IPv6 Adoption: Slower than You’d Think
By Patrick Hunter
The discussion around Internet Protocol version 6 and its adoption has been going on for well beyond a decade. There have been countless predictions regarding the exhaustion of IPv4 space and its impact on the Internet, commerce, security and more, and much of the hype has been eerily similar to the buildup of excitement around the crossing of the threshold into the year 2000.
While there is no disproving the notion that the “legacy” protocol, IPv4, has limitations with regard to its usefulness and longevity, many organizations continue to slowly roll out their IPv6 deployments. There certainly seems to be a trend of “watch what others do, learn from their experiences and mistakes, and wait to see how long we can stall before we move over.” To be fair, it is not a situation in which network administrators simply don’t care about moving toward an IPv6 environment, it is mostly an attitude that says “I’m not going to break things and make life difficult just because some insist everyone should hurry to the new protocol.” Given the increase in criticality that network connectivity plays every day, this approach should come as no surprise. And, honestly, these administrators have been correct. Nothing drastic has happened as a result of the cautious approach.
Yet still, there is little dispute that the tide for IPv6 is coming in and there does not look to be an “opt out” clause, as much as many would like. So, in that spirit, it makes sense to drop a line regarding the various challenges that have been faced by some enterprise network teams as the adoption and transition have been in full swing for some time.
Not surprisingly, some of the challenges with regard to adoption of IPv6 on a large scale in an enterprise have little to do with the technology or feasibility of the protocol. Rather, they are due to business requirements and constraints. Since IP addresses have always been a virtual construct (we’ve never held one in our hands), the concept that there are costs associated with their use isn’t intuitive for everyone, especially non-technical stakeholders. But, in reality, for this transition to happen, significant capital outlays are required to make everything work. This includes budgeting for the necessary labor hours for extensive audits of the existing IPv4 space, strategizing on the best plan forward to responsibly manage the IPv6 space, and the actual down time for applications and systems as they are moved.
Additionally, with respect to the impact to applications, it is also important to bear in mind that many application administrators expect or require that IPv6 function in exactly the same manner as IPv4 has functioned for decades. The truth is that for every application, there exists the possibility that some form of a redesign of data flow behaviors may be merited. At a minimum, it is worth the effort to validate that the application works as everyone believes it does. More often than not, there are surprises hiding under the rug.
Speaking of the applications, the overall scope of “things” that needs to be considered for a change in IP address is larger than one might assume. There are not only the servers to support the application from a presentation standpoint (so the users can access the application on the new, shiny IPv6 address), but those for compute, storage, databases, and more. In addition, since there is a slew of administrative, support, and telemetry tools to monitor and support the application, those all require addressing to ensure that not only has the “application” been moved to IPv6, but the tools continue to support it and are capable of doing so in IPv6.
There are also the actual network components to consider, and the reality is that in a larger environment, it is likely not feasible to move everything to IPv6 at once. In some cases, it may take years to get all locations, environments, and ecosystems moved. To that end, consideration for “legacy” transport solutions has to be taken into account, and a full architectural review regarding v4-to-v6 translation or tunneling should be undertaken to minimize the pain once cutovers have begun.
Lastly, but certainly not in the least, a transition such as this one requires a thorough security review in order to determine if today’s state is/was as secure as possible and whether or not the new IPv6 posture will be able to maintain an acceptable level of security for the business. Ensuring that there are no new opportunities for bad actors to take advantage of any security flaws remains just as important in an IPv6 world.
In summary, it turns out that it takes more than just a technical team to plan and deploy IPv6 in any environment. It requires the participation of all of the teams responsible for running the business, and making certain to educate everyone, from the users to the administrators, is the best option for successful transition to the future Internet Protocol.
Patrick Hunter — “Hunter”
Director, IT Enterprise Network and Telecom,
Charter Communications
hunter.hunter@charter.com
Hunter has been employed with Charter since 2000 and has held numerous positions, from Installer, System Technician, Technical Operations management, Sales Engineer, and Network Engineer. His responsibilities include providing IP connectivity to all users in Charter’s approximately 4,000 facilities, including executive and regional offices, technical centers, call centers, stores, headends, hubsites, and data centers. Mr. Hunter has served on the SCTE Gateway Chapter Board of Directors since 2005. He spends his spare time mentoring, teaching, and speaking on IP and Ethernet networks as well as careers in the network field.
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