[mdlug] Last meeting

[Jay Nugent]

Greetings,

On Mon, 16 Jan 2012, Michael Mol wrote:

> On Mon, Jan 16, 2012 at 9:39 PM, Garry Stahl <tesral at wowway.com> wrote:
>>> Garry Stahl wrote:
>>> The gist I got out of it was that it's basically similar to, but not
>>> identical to, IPv4.
>>>
>>>
>>
>> You need to spend more time at the Gist mill.  Much more powerful and
>> flexable than IPv4.  It does mean one thing however.  With IPv6 a given
>> address is going  to mean a given device.  Abet a networking device, be
>> that built in or add on.  The use of MAC addresses in the IP address
>> does nail it down to one device, period.  That will have good points and
>> bad points.
>
> Well, not just one address to a device. Every interface can have an
> arbitrary number of IP addresses--even multiple global-scope addresses
> with different prefixes, easily configured if you have multiple nodes
> broadcasting Router Announcements.


    The are only 4.3 Billion IP address in the IPv4 Internet (32 bits).

    There are 340 undecillion, 282 decillion, 366 nonillion, 920 octillion, 
938 septillion, 463 sextillion, 463 quintillion, 374 quadrillion, 607 
trillion, 431 billion, 768 million, 211 thousand, 456 in IPv6 (128 bits).

    With the upper 64 bits representing "networks" and the lower 64 bits 
representing "hosts", this means a *LOT* of addresses are availble for 
each and every one of us :)

    My IPv6 prefix from Hurricane Electric is 2001:470:1f11:c86/64

    That is 18 quintillion 446 quadrillion 744 trillian 073 billion 709 
million, 551 thousand, 616 IPv6 addresses available for my own personal 
use.  Goodbye NAT!  Goodbye ARP!  Goodbye misconfigured BCAST!  Goodbye 
the need to ever $$PAY$$ for additional IP address space, nor have 
anything but STATIC IP addresses.  So goodbye DYNAMIC IP's!!!  If any ISP 
dares to charge you for static IP's ever again - MOVE ON!  The next ISP is 
going to be smarter and knows he win over each and every customer who has 
to pay for address space with his competition.  This model creates a whole 
new business environment for the forward thinking, and *can* devistate the 
ISP who's mindset is stuck in the IPv4 world.  Mooo Haaa Haaa Haaa!!! 
(evil cackles are hear in the distance) :)


    But what in the world would I EVER need that many addresses for, you 
might ask???

    With a /64 prefix assigned to my home, I can see the potential for 
in-home networks to become simply awsome!  IPtv, VoIP phones that are not 
incumbered by NAT sillyness, Peer-to-Peer (PtP) games that don't need to 
break NAT in order to function.  The networking world becomes a MUCH 
prettier and cleaner place :)

    Imagine this:  Every UPC product code on every piece of clothing, every 
item in my home, every package of food, having its own IPv6 address.  Go 
one more step and imagine each of those products having an RFID tag that 
can be automatically scanned as the product enters (or leaves) the home. 
Sure, this is a great way to locate my lost car keys - but let's go 
deeper...

    Image that a gallon of milk, or any other product, has a strain guage 
in the bottom of the jug.  It can now sense if the jug is full, half 
empty, or even if the milk is approaching its expiration date.  This can 
now be querried by the home computer to maintain a "shopping list" that I 
can now view on my smart phone while I'm at the grocery store.  Need eggs? 
Sure! Let me just check how many I have in the fridge and see if I need to 
buy more?

    Does this now begin to show the power of having HUGH address blocks 
available to everyone's homes?  Certainly.  But let's go even deeper...

    Imagine you have had just the worst possible day at work.  On your way 
home you use your iPhone to check if you still have any wine (or Jack 
Daniels) at the house - 'cause you just NEED to unwind.  The status says 
nope.  So you swing into the store and pick up a couple bottles.

    That evening you drink away - finally well after midnight you wonder 
into the bedroom and collapse - and you're out like a light!  But 6am 
roles around and the alarm rings - you sleep through it.  The alarm goes 
off repeatedly every 10 minutes - but you sleep through it again and 
again.  The home computer management system detects that you are in bed 
(because the pressure sensors on the bed say so).  The computer also notes 
that MUCH alcoholic beverages were consumed, but YOU were the only one 
home.  So the computer, because of your incapacitated state, takes action 
for you!

    It automatically disables the ignition on each of your cars to prevent 
you from driving.  This is a safety "feature" for you as well as the 
general public.  The computer calculates how long you are likely to be 
passed out and/or suffering a terrible hangover, and takes it upon itself 
to email your boss with a well-worked and kindly note that you are "ill" 
and won't be coming to work this morning :)

    Ah... the power of technology.... :)


    This is just one example of the future technologies we may see someday 
*BECAUSE* we will have enough address space to do it.  We haven't even 
begun to think of all the uses for this new technology.  But in our 
lifetimes we should see HUGE changes in the way we think about the 
Internet, and addresses, and subnets, and the like.  The ways we did 
things in the "old IPv4 days" of our past will seem crude and antiquated.


BTW - If you guys (SysAdmins of the WWW.MDLUG.ORG server) would like to
       take advantage of my IPv6 space, please do so!  Your server is still
       here at my home/office.  You likely already have a SLAAC v6 address
       (FE80::your_MAC_address) and you probably already have a routable
       (Global) v6 address given to it by my RA server
       (2001:470:1f11:c86:your_MAC_address).  So put it to good use! :)


    Enjoy!
       --- Jay Nugent

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