Petitioning ARIN-prop-125

Here we go again!

As what might be my last act as a “regular” member of the ARIN community, I have decided to launch a discussion petition of ARIN-prop-125, Efficient Utilization of IPv4 Requires Dual-Stack.

I describe the need and purpose for this proposal in the rational:

In this period of available IPv4 address scarcity and transition to IPv6, IPv4 addresses that are not deployed along with IPv6 are simply not being efficiently utilized. Although we have likely failed to deploy dual-stack in a meaningful way in time to avoid transition problems, we can still choose the correct path for future assignments, allocations and transfers.

This proposal has three objectives:
-1- Encourage IPv6 deployment prior to and post depletion
-2- Enable growth of IPv4 to accelerate IPv6 transition
-3- Improve the utilization of IP addresses

It accomplishes these goals by enforcing three basic ideals:
-1- ARIN will only make allocations and assignments for networks that have already deployed production IPv6
-2- Any new IPv4 addresses received, must be deployed along side of IPv6 (dual-stacked)
-3- Firmly encourages deployment of IPv6 in existing IPv4-only networks

The specific requirements to be enforced can be summed up in this way:
~ New addresses must be deployed on dual-stacked interfaces plus one additional pre-existing IPv4-only interface must be dual-stacked per new address, up to 80% of all interfaces.
~ For each down stream customer site where these addresses are deployed, another pre-existing IPv4 only down stream site must also be IPv6 enabled, up to 80% of the total customer base.
~ All end-sites must dual-stack before getting new space.
~ Internet facing services that new IPv4 addresses are used to provide must be fully IPv6 accessible.

And as I recently elaborated:

The bottom line at this point is that deploying new IPv4 addresses (beyond those you already have in reserve) without also deploying IPv6 is at this point a waste of those IPv4 addresses and has the potential to harm the other members of this community. … This policy proposal simply updates what it means to waste addresses.

Stewardship does not always allow one to look the other way, especially when someone else’s short-sightedness will harm the greater community.

I hope that you will all consider supporting this petition. You can do so by posting a message declaring your support to the ARIN public policy mailing list (PPML).