IPv6Deployment in European Academic Networks

1. IPv6Deploymentin European Academic Networks Tim Chown School of Electronics and Computer Science University of Southampton (UK) tjc@ecs.soton.ac.uk APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

2. Overview of Talk • IPv6 deployment in backbone networks • Pushing IPv6 into campuses • Common deployment questions • IPv6 training and 6DISS • Conclusions APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

3. The 6NET era • Until 2001, IPv6 deployment in Europe was largely through 6bone-style tunnels, very little native IPv6, or larger trials in site networks • From 2002-2004 the EU funded a number of IPv6 R&D projects, most notably 6NET (see www.6net.org) and Euro6IX • 6NET focused on IPv6 in academic National Research Networks (NRENs) and campus sites • Led to wide-scale native dual-stack IPv6 deployment by 2003 in GÉANT and the NRENs APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

4. IPv6 with GÉANT2 • Today GÉANT2 interconnects the NRENs • IPv6 unicast and multicast supported in the core, using dual-stack (no IPv6-only networks) • The NRENs support native (unicast) IPv6 and many support multicast IPv6 (see Stig Venaas’ talk later today) • Thus the backbone IPv6 capability is good • Thus native IPv6 connectivity now exists: • For new EU network research projects (e.g.u2010) • To allow interconnection of IPv6 campuses APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

5. IPv6 Campus Deployment • The open issue is now deployment of IPv6 into university campus site networks • What are the drivers for deployment? • What are the common issues for those sites? • To encourage IPv6 adoption, we need to be able to demonstrate positive benefits from deployment • IPv6-enabled university networks are still relatively rare within the European NRENs • Some examples, like Greek school IPv6 network APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

6. IPv6 at Southampton • At our university, we have deployed IPv6 in our computer science department • IPv6 dual-stack since 2003 • Cisco routers (6509, 3750), over c.1,500 hosts • All key services (DNS, mail, web etc) enabled • Native connectivity to JANET via regional network • IPv4 service not adversely affected • Some aspects missing, but it works  • Students have developed new applications • E.g. peer-to-peer and multicast (TV/seminars) APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

7. Common Questions • A number of common questions arise when speaking to campus administrators: • Why deploy IPv6 in the first place? • What addressing plans should be used? • How are IPv6 addresses managed? • What are the security implications? • What applications are there? • Which transition tools should be used? • Should IPv6-only be used? • We’ll look at these in the next slides… APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

8. Why Deploy IPv6? • Teaching and research? • A good driver, at least for CompSci departments • Global address space? • Campuses have ample IPv4 address space today (many have an old Class B /16 IPv4 allocation) • IPv4 allocation pool running out fast (by 2010?) so an issue for new sites, or existing IPv4 NAT sites wanting public address space • IPv6 is desirable to talk to other IPv6 networks • A concern is managing both IPv4 and IPv6 APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

9. IPv6 Address Plans? • How much and where from? • All European NRENs can offer a /48 allocation to sites, so no problem getting public IPv6 address space for a campus network • How to use a /48 address block? • Could create a new plan, or make IPv6 subnets congruent with (the same as) IPv4 subnets • Can use a /64 for all links (no resizing required) • Some discussion in an IETF draft: • See draft-ietf-v6ops-addcon-05 APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

10. Managing IPv6 Addresses • In IPv4 a mixture of manual and stateful address assignment (DHCP) is used • IPv6 offers an additional option: • IPv6 Stateless Autoconfiguration • Most campus managers prefer to have managed address allocation • Thus DHCPv6 will be important • DHCPv6 implementations in early stages • ISC DHCPv6 support emerging now • Needs testing in real deployments • DHCPv6 often still needed with autoconfiguration APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

11. Security Implications? • What are the security concerns? • Need to have IPv6 equivalents • Firewalls, IDS systems, VPN servers, etc • IPv6-specific concerns • Use of transition tools (e.g. 6to4, Teredo) • New IPv6 features (e.g. NDP, IPv6 extension headers – see yesterday’s talks) • These need work • But no reason why they cannot be delivered • Open source firewalls are available APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

12. Applications? • IPv6 capability in existing applications? • Core services supported (open source) • Commercial applications missing (e.g. Outlook/Exchange) • Are there new ‘killer’ applications? • New peer to peer, file sharing systems, etc • Application development simpler • Multicast easier to deploy (see Stig’s talk) • Mobile hosts and networks better supported • Large scale networks (e.g. sensors) • Benefits have yet to be realised (‘chicken and egg’) APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

13. Transition Tools? • The IETF has defined many transition methods (12-15 to draft/RFC status) • Based on dual-stack, tunnels or translation techniques • Currently recommended to run dual-stack • Which may be IPv4+NAT with global IPv6 • Avoid use of internal transition tools (ISATAP, etc) • Ideally use native connectivity to NREN • Otherwise use manually configured IPv6-in-IPv4 tunnel or tunnel broker for site connectivity • 6to4 generally not reliable for enterprise use • Only a small subset of tools are actually needed APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

14. Run IPv6 only? • Some sites have asked about running IPv6 only • Possible to do • e.g. Tromso CompSci department in Norway • Uses translation tools (TRT) to access IPv4 networks • But many commercial IPv6 applications missing, so generally must use open source applications only • Also, some operating systems lack support for IPv6 transport for certain services (e.g. DNS lookup) • DHCPv6 implementations still emerging • So still recommending dual-stack • But only works while IPv4 address space remains, or using IPv4+NAT for dual-stack APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

15. IPv6 Training • The importance of training should not be underestimated • For both management and operational staff • Two quite different audiences and messages to deliver • Some 6NET participants took part in the EU-funded 6DISS project (www.6diss.org), which runs from 2004-2007 • Provides a continuation of knowledge and experience gained in 6NET • Principally targeted at developing regions • 6DISS supports training and deployment activities APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

16. 6DISS Activities • The 6DISS project has supported: • Development of e-learning material • Freely available slide sets for training • Delivery of IPv6 (hands-on) workshops • A remote test laboratory (high-end routers) • Train the trainer events • Helpdesk functions • Production of various white papers • All available via project web site (www.6diss.org) • A deployment-oriented follow-up project is being planned APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an

17. Conclusions • Backbone NREN networks run native IPv6 • Many have done so since at least 2003 • Penetration into campuses is generally (very) low • Need to show that the benefit of deploying IPv6 outweighs the administrative and financial costs • Look for opportunities/possibilities, not excuses • A number of common questions from administrators • Most can be answered • Some areas for further work (esp. security) • Early adopters have demonstrated feasibility • Sharing experience is very important APAN 24, August 28, 2007, Xi’an