INTERNET-DRAFT John Curran
Expires: February 1, 2008 August 2007
Intended status: Informational
An Internet Transition Plan
draft-jcurran-v6transitionplan-01
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Copyright Notice
Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007).
Abstract
This memo provides one possible plan for transitioning the Internet
from a predominantly IPv4-based connectivity model to a predominantly
IPv6-based connectivity model.
Requirements Language
The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
"SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119].
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2. A Phased Transition Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
2.1 Preparation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
2.2 Transition Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
2.3 Post-Transition Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
3. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
Appendix A. Change History . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 8
1. Introduction
This memo provides one possible plan for transitioning the Internet
from a predominantly IPv4-based connectivity model to a predominantly
IPv6-based connectivity model.
Other transition plans are possible and this purely informational
document does not create an obligation on any party to undertake any
of the actions specified herein. The use of RFC 2119 requirements
language is purely for the purpose of documenting expectations if a
transition plan were to be adopted by Internet community consensus.
The purpose of specifying this particular transition plan is to allow
for overall assessment of the viability of accomplishing the desired
transition and to continue the discussion of Internet-wide transition
plans in general.
2. A Phased Transition Model
It is not reasonable to specify the changes that each and every system
connected to the Internet must undergo in order to achieve the desired
transition, as the number of connected systems precludes creating one
plan that contains such a level of detail. Further, while there are
common scenarios that may be specified for transitioning individual
networks (refer to [RFC3750] [RFC4057] and [CAMPUS]), the specific
timeline and mechanisms utilized for a given network will be unique.
Despite these challenges, it is necessary to coordinate expectations
on an overall basis so that Internet-wide connectivity is maintained
throughout the transition.
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This document specifies a three phase transition plan that includes
preparation, transition, and post-transition phases, and delineates
the necessary activities within each phase based on the role that an
organization plays in the provision and use of Internet services.
An important distinction made in this transition plan is identifying
the explicit requirement for existing end-site organizations to add
IPv6-based connectivity to their public-facing servers during a
transition phase. An accelerated adoption of IPv6 for public-facing
servers enables new organizations in the post-transition phase to be
connected to the Internet only via IPv6 and still have access to a
substantial representative base of publicly available servers.
For nearly every organization, the task of IPv6-enabling their public
facing servers is far easier than undertaking an organization-wide
adoption of IPv6. Still, the requirement for existing Internet
connected organizations to add IPv6 connectivity (even to a small
number of systems) will be a significant hurdle and require a level
of effort which may not be achievable given the lack of compelling
additional benefits to these organizations [RFC1669]. This transition
plan presumes that "connectivity is its own reward" [RFC1958] and
that there still exists a sufficient level of cooperation among
Internet participants to make this evolution possible.
The three proposed phases are: Preparation Phase, Transition Phase,
and Post-Transition Phase. The timeline for the phases has been set
to allow entry to the Post-Transition Phase prior to the projected
IPv4 address pool exhaustion date [IPUSAGE].
2.1 Preparation Phase - Present to December 2009
In the Preparation Phase, Service Providers ready their IPv6
network services, and end-sites prepare to provide Internet
facing services via IPv6-based connectivity while continuing
to provide Internet-facing services via IPv4 connectivity.
During the Preparation Phase, the following principles apply:
2.1.1 Service Providers SHOULD offer IPv6-based Internet Service
to their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service
MAY be provided via IPv6 transition mechanisms as described
in [RFC4213] or via native IPv6 network service.
2.1.2 Organizations SHOULD arrange for IPv6-based Internet
connectivity for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web,
email, and domain name servers). Internet-facing IPv6
servers in this phase SHOULD use separate service names
per [RFC4472] to avoid impact to production IPv4-based
services unless the organization supports production
IPv6 connectivity.
2.1.3 Organizations MAY provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity
to internal user communities.
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2.2 Transition Phase - January 2010 to December 2011
In the Transition Phase, Service Providers offer production
IPv6 and IPv4 services to their Internet customers. End-sites
provide Internet-facing services in a production manner via
IPv6-based connectivity in addition to IPv4-based connectivity.
During the Transition Phase, the following principles apply:
2.2.1 Service Providers MUST offer IPv6-based Internet Service to
their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD
be via native IPv6 network service but MAY be via IPv6
transition mechanisms if necessary.
2.2.2 Organizations MUST arrange for IPv6-based Internet
connectivity for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web,
email, and domain name servers). Internet-facing IPv6
servers SHOULD be treated as production by the organization,
and SHOULD be treated as production by other Internet
organizations.
2.2.3 Organizations SHOULD provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity
to their internal user communities, and provide IPv6 internal
supporting servers (e.g. DNS, DHCP). IPv6-based Internet
connectivity MAY be via native IPv6 network service or MAY
be via IPv6 transition mechanisms.
2.3 Post-Transition Phase - January 2012 to the Future
In the Post-Transition Phase, End-Sites provide all Internet-facing
services via IPv6-based connectivity, thus allowing for new Internet
customers connected solely by IPv6.
