN)
This graph illustrates the three phases that have defined the RIPE community’s journey to IPv6 deployment since 1999. (Click to Enlarge)
In the previous graph and article published here two weeks ago, we showed that many ISPs in the RIPE NCC service region (Europe, the Middle East and parts of Central Asia) have not yet obtained IPv6 addresses from the RIPE NCC. Our latest graph demonstrates just how quickly this is changing.
In this graph you can see the number of IPv6 allocations made by the RIPE NCC to its members since 1999. Three phases are clearly visible:
Experimental Phase (1999 – 2002)
During the experimental phase allocations were made sporadically.
Early Adopters (2002 – 2007)
During this phase there was a steady flow of requests from early adopters.
Deployment (2007 – Now)
Since 2007 we have witnessed a growing number of IPv6 allocation requests.
More and more ISPs are obtaining IPv6 addresses at present, which is very encouraging. It is essential that all organisations worldwide will deploy IPv6 quickly enough to ensure the sustainable growth of the Internet.
Read more about this graph on the RIPE Labs site.
Written by Daniel Karrenberg, Chief Scientist at the RIPE NCC
T-Mobile USA is running an open beta (or “friendly user trial”) of their IPv6-over-cellular service. If you’re a T-Mobile USA customer, and have the right phone, you should check this out.
What’s note-worthy about this trial is that it’s self-service. Unlike the Comcast or Verizon FIOS trials, you don’t have to apply and wait for approval and new gear.
To participate in the T-Mobile USA IPv6 beta service, you must:
Android devices aren’t supported because of a bug with the Qualcomm chip used by many devices.
As mentioned in an earlier post, T-Mobile USA is using DNS64/NAT64, so you should expect a few kinks (but my experience with Ecdysis‘s NAT64 has been very positive).