IPv6 partially switched on – huge leap forward for adopters
In a major step toward adopting IPv6, ICANN has updated six of 13 root DNS servers with the ability to use IPv6 addresses. Meaning, systems trying to connect with IPv6 can get IPv6 DNS information without having to ask an IPv4 server and converting. This is major news for the adopters of IPv6 as the addressing method of the future (which by all means, it is).
In terms of everyday use of the internet, nothing has changed – you still have to go out of your way to use IPv6 at all. In addition to the frustration involved with trying to find a domain registrar who can handle the v6 DNS records, you still cannot access a certain percentage of websites due to the other 7 DNS servers.
Despite the limitations, this is a major leap forward for IPv6. In fact, it has in all likelyhood garunteed the future adoption of IPv6 by everyone. The next step towards making this happen is allowing IPv6 to match IPv4 in coverage, keeping all web sites accessible by both at all times. Once that is complete, IPv6 will just slip into regular use. And we await the day.
Tags: dns, icann, internet, ipv6
February 5th, 2008 at 7:49 pm
There are several inaccuracies in your post. There are far more than 13 root DNS servers. There are several hundred machines, using 13 addresses (using IP anycasting). Further, ICANN did not update them to use IPv6 — ICANN does not run the servers, they just manage the DNS metadata (the root hints file). It is that metadata that ICANN updated yesterday. Several of the root servers have been reachable via IPv6 for years.
I do not understand your claim that “you still cannot access a certain percentage of websites due to the other 7 DNS servers.” All of the DNS root servers (and, again, there are far more than 13 of them!), have a complete list of authoritative servers for all of the top-level domains (.com, .org, etc). If you can reach any one of the root DNS servers, you can find the servers for any other registered top-level domain.
February 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm
It may also be worth pointing out that names could already be resolved to IPv6 addresses – that is, DNS itself has supported AAAA records/queries for quite some time. The recent addition of AAAA records in the root, while a noticeably good thing, really means that you could stand up an IPv6 ONLY environment *and resolve names* without relying on any IPv4 components. Good stuff!
/TJ