During the Post-Transition Phase, the following principles apply:
2.3.1 Service Providers MUST offer IPv6-based Internet Service to
their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD be
via native IPv6 network service but MAY be via IPv6 transition
mechanisms if necessary. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD be
treated as production by other Internet organizations.
2.3.2 Organizations MUST arrange for IPv6-based Internet connectivity
for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web, email, and domain
name servers). Internet-facing IPv6 servers MUST be treated
as production by the organization, and SHOULD be treated as
production by other Internet organizations.
2.3.3 Organizations SHOULD provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity to
internal user communities, and provide IPv6 internal supporting
servers (e.g. DNS, DHCP) IPv6-based Internet connectivity MAY
be via native IPv6 network service or MAY be via IPv6 transition
mechanisms as described in [RFC4213].
2.3.4 Service Providers area MAY continue to offer IPv4-based Internet
connectivity to their customers. Organizations MAY continue to
use IPv4-based Internet connectivity.
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3. Summary
In order to facilitate full Internet-wide connectivity during the
transition from IPv4-based connectivity to IPv6-based connectivity,
a transition plan which provides clear guidance to organizations
regarding expectations is necessary. As the specific expectations
change over time, and vary greatly by organization, a phased approach
is specified in this document, with the timeline for each phase set
with the intention of allowing enough time for the necessary planning
and deployment steps which each organization much undertake. This
Internet Transition Plan provides for transition to predominantly
IPv6-connectivity by January 2012 which, with careful management, may
meet the overall requirements of allowing the Internet to scale as
specified in "The Recommendation for the IP Next Generation Protocol"
[RFC1752].
4. Security Considerations
This memo describes the transition of the Internet from IPv4-based
connectivity to predominantly IPv6-based connectivity. This change
inherently has security implications due to the widespread deployment
of a new version of the Internet Protocol but these are beyond the
scope of this document and are covered in [IPV6SEC]. This document
raises no new security issues itself.
5. IANA Considerations
While no new name or identifier space is created by this document,
the policies for management of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4)
address space may not provide for IPv4 availability through the
Transition Phase as intended by this plan. The IANA should work with
all parties to develop policies per [RFC2050] which allow continued
general availability of IPv4 address resources sufficiently long for
any transition plan that receives widespread community support.
6. Acknowledgments
This document would not been possible without the abundant comments
and suggestions made by members of the Internet community, and in
particular thanks are due to Jim Bound, Scott Bradner, Randy Bush,
Geoff Huston, Chris Morrow, Ken Shores, James Woodyatt, David Divins,
and Jordi Palet for their review and suggestions for improvement.
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7. References
7.1. Normative References
[RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
[RFC4213] Nordmark, E. and R. Gilligan, "Basic Transition
Mechanisms for IPv6 Hosts and Routers", RFC 4213,
October 2005.
[RFC4472] Durand, A., Ihren, J., and P. Savola, "Operational
Considerations and Issues with IPv6 DNS", RFC 4472,
April 2006.
[RFC1752] Bradner, S., Mankin, A.," The Recommendation for the
IP Next Generation Protocol", RFC 1752, Feburary 1995.
7.2. Informative References
[RFC1958] Carpenter, B., "Architectural Principles of the Internet",
RFC 1958, June 1996.
[RFC1669] Curran, J., "Market Viability as a IPng Criteria",
RFC 1669, August 1994.
[IPUSAGE] IPv4 Address Report, August 2007, by Geoff Huston.
<http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html>
[RFC4057] Bound, J., Ed., "IPv6 Enterprise Network Scenarios",
RFC 4057, June 2005.
[RFC3750] Huitema, C., Austein, R., Satapati, S., and R. van der Pol,
"Unmanaged Networks IPv6 Transition Scenarios", RFC 3750,
April 2004
[CAMPUS] Chown, T., "IPv6 Campus Transition Scenario Description and
Analysis", (Work in Progress), March 2007.
[RFC2050] Hubbard, K., Kosters, M., Conrad, D., Karrenberg, D., and
J. Postel, "Internet Registry IP Allocation Guidelines",
BCP 12, RFC 2050, November 1996.
[IPV6SEC] Davies, E., "IPv6 Transition/Co-existence Security
Considerations", draft-ietf-v6ops-security-overview-06
(Work in Progress), October 2006.
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Appendix A. Change History
Changes from -00 version to -01 version:
o Expanded discussion of phased transition model.
o Extended Preparation phase by one year to reflect overwhelming
community concern about the state of IPv6 readiness.
o Clarified use of IPv6 services in Preparation phase to advise
caution with respect to DNS interactions per RFC 4472.
o Removed last sentence of Post-Transition phase from removal
of IPv4-based connectivity. Removal of IPv4 is considered
out of the scope of this document.
o Updated Introduction to clarify use of RFC 2119 terminology
despite inherently non-standards nature of this document.
o Corrected misc typographic errors
o Updated acknowledgments section
Author's Address
John Curran
99 Otis Street
Cambridge, MA USA 20190
Email: jcurran@istaff.org
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