[mdlug] [WLUG] World IPv6 Day - How are *YOU* doin'?

[Dan Pritts]

>   So how are people doing on World IPv6 Day???  Is everyone finding that
> accessing their favorite websites and email services are working
> flawlessly and transparently -- or have you encountered some bumps in the
> road?


IPv6 day has been mostly a non-event here at Internet2.  6% of our 
individual IPs  who give a browser string with "Mozilla" in it connecting are 
via IPv6.  I also get lots of hits from folks using curl & wget, I presume this 
is people monitoring IPv6 Day participant web sites.    I've received no trouble
reports from our staff, but we have historically pretty reliable IPv6 connectivity.

>   For me, with a SIT tunnel to Hurricane Electric and my own /64 IPv6
> prefix, I am finding IPv6 to be running beautifully!!!  Now if/when my
> upstream provider gets around to providing their subscribers with IPv6
> prefixes, I will modify my RA server and add more AAAA and v6 PTR records
> to my DNS and start using IPv6 to its fullest.  But until then, HE 
> provides FREE IPv6 access :)
> 
>   World IPv6 Day started at 0000 zulu - or 8pm Eastern time last night.  
> And it runs through 8pm this evening (Weddnesday).   But don't be 
> surprised if many providers continue to leave their IPv6 access in place 
> nonetheless.  Reports I am seeing on the NANOG mailing list indicate that 
> things are going quite well :)
> 
>   If you have IPv6, give some of these sites a try:



The whole point of IPv6 day is NOT to get everyone using IPv6.  In fact,
it seems likely that some things will melt if everyone does.

The point is to show that when operators turn on IPv6, it doesn't break things 
for all the end-users who DON'T have IPv6.  Really, people whose computers 
think they have it, but it doesn't work.

I put some monitoring scripts on our web server last week.  It's javascript
that performs background tests over IPv4 and "dual-stack" (both IPv4 and IPv6
addresses are available on the server side).  about 0.4% of browsers reported 
that IPv4 worked but dual-stack didn't.  Manual inspection suggested about
40% of those were from faraway places with likely dodgy connectivity.  The
rest were probably folks with broken Teredo or 6to4 tunnels.

The real problem is that nobody really knows how many people out there
are borked; is it 0.4%?  Or is it 2%?  0.4% you might live with, 2% is 
unacceptable if you run at a 2% profit margin.

So, if you do not notice, then IPv6 day was a resounding success.



Not to say that you shouldn't be working with IPv6, or that ISPs 
shouldn't be rolling out IPv6 connectivity to their users; but that in
and of itself is not the point of IPv6 day.  

I will add, however, that I'd recommend AGAINST using 6to4 ("sit" interface
on linux) or teredo tunnelling for anything other than experimentation.
These protocols depend on relay hosts/routers "out there" to translate your
traffic.  Absolute best case is that they'll be slower than IPv4.  Worst case is
that your traffic will get routed through Thailand or some place and/or that 
you'll lose most of your packets.  

Don't laugh, I talked to someone from a university in Southern California 
the other day (I forget exactly who, I want to say San Diego St.).  Their "best" 
route for either 6to4 or teredo (again, i forget which) was in fact in Thaliand.  

Exception - like Jay, you can contract with a provider to provide you with a 
(hopefully) reliable 6o4 relay.   

danno