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Thoughts on switching to IPv6

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Edvard:
I just noticed in the new Ubuntu 8.10 beta that the network configuration dialog has wireless connections and IPv6 stuff front-and-center.
Configuring hard-wire IPv4 was buried on the third tab down. IPv4 is so easy to remember; it's almost like a phone number, why are they taking it away?That got me thinking... Is IPv4 going away? And why? And how easy will it be to switch?

I googled around and found a few articles:
http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/21606
http://tech.blorge.com/Structure:%20/2008/09/25/vint-cerf-warns-that-the-internet-is-running-out-of-ip-addresses/
http://www.vnunet.com/vnunet/news/2226849/china-running-ip-addresses

Yes, I realize this all sounds very alarmist and somehow we'll all get along, but as f0dder once said:
...ipv6 can bite my not-so-shiny not-so-\m/etal hiney, NAT'ing works fine
--- End quote ---
So will Network Address Translation save IPv4?
Or what? :huh:

f0dder:
Well... if every Chinese and Indian want their own static IP, we'll probably run into problems. And because NATing wasn't done originally and some organizations were assigned too large blocks, and because of some of the reserved/non-routable blocks, it is a problem. But imho not as big a problem as some people are trying to blow it up to be.

Would be nice if we could wave a magic wand and make the entire internet (and all applications) IPv6+IPSEC capable at once. But it doesn't really work like that... also, protocol overhead increases, and good luck trying to memorize IPv6 addresses :)

Edvard:
... and good luck trying to memorize IPv6 addresses
-f0dder
--- End quote ---

Oh man, you're not kidding... :wallbash:

Although for home and small business intranet use, I'm sure IPv4 is more than adequate. I don't see support for that dropping with widespread adoption of v6, and the typical user never needs to see those numbers anyways, right? As long as the DNS matches up, nobody's the wiser...

While we're on the subject, where do MAC addresses fit in the equation?

f0dder:
MAC addresses are tied to your NIC, and are (basically) used for packet delivery on your LAN. DHCP servers also use your MAC when assigning IP addresses.

Gothi[c]:
While we're on the subject, where do MAC addresses fit in the equation?

--- End quote ---
MAC addresses are tied to your NIC, and are (basically) used for packet delivery on your LAN. DHCP servers also use your MAC when assigning IP addresses.

--- End quote ---

And remember, just like DNS resolves between hostnames and IP addresses, there is also a mechanism needed to translate IP addresses to hardware (MAC) addresses. That mechanism is ARP

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