[afnog] What are the major challenges in enabling Services to run on IPv6?

Tue Oct 28 11:03:48 UTC 2014

Mark,
Your basic premise is flawed. There is no cutoff date for IPv4 address so
Facebook (if that is your customer’s way of making money) will keep
working and that has nothing to do with v4 or v6. V4 to v6 tunnel also
brokers exist and are doing fine at the moment (https://tunnelbroker.net
for example) and dual stack platforms also exist. So your panic about
never getting to post on Facebook again, is misplaced and at worse,
premature.

Also I don’t agree with this:

"It all comes together, Malick.

All the cable, wireless and routers on the ground mean
nothing if there aren't any IP addresses.

It's not an either or situation. IPv6 needs as much
attention as broadband penetration.”

I find it rather patronising while adding Zero value.

This bit too 

"That is life - but so is life without IP addresses (or with
kludges that try to get different IP protocols to talk).”

So in my humble opinion, another major obstacle to enabling service on v6
(in Africa) or any form of technology, is the “smart-aleck” african
mentality that keeps the continent in mental chains and subservient. The
African trait which means they listen to respond, not to understand or
evolve and they patronise ad nauseum.

v6 should not yet be a priority to Africa as the reasons for the creation
of v6 are not realities on the ground in Africa. Of course, we can flame
all day about who is smarter or who has the quickest responses, the fact
of the matter is African economies and brains should be focusing on ebola
eradication, appropriate technology rather than “wishy washy” statements
that only fill up our mailboxes with junk and only manifest the “always
trying to keep up with the West” mentality. My 2 cents.

And yes, customers constantly ask me for IPv4 addresses, the more security
conscious ones don’t want to have anything to do with v6.  (for the
record, I have v6 enabled on my home router and have not yet found a
compelling use case for it, NONE..NADA so that was the reason for my
initial mail asking about the priority of v6 in Africa, if you can give me
a compelling use case for v6 at the access layer, not the core or the
distribution layer, that would be great.)

..........................................
Best Regards,
Malick Sy
Sr. Network Engineer

Swisscom (Switzerland) Ltd.
Hospitality Services
2, chemin du Pavillon
Case Postale 2200
CH-1211 Genève 2 

Desk Phone:+41 227 407 585
Cellular Phone:+ 41 794 426 765
Fax Number: +41 227 740 7542
Internet: www.swisscom.com/hospitality
............................................
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On 28/10/2014 11:33, "Mark Tinka" <mark.tinka at seacom.mu> wrote:

>On Tuesday, October 28, 2014 12:21:12 PM
>Malick.Sy at swisscom.com wrote:
>
>> I was wondering, what good business need is there to push
>> IPv6 to the network edge, specifically in Africa?
>
>Continued access to the Internet - you know, those pesky IP
>addresses that devices need in order to be online?
>
>> What would be the direct benefit to the customer or the
>> service provider, of investing in configuring, deploying
>> and migrating to v6.
>
>Not migrating, but integrating.
>
>Benefit for the customer - their Facebook continues to work.
>
>Benefit for the service provider - the customer's Facebook
>continues to work (customer's Facebook working = $$ into
>service provider's favorite bank).
>
>> V4 address depletion is a reality,
>> but in the Africa region, is there really a shortage of
>> IP addresses to assign or is there more a lack of
>> services to run on these IP addresses?
>
>All the IPv4 addresses in Africa mean nothing if the rest of
>the world has run out and are moving to IPv6.
>
>Not sure if you noticed, but IPv4 and IPv6 are not backwards
>(or forwards) compatible. Well, not without some serious
>weight lifting...
>
>> Also, wouldn¹t
>> the effort and expense to move to v6 In Africa, be
>> better used, if spent on harnessing WiMax? rolling out
>> fibre where possible? I creasing  Wifi coverage? rolling
>> out DSL/VDSL/xDSL? Increasing peering points? creating
>> alternatives to the current under sea cable transits
>> (and reduce reliance on ACE, etc)? With the relatively
>> small penetration of broadband in Africa, should not
>> efforts be spent addressing broadband penetration rates
>> and access to information, rather than ³keeping up with
>> the Jones² and rolling out technology for the sake of
>> technology?
>
>It all comes together, Malick.
>
>All the cable, wireless and routers on the ground mean
>nothing if there aren't any IP addresses.
>
>It's not an either or situation. IPv6 needs as much
>attention as broadband penetration.
>
>> In Europe, I am only aware of France¹s Free who have a
>> full native IPv6 deployment,
>
>Good, that Free...
>
>> all other providers are
>> managing to provide services without too big an IPv6
>> footprint.
>
>Good, that Free...
>
>> In the Americas, I believe a number of
>> educational institutions have native v6, and most Sps
>> can probably provide it. My contention, IPv6 rollouts
>> globally have been quite low speed and that is probably
>> because there are other priorities for the Service
>> providers.
>
>That is life - but so is life without IP addresses (or with
>kludges that try to get different IP protocols to talk).
>
>> So major challenges to enabling services on v6, I guess
>> the demand for such services, is probably going to be a
>> major factor.If there is no demand or minimal demand,
>> and a current working system exists, why waste time on
>> it?
>
>Ever had a customer coming to you demanding for IPv4?
>
>Mark.