SIG: IPv6 (technical)

Wednesday 20 August 2003, Lotte Hotel, Jamsil - Seoul, Korea

Minutes

Meeting commenced: 11:00 am

Chair: Kazu Yamamoto

The Chair introduced the session and thanked the sponsor for the day, JPNIC. He also drew attendees' attention to the use of simultaneous translation services available during the session.

Contents

1. IPv6 allocation report
2. Deprecation of site local address
3. IPv6 showcase, N+I 2003 Tokyo
4. Feel6
5. Japan Telecom IPv6 application trial services
6. Draft charter
7. Current open action items

IPv6 allocation report

Guangliang Pan, APNIC

Presentation [ppt | pdf]

The speaker noted that the number of /23s allocated to RIRs had increased significantly since the speaker's previous presentation on the same topic in 2002. He also noted that in 2003, for the first time since RIRs began allocating IPv6, ARIN had made more IPv6 allocations than APNIC. The speaker highlighted the economies within the Asia Pacific region where APNIC had allocated IPv6 blocks or assigned IPv6 under IXP or critical infrastructure policies. The presentation also looked at the number of IPv6 related objects registered in the APNIC Whois Database.

Questions and discussion

• There was a question as to whether IPv6 assignments could be made in sizes other than /48. It was explained that the registration of a /40 in the APNIC Whois Database would represent network infrastructure. However, it was also noted that some of the /48s in the database would be for infrastructure while others would be customer assignments.
• There was a request for clarification of the criteria for a critical infrastructure assignment of /32. The speaker clarified that the requestor should be critical infrastructure such as an RIR, NIR or DNS service such as a TLD or ccTLD.
• It was noted that ISPs in the USA have been allocated a lot of IPv6 address space. However, it was questioned why there was no information available on ISPs in USA with commercial IPv6 services. It was noted that perhaps many of the ISPs had only recently received the allocation. The IPv6 situation in the USA was then clarified by ARIN staff present at the SIG. At the last ARIN meeting, a mini IPv6 workshop had been held and vendors were invited to talk about IPv6. It was noted that recently there had been news in the ARIN region about a paper released by the US military and government stating that contractors in future must have IPv6 enabled products.
• It was questioned whether the US military equipment would use global address space or private address space. ARIN staff noted that the US military had not yet received any allocation from ARIN but that the military was in the process of making an application. It was noted that the large number of IPv6 allocations made to networks in the ARIN region could be a reaction to the announcement by vendors and providers preparing to comply with IPv6 in order to gain government contracts.

Action items

• None

Top

Deprecation of site local address

Tomohiro Fujisaki, NTT Corporation

Presentation [pdf]

The presentation discussed the issues involved with site local addresses, such as address ambiguity, address leakage, site border router issues and use of site local addresses with mobile IP. The speaker examined an alternative for site local addresses called unique local IPv6 unicast addresses. This alternative would meet previous requirements for site local addresses and, in addition, would be globally unique. The presenter explained the format of a unique local IPv6 unicast address. The speaker noted that additional information on the topic would be available in a presentation by Geoff Huston in the Address Policy SIG.

Questions and discussion

• It was questioned how important it was that the FD00::/8 range of unique local IPv6 unicast addresses have uniqueness when numbers were assigned from that range. The pool of possible IDs in that space would be 2 to the power forty. If people make 1.246 million attempts to pull numbers from that range, the probability of collision would be greater than 1 in 2. Therefore in the FD00::/8 range, there is no way to ensure uniqueness of addresses. It was noted that if uniqueness is considered to be very important, the draft proposal for unique local IPv6 unicast addresses is quite weak.
• It was asked why there was a need to split FC00::/8 and FD00::/8 into two blocks. It was suggested that this was not a good solution.
• There was a question about what caused leakage of site-local addresses into the global Internet. It was explained that leakage happens by accident when administrators forget to filter it out or misconfigure routers either intentionally or by accident.
• It was commented that site local addresses are an attempt to solve a routing problem with an addressing solution, and that this approach was a mistake.
• There was a question about what stage the Internet Draft on this topic was currently at, and what the next steps were for the proposal. It was explained that an Internet Draft was currently available and that there had been consensus on the WG mailing list and meeting to remove site-local from the RFC and impending Internet Draft. The process to do this was currently being discussed.
• It was questioned whether the deprecation of site local addresses would result in a new mechanism for distributing /48s. It was asked if there would be a clear distinction between the mechanism for assigning local unicast addresses and global unicast addresses. It was explained that the IETF was not responsible for anything left of a /48. It was suggested that this issue be brought up with the IETF to discuss the implications for RIRs.

Action items

• None

Top

IPv6 showcase, N+I 2003 Tokyo

Kazu Yamamoto, IIJ

Presentation [pdf]

The presenter explained that N+I was the largest annual network show held in Japan and was attended this year by over 150,000 people. The presenter noted that the top search term related to the event was 'IPv6', suggesting that a lot of people in Japan have a direct interest in IPv6. The IPv6 showcase had ten sponsors and twenty-two participants. The presenter detailed the advantages of using IPv6 for home networks and wireless networks. He explained how a cell phone could be used to adjust an IPv6 enabled air conditioner. The presentation noted that the weakest links currently in the Japanese IPv6 network are the home router and the ADSL line, as most ADSL carriers do not support IPv6 and only the newest home routers are IPv6 enabled. The speaker explained that the solution was to tunnel IPv6 over IPv4. The presenter also discussed the use of IPv6 for mobile phones. Currently, IPv6 does not provide mobility, but in the future, mobile IPv6 may be possible. The speaker summarised that many people in Japan are receptive to the concept of IPv6 and home networks are on their way.

Questions and discussion

• None

Action items

• None

Top

Feel6

Alex Yeoh, Freebit

Presentation [ppt | pdf]

The speaker noted that in Japan, there had been a change in the rate of growth of networks due to the use of broadband and new needs for IP addresses such as VoIP. The presenter explained how five existing standard technologies comprise the Feel6 technology. Feel6 is then used to overcome hurdles involved in accessing IPv6 networks. As well as facilitating the network, Feel6 also assists users in accessing IPv6 enabled services. Future enhancements were also noted.

Questions and discussion

• None

Action items

• None

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Japan Telecom IPv6 application trial services

Tamohide Nagashima, Japan Telecom Co., Ltd.

Presentation [pdf | pdf]

The presenter outlined Japan Telecom's IPv6 activities since 2001. The presenter explained that while it was possible for Japan Telecom to provide access, there weren't many applications for people to use over IPv6. Therefore Japan Telecom began a trial application service in May 2003. The presentation outlined the type of users targeted in the trial and the applications included, such as instant message services. Future plans for the trial service include group file share applications and extending the user base from Telecom Japan customers to all IPv6 users.

Questions and discussion

• None

Action items

• None

Top

Draft charter

Kazu Yamamoto, IIJ

Presentation [ppt | pdf]

The speaker suggested that discussion on the draft charter be conducted on the mailing list as no time remained in the SIG session.

Questions and discussion

• None.

Action items

• Action ipv6-16-001: Discuss draft IPv6 SIG charter on the ipv6 mailing list.

Top

Meeting closed: 12:40 pm

Minuted by: Sam Dickinson

Current open action items

• Action ipv6-16-001: Discuss draft IPv6 SIG charter on the ipv6 mailing list.

Minutes