= Сообщение: 4935 из 7440 ============================================= IPV6 = От : Michiel van der Vlist 2:280/5555 01 Jan 18 14:48:18 Кому : All 01 Jan 18 14:48:18 Тема : Article published in Fidonews FGHI : area://IPV6?msgid=2:280/5555+5a4a3c89 = Кодировка сообщения определена как: CP850 ================================== ============================================================================== IPv6 in 2017 By Michiel van der Vlist, 2:280/5555
Another year has passed. When we compare the statistics as published by the end of 2016 with those of today, we see that IPv6 in Fidonet has grown again. From 51 to 64 nodes.
The exponential growth in the first five years however did not continue. Until the end of 2015, the number almost doubled every year. In 2016 we had a mere net increase of 12 nodes. I say "net" because in 2016, not only did we see new IPv6 nodes, we also saw nodes disappear from the list. Three stopped supporting IPv6, two left Fidonet altogether. This trend continued in 2017. Another net increase of 13 nodes, one more than last year. So we now have steady growth.
A trend we do not really see continue is the move towards native IPv6. In last year's list we saw 33 nodes with native IPv6 and 18 nodes that used a tunnel. In today's list we see 42 nodes with native IPv6 and 22 using a tunnel. The ratio remains at about 2/3 native, 1/3 tunnel. This is not what I expected and goes against the general trend on the InterNet that native IPv6 is slowly gaining foot and replacing transition mechanisms such as tunnels. Maybe what we are seeing is that the Fidonet Pioneer Spirit is still here and that sysops do not want to wait for providers to support native IPv6 and take things in their own hands by setting up tunnels.
Speaking about tunnels, 2017 was the year that major tunnel provider SixXs closed shop. It did not come as a surprise, at the end of 2016 I already wrote that the main driving force Jeroen Massar showed signs of fatigue and that I would not be surprised if SixXs were to close down in the not too distant future. That prediction came true. SixXs closed down on 2017-06-06. Thank you Jeroen, thank you Pim for fifteen years of a valuable free service.
The impact of SixXs' sunset on Fidonet was minimal. In Jan 2017 there were just two systems left that used a SixXs tunnel. There had been more in the past but they either got native IPv6 or they had already taken their data elsewhere. Those two eventually moved to he.net and so the impact on Fidonet was minimal.
He.net shows no signs of preparing to close their free tunnel service any time soon. But nothing lasts forever, so let us continue to ask our providers for native IPv6.
What we did not see in 2016 and still have not seen in 2017 either is the coming of systems that no longer have a public IPv4 address because their provider converted them to a DS-Lite connection. The exhaustion of the IPv4 address space not only makes IPv6 unavoidable, it also makes it unavoidable that at least part of the internet community will have to make do with a DS-Lite connection and so no longer has a public IPv4 address. The trend that providers, mostly in Europe and Australasia, are switching to DS-lite continues. Some providers only put new customers on DS-Lite and allow existing customers to keep their public IPv4 address, others are move existing customers to DS-Lite as well. It has not affected Fidonet yet, but I expect that to be a metter of time. DS-Lite is unavoidable and it will affect Fidonet. If not next year, then surely in the years to come.
To be prepaired I did a series of test the past year to see if running a Fidonet node from a DS-Lite connection was doable. The conclusion was that it certainly is doable, with or without the help of a third party offering an IPv4 to IPv6 port proxy service like https://www.feste-ip.net/?ref=18105
The tests are document in Fidonews 34:20 of May 2017, 34:31 of July 2017, 34:33 and 34:38 of August 2017.
Fidonet will survive the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses. But only for those that move to IPv6. Unfortunately like in the Big Bad World there are people that are in denial regarding global warming, there is a non negligible fraction of Fidonet sysops that are in denial regarding IPv6. They seem to think that it is just a conspiracy to extract more money from the cutomers, a hoax or a hype that will blow over.
Well, it ain't. IPv4 address exhaustion is real and IPv6 is unavoidable. Those that remain in denial will eventually be left behind. It may take a while, maybe another decade, but running a Fidonet node on an IPv4 only connection will eventually lead to isolation. IPv6 is a must, not an option.
