Quantifying the Extent of IPv6 DeploymentQuantifying the Extent of IPv6 Deployment
Abstract
Our understanding of IPv6 deployment is surprisingly limited. In fact,
it is not even clear how we should quantify IPv6 deployment. In this paper,
we
collect and analyze a variety of data to characterize the penetration of
IPv6. We
show that each analysis leads to somewhat different conclusions. For
example:
registry data shows IPv6 address allocations are growing rapidly, yet BGP
table
dumps indicate many addresses are either never announced or announced long
after allocation; Netflow records from a tier-1 ISP show growth in native
IPv6
traffic, but deeper analysis reveals most of the traffic is DNS queries and
ICMP
packets; a more detailed inspection of tunneled IPv6 traffic uncovers many
packets
exchanged between IPv4-speaking hosts (e.g., to traverse NAT
boxes). Overall,
our study suggests that from our vantage points, current IPv6 deployment
appears somewhat experimental, and that the growth of IPv6 allocations,
routing
announcements, and traffic volume probably indicate more operators and
users
preparing themselves for the transition to IPv6.