International Telecommunication Union IP SYMPOSIUM FOR AFRICA Kigali, Rwanda, 7-9 July 2003 A Policy Look at IPv6 Greg Jones ITU Telecommunication Standardization Bureau

2 8 July 2003 Outline o What is IPv6 o Address space exhaustion o Relationship to topology o Alternatives to IPv6 o Network problems o Space allocation policy o Deployment difficulties o Roadblocks and solutions o ITU and IPv6 o About the ITU Based on a paper by John Klensin, available at:

3 8 July 2003 What is IPv6 o IPv6 (Internet Protocol, version 6) was developed by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), starting in 1993, o in response to a series of perceived problems, o primarily exhaustion of the current, IP version 4 (IPv4), address space

4 8 July 2003 Address space exhaustion (1/3) o Rate and scale of Internet growth was underestimated o In 1970s, 32-bit address space was thought to be adequate for long term o Class system (A, B, C) o Internet routing is closely tied to the separation of routing within a network and routing between networks

5 8 July 2003 Address space exhaustion (2/3) o Routing within large networks became complex o Sub netting introduced o Advent of PCs meant that each host could no longer have a unique fixed IP address dynamic address assignment (reachability?) private address spaces (leakage if connected to public network)

6 8 July 2003 Address space exhaustion (3/3) o In 1995, classless system was introduced o RIRs became more conservative with respect to address allocation o Some believe IPv4 addresses will be exhausted in 2-3 years, others in 10 years, others sooner, others much later. o Rate of exhaustion influenced by technology (e.g. NATing) and RIR policies as well as growth o Under-use of certain class A, B allocations

7 8 July 2003 Relationship to topology (1/3) o An IP address is not similar to a telephone number o An IP address is a routing address o In telephony terms: a telephone number is more like a domain name an IP address is more like a SANC

8 8 July 2003 Relationship to topology (2/3) o But analogies are imperfect Telephone numbers identify a circuit, a wire going somewhere, but are now portable IP addresses identify a terminal device, a computer, but can be: dynamically assigned translated (NATing)

9 8 July 2003 Relationship to topology (3/3) Back to the basics of Internet: o Any host can access any other host through uniform protocols and addresses o Network is dumb o Intelligence at the edges o Applications independent of network o Network does not change content These differences are more important than the packet vs. switched models

10 8 July 2003 Alternatives to IPv6 o Application servers at boundary of public network, translate to private network, but these gateways can limit functionality o NATing, VPNs, private spaces, but may force re-numbering NATing limits peer-to-peer applications IPsec requires end-to-end

11 8 July 2003 Network Problems o Routing table growth (IPv6 may help or hinder) o Blocks allocated to ISPs to optimize routing limit portability across ISPs o Security may or may not be improved Expanding address space raises certain issues

12 8 July 2003 Space allocation policies o RIRs allocate to LIRs (optimizes routing) o If IPv6 policies are conservative, this may slow the adoption of IPv6 o If IPv6 policies are loose, this may lead to routing table problems and early exhaustion

13 8 July 2003 Deployment difficulties o Dual stack: v4 and v6 in devices o Tunnels: encapsulate v4 in v6 or v6 in v4 o Conversion gateways o Convert networks from the edges from the core by islands, either geographic or by application (3G)

14 8 July 2003 Potential roadblocks and solutions o Cost of conversion o Lack of confidence in v6 software o Policies (will) Consensus is that conversion is needed, but when and how will depend on many factors

15 8 July 2003 ITU and IPv6 o ITUs mission includes providing information on new technologies to its membership, IPv6 is a good example o A Tutorial Workshop was held in Geneva on 6 May 2002, see: itu.int/ITU-T/worksem/ipv6 o Further events are being considered

