IPv6 Transition Plan
Case Study
The U.S. government has put in place IPv6-compliance mandates to help with the IPv4-to-IPv6 transition. Such mandates require government agencies to have their websites, email and other services available over IPv6.
Let’s consider that you’ve been appointed as the IPv6 transition manager at a relatively small branch of a government agency (e.g., a branch of the Social Security agency in a medium-size town). Your main responsibility is to produce a plan with a timetable for achieving compliance with the IPv6 mandate. The plan should specify the guidelines, solutions, and technologies for supporting IPv6 throughout the agency branch. The plan should include the following, among other things:
- Summary of the applicable government IPv6 mandate
- Brief description of the networking facility at the branch (LANs, servers, routers, etc.)
- Summary of the main IPv6-related RFCs that pertain to the IPv6 support
- Cooperation with ISPs and equipment vendors to implement IPv6 support
- Summary of the solutions and technologies to be employed in implementing IPv6 (e.g., dual-stack, tunneling, translation)
- Timetable for completion of IPv6 transition
- Plan for testing the IPv6 compliance in expectation of an audit by the government
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IPv6 Transition Plan
Summary of the Applicable Government IPv6 Mandate
The U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) issued mandates requiring all federal agencies to ensure full operational deployment of IPv6-only systems by 2025. This includes providing all external services (websites, email, DNS) over native IPv6 and ensuring internal applications and infrastructure support IPv6.
Branch Network Overview
The branch office comprises a single-floor Local Area Network (LAN) supporting 40 employees. It has one central server for internal applications, two routers, a firewall, VoIP phones, and approximately 45 desktop workstations. The existing infrastructure supports IPv4 only, and the routers are upgradeable to IPv6 via firmware.
Relevant IPv6 RFCs
Key RFCs include:
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RFC 8200: Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6) Specification
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RFC 4291: IPv6 Addressing Architecture
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RFC 4861: Neighbor Discovery for IPv6
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RFC 6052: IPv6 Addressing for IPv4/IPv6 Translation
