Technology - IPv6 6 - Address Management

Synopsis

We discuss the technical and administrative challenges of assigning IPv6 addresses and advertising them on the global BGP IPv6 routing system, in the face of the problems caused by the growth in the global IPv6 routing table. We also discuss proposals to diversify address management, allowing organisations and for-profit companies other than the Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) to compete with the RIRs.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Introduction
• 3. The IPv6 BGP Routing Table
  • 3.1 Optimal number of independent subnets
  • 3.2 Route Aggregation
    • 3.2.1 Binary boundaries
    • 3.2.2 Address assignment following topology
    • 3.2.3 Aggregation versus multihoming
  • 3.3 The Default-Free-Zone (DFZ)
  • 3.4 A ‘top-tier’ of ISPs?
  • 3.5 SHIM6’s role in minimising routing table growth
  • 3.6 Refusing longer prefixes
    • 3.6.1 Gert Doering’s IPv6 filtering guidelines
  • 3.7 Policy positions
    • 3.7.1 APNIC, ARIN and RIPE
    • 3.7.2 PI or PA space for end-users
    • 3.7.3 ARIN’s /48 policy
    • 3.7.4 AfriNIC’s and RIPE’s PI end-user policies
    • 3.7.5 A market in routable prefixes?
    • 3.7.6 New architecture required for portability and multihoming
  • 3.8 Competition in IPv6 Addressing
    • 3.8.1 Market failure and technical difficulties
• 4. Related reports