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Implementing IPv6

Transition

  • IPv6 is not backward-compatible with IPv4 - the two protocols cannot natively communicate
  • Transition mechanisms allow IPv6-only devices to communicate with IPv4-only devices and vice-versa
    • 6in4 and Teredo tunneling - tunneling IPv6 traffic across IPv4-only intrastructure
    • 6rd and 6to4 - stateless tunneling between special endpoints
    • NAT64 - allows IPv6 clients to reach IPv4 servers through a NAT64 gateway router
      • DNS64 - works in conjunction with NAT64 to help IPv6 clients reach IPv4 servers using an IPv6 address
      • 464XLAT1 - allows IPv6 clients to reach IPv4 servers using stateless translation at the client and NAT64 router (T-Mobile)
  • There are limitations with every transition technology

Dual-Stack

For the forseeable future, networks should run both IPv4 and IPv6

  • Keeping IPv4
    • IPv4 works well inside the LAN
    • Natively reach networks/websites that are still IPv4-only
    • Some devices only support IPv4 (IOT)
  • Adding IPv6
    • IPv6 is more efficient over the Internet
    • Natively reach networks/websites that are IPv6-enabled
    • All modern operating systems support and prefer IPv6
    • Adding IPv6 will dramatically reduce the amount of IPv4 traffic leaving the network

  1. Widely deployed in mobile LTE networks. This is currently the best choice if you need to run a single protocol on a client access network. ↩