Chapter 10. Managing IPv6 Networks

Although IPv6 is not a new technology anymore, production-level IPv6 deployments are fairly recent. They were preceded by deployments in research entities and government-funded organizations (for instance, in Europe, 6NET, RENATER, GEANT, and so on). Although the objectives and constraints of such networks differ from the industry-driven deployments, they have provided valuable experience in managing IPv6, experience that can be widely leveraged. A large part of this chapter therefore borrows from these experiences.

The chapter starts with a review of all the network-management challenges raised by the deployment of IPv6. Subsequent sections cover the network-management architecture and the key management components:

• IPv6 information retrieval

• Fault management

• Performances management

• Configuration management

The IPv6 support of these components on major network-management platformssuch as CiscoWorks and Hewlett-Packard OpenView (HP-OV)is analyzed, too. The last section provides a review of network-management tools and applications that support IPv6.