The state of IPv6 in South Africa?

[ianst1024]

Hi there, I wasn't sure if this was the right thread to post this in or if it was meant for Broadband Discussions, but since it relates to our ISP's I thought it would suit here.

A quick search of MBB shows that the last chats about IP v6 took place quite a while ago, and before the global change over on June 6. There was also a statement saying that Telkom's infrastructure can't handle IPv6. Now I'm wondering if anyone knows what will happen with Telkom's new MSAN's and how it will relate to our ISP's. My reasoning behind this is that I feel that it would be great if everyone got a static IP so that we wouldn't have to hassle with things like dynDNS, and with the number availability that IPv6 provides that it should be given out freely to every dsl (or other) connection.

So anyone have any ideas when / if this might happen? Any of the ISP staff on here have any ideas if their company will be first?

P.S note to the ISP's, please don't hold back on providing static IP's on standard accounts just because you want to differentiate your business accounts more. You have other mechanisms with which you can differentiate (better support, lower contention, etc)

[rpm]

A good start here: http://mybroadband.co.za/news/intern...th-africa.html

[ianst1024]

Ok, but the articles written say that most of the ISP's and other stakeholders are all geared and amped for IPv6 but have to dual stack with IPv4 because of Telkom's infrastructure. Does anyone know how the MSAN's might change this?

[Jack Shizz]

Bump because seriously relevant to my interests.

I would like to know how Internal networking will be affected by IPV6 - will my standard 192.168.XX.XXX still be used for internal networking, or will we one day switch to internal IPV6 networking as well.

also would be nice to get IPV6 in the first place. also maybe if we knew when.

[Roman4604]

I would like to know how Internal networking will be affected by IPV6 - will my standard 192.168.XX.XXX still be used for internal networking, or will we one day switch to internal IPV6 networking as well.

Well yes and no.

Yes in that for quite a while you're likely to be running dual stack (both IPv4 & IPv6 together), no in that there should be no such thing as an internal network (non-routable addr space) in IPv6. Strictly speaking there is no (6to6) NAT.

[Pada]

Jack Shizz,

In Windows 7 the default is to give IPv6 priority over IPv4.
You can change the order though.

When you perform a DNS request for the hostname, the DNS server should provide you with both IPv6 & IPv4 addresses.
If it provides both, then by default Windows 7 will use IPv6. If it provides just IPv4 then it'll use IPv4 of course.

In your home you can run both IPv4 & IPv6. I'd always prefer IPv4 for home use.
I'm actually not sure where you'll be getting IPv6 IP addresses for home use yet I really need to do much more research on IPv6...

[Tim the Techxpert]

WorldWide Lanch date was the 6th of June 2012 and from the article written in the Free State adoption has been a lot higher than expected. My suggestion would be that we all need to do our homework so that we can all understand the deeper implications rather than the initial bit of knowldege that it will resolve (for some time) the number of addresses available.
Dual stacking I see continuing for some time to come and internally in my home I don't expect I will need it

[ianst1024]

The question isn't for internal network use though. I think I would always want to seperate internal and external network, until at least I understand firewalling and subnetting on IPv6 (just haven't looked into it yet). The question, and the reason for using IPv6 is for all internet connecting ports so that they can have a static IP. For a simple use case such as that I wouldn't see much complications aside from the ISP's having to keep backward compatibility for the slow adopters in their own regional networks. Is anyone here involved with Telkom's MSAN upgrade or has anyone here ever worked on whichever units they are planning on using. I can't imagine that these new units wouldn't be able to handle IPv6, but perhaps someone else has an opinion on where the bottleneck might be (infrastructure wise)?

[Jack Shizz]

I'd always prefer IPv4 for home use.
I'm actually not sure where you'll be getting IPv6 IP addresses for home use yet I really need to do much more research on IPv6...

As do I. I dont even seem to understand how dual stacking works either.

[ambo]

IPv6 over ADSL is already possible. Had the whole setup running with a Billion router a few months back. Every time I speak to the ISPs however, they tell me that no one wants IPv6 and so they don't want to offer it.

Have you asked your ISP when they will start providing IPv6?

[MickeyD]

Telkom's MSAN upgrade or has anyone here ever worked on whichever units they are planning on using.

Definitely IPv6 with IPv4 capabilities...

nice presentation here: http://www.internetsociety.org/sites...v6-Webinar.pdf

[ianst1024]

Thanks MickeyD.

@Jack, dual stacking is just using both v4 and v6 at the same time.. mostly for the purpose of translating between v6 and v4 networks i'd say.

So I think we should bug our ISP's about this. Tell them that the new MSAN's are going to be capable and that we WANT it . Can I maybe suggest a MyBB poll?

[Jack Shizz]

@Jack, dual stacking is just using both v4 and v6 at the same time.. mostly for the purpose of translating between v6 and v4 networks i'd say.

Thanks Ian. what confuses me A) is if this is actually happening in SA and
B) if most routers support it/ can actually do it?

for instance, would I be able to browse the IPV4 internets with a 41.XX.XX.XX IP and automastically switch over to an IPV6 address when accessing IPV6 capable sites? and would I be able to view both assigned addresses in the router?

[Pada]

for instance, would I be able to browse the IPV4 internets with a 41.XX.XX.XX IP and automastically switch over to an IPV6 address when accessing IPV6 capable sites? and would I be able to view both assigned addresses in the router?

Nope. You'll need an IPv6 address to access IPv6 sites, unless you go through some kind of HTTP(s) proxy server that does the conversion for you.

[Tinuva]

Thanks Ian. what confuses me A) is if this is actually happening in SA and
B) if most routers support it/ can actually do it?

for instance, would I be able to browse the IPV4 internets with a 41.XX.XX.XX IP and automastically switch over to an IPV6 address when accessing IPV6 capable sites? and would I be able to view both assigned addresses in the router?

a) It is happening somewhat in SA, problem is, Telkom's IPC doesn't support IPv6, so in the post from ambo, they probably using some type of tunnel that is moving the ipv6 packets over Telkom's IPC for you

b) This is exactly what is happening with dual stack, except it is not the router choosing the protocol, but every pc on your home network, be it wireless or wired. For this to work, ISPs will be dealing out /64s or /48s to the ADSL Router, which will advertise this to the internal network of the ADSL user, so every pc/phone/device will have their own public IPv6 ip address instead of the router using NAT. This mean the router will have to deal with firewalling ect in the future, if not every device will need a software firewall.