Birds of a Feather Archive

Global Migration to IPv6 and Real World Applications

Authors: Robert Sears (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), N-Wave), Ron Bewtra (Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE))

Abstract: The world is transitioning to IPv6 - many ISPs are now seeing over 50% of their traffic via IPv6. This BoF provides a brief summary of the transition to, and exploration of, the current state of IPv6-only networks. The combination has implications for, and will impact, HPC systems, other systems and networks of all sizes. This topic is pertinent to anyone who wants to learn more about IPv6 and IPv6-only networking. Dynamic quick talks on IPv6 themes surrounding global impacts, real world applications, best practices, and lessons learned will guide a robust and interactive discussion with the audience.

Long Description: IPv6 has been in use for nearly 20 years and is currently being used extensively on a global scale with virtually all core backbone internet service providers, including mobile wireless cell phone carriers. As a result, in key areas of the internet, IPv6 is now the dominant protocol.

This transition and usage has been recognized by a number of governments, which have established transition mandates. As an example, all US federal agencies are mandated to have at least 80% of their networked assets using IPv6-only before October 2025, with mitigation/replacement identified for the balance of devices.

This BoF will cover a range of topics, including providing an overview of the global transition to IPv6, an understanding for HPC managers of these requirements and a technical discussion for practitioners on the realities of implementation. Collaboration with others will be key in this effort to ensure the overall transition to IPv6-only is a success. Many attendees of SC conferences fall under a government mandate, or are making great progress towards IPv6 native environments and would benefit from learning more about this technical topic. This BoF will be an open forum with a few short presentations to provide an overview by knowledgeable engineers who have built IPv6-only network and/or testbeds to encourage interactive and robust discussions. The primary focus is on sharing the recommended steps for a network to form a viable IPv6 transition plan and strategy, assessing transition readiness, and making use of lessons learned; thereby, building on those who have gone before to learn the “dos” and “don’ts” for testing and providing where to find available resources and information. An interactive Q&A/discussion will provide all attendees an opportunity to learn from others and will encourage them to share their own experiences. It is anticipated that some of the discussion will include “I’ve tried X’s product and Y didn’t work – help”.

The organizers hope to bring this topic back at the next several SC conferences, either in the BoF format or as a panel discussion (until IPv6-only is no more difficult than IPv4 only or dual stack).

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