IPv6-only Terminology Definition
draft-palet-v6ops-ipv6-only-05
v6ops J. Palet Martinez
Internet-Draft The IPv6 Company
Intended status: Informational March 9, 2020
Expires: September 10, 2020
IPv6-only Terminology Definition
draft-palet-v6ops-ipv6-only-05
Abstract
This document defines the terminology regarding the usage of
expressions such as "IPv6-only", in order to avoid confusions when
using them in IETF and other documents. The goal is that the
reference to "IPv6-only" describes the actual native functionality
being used, not the actual protocol support.
Status of This Memo
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This Internet-Draft will expire on September 10, 2020.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
3. Definition of IPv6-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
4. Dual-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
5. Native dual-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
6. IPv6-only network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
7. IPv6-only WAN/access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
8. IPv6-only LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
9. IPv6-only host/router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
10. Transitional IPv6 host/router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
11. Other cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
12. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
13. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
14. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
1. Introduction
Due to the nature of the Internet and the different types of users,
parts of a network, providers, flows, etc., there is not a single and
easy way to categorically say something such as "IPv6-only".
The goal of this document is to depict this situation and agree in a
common language to be used for IETF and other documents, in order to
facilitate ourselves and future readers, the correct understanding of
what we are talking about.
Note that all the references in this document are regarding the
actual usage of IPv4/IPv6, not the support of those protocols by
nodes. For example, a device or access network may support both IPv4
and IPv6, however actually is only "natively" forwarding IPv6,
because the link used for that communication is only natively
configured for IPv6. IPv4 may be used as well, but it is being
encapsulated or translated by means of IPv6. So, from this
perspective, this device is attached to an IPv6-only link.
2. Context
The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is not something that can be done,
in the large majority of the cases, overnight and in a single step.
Consequently, in general, we are unable to talk about a whole network
having a "single and uniform" status regarding the IPv6 support, at
least not in the early deployment stages of an operator network.
Even if possible, it is not frequent to deploy new IPv6 networks
which have no IPv4 connectivity at all, because at the current phase
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