IPv6 adoption

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The world is running out of IPv4 addresses. If we don't change things, there will be no more IP addresses in four years, and the growth of the internet will be stopped. IPv6 offers new hope with 128-bit addresses that provide for over 3.4E38 addresses, enough to last for probably millions of years. But it requires restructuring on the part of the companies, individuals, and ISPs that use the internet. Here's a presentation that will tell you the essentials:

https://www.arin.net/knowledge/v4-v6.html

Help raise awareness of IPv6.

You are so right. I just wonder how many hardware and major software companies are committed and already supporting it. I know OS X, Linux and post-XP Windows support IPv6, but there are a fair amount of people still using older OS's and not-so-up-to-date networking gear.

I'm looking forward to IPv6, because hopefully this will mean the end of NAT.

So those people will continue to use their IPv4 addresses, while everyone else moves on to IPv6.

NAT has other advantages besides more IP addresses, the main one being that it offers better security by hiding the addresses of hosts within the local network.



IPv6 is not backwards compatible with IPv4. If I understand correctly, this means that when IPv4 finally phases out, older devices and computers will no longer be able to access the internet. But it's still possible that people will develop IPv6 support software to port into old OS's.

Alternately, we could just let XP die already. It's well past its time.

Seriously people. It's nearly 9 years old. Why is the world's most popular operating system a freaking relic from a bygone era? Technology has to move forward someday.

The problem isn't what end-user OS people have chosen. The problem is that the major backbone providers don't offer IPv6 peering in all their locations. Until all the major peering locations are upgraded, ISPs have to run a proxy to convert from v6 back to v4. We've got a 10Gb backbone (no that's not a typo) and to proxy all that traffic would/will be a nightmare.

Some IP address are reserved anyway. 127.0.0.1 192.168.x.x-255.255.255.255 although there are some sites that use 200.x.x.x for some reason

The old internet isn't going away anywhere soon. It will continue to coexist a while beyond the initial "IPV6 day". Some systems are unreplaceable and will require to be able to communicate. And no, it isnt just a matter of "installing Ubuntu". There are old systems running that has no sourcecode, no documentation and the programmers are long dead and there are no money to fix them.




Adresses are not allocated in that way. There are some reserved adresses, but its more like someone pulled those adress block out of his ass - there is no logic to it.

There's no way they'd let IP addresses run out, ever. This will happen like the digital TV switchover, just with less publicity.

It's going to happen if they don't use IPv6, bro.

I know, I'm saying that they will almost certainly adapt it, just like digital TV.

The IP problem is just one example of the shortsightedness of computer scientists in the early days of computing. Another one is their use of only 32 bits for Unix time, leading to the 2038 problem. I think people back then didn't realize how pervasive computers would become, and thought that since there would probably only be about 50 computers ever made, changes in standards would be very easy to implement.

Yo bro, move to 64bit. 2 billion years of time left.

This only applies if IPv6 addresses will be assigned in the same rate as IPv4 blocks, which won't be the case. There are a lot of devices on the Internet behind NAT or similar masking methods. In spite of that, I assume IPv6 will continue to be assigned for a very long time before we run out of addresses again.