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  • Article published in Fidonews

    From Michiel van der Vlist@2:280/5555 to All on Mon Jan 1 14:48:18 2018
    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.


    -| .
    | N
    60 _|
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    _|
    | .
    50 _|
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    _|
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    40 _| .
    |
    _|
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    30 _|
    |
    _| .
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    20 _|
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    _|
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    10 _| .
    |
    _| .
    | .
    0 _|________._______________________________________
    | | | | | | | | |
    2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018


    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.


    Happy IPv6 in 2018.



    --- GoldED+/W32-MSVC 1.1.5-b20170303
    * Origin: he.net certified sage (2:280/5555)