[179964] in North American Network Operators' Group
Usage of Teredo and IPv6 for P2P on Windows 10 and Xbox One
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Darrin Veit)
Mon May 18 13:31:34 2015
X-Original-To: nanog@nanog.org
From: Darrin Veit <dveit@microsoft.com>
To: "nanog@nanog.org" <nanog@nanog.org>
Date: Mon, 18 May 2015 16:57:59 +0000
Errors-To: nanog-bounces@nanog.org
Hi Everyone -
We've had very fruitful discussions with members of this community on Xbox =
One networking behavior, in particular concerning P2P multiplayer gaming ac=
tivity. In an effort to continue that useful dialogue, we wanted to provide=
an informational update for Xbox One, but also share relevant details on u=
pcoming Windows functionality in terms of Teredo and IPv6 usage. We also in=
clude some observations about IPv4 and IPv6 health that may be broadly inte=
resting, especially as it pertains to network readiness for Xbox multiplaye=
r via IPv6.
New Xbox experiences launching on Windows 10 will use Teredo for P2P commun=
ications
--------------------
Earlier this year we announced some Xbox functionality coming to Windows 10=
. One key feature of Windows 10 is enabling multiplayer gaming and chat fun=
ctionality between Xbox One consoles and Windows 10 devices. This functiona=
lity on Windows 10 will behave similarly to how multiplayer works today on =
Xbox One, using Teredo for NAT traversal and IPsec for security. When used =
for Xbox Live enabled experiences, the Windows 10 Teredo client will prefer=
originating traffic from the IANA-registered port, 3074, when available. M=
ore detailed guidance on Xbox One behavior is linked at the bottom of this =
email.
It also should be noted that Windows supports a broad range of applications=
and a huge portfolio of great games outside of the Xbox Live ecosystem. In=
general, Microsoft encourages broad adoption of the recommendations in RFC=
4787, RFC 6092, and RFC 6888 to maximize the viability of P2P technologies=
for all.
IPv4's P2P health is degrading
--------------------
Qualitative and quantitative evidence available to us indicates that overal=
l availability of functioning P2P connectivity on the IPv4 Internet is decr=
easing over time. In particular we are concerned that IPv4 address scarcity=
is forcing many small and medium market network operators to deploy carrie=
r-grade NAT functionality.=20
This often results in end-users being intractably stuck behind "strict" net=
works with degraded multiplayer experiences as a result. Healthy, standards=
-compliant IPv6 access is broadly needed, sooner rather than later. However=
, we have identified a few areas of concern in regard to IPv6 support that =
will hinder the efficacy of enabling multiplayer on IPv6.
IPv6 is being deployed, but not perfectly, jeopardizing IPv6 P2P=20
---------------------
Across the Xbox One customer base, in particular for customers who play mul=
tiplayer games, we observe that a substantial minority (around 20%) of devi=
ces have native IPv6 configured. This represents a much higher IPv6 penetra=
tion rate than Microsoft's other products and services report, as well as p=
ublic data from other sources.=20
However we have numerous concerns about IPv6's growth. We are often finding=
that retail customer premise equipment is configured with IPv6 disabled by=
default, requiring user action to enable.=20
We've also encountered a very small set of reports where IPv6 latency and b=
andwidth performance are suboptimal compared to IPv4. Reports of this natur=
e have usually focused on streaming media experiences and user concern that=
IPv6 is slower than IPv4 (i.e. "I get 1080P resolution with IPv4, and 720P=
with IPv6"). In the rare cases where these reports have been substantiated=
, the primary culprit has been differences in deployed CDN support.=20
Also, some networking hardware and operators apply firewall policy to the I=
Pv6 path contrary to RFC 6092 recommendations. Of particular concern are co=
nfigurations where unsolicited inbound IKE/IPsec traffic is not permitted i=
n the default operating mode. Growth of these non-conformant configurations=
puts the P2P benefit of the next generation Internet in jeopardy. It would=
be incredibly regrettable if IPv6 necessitated the high level of configura=
tion and inefficiency currently required for IPv4.
Deprecating public Teredo servers for Windows Vista and Windows 7
--------------------
On May 4th, 2015, we began deactivating Microsoft's publicly available Tere=
do servers currently configured as the default servers for Windows Vista an=
d Windows 7 clients. This is a result of limited usage on those platforms a=
nd our desire to focus our operations on Xbox One and Windows 10.
If you read this far, you are awesome.
We will likely request a NANOG presentation slot later in the year to discu=
ss these points, but we want to make sure we have sufficiently interesting =
and new things to discuss before swallowing up people's time.
Network operators and CPE manufactures are encouraged to reach out to our t=
eam at xboxteredo@microsoft.com with operational questions. Please note tha=
t our most common reply will be "better documentation is coming later in th=
e year," but we will try our best to respond to questions quickly.
Thanks for your time,
Darrin Veit & Christopher Palmer
Xbox Platform Networking=20
Operating System Group
Current Xbox One Multiplayer Networking Guidance
-------------------------
http://download.microsoft.com/download/A/C/4/AC4484B8-AA16-446F-86F8-BDFC49=
8F8732/Xbox%20One%20Technical%20Details.docx
