IPv6 when?

[#1]

you got it Jim

[#2]

A little off topic, wont we be running out of MAC address values soon too?

[#3]

A unique MAC address is really only important (from a IP network perspective) for the subnet it is in.
Duplicate MAC addresses on other subnets won't as far as I can tell cause any problems.
So yes, MAC addresses are a finite resource and will run out sooner or later, although MAC addresses are 6 bytes, giving them 65536 times more addresses than IPv4 so I'm not sure there is a problem at all, or at least not one consumers need to be worried about just yet.

[#4]

MAC addresses only eed to be unique on the LAN segment.
Strangely, with IPv6, a standard LAN subnet of /64 actually has more available IP addresses than the total MAC address space!  So you'll run out of available MACs before filling a /64 subnet!
Ben

[#5]

I guess we can all run our own subnets then, one for each room in the house?

[#6]

Quote from: richandsian

Quote from: David As far as I'm aware, Netgear offer *no* IPV6 enabled routers. I believe my DGND3300 does... unless Netgear were just taking the mickey when they left the configuration page in for it.

Quite right, I just checked.  If you head over to www.tunnelbroker.net you can sign up and add the DNS to the 6to4 tunnel and get IPV6 now, although you'll need to notify the site every time you disconnect unless you have a static IP.  Be interesting to know if your router firewall works with IPV6 traffic to, the Netgear site doesn't even mention IPV6 and (if I'm reading this right) the config page is actually hidden?
Out of interest, what CPE are you looking at PlusNet?  Thompson, Netgear, Zyxel, Cisco, Billion?
jim:green link fixed mod:end

[#7]

Quote from: fourfourdevon

I guess we can all run our own subnets then, one for each room in the house?

Thats the idea.
You *should* be assigned a /56* from your ISP, thats 256 x /64 so you get 256 subnets by default, each /64 is 18,446,744,073,709,551,616 hosts!
Is that enough for you? 😉
Ben
* upto a /48

[#8]

Quote from: benoh

You *should* be assigned a /56* from your ISP

Thats what we've been testing

[#9]

So, just working this out...
FF:FF:FF:FF::/32 is my ISP, meaning there can be 4,294,967,296 ISP/Networks before we run out
FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF::/56 is my network, meaning that each ISP can have 16,777,216 customers
FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:/64 is my subnets, so I can 256 subnets - probably not enough for some large businesses
and the rest is my nodes in the subnet
Could I increase the number of subnets available to me by changing the mask?  Or is it more rigidly defined than the current IPv4 model?

[#10]

Another question, will the PN firewall be updated to support IPV6?  I currently have the PN firewall turned off to allow Protocol 41 traffic to pass through to my router, so naturally when PN do IPV6 I'll want to turn the PN firewall on and have it protect both IPV4 and IPV6 sides of the traffic.
Also, when are PN going to upgrade their websites to use IPV6?  Currently www.plus.net and portal.plus.net resolve to only IPV4, will you be dual stacking them anytime soon?

[#11]

Quote from: _CN_

Quote from: benoh You *should* be assigned a /56* from your ISP Thats what we've been testing

Cool, some ISPs seem to be trying to be cautious and allocating a smaller prefix.
I dont see your v6 prefix in the routing table atm, perhaps you could announce it and try to get onto ipv6ripeness.ripe.net by enabling some basic services, dns, mail, web?
Ben
Works at RIPE NCC hence hastling about v6 😉

[#12]

Quote from: fourfourdevon

So, just working this out... FF:FF:FF:FF::/32 is my ISP, meaning there can be 4,294,967,296 ISP/Networks before we run out

/32 is allocated to an LIR from the RIR, thats the minimum allocation size, with justification they can get whatever they need.
See http://ripe.net/info/info-services/addressing.html

Quote from: fourfourdevon

FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF::/56 is my network, meaning that each ISP can have 16,777,216 customers FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:FF:/64 is my subnets, so I can 256 subnets - probably not enough for some large businesses and the rest is my nodes in the subnet

/56 is given to 'end users' by an ISP, businesses should get a /48, for a site, and if they have multiple sites a /42.  A /48 is 256 /56s or 64k /64s so plenty of subnets available, probably run out of VLAN IDs before subnets!

Quote from: fourfourdevon

Could I increase the number of subnets available to me by changing the mask?  Or is it more rigidly defined than the current IPv4 model?

using a /64 on a vlan allows stateless auto configuration to work, ie interfaces will assign their own unique address automatically and find the router by neighbour discovery....plug and play.
You can subnet all the way down to /127 for a point to point link if you wanted, but its not recommended.
I tend to think of a /64 being equivalent to /24 in IPv4 space, certainly for home users who usually use 192.168.1.0/24 for their internal network.
Ben

[#13]

Quote from: David

Quote from: richandsian Quote from: David As far as I'm aware, Netgear offer *no* IPV6 enabled routers. I believe my DGND3300 does... unless Netgear were just taking the mickey when they left the configuration page in for it. Quite right, I just checked.  If you head over to www.tunnelbroker.net you can sign up and add the DNS to the 6to4 tunnel and get IPV6 now, although you'll need to notify the site every time you disconnect unless you have a static IP.  Be interesting to know if your router firewall works with IPV6 traffic to, the Netgear site doesn't even mention IPV6 and (if I'm reading this right) the config page is actually hidden? Out of interest, what CPE are you looking at PlusNet?  Thompson, Netgear, Zyxel, Cisco, Billion? [Moderator's note by Jim (Oldjim)  link fixed ]

You can also use freenet6, who give you a desktop client that logs in and gives you an ipv6. No need to let them know if you change IP. http://gogonet.gogo6.com/page/freenet6-ipv6-services
You can either log in with a username and get the same address (range) each time, or log in anonymously.

[#14]

Thing with a software solution, you need to install software.  My router gives out IPV6 addresses to my PC, Laptop and Mobile, if I should reboot and boot into Linux that'll also get an IPV6 address without any fiddling required on my part.  I have a (sort of) script running on my router, every time I disconnect and reconnect the script is run and informs HE of my new endpoint address so I have seamless IPV6 connectivity even with a dynamic IP.

[#15]

Gogo6 just relised a hardware device that sits inbetween your current CPE and ISP and IPv6 enables your connection.
http://gogonet.gogo6.com/profiles/blogs/gogocpe-is-now-available
Ben