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<p>---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Jason Fesler</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:jfesler@gigo.com">jfesler@gigo.com</a>></span><br>
Date: Sat, May 17, 2014 at 8:53 AM<br>Subject: First ISP-hosted "transparent" test-IPv6.com mirror<br>To: "<a href="mailto:nanog@nanog.org">nanog@nanog.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:nanog@nanog.org">nanog@nanog.org</a>><br></p>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;"><p>TL:DR? “Thanks, Comcast!” and “Who’s Next?”
<br><br>The test-ipv6.com site started out 4 years ago, at a table in Seattle,
<br>after an IPv6 round table meeting hosted by Internet Society. John
<br>Brzozowski and myself were each trying to come up with a way to help
<br>end users figure out that their IPv6 internet was good or bad.
<br>Ultimately I kept plugging away at it, as John was distracted with
<br>some kind of broadband IPv6 rollout for his employer (Comcast). And
<br>the test-ipv6.com site went live about a month later, with
<br>solicitation to a few operations lists for feedback. All in all,
<br>pretty successful.
<br><br>I’ve had two concerns since deploying test-ipv6.com: one, how to
<br>scale; and two, how to ensure the user’s connectivity back to the
<br>service is awesome (or at least, not bad). John was thinking the same
<br>thing - worried about sending too many of his customers to my site,
<br>and crushing it in the process. Not good for either of us.
<br><br>Both of those are relatively easy to solve. Simply deploy tons of
<br>mirrors around the world, problem solved - if you have the cash and/or
<br>smart business plan to back it. I don’t monetize the site with
<br>advertising; nor do I charge fees. Nor do I have a crack CFO who can
<br>help me IPO, and make me rich in the process. I don’t really have the
<br>time or energy to solicit for corporate handouts. As it turns out, it
<br>appears that I’m bad when it comes to making money on this project. So
<br>any solution has to be cheap.
<br><br>Asking folks to run regional mirrors (such as “test-ipv6.cz” or
<br>“test-ipv6.co.za”) is great; it offers a community local resources
<br>that are more immune to global connectivity issues. However, people
<br>must explicitly decide to visit these mirrors; to chose the location
<br>they want to test from. Those regional mirrors are mostly light duty
<br>as a result. They are still invaluable - they provide the back end
<br>that the global connectivity test uses, for any IPv6-validated
<br>customer visiting any of the mirrors. With this global test, we
<br>effectively crowd source getting IPv6 peering problems fixed.
<br><br>John and I decided to take things a step further; something I’m happy
<br>to see finally make it across the finish line after a fair bit of
<br>upfront dev work.
<br><br>Comcast is now running two mirrors and preparing a third - which
<br>directly act as “test-ipv6.com”. Nothing changes for the user. John
<br>has to worry less about transient (and transit!) connectivity back to
<br>test-ipv6.com.
<br><br>This is done with a poor-man’s GSLB (Global Server Load Balancer).
<br>We’re using an in-house built DNS server that looks at the internet
<br>routing table to see what ISP the DNS queries come from. Based on the
<br>source BGP ASN, we can decide which ISP mirror gets the traffic. (PS:
<br>thanks to routeviews.org and everyone who feeds data to it; that stuff
<br>is great!)
<br><br>In the end: we both get to worry less about Comcast traffic volume to
<br>test-ipv6.com; as well as ensure a good user experience for the
<br>customers visiting.
<br><br>What’s next? That’s where you come in :-).
<br><br>If you’re ...
<br><br> * working at a large ISP
<br> * doing real IPv6 deployment
<br> * or considering using “helpdesk.test-ipv6.com” with customers
<br><br>I’d love to help you set up a transparent mirror (acting as
<br>“test-ipv6.com”). For you, it means controlling the user experience
<br>using this site; as well as removing any capacity concerns. For me, it
<br>means the same thing. Win, win. More info at
<br>http://github.com/falling-sky/source/wiki/TransparentMirrors
<br>(http://tinyurl.com/m7nnhfn).
<br><br>If you want to help, or have questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
<br><br>-jason
<br><br>(link for sharing, if you're inclined: http://test-ipv6.com/comcast.html)
<br></p></blockquote>
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