INTERNET-DRAFT John Curran Expires: January 1, 2008 July 2007 Intended status: Informational An Internet Transition Plan draft-jcurran-v6transitionplan-00 Status of this Memo By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79. Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups. Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet- Drafts. Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt. The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html. This Internet-Draft will expire on January 1, 2008 . Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). Abstract This memo provides one possible plan for transitioning the Internet from a predominantly IPv4-based connectivity model to a predominantly IPv6-based connectivity model. Requirements Language The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119]. J. Curran Expires January 1, 2008 [Page 2] Internet-Draft An Internet Transition Plan July 2007 Table of Contents 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2. Phased Transition Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2.1 Preparation Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.2 Transition Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 2.3 Post-Transition Stage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 3. Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 4. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 5. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 6. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7. References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7.1. Normative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 7.2. Informative References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Intellectual Property and Copyright Statements . . . . . . . . . . 6 1. Introduction This memo provides one possible plan for transitioning the Internet from a predominantly IPv4-based connectivity model to a predominantly IPv6-based connectivity model. Other transition plans are possible and this purely informational document does not create an obligation on any party to undertake any of the actions specified herein. The purpose of specifying this particular transition plan is to allow for overall assessment of the viability of accomplishing the desired transition and to begin the discussion of Internet-wide transition plans in general. 2. Phased Transition Model It is not reasonable to specify the changes that each and every system connected to the Internet must undergo in order to achieve the desired transition, as the number of connected systems precludes creating one plan that contains such a level of detail. Further, while there are common scenarios that may be specified for transitioning individual networks (refer to [RFC3750] [RFC4057] and [CAMP]), the specific timeline and mechanisms utilized for a given network will be unique. Despite these challenges, it is necessary to coordinate expectations on an overall basis so that Internet-wide connectivity is maintained throughout the transition. This plan delineates specific phases for the transition activities, and further breaks downs the necessary activities within each phase based on the role that an organization plays in the provision of Internet services. The three proposed phases are: Preparation Phase, Transition Phase, and Post-Transition Phase. J. Curran Expires January 1, 2008 [Page 3] Internet-Draft An Internet Transition Plan July 2007 2.1 Preparation Phase - Present to December 2008 In the Preparation Phase, entities prepare to provide Internet-facing services via IPv6-based connectivity while continuing to provide Internet-facing services via IPv4 connectivity. During the Preparation Phase, the following principles apply: 2.1.1 Service Providers SHOULD offer IPv6-based Internet Service to their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service MAY be provided via IPv6 transition mechanisms or native IPv6 network service. 2.1.2 Organizations SHOULD arrange for IPv6-based Interent connectivity for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web, email, and domain name servers). Internet-facing IPv6 servers MAY be treated as production by the organization, but MUST NOT be treated as production by other Internet organizations. 2.1.3 Organizations MAY provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity to internal user communities. 2.2 Transition Phase - January 2009 to December 2010 In the Transition Phase, entities provide Internet-facing services via IPv6-based connectivity in addition to IPv4-based connectivity. During the Transition Phase, the following principles apply: 2.2.1 Service Providers MUST offer IPv6-based Internet Service to their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD be via native IPv6 network service but MAY be via IPv6 transition mechanisms if necessary. 2.2.2 Organizations MUST arrange for IPv6-based Interent connectivity for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web, email, and domain name servers). Internet-facing IPv6 servers SHOULD be treated as production by the organization, and MAY be treated as production by other Internet organizations. 