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Learn to Set Up an IPv6 Network
Merit sponsored the Internet2 IPv6 workshop on April 17-18, 2007 at the MITC in Michigan Information and Technology Center (MITC) in Ann Arbor,
presented by
Internet2's IPv6 working group.
In this unique, interactive workshop, attendees were shown how to design and set up a functioning IPv6 network. This network was
connected to the Internet2 IPv6 network, and thus to the rest of the global IPv6 network.
Using IPv6 transition tools, users were able to gateway between the workshop IPv6 network and the global
IPv4 Internet.
Archived Presentations:
Please see the
Internet2 IPv6 Workshop page
for archived presentations and documentation.
Agenda details
Topics covered include:
- Router Configuration: How do you turn on IPv6 routing on a router?
- BGP Configuration: Students configured BGP sessions between the campus, gigaPoP, and
core routers.
- Addressing: We discussed how addressing works, what types of addressing schemes are possible
given the number of addresses available, how allocations are made, and current best practices.
- Bind configuration: DNS is extremely important in IPv6. We addressed how to populate a server
with AAAA records, and how to configure it to perform both forward and reverse lookups. We discussed
best practices, bind versions required, and potential pitfalls.
- Application Space: Some students set up IPv6-aware servers, including HTTP and Mail.
- Transition Issues: How do you make your IPv6 network IPv4-aware and vice versa? How extensively
can you do dual stack implementations and where do you need to do translation?
- Discussion Issues: Among the itemd discussed: the effects of multihoming, how auto-configuration affects network administrators and network
management.
- Services: What IPv6 services should a campus or gigapop currently offer? What are the best known
practices for distributing IPv6 throughout a campus or state network?
Recommended text
We recommend that attendees consider reading Marc Blanchet's
Migrating to IPv6: A Practical Guide for Mobile and Fixed Networks. The book is a comprehensive overview of IPv6 and
related protocols, with practical techniques and advice on implementation, applications and deployment.
You can read more about the book at
http://www.ipv6book.ca/
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What is IPv6?
Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer protocol for
packet-switched internetworks. It is designated as the successor of
IPv4, the current version of the Internet Protocol, for general use on the Internet.
IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses.
It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network
autoconfiguration.
Why IPv6 important?
The U.S. Government has specified that the network backbones of all federal agencies must deploy IPv6 by 2008.
Estimates as to when the pool of available IPv4 addresses will be exhausted vary.
In September 2005, a report by Cisco Systems estimated that the pool of
available addresses would be exhausted in as little as 4-5 years.
What is the biggest difference between IPv4 and IPv6?
The primary change from IPv4 to IPv6 is the length of network addresses. IPv6 addresses are 128 bits long while
IPv4 addresses are 32 bits.
IPv6 addresses are typically composed of two logical parts: a 64-bit
(sub-)network prefix, and a 64-bit host part, which is either
automatically generated from the interface's MAC address or assigned sequentially.
Below is an example of an IPv6 address:
2002:0db8:85a3:08d3:1319:8a2e:0370:7334
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