v6 deployment in general [Re: tunnel broker deployment [RE: Tunneling scenarios and mechanisms evaluation]]

[Pekka Savola <pekkas@netcore.fi>]

On Mon, 15 Mar 2004, Alain Durand wrote:
> On Mar 14, 2004, at 11:23 PM, Pekka Savola wrote:
> >> This won't work with non-static IP's and getting the same prefix
> >> back though,
> >
> > Sure; but this would probably be sufficient for the average John Doe,
> > right?
> 
> What John Doe wants is irrelevant. What the IPv6 applications require 
> is.

Also, on the other hand, IPv6 is rather irrelevant unless we can make 
the assumption that it will be used by John Doe.  I.e., if we want to 
change the Internet, we need mass.  Guys like John Doe are the key to 
obtaining that critical mass.

> Now, are you telling us that the potential IPv6 'killer apps' will
> not need stable addresses? Making this assumption is very dangerous,
> IMHO.

I'm not saying that at all.  I'm just saying that there are limits to 
the requirements for the duration of such addresses.  For example, 
must John Doe's address stay stable if he shuts down his home PC, and 
leavs for 1-week trip to Tahiti, and then returns?  

It might not hurt, but the applications and the systems must IMHO be
designed to deal with the situation that when they (re)start, the
address might be different. I.e., the lifetime of the address does not
*necessarily* have to be longer than the lifetime of the application
process.

On the other hand, as long as John Doe's home PC stays powered on and 
connected to the Internet, his address should stay stable.

> >> They found MSN, Yahoo, Google, KaZaA etc. Friends tell that is the
> >> trick to it, if there is interresting enough content even 13 year
> >> olds can configure it.
> >
> > Right. If we assume IPv6 would have killer applications which would
> > make the users really eager to get it, sure -- everything would
> > probably be simpler.  But in the absence of such, we need to forward
> > without them :-).
> 
> In the absence of such, what is the justification of IPv6?

I'd rather not open this can of worms, but leave it as an exercise of 
the reader.

As some have pointed out, we wouldn't have needed anything other than
dual-stack (or the like) if we assumed that there will be strong
killer app.  When such app would appear, everyone would just upgrade,
end of story, happy end.  Unfortunately, IMHO, we need to move forward
without making an assumption that such an app would miraculously
appear; there will probably be ones (e.g., some p2p apps) which will
help to drive the transition along, but again, this is something we
should be counting on.

-- 
Pekka Savola                 "You each name yourselves king, yet the
Netcore Oy                    kingdom bleeds."
Systems. Networks. Security. -- George R.R. Martin: A Clash of Kings