IPv4 addresses used up

[Brightonian]

Seams exhausted in the IPv4 mines.

[JQH]

Is the internet full, then?

[stańczyk]

Is the internet full, then?

Nope. They've opened the new 'ipv6' wing which has *lots* of space.

[Bird on a Fire]

Seams exhausted in the IPv4 mines.

What does the slash mean in /22 and /8 and so on?

It's times like this I realise I have zero clue how the internet actually works.

[dyqik]

Seams exhausted in the IPv4 mines.

What does the slash mean in /22 and /8 and so on?

It's times like this I realise I have zero clue how the internet actually works.

It's the size of subnet - roughly the size of the pool of addresses that a machine will try to talk to directly rather than going via a gateway if it's in your network subnet settings, or in this particular situation, an assignment of a subset of the total IPV4 address space to a subsidiary authority for them to assign.

For example, the group assigned 192.168.40.0/22 controls everything from 192.168.40.1 to 192.168.43.255, and can hand out those addresses to individual machines on their network for routing to from the wider internet.

(Except the 192.168.x.x space is an example here, and isn't routed on the internet. It's for use within private networks that aren't routed to directly from the internet. Most home networks, for example, operate in this space, with the access point/router assigning addresses in the 192.168.x.x space, and translating those addresses onto the ISP network. Which is probably also do the same thing one level up)

[Bird on a Fire]

Ok thanks. I figured that it was presumably some kind of multiplier that would result in a pretty big number, but nice to know how it works.

[Little waster]

Is the internet full, then?

No we just have to squeeze the kittehs closer together.

[dyqik]

Is the internet full, then?

No we just have to squeeze the kittehs closer together.

Or use bonsai kittens.

[greyspoke]

I have been wondering about this since we were sternly told that ipv6 was where we were going several years ago. I suppose my ISP has its batch of v4 addresses and will carry on using them. I think my router will need a firmware upgrade before it can speak them.

[dyqik]

I have been wondering about this since we were sternly told that ipv6 was where we were going several years ago. I suppose my ISP has its batch of v4 addresses and will carry on using them. I think my router will need a firmware upgrade before it can speak them.

The RIPE annoucement above mentions carrier grade NAT, which is one way of dealing with things. For devices that don't need fixed IP addresses (pretty much anything that you could happily use on a home WiFi network), then you can do NAT all the way up to the ISP gateway level .

[greyspoke]

So my ISP can keep using v4 in its customer facing part, but use v6 in its internet facing part? And NAT v6 addresses so they appeared to be v4 to me? It would still be limited to its block of v4 addresses though?

[jimbob]

I'm better informed but none the wiser.

As BOAF has zero clue, I must have a negative clue how the internet works

[Pucksoppet]

I have been wondering about this since we were sternly told that ipv6 was where we were going several years ago. I suppose my ISP has its batch of v4 addresses and will carry on using them. I think my router will need a firmware upgrade before it can speak them.

The RIPE annoucement above mentions carrier grade NAT, which is one way of dealing with things. For devices that don't need fixed IP addresses (pretty much anything that you could happily use on a home WiFi network), then you can do NAT all the way up to the ISP gateway level .

Carrier Grade NAT (or at least the version my ISP used) does not play nicely with dynamic DNS services. The 'solutions' I have seen start with "First get a VPS with a public IP address..." and describe how to set up a persistent tunnel to the VPS from the device behind CGN and send all inbound and outbound traffic through that tunnel.

For people who don't wish to run home servers accessible from the Internet at large, CGN is reasonable, but the answer is to use IPv6, which is why having ISPs drag their feet over IPv6 deployment is irritating.

[greyspoke]

My home server does do ftp, which saved me a sweaty 30 min round trip by bike when I had forgotten to upload stuff to work for the lecture I was about to deliver. I suppose I don't need it now, but last time I looked it was still working. And I have done some research, my ISP (PlusNet) doesn't do v6. As it is a subsidiary of BT, I assume this is deliberate in some way (PlusNet being marketed as a cheaper less good service?) I guess it isn't needed for most of their customers until a site people want to visit only has a v6 address.

[bmforre]

From my service provider yesteryear summer: https://blog.one.com/one-com-is-ipv6-ready/

Read details:

One.com has just completed its migration of all subscriptions to the IPv6 standard.