16 8 July 2003 What is ITU? o International treaty organization founded in 1865 to facilitate international interconnection of telegraphy o Unique partnership of industry and governments o Three sectors: Development (aid to developing countries) Radio (radio spectrum and satellite slot allocations) Standardization (formerly CCITT, for example modem standards) (now called ITU-T; secretariat is called TSB) o In ITU-T industry and government work together to develop mutually agreed non-binding Recommendations

17 8 July 2003 Goals of ITU-T The functions of the Telecommunication Standardization Sector shall be, bearing in mind the particular concerns of the developing countries, to fulfill the purposes of the Union relating to telecommunication standardization, as stated in Article 1 of this Constitution, by studying technical, operating and tariff Questions and adopting Recommendations on them with a view to standardizing telecommunications on a worldwide basis.

18 8 July 2003 IP project–areas of study o Integrated architecture o Impact to telecommunications access infrastructures of access to IP applications o Interworking between IP based network and switched-circuit networks, including wireless based networks o Multimedia applications over IP o Numbering and addressing o Transport for IP-structured signals o Signalling support, IN and routing for services on IP-based networks o Performance o Integrated management of telecom and IP-based networks o Security aspects o Network capabilities including requirements for resource management o Operations and Maintenance (OAM) for IP

19 8 July 2003 An example of ITU-T work ENUM is an IETF protocol for mapping telephone numbers into the DNS. IETF asked ITU to facilitate government approval of ENUM implementations, given that telephony is still regulated in most countries See: o No real technical issues o Complex regulatory issues o After considerable discussion, most determined to be national matters o Under agreed procedures o RIPE NCC will ask TSB if country approves ENUM delegation request o If yes, it proceeds o If no or no answer from country, it does not proceed (TSB objects) o TSB does not itself evaluate requests in any way. RIPE NCC checks technical aspects of requests

20 8 July 2003 What ITU-T is not o World-wide regulation o Consider issues that are national matters o Binding recommendations o Top-down decisions o Impose contractual terms or operating rules on private companies o Work in non-transparent ways o Act bureaucratically o Have staff that decides policies o Collect fees other than membership fees (with the exception of minor cost-recovery activities) The ITU-T does not do the following:

21 8 July 2003 What is ITUs Situation (1/5) o ITU participation and coordination do not imply ITU control or government control. o A good example is the international telephone numbering scheme, which is coordinated by ITU-T and is universally considered to work to the satisfaction of the general public; however, telephone services are not controlled by ITU-T and are provided by private companies

22 8 July 2003 What is ITUs Situation (2/5) o ITU-T is a dynamic, well-respected industry-government partnership (650 Sector Members) o Examples of ITU-T Recommendations: G & G Speech coding for Voice over IP and other applications H Packet based multimedia communication systems - the protocols behind Voice over IP, along with: H Control protocol for multimedia communications H Gateway control protocol (developed jointly with IETF) X Public-key encryption V kbit/s PSTN modems - providing ubiquitous worldwide internet access G.99x series - xDSL Recommendations for broadband access

23 8 July 2003 What is ITUs Situation (3/5) ITU-T Approval and publication times

24 8 July 2003 What is ITUs Situation (4/5) o ITU-T working methods are fast and efficient: for example, 190 Recommendations have been approved under Alternative Approval Process in 2001, more than 60% in less than 2 months (ex. E.129, Representation of national numbering plans) o ITU membership has increased in the private sector o Non-government (non-profit) organizations can apply for ITU membership

25 8 July 2003 What is ITUs Situation (5/5) ITU-T–Electronic Publishing o All Recommendations available online o Key databases (for example, telephone country codes) available online o Working documents available online See itu.int/ITU-Titu.int/ITU-T

26 8 July 2003 How does ITU-T Develop Recommendations? o Consensus of Sector Members and Member States o Work typically driven by Sector Members o Open (for members), transparent, bottoms-up process o Sensitive to national sovereignty: will only cover matters not considered to be national o Will not impose contractual terms or operating rules on private companies Recommendations are not binding, but tend to be followed because they represent a true consensus.