On 29/05/2007, at 1:35 PM, Donald Stahl wrote:
For core links it should IMHO be mostly possible to keep them IPv4/ IPv6 dual-stack. When that is not the case one can always do minimal tunnels inside the AS. Same for getting transit, it doesn't have to be directly native, but when getting it try to keep the AS's crossed with a tunnel for getting connectivity to a minimum (See also MIPP*). Actually setting up a dual-stack infrastructure isn't very difficult- anyone who has done so would probably agree. The problems (as has already been pointed out) come from management, billing and the like.
Don't forget customers. Turning this thing on for customers appears to be non-trivial in many cases.
Am I off my rocker?
Slightly, but not entirely. Testing is already happening, and has been for a long time. More and more end users are having a play with the various transition technologies, etc. Having said that, the first work that I have seen in the "Make it easy for real-world end users" space is the "Great IPv6 Experiment" stuff. With Vista and OS X turning on IPv6 natively, as well as Vista's love for 6to4 and Teredo, are your helpdesk staff skilled enough to deal with problems if say, Google or Yahoo! were to turn on AAAA records tomorrow? This is here now, and if we want this to happen without pain, I think we need to be acting. ...or is your helpdesk process to turn IPv6 off? (When I say your, I mean the reader, not you specifically Donald) -- Nathan Ward