Is it time for IPv6?
IPv6 - Opportunity, Necessity or Threat?
A few years ago, counters presenting the diminishing pool of available IPv4 addresses were very popular on the Internet. The closer to zero the value on the numerator approached, the more it aroused interest in the new version of the protocol - IPv6. Producers of network devices, operating systems and Internet providers quickly intensified their activities aimed at preparing them to work in the new reality. Their homework was to a greater or lesser extent done by them. The IPv4 counters have reached zero and… nothing has changed practically. In both home and business applications, hardly anyone thought about IPv6. While IANA distributed the last available pools of IPv4 addresses to regional registries (RIR), it was not a major problem for end users. The regional registers had some reserves of address space for the following years. With time, however, these also began to melt and reach zero. The situation repeated itself, but this time the role of the buffer with the backup address space was taken over by local registers (LIR), which are mainly large Internet providers. This resulted in a tightening of IPv4 address allocation policies at the level of regional registries. For example, the European RIPE has stopped registering new ASs (Autonomous Systems) for clients applying for PI (provider independet) in version 4 addresses. offer their own addresses from the pool assigned to them as LIRs. This state of affairs has continued since 2012. Although this is really the last stage before the actual exhaustion of IPv4 addresses, few people are interested in the implementation and, above all, the proper protection of the infrastructure working on IPv6. Continue ...