Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
May 22
Goodbye, IPv4! IANA Starts Allocating Final Address Blocks
IPv4 address exhaustion just got more real! In an announcement on Tuesday, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) indicated that they are starting the process of allocating the final available blocks of IPv4 addresses out to the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) from the IANA recovered address pool. (ICANN is the operator of IANA.) As the announcement states:
ICANN announced today that it has begun the process of allocating the remaining blocks of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses to the five Regional Internet Registries (RIR). The activation of this procedure was triggered when Latin America and Caribbean Network Information Centre’s (LACNIC) supply of addresses dropped to below 8 million.
This move signals that the global supply of IPv4 addresses is reaching a critical level. As more and more devices come online, the demand for IP addresses rises, and IPv4 is incapable of supplying enough addresses to facilitate this expansion. ICANN encourages network operators around the globe to adopt IPv6, which allows for the rapid growth of the Internet.
This is it, folks.
We’ve been talking for many years about IPv4 addresses running out. Now it’s happening.
[NOTE: Back in February 2011, IANA allocated their final IPv4 address blocks from the "free pool" of IPv4 addresses. IANA then worked with the five RIRs to recover unused IPv4 address blocks and establish the "recovered address pool". The agreement was that allocations would start from this pool when the first RIR hit its last /9 block of IPv4 addresses, which LACNIC recently did. After this recovered pool has been allocated to RIRs, there simply aren't any more IPv4 addresses for IANA to give out.]
Yes, there are enough IPv4 addresses in the overall system right now that we’re not running out of addresses TODAY … but we are basically OUT at the top-level. The final allocations will occur over the next few months as part of the Global Policy for Post Exhaustion IPv4 Allocation Mechanisms by the IANA.
It will be increasingly hard for network operators to get more IPv4 addresses for new customers and new networks.
If you are not yet planning for a transition to IPv6, you really need to get going now! If you want to grow your network, the simplest and easiest path will be to make the move to IPv6. Check out our “Start Here” pages to learn how you can get going!
DO YOU HAVE A GREAT EXAMPLE OF MOVING A NETWORK OR APPLICATION TO IPv6? We are seeking IPv6 case studies for our upcoming celebration of the 2nd anniversary of World IPv6 Launch. If you have a great IPv6 story, we’d love to help share that story for others to learn from it. Please let us know.
UPDATE #1 - If you are interested in learning more about how IPv6 adoption is going, check out our list of IPv6 statistics sites. In particular, look at the World IPv6 Launch measurements, where this month Verizon Wireless crossed over 50% IPv6 for the first time!
UPDATE #2 - There is an excellent discussion thread currently underway on Hacker News about this article.
UPDATE #3 – The Number Resource Organization (NRO) has a statement up on their website.
May 22
Webinar TODAY (May 22) – IPv6 and Telecom: IPv4 Is Finally Running Out. Now What?
In about two hours, the free webinar we mentioned last week about IPv6 and telecommunications will be taking place hosted by US Telecom. I’ll be addressing questions such as:
- What is the impact of IPv6 on telecommunications and Voice-over-IP (VoIP)?
- What telecom systems support IPv6?
- What efforts are underway within organizations like the IETF and the SIP Forum to ensure that telecommunications can work over IPv6?
The webinar is happening TODAY, Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 1:00pm US Eastern time. (17:00 UTC).
Registration is free and open to all interested. The presentation will be recorded if you are unable to view it live.
And if you are interested in the overall topic of IPv6 and telecommunications, please do check out our specific page on IPv6 and VoIP/telecom.
May 21
Webinar Tomorrow (May 22) – IPv6 and Telecom: IPv4 is Finally Running Out. Now What? (Featured Blog)
What is the impact of IPv6 on telecommunications, VoIP, unified communications, etc? Why should telecom operators care about IPv6? What VoIP systems already support IPv6? What efforts are underway within organizations like the IETF and the SIP Forum to ensure that telecommunications can work over IPv6? More...
May 20
Video: Geoff Huston on Measuring DNSSEC from the User’s Perspective (RIPE 68)
How do you best measure DNS-related metrics from the perspective of an end user? How many users are actually using DNSSEC validation? What countries have the highest level of DNSSEC validation? What role does Google’s Public DNS play in helping with this?
These are all questions that APNIC’s Geoff Huston addressed in his talk “Measuring DNS from the User’s perspective” at the recent RIPE68 meeting in Warsaw. His slides are now online with some very interesting charts around DNSSEC validation. I enjoy listening to Geoff and think you’ll find this quite an interesting talk:
And then… can you set up DNSSEC validation on your own network? That will help you get the benefit of the added security of DNSSEC in your own usage of the Internet.