But what is an IP anyways?
You might have heard of IP (Internet Protocol) before: Whenever you go online, your internet service provider provides you with an IP address, for example, 192.168.1.1. This allows other devices to identify and connect to you. Now, if you open One.com, you connect to the IP 46.30.211.35. It will then send the homepage to your IP address.

As you can see, each IP address consists of four blocks of numbers — this defines the IPv4 standard, which is still the most used standard. You can imagine that with more and more people, servers and smart toasters going online, those IP’s might sooner or later run out. In fact, they already have: back in 2011, all 4.3 billion combinations were distributed for good! Without an alternative, new websites, companies or even entire emerging markets wouldn’t have any chance to engage in the online world.

This is where IPv6 comes to the rescue because it allows for much more complex IP addresses (e.g., 200185a3:0000:0000:8a2e7334), increasing the number of available IP’s dramatically. IPv6 was already established back in 1998; however, it took many years for websites, let alone internet service providers to implement it robustly. Twenty years later, we are finally ready to roll out IPv6 to your websites.

The numbers speak for themselves
One out of five sites now uses IPv6 according to Google, though adoption levels vary by country. Only a handful of nations deliver more than 5% of traffic over IPv6. Belgium provides an encouraging outlook; it is the first country in the world to deliver more than half of its traffic to content providers over IPv6 according to InternetSociety report 2018.

But what does this mean for me?
First of all, your DNS settings in your Control Panel have gotten just a bit more granular. For instance, you can now turn on and off access to your domain via IPv6 by toggling the respective “standard web DNS settings.”

As more and more internet service providers allow their customers to access the internet via IPv6 by default, this will reduce latencies.

And most importantly, your domain has just gotten future-proof, and you didn’t even have to lift a finger for it, allowing you to take care of the things that matter the most: building your website!

[dyqik]

Meanwhile, having one ipv6 packet on our telescope network causes all the antennas to crash.

[Pucksoppet]

Meanwhile, having one ipv6 packet on our telescope network causes all the antennas to crash.

Ouch. A good example of a Ping of Death. Your network administrators must love this. IIRC, Windows PCs these days automatically run 'dual stack', so that implies someone plugging in a Windows PC unannounced will crash the antennas. Which is probably not good. To be fair, recent Linux distributions also implement dual stack, but I'd expect Linux users in general to have a bit more of a clue not to plug in devices where they are not wanted.

That said, I'm not covering myself in glory on the Linux front right now. I need to learn more about systemd and network startup, quickly.

[greyspoke]

I haven't enabled ipv6 on my Gentoo box. It also doesn't use systemd. Troglodyte, me?

[JQH]

I'm reading these posts but have barely a clue what they mean.

I'll just accept that the internet is magic and the folks who make it work are sorcerers.

[rockdoctor]

If I want to be all modern, what is involved in switching from 4 to 6?
I have a largish home ethernetwork connected to Plusnet. Most things seem to be '6-compatible' these days, but I have the impression I still need to actively switch over...?

[greyspoke]

If I want to be all modern, what is involved in switching from 4 to 6?
I have a largish home ethernetwork connected to Plusnet. Most things seem to be '6-compatible' these days, but I have the impression I still need to actively switch over...?

Plusnet (also my isp) don't do v6 so the ip address they give your router will be a v4 one (I checked). Providers that do v6 give you a range of globally unique ip addresses, enough for each device to have one, which is apparently the reason why it is a good thing. Probably you could do v6 locally but I am not sure there would be much point until your router can speak to the internet at large in v6 (assuming your router speaks v6). You're stuck with NAT which is apparently the bad thing with ipv4.

[rockdoctor]

I'm pretty sure most of my kit is modern enough to speak 6, so it's all down to Plusnet to modernise by the sound of it

[Little waster]

I'm reading these posts but have barely a clue what they mean.

I'll just accept that the internet is magic and the folks who make it work are sorcerers.

I’m still wondering what happen to v5.

[dyqik]

I'm reading these posts but have barely a clue what they mean.

I'll just accept that the internet is magic and the folks who make it work are sorcerers.

I’m still wondering what happen to v5.

It's more commonly called Internet Stream Protocol .