[111933] in North American Network Operators' Group
IPv6 Confusion
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Carl Rosevear)
Tue Feb 17 12:07:29 2009
From: Carl Rosevear <Carl.Rosevear@demandmedia.com>
To: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Tue, 17 Feb 2009 08:59:28 -0800
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
So, I understand the main concepts behind IPv6. Most of my peers understan=
d. We all have a detailed understanding of most things IPv4. I have Googl=
ed and read RFCs about IPv6 for HOURS. That said, to quickly try to minimi=
ze people thinking I am an idiot who asks before he reads, I need some answ=
ers. First of all, several of my friends who feel they are rather authorit=
ative on the subject of things network-related have given me conflicting an=
swers. So what's the question? ...
How does IPv6 addressing work?
I know it's been hashed and rehashed but several orgs I am associated with =
are about to ask for their allocations from ARIN and we are all realizing w=
e don't really know how the network / subnet structure trickles down from t=
he edge to the host. We really don't have a firm grasp of all of this as t=
here seems to be multiple options regarding how many addresses should be as=
signed to a host, if the MAC address should be included in the address or i=
f that is just for auto-configuration purposes or what the heck the deal is=
. There are a lot of clear statements out there and a lot that are clear a=
s mud. Unfortunately, even when trying to analyze which RFC superseded ano=
ther. Can I just subnet it all like IPv4 but with room to grow or is each =
host really going to need its own /84 or something? I can't see why hosts =
would need any more addresses than today but maybe I'm missing something be=
cause a lot of addressing models sure allow for a huge number of unique add=
resses per host.
My buddy and I are about to go to Barnes and Noble, not having and luck wit=
h standard internet media but then we realized... how will we know if any =
of that is really what we are looking for either?
>From what I can tell, this may still be a question of great debate. Everyo=
ne seems to act like they know exactly what's going on but behind closed do=
ors admits that they don't really know x, y, or z. I realize this is typic=
al of my industry and even myself from time to time. J
But so I am truly reaching out here. What is the deal with IPv6 addressing=
and subneting? Where is the official guide to this new galaxy? I will be =
sure to pass this information on to my equally less clueful peers to the be=
nefit of all of us that are making this transition.
There are people here at my company that seem to get it but can't seem to e=
xplain it clearly to me. To me, its basically just larger addressing space=
with some new logical boundaries.... But there are so many discussions of=
potential addressing methods that I am confused. I know from my lab setu=
ps that I can "make it work" but I'd like to "do it right". J
I've been doing this for over 10 years now... IPv4 is native to me. If =
you can point me in the direction of some good, authoritative information o=
r even say "Dood, go get IPv6 for dummies", that's fine I just need to know=
where to find some good information.
Can someone say "well, you know how it would be nice to have like 100 diffe=
rent addresses on hosts to differentiate services and blah blah.... Well n=
ow that's what you account for and so then you know how a /24 almost always=
ends up being tight in IPv4? Right, so think of your basic bit boundaries=
that you adhere to as /?? And /??? In IPv6." Or "Throw all that old th=
ought out the window. Now its kind of like how the Ford Probe is actuall=
y a Mazda... ummm.... Yeah I can't really explain it either but it makes =
sense. Here read this book and it'll make sense to you too."
Respectfully yours,
Carl Rosevear
