Internet Approaches Addressing Limit
May 12th, 2010I wouldn’t be too concerned about this one.
IPv6 has been in roll out phase for several years. Modern operating systems support IPv6. Windows XP, by far the most popular operating system, has supported IPv6 since Service Pack 1. While XP is the most popular OS, it is dropping slowly every month now, mostly because of uptake of Windows 7, which includes native support for IPv6.
There are latency issues with running both addressing schemes at once, but, believe me, once push comes to shove, the move will be made and new network operators will say things like, “IPv6 only,” etc.
IT organizations are notorious for foot dragging when it comes to making major changes, but when there’s no choice (the PHBs usually have to get bloody as a result of ignoring the warnings from the IT department) the changes will be implemented.
So, why bother mentioning this?
September 9, 2011 is the date that the IPv4 addresses are expected to run out.
Have a nice day!
Via: BBC:
In less than 18 months there will be no more big blocks of net addresses to give out, estimates suggest.
Predictions name 9 September 2011 as the date on which the last of those tranches is released for net firms and others to use.
Everything connected to the net needs an “IP address” to ensure data reaches the right person or device.
Experts say that the net’s entire existing address space will be exhausted about a year after that date.
A newer scheme is being rolled out but many firms and countries are being slow to switch, experts warn.
Small pool
The net is built around version four of the Internet Protocol addressing scheme (IPv4) which has space for about four billion addresses. Its successor – IPv6 – has trillions available.
Research Credit: PH
Believe me, the problems aren’t the stacks (dual stacks, seperated in most OSses).
They won’t deploy ipv4 claiming excuses about some customers not being able to plug in a ipv6-ready router – and then deploy widespread NATted nets.
NAT? Means you can’t do bittorrent anymore, no direct accessing of servers, no two-tiered internet (one for you, one for the big nsa/backbone/google-cables) anymore. What NAT enables is the sneaky adoption of filtering, evil QoS (not the good kind by scheduling hogs and speeding up surfing) and even prohibition of external services. Read: no net neutrality. Imagine _every_ provider out there as a little china. That is what a fucked up transition to ipv6 will enable. And after that we got a single subnet for each person on this planet. How convenient.