May 20
Great IPv6 Case Studies Coming In – What Is Yours?
Do you have great example of IPv6 deployment that you want to share with the world? As we mentioned before, we are asking people to send in IPv6 case studies that we can promote around the time of the 2nd anniversary of World IPv6 Launch on June 6, 2014.
So far the response has been outstanding! We have case studies from:
- large network operators
- small network operators
- social networks
- application providers
- universities
and more! Most are text, a few are documents and slides… and a few are recorded conference presentations. We’re looking forward to sharing all this information with you on the week of June 6th.
We’re always interested in MORE case studies, of course… do you know of an instance where IPv6 deployment went really well! Or did you have an instance where you had to make modifications to your network to get all to work correctly?
Whatever the case, we’d love to hear about and potentially share your story! Please drop us a note either via our feedback form or directly via email to deploy360@isoc.org.
And if you haven’t started with an IPv6 deployment yet, please do check out our “Start Here!” pages to get going!
May 20
Video: IPv6 Security Myths and Reality by Chris Grundemann (RIPE 68)
What is the reality behind IPv6 security? What is different (or not) about IPv6 vs IPv4 in terms of security? What are some of the common myths about IPv6 security? At the recent RIPE 68 conference in Warsaw, Poland, our Chris Grundemann spoke about common beliefs about IPv6 security and what people should really be thinking about. His talk, “Security in an IPv6 World: Myth & Reality” is now available for viewing from the RIPE 68 site. His slides are also available for download.
When you are done watching, you may want to check out our page on IPv6 security resources to learn more about how you can secure your installation of IPv6. And if you don’t have IPv6 in your network yet, what are you waiting for?
May 19
Playing Google’s Interactive Rubik’s Cube Over IPv6
Today Google’s front page is an interactive “doodle” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the Rubik’s Cube. Apart from feeling old since I remember when the Rubik’s Cube first came out, I was also of course thrilled to note that being on a Google website, this interactive Rubik’s Cube is available over IPv6:
Using the IPvFoo add-on for Google Chrome I can verify that almost all of my communication is indeed going over IPv6:
I am guessing from the URLs that the IPv4 connections are to some type of measurement site. Regardless, the main communication is all happening over IPv6.
And this doodle reminded me, too, that it’s been a looooonnnnnggg time since I worked with a Rubik’s Cube! 
If you play with the interactive version today, I hope you have fun… and if you aren’t seeing it over IPv6, why not check out our “Start Here!” pages to see how you can join the rest of us?
May 19
FIR #756 – 5/19/14 – For Immediate Release
Quick News: New podcast from Stephen Waddington; Shel's moderating a WOMMA webinar; Quick News: Welcome to Heathrow's Terminal Samsung Galaxy S5, Target CMO responds to critique with a LinkedIn post, Wired and Cisco collaborate on a crowdsourced tablet magazine, the drawbacks to publicity; Ragan promo; News That Fits: The persuasive power of peer rankings, Michael Netzley's Asia report, the benefits and risks of hiring people with social influence, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, is the marketing funnel dead?, the past week on the FIR Podcast Network, Dan York's Tech Report, Igloo Software promo, should companies monitor their employees' social media?; music from Mario Tomic; and more.
May 16
Webinar on May 22: IPv6 and Telecom – What’s Next?
Want to understand the impact of IPv6 on telecommunications and Voice-over-IP (VoIP)? Interested to learn more about what telecom systems support IPv6? Would you like to know what efforts are underway within organizations like the IETF and the SIP Forum to ensure that telecommunications can work over IPv6?
If so, you can join in a free webinar offered by US Telecom on Thursday, May 22, 2014 at 1:00pm US Eastern time. (17:00 UTC). The title of the session is “IPv6 and Telecom: IPv4 Is Finally Running Out. Now What?” and part of the abstract is:
As we approach the second anniversary of World IPv6 Launch on June 6, the word from the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) is that they are entering into their final stages of providing IPv4 addresses to service providers. While this has been talked about for many years, the reality is finally here. There will soon be no more new IPv4 addresses available for new networks and services. What can be done? What are some of the mitigation strategies and what are their challenges? What is involved with moving to using telecommunications over IPv6? Viewers of this event will hear answers to these questions and more!
I’m very much looking forward to this session that combines two of my personal passions: IPv6 and IP telephony/communications. This webinar is part of US Telecom’s ongoing education events. Registration is free and open to all interested. I understand the presentation will be recorded if you are unable to view it live.