2.2.3 Organizations SHOULD provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity to their internal user communities, and provide IPv6 internal supporting servers (e.g. DNS, DHCP). IPv6-based Internet connectivity MAY be via native IPv6 network service or MAY be via IPv6 transition mechanisms. J. Curran Expires January 1, 2008 [Page 4] Internet-Draft An Internet Transition Plan July 2007 2.3 Post-Transition Phase - January 2011 to the Future In the Post-Transition Phase, entities provide all Internet-facing services via IPv6-based connectivity. During the Post-Transition Phase, the following principles apply: 2.3.1 Service Providers MUST offer IPv6-based Internet Service to their Internet customers. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD be via native IPv6 network service but MAY be via IPv6 transition mechanisms if necessary. IPv6-based Internet Service SHOULD be treated as production by other Internet organizations. 2.3.2 Organizations MUST arrange for IPv6-based Internet connectivity for any Internet-facing servers (e.g. web, email, and domain name servers). Internet-facing IPv6 servers MUST be treated as production by the organization, and SHOULD be treated as production by other Internet organizations. 2.3.3 Organizations SHOULD provide IPv6-based Internet connectivity to internal user communities, and provide IPv6 internal supporting servers (e.g. DNS, DHCP) IPv6-based Internet connectivity MAY be via native IPv6 network service or MAY be via IPv6 transition mechanisms. 2.3.4 Service Providers area MAY continue to offer IPv4-based Internet connectivity to their customers. Organizations MAY continue to use IPv4-based Internet connectivity. Organizations MAY remove IPv4-based Internet connectivity from Internet-facing servers. 3. Summary In order to facilitate full Internet-wide connectivity during the transition from IPv4-based connectivity to IPv6-based connectivity, a transition plan which provides clear guidance to organizations regarding expectations is necessary. As the specific expectations change over time, and vary greatly by organization, a phased approach is specified in this document, with the timeline for each phase set with the intention of allowing enough time for the necessary planning and deployment steps which each organization much undertake. This Internet Transition Plan provides for transition to predominantly IPv6-connectivity by January 2011 which, with careful management, may meet the overall requirements of allowing the Internet to scale as specified in "The Recommendation for the IP Next Generation Protocol" [RFC1752]. 4. Security Considerations This memo describes the transition of the Internet from IPv4-based connectivity to predominantly IPv6-based connectivity. This change inherently has security implications due to the widespread deployment of a new version of the Internet Protocol but these are beyond the scope of this document and are covered in [IPV6SEC]. This document raises no new security issues itself. J. Curran Expires January 1, 2008 [Page 5] Internet-Draft An Internet Transition Plan July 2007 5. IANA Considerations While no new name or identifier space is created by this document, the policies for management of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) address space (which were formed in accordance with [RFC2050]) may not provide for IPv4 availability through the Transition Phase as intended by this plan. The IANA should continue work with all parties to encourage sufficient availability of IPv4 address resources as necessary to support any resulting transition plan that receives wide-spead adoption. 6. Acknowledgments We are grateful for the many thoughtful and helpful suggestions made by members of the Internet community, and in particular would like to thank Jim Bound, Scott Bradner, Randy Bush, Geoff Huston, Chris Morrow, and Jordi Palet for their thoughtful reviews and suggestions for improvement. 7. References 7.1. Normative References [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997. [RFC1752] Bradner, S., Mankin, A.," The Recommendation for the IP Next Generation Protocol", RFC 1752, January 1995. 7.2. Informative References [RFC4057] Bound, J., Ed., "IPv6 Enterprise Network Scenarios", RFC 4057, June 2005. [RFC3750] Huitema, C., Austein, R., Satapati, S., and R. van der Pol, "Unmanaged Networks IPv6 Transition Scenarios", RFC 3750, April 2004 [CAMP] Chown, T., "IPv6 Campus Transition Scenario Description and Analysis", (Work in Progress), March 2007. [RFC2050] Hubbard, K., Kosters, M., Conrad, D., Karrenberg, D., and J. Postel, "Internet Registry IP Allocation Guidelines", BCP 12, RFC 2050, November 1996. [IPV6SEC] Davies, E., "IPv6 Transition/Co-existence Security Considerations", draft-ietf-v6ops-security-overview-06 (Work in Progress), October 2006. J. Curran Expires January 1, 2008 [Page 6] Internet-Draft An Internet Transition Plan July 2007 Author's Address John Curran 99 Otis Street Cambridge, MA USA 20190 Email: jcurran@istaff.org Full Copyright Statement Copyright (C) The IETF Trust (2007). This document is subject to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights. 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