In article <5fddad27-71f3-44fe-b195-4e0f27f09...@megacity.org>, Derek J.
Balling <dr...@megacity.org> writes
If people start supplying CPE that are running IPv6 on the outside and IPv4 NAT
in the inside, then that would just fine, in the sense that
the users (in this case including the self-administrators of these small
enterprise networks) won't notice the difference.
I think they'll eventually notice a difference. How will an IPv4-only internal
host know what to do with an IPv6 AAAA record it gets from a DNS
lookup?
The IPv4 only hosts (and gradually they'll be converted to dual stack
and IPv6 capable, some are there already) will only be able to see IPv4
resources on the wider Internet.
I'd have to decide on a case by case basis (one case being a particular
VoIP service I subscribe to) when those hosts of mine needed early
replacement on account of the provider switching off his end. (My point
here mainly being that it's not just a case of simply reconfiguring
them, if they simply don't have any IPv6 capability).
For those familiar with Windows, it's not dissimilar to my recent
decision to update one of my desktops to XP, because so much software
(mainly device drivers) no longer supports Win2000. But then you find
you have apps that won't run under XP <sigh> [more likely on a jump from
XP to Vista, but you get my point].
Sure, I think we're a long way off from any "significant sites" being v6-only, but
"6-outside-4-inside" CPE will cut those users off from
6-only sites unless the NATing CPE is also doing some really, really, wonky DNS
interception and proxying at the same time, and I don't
*anyone* wants to see that....
I don't know if it's the "wonky behaviour" you describe, but I'd have
expected any IPv6 traffic inside the network to go round the side of the
NAT functionality (ie behave as if the IPv4 NAT wasn't there).
But we've drifted a bit away from the earlier problem of how I can make
all the hosts on my internal network "hop" between ISPs with in effect
no user intervention (and no pre-emptive configuration). I'll let this
pass for now and see how the market/technology develops.
--
Roland Perry
