Re: [RRG] Evolutionary Possibilities

[Jari Arkko <jari.arkko@piuha.net>]

Brian,

> I can't help pointing out that shim6 *is* evolutionary in exactly the
> sense Ran suggests - bog standard RFC2460 hosts will just not be able
> to play, and shim6 hosts will understand this and stop trying to
> use the shim. I see no reason personally why we shouldn't use a
> similar approach for enhanced hosts to interact with a loc/id system.
> To provide the incentive, there has to be enhanced connectivity
> as a reward.
>   

Shim6, like many other specifications around IPv6 (various mobility
features, SEND, DNA, RFC 3041, etc) are optional. You can communicate
with other hosts without them, but if you want the feature then
obviously you have to support it at least on your end and in some cases
even in the other end. However, all of these features have been
developed with the idea that you must be able to communicate with peers
that do not support the feature. So, where the same conditions are
fulfilled we could create new host functionality to support something
that a new routing architecture needs.

However, this by itself is not enough for Ran to succeed in his effort.
Obviously he needs to convince the host folks to support such new
functionality. The incentives for doing that relate to things that will
directly benefit the host and end user experience. As Brian mentions,
enhanced connectivity is one such reason. Ability to work in large
networks (where Shim6 is not as applicable as in small and medium size
networks) would be another one. And so on. But words of warning -- we
have been surprised by what people want to and do not want to implement.
In any case, there will be some amount of implementations that change
very late if at all. So you have to be able to run the Internet while
you still have a significant fraction of hosts that don't support the
new things. If you can do that -- fine. If not, you better find a new
incentive model or a different solution.

Jari


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