Thank you!<div><br></div><div>It is good to know what is coming our way.<div><br></div><div>I was wondering about the implications of this to a common user.</div><div><br></div><div>Also, what is stopping the RIRs from requesting for IPv6 from this moment?</div>
<div><br></div><div>Y Mshana<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">2010/4/23 Anne-Rachel Inné <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:annerachel@gmail.com">annerachel@gmail.com</a>></span><br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">
<a href="http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/news/article.php/3878391/IPv4s+Last+Day:+What+Will+Happen+When+There+Is+Only+IPv6?.htm" target="_blank">http://www.enterprisenetworkingplanet.com/news/article.php/3878391/IPv4s+Last+Day:+What+Will+Happen+When+There+Is+Only+IPv6?.htm</a><br>
<br>
IPv4's Last Day: What Will Happen When There Is Only IPv6?<br>
<br>
April 23, 2010<br>
By Sean Michael Kerner<br>
<br>
TORONTO -- How will we know when IPv4 address space is all used up?<br>
And what will happen when that day comes?<br>
<br>
The modern Internet has been built using IPv4 (define), which provides<br>
for 4.3 billion address, a supply that could run dry within the next<br>
two years. Organizations that allocate IP address space like the<br>
American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) have attempted to<br>
forecast when IPv4 address space will be gone, but it's not an exact<br>
science, and there is no precise date to mark on a calendar.<br>
<br>
At the ARIN XXV policy meetings held here this week, ARIN CIO Richard<br>
Jimmerson explained how the organization expects to know when the<br>
final IPv4 address is gone.<br>
<br>
"We will run out of IPv4 address space and the real difficult part is<br>
that there is no flag date. It's a real moving date based on demand<br>
and the amount of address space we can reclaim from organizations,"<br>
Jimmerson told InternetNews.com. "If things continue they way they<br>
have, ARIN will for the very first time, sometime between the middle<br>
and end of next year, receive a request for IPv4 address space that is<br>
justified and meets the policy. However, ARIN won't have the address<br>
space. So we'll have to say no for the very first time."<br>
<br>
Saying no to an IPv4 request will be shocking to some organizations,<br>
which is why ARIN is trying to get the word out now on the importance<br>
of moving to IPv6, Jimmerson said. The IPv6 (define) address space,<br>
the next generation of IP addressing, provides 340 trillion trillion<br>
trillion (34 x 10 to the 38th power) Internet addresses.<br>
<br>
The first time that ARIN declines an IPv4 address request won't<br>
necessarily be the date that IPv4 is completely exhausted.<br>
<br>
"It will be a different date for different sizes and types of<br>
organizations," Jimmerson said. "For instance there are some large<br>
national organizations that make address space requests of big blocks.<br>
They'll be the first ones to come in and we'll have to tell them we<br>
don't have as much as they want and they'll have to take a smaller<br>
block. That will be the first indication."<br>
<br>
Related Articles<br>
Blue Coat Targets IPv6 for the Enterprise<br>
Cisco Extends IPv6<br>
What's Next for IPv6 in the U.S.?<br>
For other organizations requesting smaller blocks of a few thousand<br>
addresses, IPv4 may be available for a longer period of time. But<br>
eventually, ARIN will reach the point when it won't be able to fulfill<br>
even small requests, Jimmerson said<br>
<br>
To date, the smallest address size allocation ARIN has issued is what<br>
is referred to as a /22 address block, which provides 1,024 IP<br>
addresses. Jimmerson noted that in the future, ARIN may well begin to<br>
offer smaller sized address blocks in the /24 range, which provide 256<br>
IPv4 addresses.<br>
<br>
Once the final IPv4 address space that ARIN has available is<br>
allocated, there will still be some extra IPv4 addresses that the<br>
organization will hold in reserve.<br>
<br>
"We have some special addresses that we'll hold onto, according to the<br>
policy that has been set," Jimmerson said.<br>
<br>
He explained that members of the policy community recognized a few<br>
years back that IPv4 address space was running out. They also<br>
recognized that there would soon be some organizations that would need<br>
to deploy new networks and services on IPv6 without the benefit of<br>
IPv4. As a result, the decision was made to retain some IPv4 address<br>
space so that new networks could put up their IPv4 DNS (define) and<br>
run protocol-translation services.<br>
<br>
"So the community set up a policy where we reserve a /10 of IPv4<br>
address space from our final /8 address allocation," Jimmerson said.<br>
<br>
A /8 block contains 16,777,214 addresses. The /10 contains 4 million addresses.<br>
<br>
"So in the future when we do run out of IPv4 we still have that /10<br>
set aside for organizations that just need a little bit for protocol<br>
translation or DNS," Jimmerson said.<br>
<br>
ARIN manages IP address space allocations for the U.S., Canada and the<br>
Caribbean region. ARIN is one of five global Regional Internet<br>
Registry (RIR) organizations that in turn receive their IP allocations<br>
from the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The other four<br>
RIRs are the RIPE Network Coordination Centre (RIPE NCC) for Europe,<br>
the Middle East and Central Asia, the Asia-Pacific Network Information<br>
Centre (APNIC) for Asia and the Pacific region, the Latin American and<br>
Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC) for Latin America and<br>
the African Network Information Centre (AfriNIC) for Africa.<br>
<br>
At this point, Jimmerson said that ARIN will still be making IPv4<br>
address space available as long as the supply from IANA holds out.<br>
<br>
"There is a global policy that states when the IANA free pool of IPv4<br>
addresses gets down to five /8s remaining they will automatically take<br>
and give one of the remaining /8s to each of the five RIRs," Jimmerson<br>
said.<br>
<br>
According to Jimmerson, there are now 20 /8s remaining in the IANA<br>
pool, which makes it likely that ARIN will get more IPv4 address<br>
space. As IPv4 address space nears exhaustion, ARIN has seen the<br>
demand slacken.<br>
<br>
"In the ARIN region demand for IPv4 may have leveled off and slowed<br>
down in the last few years," Jimmerson said. "We have a pretty<br>
saturated market with IPv4 address space in North America."<br>
<br>
Other areas of the world are still seeing high demand for IPv4 address<br>
space. In particular, the Asia-Pacific and Latin America regions are<br>
experiencing historically high levels of IPv4 address demand,<br>
Jimmerson said.<br>
<br>
"For only the second time ever, LACNIC, which services all of South<br>
and Central America, issued more IPv4 address space in the first<br>
quarter of 2010 than ARIN did," he said. "I don't think it has<br>
anything to do with IPv4 depletion -- it's just that the markets are<br>
picking up down there."<br>
<br>
Sean Michael Kerner is a senior editor at InternetNews.com, the news<br>
service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.<br>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>c/o DFID-Sierra Leone<br>5 Off Spur Road<br>Wilberforce<br>Freetown<br>SIERRA LEONE<br><br>Skype: yassinmshana1<br><br>Mobile:+23278508042 <br>Fax: (+232) 22235769<br>Do You really NEED TO PRINT THIS?<br>
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