Just saw an interview of John Curran on Slashdot.org, regarding IPv6 and why it matters. For you viewing entertainment, here is the link: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/09/08/20/1423224/IPv6-Challenges-and-Opportunities?art_pos=6. New to all this, I became aware that we are about to run out of IPv4 addresses within the next 2-3 years and, consequently, will need to migrate to IPv6 shortly.(ps.. I had to read about what exactly an IPv4 address was on the wiki... boy am I learning a lot!!!). So the good news seems to be that most large equipment manufacturers, such as Cisco, have been preparing for this for some time. Routers and firewalls are already being made IPv6 compliant. However, enterprise data centers that want to support applications to the general public seem to be less 'ready' for this change.
Mr. Curran thinks this is a great opportunity for companies that can support both IPv4 and IPv6. I'm thinking that this is a great opportunity for those of us with 'insight', who can fill a niche helping companies get ready and plan for the change that is inevitable.Or is this not a big deal? I am too new to this to tell. What do you think?
The rest of the world is leading the U.S. in implementing IPv6. Go figure that when the U.S. created the Internet that we at one time had the whole address space to iurselves so we still have room to grow in the IPv4 address space. The rest of the world has been making due with what we gave them and that makes them much more interested in IPv6.
ReplyDeleteOn a different note, I seem to remember that IPv6 will supposedly be more secure than IPv4 simply due to not requiring things like network address translation (NAT). With a 64 bit address space, there's no reason why everyone can't have a "real" address.
Cheers,
Dave
I agree that this is a great opportunity for providing that support
ReplyDeleteIt is definitely coming. It doesn't look like it is going to be as big an oppurtunity as Y2K. The change won't happen overnight though. It will present new issues if we no longer use NAT and every NIC has its own address on the web. With 85 'octillion' times as many addresses as IPv4 we should have enough for awhile, but it makes one wonder how long before we need IPv8? At one time nobody ever thought you could fill up a 100GB drive!
ReplyDeleteHi all,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great comments... I looked up what a NAT was, and think i understand that...
Basically, NAT translates a private IP address (like one used at home or at a workplace) to one that can be used on the internet. This happens through your wireless router at home (those things are like 4 devices in one nowadays). What is especially cool about NAT is that you only purchase one IP address from your internet service provider (ISP) and all your computers can "share" it. Otherwise, you'd have to be paying for each computer's access to the internet.
ReplyDeleteBack on topic, IPv6 has been [very] slowly making it's way into the real world. The main issue is not that we cannot do it, rather that all the IPv4 equipment would ALL have to be replaced; not everyone has the kind of money nor the knowledge to be able to make the switch. Once it is implemented, however, there'd be enough IP addresses to give every single person on Earth 8 of them. Should be more than enough IP addresses for the next century. Don't quote me on that, however.
Thanks Nicolas for the explanation of a NAT, and for your comments. I hope we are both here in a century to see if, indeed, there are still enough IP addresses for everyone.
ReplyDeleteI see a correlation with Y2K on this in terms of the preparedness factor. The possibilities that people will be left behind are there.
ReplyDeleteI think there will be a push back for using it. following the rule if its not broken don't fix it most companies will be reluctant to use it. Switching an old infrastructure over to ipv6 could take a un-realistic amount of time no matter how secure it will make their infrastructure i really don't think it will happen with most organizations unless they are mandated to do it.
ReplyDelete