On January 1, 2018 at 22:09 trelane@trelane.net (Andrew Kirch) wrote:
Lets say the worst case scenario is that we exhaust IPv6 at a rate MASSIVELY higher than planned. Can't we all just do this again in like 80 years? I don't get why anyone cares so much that this thread won't die.
Speaking of dying, I'll be dead by then anyway.
One more time, the concern is not running out of ~2^128 addresses per se. The concern is running out of 128 bits due to segmentation and sparse allocations. A few bits for this (my unfounded example was handing the ITU a /8 for re-allocation as they see fit), a few bits for that, etc. Who was it who owned 2 x /8s of IPv4 space? AT&T? HP? Someone, I could look it up. What was the utilization of those blocks? And multicast, and 1914 space, and on and on. When one thinks of it like that, as chunks of the 128 bits, it doesn't look so vast, and it feels more vulnerable to politics, for example some nation demanding they act as their own RIR with a large allocation block, or just some clever new use, address blocks as cryptocurrency, address blocks with special, magical security policies, experimental uses, etc. Time, and howlings of pain should it come to that, will tell. At this point in time it's just dark speculation. -- -Barry Shein Software Tool & Die | bzs@TheWorld.com | http://www.TheWorld.com Purveyors to the Trade | Voice: +1 617-STD-WRLD | 800-THE-WRLD The World: Since 1989 | A Public Information Utility | *oo*