IPv6 is a Business Continuity Issue
aka ”The Day the Routers Die”
IPv4 addresses will never run out – neither will oil. But what happens when the addresses become a precious resource and the cost of operating IPv4 networks becomes prohibitive? That’s “the day the routers die” discussion at the 71st Internet Engineering Task Force Meeting where engineers discussed Ihow the IPv4 space will have to be split and fragmented and divided to keep the current system working. In a presentation to the IETF, John Curran, Chairman of the American Registry for Internet Numbers, pointed out that eventually “the routers will die by exhaustion” as they try and route more fragmented IPv4 routing tables.
When will the routers die? We know that assignments of new, large address blocks addresses will run out by 2010, and IPv4 will become a precious resource to be divided and rationed. It’s the cost of rationing that will force the transition to the IPv6 Internet – a system designed to have at least a 100 year lifetime. However, here’s where the business continuity problem comes to play -IPv4 and IPv6 are not directly compatible. Your enterprise’s customer-facing systems will not be visible to users on the new IPv6 Internet unless your organization has added IPv6 service to your external facing servers and application such as web portals, e-commerce systems, e-mail, extranet sites, DNS, etc. Your internal network users will also eventually need IPv6 connections to ensure they can reach the entire internet.
Organization plan for risk mitigation and business continuity in case of an operational disruption. Most CIOs shudder when they think about the scale of disruption that would occur if their enterprise loses its Internet presence even for a short time. Enterprise CIO - what’s your risk mitigation plan for IPv6 integration if your organization relies on Internet applications for communication, operations, e-commerce, supply chain optimization, customer support? Here’s a simple, affordable risk mitigation plan that we would present to your c-level staff and senior leadership:
2008:
o Change your procurement to require IPv6-capable applications, IT infrastructure, and IT service
o Train your IT staff on IPv6 security and network operations, or ensure your support contractors are experts in IPv6
o Create your IPv6 transition plan
By 2010:
o Get your external facing servers and application (web portals, e-mail, DNS) working on production-grade IPv6 connections
o Get your IPv6 security/IA plan in place and activated. IPv6 may be running in your enterprise already and IPv6 tunneling bypasses most current firewalls and IA infrastructure
2010 - 2011
o Pilot IPv6 ISP connections in to your enterprise – after your v6 security infrastructure is in place!
o Pilot native IPv6 connections to users on your operational network
o Pilot IPv6 user and desktop applications
o “Operationalize” IPv6 throughout your enterprise by ensuring that all applications, IT systems, and software within your enterprise are running IPv6 NLT Q4 2011
At the 71st IETF, the IPv4 to IPv6 transition was a hot discussion topic that led to an “IPv6 Event” where IPv4 access was cut off to demonstrate what works and doesn’t if IPv4 is broken. The” IPv6 event” successfully proved that, even if the rest of the world isn’t prepared yet, the IETF’s sites, web services, and operation systems are ready if the current version of the Internet fails. While the Us federal government and defense community are undertaking transition pilots this year, only a few commercial enterprises like Bechtel and Microsoft are seriously transitioning today. According to Fred Whettling of Bechtel, this transition cost about one percent of the Bechtel IT budget. Hopefully other enterprise CIOs become aware of this issue, follow Bechtel and the US Government’s example, and begin to work IPv6 transition into their business continuity planning for 2010 and beyond.
For more detail on the operational issues affecting Internet continuity of operations, see the posts: See the later posts:
http://www.commandinformation.com/blog/?p=64 Post on address exhaustion and the affects of address aggregation on Internet core routing
http://www.commandinformation.com/blog/?p=80 Post on IPv6 adoption trends and timelines, and the warnings by technology leaders like Vint Cerf and John Curran
April 24th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
See the later post: http://www.commandinformation.com/blog/?p=64
June 4th, 2008 at 10:49 am
Dave,
Great high-level summary of the technical issues and related potential business impact. Here are a few additional suggestions for companies that are using the internet for any types of communications:
• Get an IPv6 test lab going in 2008: Classroom and book education are a good start, but hands-on experience is needed.
• Learn from others: Self-study will not get you up to speed quickly enough, especially for implementation tasks such as developing an addressing plan.
• Don’t forget the applications: Some apps will fail then IPv6 is enabled end-to-end. Make sure your application development and QA / turnover processes are done in an IPv6-enabled environment.
Fred Wettling
Bechtel Corporation
Co-author “Global IPv6 Strategies”
June 16th, 2008 at 9:57 am
Fred - Speaking of “Global IPv6 Strategies”, let me say - great book! I am about 3/4 through it. The case studies are very useful, and I too especially like the “ROI discussion” …
/TJ
September 25th, 2008 at 7:35 am
Vint Cerf seems to agree with us - - “One of the most important things CIOs should be asking themselves is, Are we ready for IP version 6? And if we’re not, why not, and what can we do to fix that? The reason that’s so important is that the Internet cannot continue to grow effectively without the new address space. There are efforts going on to implement that, but it’s absolutely critical that our business sector, the private sector, be prepared for operation of both IPv6 and IPv4. The Internet service providers need to start offering that service. Not very many of them are; they’re claiming they don’t see a market for it. The answer is: We’re going to run out of v4 address space somewhere around 2011, and that’s not very long from now in terms of preparing a fully operational” -Vint Cerf, Internet Pioneer
February 9th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
[…] Internet comes from our analysis of IPv6 and Internet technology trends which pointed out that IPv6 transition is a business continuity issue. Moving forward on this next-generation technology upgrade is extremely important as Internet […]
March 30th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
Here’s a great quote from Leslie Daigle, Chief Internet technology Officer for the Internet Society, in an interview with Government Computer News “The key thing we are trying to convey is that IPv6 really does represent opportunities, even in an economic situation that is pretty grim. I think what we are going to see increasingly, as more NAT and other mechanisms are deployed to keep IPv4 going, accessing existing services over IPv4 will be less compelling than accessing them with IPv6.”