Wednesday, June 8, 2011 was World IPv6 Day. It was day when a number of Internet behemoths, such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo!, joined forces with websites, webhosts and ISPs to test IPv6, a new Internet protocol. World IPv6 Day was not just a simple test run. Rather, it was an elaborate 24-hour test flight on a global scale that sought to demonstrate that the world was prepared immediately for a transition to an IPv6-enabled Internet.IPv6 is the next-gen solution to a looming problem that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: ICANN has allocated the final block of IPv4 addresses. When we exhaust those, we are out of options unless we adopt this new strategy in time. IPv6 is a lot like IPv4 in that it provides the numerical unique IP address necessary for the Internet to function. The big difference between this new protocol and the last is that it uses 128-bit as opposed to 32-bit addresses.The problem with these new, larger IP addresses are that they are not interoperable with the IPv4 addresses, and that will create backward compatibility issues. Not all systems currently connected to the Internet will be capable of playing nicely with this new system. The solution to that problem is to deploy IPv6 parallel to IPv4. This strategy will ease the transition. It allows us to phase out IPv4 naturally, which helps avoid a wide array of significant issues.
Nevertheless, potential problems loom in this parallel deployment. The most common issue is that older operating systems and routers will receive responses that they do not expect and do not understand, and they will interpret those responses as an error message meaning that that the destination cannot be reached. In some scenarios, this may just mean disconnection, but it can also cause a program to become unresponsive or crash.Running IPv6 parallel to IPv4 is not a simple process. Communication between the two protocols requires specialized gateways. Those gateways require equipment, time and a great deal of money. If we run out of addresses today, we wouldn’t be able to have these gateways up and running tomorrow. This transition requires involvement from Internet backbones and other behemoths, and it requires participation from numerous smaller entities as well.In order for these organizations to be willing to commit resources to this transition, they have to have confidence in the plan. And this is what Google had in mind when they announced World IPv6 day way back in January. Many important eyes were on them and their partners Wednesday when they flipped the switch. What happened next is a matter of perspective. Some called it a non-event, and others called it a success. After all, the Internet didn’t break.
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