[ppml] IPv6>>32

[Tony Hain]

David Conrad wrote:
> Michael,
> 
> On May 10, 2005, at 3:32 AM, Michael.Dillon at radianz.com wrote:
> > Some people will switch providers on a daily basis.
> 
> I am somewhat skeptical that people will switch providers as you
> suggest when it takes end-user intervention to implement that
> switch.  Renumbering remains a non-trivial exercise.  Connections
> break.  Firewall rules change.  Network management objects have to be
> updated.  Etc. Until renumbering is addressed (no pun intended), I
> suspect the scenarios of *ANs switching providers rapidly will remain
> a fantasy.

You appear to be thinking in terms of existing fixed networks and the
cumbersome tools that vendors provide for managing those. It is not hard to
imagine a personal area and/or vehicle network where the handset/router
changes providers between available short range and long range radios over
fairly short time periods. Renumbering is not a complex task. The tools that
allow it to happen are currently cumbersome, but that does not mean they
can't be automated. In fact it is not all that hard to imagine a fully
automated set top that switches service between power line, cable, dsl,
fiber, metro-wireless, or satellite based on which service had the lowest
rates today. 

> 
> > I think we are allocating less than in the past. In IPv4 we give
> > a new ISP 20 bits of address space. In IPv6 we give him 32 bits
> > in his prefix. Therefore the IPv6 ISP is getting a much smaller
> > fraction of the total address space than the IPv4 ISP.
> 
> Lies, damn lies, and fractions of address space.  While what you say
> might be true, it is irrelevant.  As far as I'm aware, no ISP (or
> anyone else, with the possible exception of the ITU) views the amount
> of address space they manage in terms of the fraction of total
> address space nor do I suspect they care.  What they care about is
> having sufficient addresses to satisfy their customer requests and
> internal infrastructure demands.  The fraction of address space
> they've been allocated is not a useful metric to judge sufficiency
> (IMHO).

It is not a useful metric to judge sufficiency, but like it or not it is the
metric used to judge fairness. Comparing IPv6 allocation practice to IPv4
practice is not overly useful because one is allocating the demarc for a
network while the other is allocating for a specific number of devices. 

Tony