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

[Patrick Okui]

On  28-Oct-2014 16:31:57 (+0300), Malick.sy wrote:
> 2) Is the current urgency of V6 deployments in Africa a real priority or
> has it been given “false” priority over possibly more enabling
> technologies and solutions (this is where I mentioned the current
> healthcare case that is troubling the region and the globe). By more
> enabling technologies I mean greater wifi expansion, 3G/4G expansion, more
> fibre deployments (GPON, EPON, good old single mode to bridge relatively
> small distances), power grid infrastructure support projects, educational
> institute connectivity projects.


To be honest you really asked for it by comparing IPv6 to Ebola. Even
youtube kitty videos (over IPv4) can't beat healthcare.

The thing with most projects you list is in this region most network
expansion/fiber deployments/... involve purchase of new kit and/or
software. The attitude that IPv6 is not a priority means that v6
capability does not make it into the RFPs. And yes, you will get v6
capability (or not) in things like 3g/4g usb dongles depending on what
you ask for. This means if you decide to turn on v6 within the next 3 -
5 years you've probably spent on hundreds of devices which worst case
may not be firmware upgradable to a v6 capable stack.

Ditto for provisioning software, bandwidth managers, etc.

So, no, we are not at the point where a service provider that doesn't do
v6 is going to run out of business (and to be honest that will take a
very long time since content providers including new ones are mostly
dual stack even if they have to purchase IP addresses[*]). However, we
are at the point that if someone is expanding their network and
purchasing gear/provisioning tools/etc they do need to ensure that their
purchase will handle IPv6. Best way to do that is to deploy IPv6 at
least to the core + a test lab/network.

Lastly, if you're deploying a new or radically expanded 3g/4g network
(and yes quite a number have popped up at least in East Africa in the
past 3 years) the question we *should* be asking is why not deploy IPv6
and fix any issues that arise from said discussion.

--
patrick

[*] no, I don't want to enter a discussion about the IPv4 marketplace
but yes it's happening.


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