RE: PI addressing in IPv6 advances in ARIN

["Craig Huegen \(chuegen\)" <chuegen@cisco.com>]

On Friday, April 14, 2006 6:54 AM, Alain Durand wrote:

> A) if PI addresses are to be returned at some point in time,
> they loose a dreat deal of their value. Folks like PI because
> it shields them from renumbering.

I'd like to clarify this a bit.  As a large enterprise network operator,
I'm less concerned about the need to renumber the network once than I am
the need to renumber every time that I want to change a service
provider.  Don't take that the wrong way:  renumbering is still a
significant pain, but the real reason that enterprises haven't adopted
PA space is that it represents a de-facto "lock-in" to the service
providers they choose initially and they're faced with a network-wide
renumber any time they drop or add a service provider.

Most enterprise network operators that I have spoken to would be willing
to renumber once in the future, in exchange for a reasonable way to get
portable IPv6 space today.

> B) any address reclaim process might be lenghty and costly

Maybe I'm being overly simplistic, but the policy can set a recovery
timeframe in its allocation of PI space to end users and the market
forces can drive the recovery based on the impact to the infrastructure.
If only a few hundred prefixes are handed out, it might not be enough of
a problem to force recovery.

This may be a moot point for the ARIN discussion, though, as ARIN
typically doesn't play all that much of an enforcer role.  It can
declare prefixes and prefix ranges as dead, but reachability is
determined by the service providers.

> C) given how long the shim6/multi homing has taken so far, it
> seems hazardous to make any bet that in 3 years it will be
> finish, implemented, adopted, deployed...

I think that Jordi was referring to 3 years after the solution is
declared "available" -- admittedly that's a tough milestone to set.

Finally, I agree with all four other points you make; adoption of IPv6
has been held up because the capabilities offered lack a critical
requirement for enterprise networks (connectivity without de-facto
service provider lock-in).  The agreement to move forward with a policy
is a very positive thing that enables IPv6 to work for large enterprises
while the right solution is determined and rolled out.

/cah

---
Craig A. Huegen, IT Solutions Architect       C i s c o  S y s t e m s
IT - Intelligent Network Solutions                  ||        ||
Cisco Systems, Inc., 400 East Tasman Drive          ||        ||
San Jose, CA  95134, (408) 526-8104                ||||      ||||
email: chuegen@cisco.com       CCIE #2100      ..:||||||:..:||||||:..