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Checking references for intended status: Informational ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- No issues found here. Summary: 0 errors (**), 0 flaws (~~), 1 warning (==), 1 comment (--). Run idnits with the --verbose option for more detailed information about the items above. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 2 v6ops J. Palet Martinez 3 Internet-Draft The IPv6 Company 4 Intended status: Informational July 3, 2019 5 Expires: January 4, 2020 7 IPv6-only Terminology Definition 8 draft-palet-v6ops-ipv6-only-04 10 Abstract 12 This document defines the terminology regarding the usage of 13 expressions such as "IPv6-only", in order to avoid confusions when 14 using them in IETF and other documents. The goal is that the 15 reference to "IPv6-only" describes the actual native functionality 16 being used, not the actual protocol support. 18 Status of This Memo 20 This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the 21 provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79. 23 Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering 24 Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute 25 working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet- 26 Drafts is at https://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/. 28 Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months 29 and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any 30 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference 31 material or to cite them other than as "work in progress." 33 This Internet-Draft will expire on January 4, 2020. 35 Copyright Notice 37 Copyright (c) 2019 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the 38 document authors. All rights reserved. 40 This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal 41 Provisions Relating to IETF Documents 42 (https://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of 43 publication of this document. Please review these documents 44 carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect 45 to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must 46 include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of 47 the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as 48 described in the Simplified BSD License. 50 Table of Contents 52 1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 53 2. Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 54 3. Definition of IPv6-only . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 55 4. Dual-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 56 5. Native dual-stack . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 57 6. IPv6-only network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 58 7. IPv6-only WAN/access . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 59 8. IPv6-only LAN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 60 9. IPv6-only host/router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 61 10. Transitional IPv6 host/router . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 62 11. Other cases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 63 12. Security Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 64 13. IANA Considerations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 65 14. Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 66 Author's Address . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 68 1. Introduction 70 Due to the nature of the Internet and the different types of users, 71 parts of a network, providers, flows, etc., there is not a single and 72 easy way to categorically say something such as "IPv6-only". 74 The goal of this document is to depict this situation and agree in a 75 common language to be used for IETF and other documents, in order to 76 facilitate ourselves and future readers, the correct understanding of 77 what we are talking about. 79 Note that all the references in this document are regarding the 80 actual usage of IPv4/IPv6, not the support of those protocols by 81 nodes. For example, a device or access network may support both IPv4 82 and IPv6, however actually is only "natively" forwarding IPv6, 83 because the link used for that communication is only natively 84 configured for IPv6. IPv4 may be used as well, but it is being 85 encapsulated or translated by means of IPv6. So from this 86 perspective, this device is attached to an IPv6-only link. 88 2. Context 90 The transition from IPv4 to IPv6 is not something that can be done, 91 in the large majority of the cases, overnight and in a single step. 92 Consequently, in general, we are unable to talk about a whole network 93 having a "single and uniform" status regarding the IPv6 support, at 94 least not in the early deployment stages of an operator network. 96 Even if possible, it is not frequent to deploy new IPv6 networks 97 which have no IPv4 connectivity at all, because at the current phase 98 of the universal goal of the IPv6 deployment, almost every network 99 still need to provide some kind of "access" to IPv4 sites. It is not 100 feasible for most of the operators to tell their customers "I can 101 provide you IPv6 service, but you will not be able to access all 102 Internet contents and apps, because some of them still don't support 103 IPv6, so you will miss every content that it is IPv4-only". 105 Some networks may have IPv6-only support for specific purposes. For 106 example, a DOCSIS provider may have decided that is worth the effort 107 to get rid of IPv4 for the management network of the cable-modems. 108 Or a network that provides connectivity only to IoT devices, may be 109 IPv6-only. 111 However, the "end-networks", in general, need to continue supporting 112 IPv4, as there are many devices or apps, in both corporate and end- 113 user networks (smartTV, IP cameras, etc.), which are IPv4-only and it 114 is not always feasible to update or replace them. 116 In IPv6-only access networks, IPv4 support may be provided by 117 mechanisms that allow "IPv4-as-a-service" (IPv4aaS, for example by 118 means of encapsulation and/or translation on top of IPv6). 120 3. Definition of IPv6-only 122 Consequently, considering the context described in the section above, 123 if we want to be precise and avoid confusing others, we can not use 124 the terminology "IPv6-only" in a generic way, and we need to define 125 what part of the network we are referring to. 127 From that perspective, we define the "IPv6-only" status in a given 128 part(s) of a network, depending on if there is actual native 129 forwarding of IPv4, so IPv4 is not configured neither managed. 131 4. Dual-stack 133 This can be applied to a host, router, link, network (part), etc. It 134 means that both, IPv4 and IPv6 are reachable, without specifying how. 136 5. Native dual-stack 138 This can be applied to a host, router, link, network (part), etc. It 139 means that both, IPv4 and IPv6 are configured/used natively (without 140 the need of transition mechanisms). 142 6. IPv6-only network 144 IPv6-only can be used only if, a complete network, end-to-end, is 145 actually not natively forwarding IPv4, which will mean that no-IPv4 146 addresses are configured, neither used for management, neither the 147 network is providing transition/translation support, neither there is 148 IPv4 transit/peering. 150 This is the end of the road of the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition, however 151 we aren't there yet, in general at the time of writing this document, 152 unless we are referring to special or disconnected (from IPv4) 153 networks. 155 7. IPv6-only WAN/access 157 IPv6-only WAN or access can be used only if the WAN or access network 158 isn't actually natively forwarding IPv4. 160 8. IPv6-only LAN 162 IPv6-only LAN(s) can be used only if the LAN(s), isn't actually 163 natively forwarding IPv4. 165 9. IPv6-only host/router 167 IPv6-only host/router can be used only if the host/router, isn't 168 actually using/forwarding IPv4, so IPv4 is unconfigured and/or 169 disabled in the external facing interfaces. 171 Internal interfaces, such as loopback, can still be using IPv4 172 (internally). 174 10. Transitional IPv6 host/router 176 Transitional IPv6 host/router is a dual-stack host/router with 177 IPv6-only WAN where IPv4 service support is provided by means of 178 transition mechanism, IPv4aaS (IPv4-as-a-service). 180 11. Other cases 182 Similar other cases or parts of the network can be considered as 183 IPv6-only if there is no actual native forwarding of IPv4 and in that 184 case, after "IPv6-only" some word/short text pointing to the specific 185 case or part of the network needs to be used. For instance, we could 186 talk about "IPv6-only core" if a core network is only natively 187 forwarding IPv6. 189 12. Security Considerations 191 This document does not have any specific security considerations. 193 13. IANA Considerations 195 This document does not have any IANA considerations. 197 14. Acknowledgements 199 The author would like to acknowledge the inputs from Tim Chown, Noah 200 Maina, Lee Howard, Azael Fernandez Alcantara and Marcos Sanz Grosson. 202 Author's Address 204 Jordi Palet Martinez 205 The IPv6 Company 206 Molino de la Navata, 75 207 La Navata - Galapagar, Madrid 28420 208 Spain 210 Email: jordi.palet@theipv6company.com 211 URI: http://www.theipv6company.com/