Emerging Service Provider Scenarios for IPv6 Deployment
RFC 6036

Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      B. Carpenter
Request for Comments: 6036                             Univ. of Auckland
Category: Informational                                         S. Jiang
ISSN: 2070-1721                             Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
                                                            October 2010

        Emerging Service Provider Scenarios for IPv6 Deployment

Abstract

   This document describes practices and plans that are emerging among
   Internet Service Providers for the deployment of IPv6 services.  They
   are based on practical experience so far, as well as current plans
   and requirements, reported in a survey of a number of ISPs carried
   out in early 2010.  This document identifies a number of technology
   gaps, but it does not make recommendations.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6036.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2010 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
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Carpenter & Jiang             Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6036                   ISP IPv6 Scenarios               October 2010

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Survey of ISP's Experience, Plans, and Requirements .............4
      2.1. Methodology ................................................4
      2.2. General Questions about IP Service .........................4
      2.3. Requirements for IPv6 Service ..............................5
      2.4. Status and Plans for IPv6 Service ..........................5
      2.5. IPv6 Technologies ..........................................5
      2.6. Effect of Size .............................................6
   3. Lessons from Experience and Planning ............................7
   4. Gap Analysis ....................................................8
      4.1. Product Issues .............................................8
      4.2. Protocol Issues ............................................9
      4.3. Documentation and General Issues ..........................10
   5. Security Considerations ........................................11
   6. Acknowledgements ...............................................11
   7. Informative References .........................................12
   Appendix A. Summary of Replies ....................................14
   Appendix B. Questionnaire .........................................19

1.  Introduction

   As is well known, the approaching exhaustion of IPv4 address space
   will bring about a situation in which Internet Service Providers
   (ISPs) are faced with a choice between one or more of three major
   alternatives:

   1.  Squeeze the use of IPv4 addresses even harder than today, using
       smaller and smaller address blocks per enterprise customer, and
       possibly trading address blocks with other ISPs.

   2.  Install multiple layers of Network Address Translation (NAT)
       [CGN] or share IPv4 addresses by other methods such as address-
       plus-port mapping [APLUSP], [PRANGE].

   3.  Deploy IPv6 and operate IPv4-IPv6 coexistence and interworking
       mechanisms.

   This document focuses on alternative (3), while recognizing that many
   ISPs may be obliged by circumstances to prolong the life of IPv4 by
   using (1) or (2) while preparing for (3).

   This document describes IPv6 deployment scenarios already adopted or
   currently planned by a set of ISPs who responded to a technical
   questionnaire.  Thus, it is a factual record of the responses from