Goals and Methods

The most important goal of this book is to show that IPv6 is a mature technology and it is ready for deployment. It goes beyond discussing the basics of the protocol while remaining accessible to those unfamiliar with IPv6. With this book in hand, you will not only understand IPv6 but, most important, will know how to plan, design, and deploy IPv6 services.

Countless books document and explain the vast set of protocols and features known under the name of IPv4. Although its evolutionary nature allows IPv6 to back reference many of its protocols and features, detailing all the changes and improvements made would require more than this book. On the other hand, IPv6 has yet to enter the mainstream and is outpacing many of the reference books on the market. This creates the risk of making any pure deployment case study discussion difficult to follow. These considerations shaped the methodology employed in this book.

The most important changes in the foundation of IP, such as addressing architecture, packet format, and layer 2-to-layer 3 address resolution, are reviewed in detail. All the other protocols and features are discussed in the context of a service such as unicast, multicast, virtual private networks, quality of service, and security. The goal is to provide the reader with the understanding and tools needed to deploy the respective services. This approach gives a practical dimension to the information presented. This knowledge is reinforced in the second part of the book, where the reader can see it applied to concrete, complete deployment case studies. Deployment planning, deployment costs, performance, and IPv4IPv6 coexistence topics are also covered to further anchor the discussion into real-life deployment challenges.

All covered topics are complemented with configuration examples as well as debug outputs wherever useful. The case studies start with a description of the existent IPv4 network environment. They go through planning and design considerations and present in the end configuration of key network elements. You can leverage this knowledge immediately in a real, Cisco IOS-based network infrastructure.

In summary, this book's goals are to:

Provide relevant, advanced IPv6 information from a deployment perspective.
Help you plan IPv6 deployments by offering guidelines and references to relevant resources.
Provide you the opportunity to practice the acquired knowledge on complete case studies.
Offer deployment examples that can be used as a reference in designing IPv6 services.

Who Should Read This Book?

This book will be of interest to a rather large audience, potentially all people involved with IP communications in one way or another. Researchers, application developers, and IP appliance manufacturers can learn the protocol and possible ways to harness the IPv6 infrastructures of the future. However, this book primarily targets those who design, plan, deploy, and operate IP networks and services. Networking professionals will find this book taking them from minimal or no IPv6 familiarity to being able to plan, deploy, and operate IPv6 networks.

How This Book Is Organized

Although each chapter of this book can be used independently to learn a certain aspect of IPv6, the book's structure has a clear didactic dimension. It intends to build the knowledge layer by layer, or IP service by IP service, and in closing to offer a set of exercises in the form of case studies.

Part I provides the technology tools needed to approach the design and deployment of an IPv6 network. The knowledge is grouped around IP services, each mapped to a chapter. It starts with enabling unicast connectivity, the foundation of any network, and follows with QoS, multicast, VPNs, IP mobility, security, and network management. The second part of the book, ushered in by a discussion of deployment planning, covers three complete case studies that map to three distinct environments: MPLS-based service provider, IP-based service provider, and enterprise.

Chapters 1 through 15 cover the following topics:

Part I

Chapter 1, "The Case for IPv6An Updated Perspective" This chapter builds the case for IPv6 from a technical perspective. It summarizes the differences between IPv4 and IPv6, and in the process of drawing a parallel between the two versions of IP, this chapter reviews the major concepts and challenges that people manage in their current network. Thus, it provides a framework for the IPv6 discussion in the rest of the book.
Chapter 2, "An IPv6 Refresher" This chapter discusses the fundamentals of IPv6 and some of the areas that saw significant changes from IPv4. It covers the new addressing architecture, the new header format and structure, the enhanced functions of ICMP, and the layer 2 address-resolution mechanisms. These are concepts fundamental to understanding any IPv6- related topic. For this reason, they are presented in detail here.
Chapter 3, "Delivering IPv6 Unicast Services" This chapter discusses the elements necessary for establishing unicast IPv6 connectivity, the foundation of all other IPv6 services. It covers the relevant protocols at the access, edge, and core of the network. The mechanisms enabling the transition from IPv4 to IPv6 are discussed along with recommendations on what IPv6 deployment approach to follow in relation to the existent IPv4 infrastructure that will have to host the deployment.
Chapter 4, "IPv6 Routing Protocols" This chapter covers the routing protocols available in IPv6. It parallels their implementation and operation to their IPv4 counterparts.
Chapter 5, "Implementing QoS" This chapter reviews, from the perspective of IPv6, the concepts relevant to implementing quality of service in IP- and MPLS-based networks. It also discusses deployment considerations relevant to the coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6.
Chapter 6, "Providing IPv6 Multicast Services" This chapter reviews the IP multicast concepts and protocols. It draws a parallel between IPv4 and IPv6 features, it explains the new mechanisms available in IPv6, and it provides examples that capture the various deployment options. Multicast deployment in conjunction with the various transition mechanisms is also discussed.
Chapter 7, "VPN IPv6 Architecture and Services" This chapter covers the topic of deploying VPN services in an IPv6 network. It reviews the VPN-related concepts and the deployment models. In closing, the chapter shows several topology examples with relevant configuration examples.
Chapter 8, "Advanced ServicesIPv6 Mobility" This chapter covers the concepts of IP mobility and their implementation in IPv6. It discusses the improvements made, the remaining open issues, and various examples of applying the protocol to novel services.
Chapter 9, "Securing IPv6 Networks" This chapter starts with an analysis of the security threats faced by IPv6, the ones specific to the new protocol, and the ones shared with IPv4. The dual perspective is critical because the coexistence of the two protocols can provide new attack vectors on the IPv6-enabled network. The chapter also presents the tools and best practices available to secure IPv6 networks.
Chapter 10, "Managing IPv6 Networks" This chapter discusses the challenges faced in managing IPv6 networks; some challenges are rooted in the protocol specifics, whereas others stem from the availability of tools. It covers the applications and management systems that can be leveraged today to operate IPv6 infrastructures and services.
Chapter 11, "Network Performance Consideration: Coexistence of IPv4 and IPv6" This chapter provides relevant answers to the natural concern about the impact that IPv6 services will have on existing, revenue-generating IPv4 services and infrastructures. It provides guidelines on how to evaluate the IPv6 performance of network elements, and reviews the areas where the coexistence of the two protocols could lead to resource contention .

Part II

Chapter 12, "Generic Deployment Planning Guidelines" This chapter is intended to assist the reader in planning the deployment of IPv6 services. It provides guidelines on estimating the cost of deployment. It also provides references to resources relevant to planning the deployment, such as getting IPv6 address space. The chapter also discusses the important aspect of education and training.
Chapter 13, "Deploying IPv6 in an MPLS Service Provider Network" This chapter covers the planning, designing, and deployment of IPv6 in an MPLS service provider network. Internet access and VPN services are rolled out in stages, and configuration examples are provided for each one of them. The chapter closes with examples on troubleshooting the IPv6 network and the services supported.
Chapter 14, "Deploying IPv6 in an IP Service Provider Network" This chapter covers the planning, designing, and deployment of IPv6 in an IP service provider network. The ensuing infrastructure is dual stack, end to end. The various services are built in stages, and configuration examples are provided for each one of them. The chapter closes with examples on troubleshooting the IPv6 network and the services supported.
Chapter 15, "Deploying IPv6 in an Enterprise Network" This chapter starts by presenting the steps taken by an enterprise to evaluate IPv6 at both network and host level. It shows the development of a few services addressing specific business needs. The planning, designing, and deployment of the IPv6 services are presented. The chapter closes with a section on network troubleshooting and its future evolution.