Executive Summary

IPv4 (or Internet Protocol version 4), the protocol on which most of the Internet is based, has started to show its limitations. IPv6 (or Internet Protocol version 6), successor of IPv4, is aimed at removing limitations of IPv4, while adding some additional features into the Internet protocol. The purpose of this project is to develop a freely modifiable, distributable courseware to help network administrators, system administrators, students, etc. setup, and administer an IPv6 network, and are also able to migrate an existing IPv4 network to an IPv6 network. To supplement this courseware, a hands-on workshop will be organized for participants to test out and verify their knowledge practically. The workshop will be conducted after the development of courseware. The estimated cost of project will be around Rs. 1,00,000.

Introduction

IPv4 (or Internet Protocol version 4), the protocol on which most of the Internet is based, has started to show its limitations. IPv6 (or Internet Protocol version 6), successor of IPv4, is aimed at removing limitations of IPv4, while adding some additional enhancements into the protocol. One of the most important feature IPv6 provides is a large address space, i.e. 128-bit address as compared to the 32-bit address in IPv4. As the IPv4 allocation is nearing depletion (predicted to be in 2011), it is high time for ISPs to start migrating their networks to IPv6. The major backbones of the Internet are already running IPv6. And there are IPv6 tunnels already in place for networks on IPv4 links to test and try out connectivity to the IPv6 Internet over their existing IPv4 links. Most of the modern network devices these days, are also IPv6 capable. The major operating systems in use these days are also IPv6 capable. In some parts of the world, ISPs had already started to provide direct connectivity to IPv6 Internet, to their customers over residential networks. Most of the ISPs in the world are already on IPv6 backbones, and are in process of migrating their rest of the network to IPv6. And those which aren't IPv6 capable yet, are in process of migration. So, now is the high time for Indian ISPs to switch to IPv6, if they want to stay in business, after the IPv6 transition.

For ISPs and other organizations, the biggest hurdle in path to IPv6, is unavailability of qualified network staff capable of managing IPv6 networks. This project is aimed at the ISPs and other organizations interested in migrating their networks to the IPv6, by providing them with a free courseware on IPv6 developed by the community. The courseware is going to cover technical specifications of IPv6 protocols, with emphasis on their implementation on various operating systems, This courseware will be different in the way because it is developed by the community, with no restrictions on its use, and anyone can enhance and redistribute it. The courseware will be supplemented with a hands-on workshop on the same, allowing the participants to setup and manage an IPv6 network on their own.

Project Description

Target Audience

This project is aimed at network administrators, system administrators, students, etc. with good knowledge of IPv4 networking concepts, interested in managing an IPv6 network.

Objectives

Most of the IPv6 courses currently available are quite expensive with a restrictive usage license, and some of them are focusing on implementation of IPv6 on a specific platform. The objective of this project is to develop a courseware which can be enhanced, distributed, and used by anyone without any restrictions, and focusing on IPv6 implementations on multiple platforms.

Course Outline

• Introduction - The Need for IPv6
  • History of IP
  • Problems with IPv4
  • Current status of IPv4
  • Limitations of IPv4
    • IPv4 address depletion
    • Route Expansion
    • CIDR, NAT
  • Motivation
    • IPng Project
    • 6Bone Project
    • IPv6 RFCs
  • Security
  • ToS?

• IPv6 Protocol Basics
  • IPv6 Header
    • IPv6 Extension Headers
    • Differences from IPv4 header
  • Addressing
    • Format and Notation
    • Address Types
    • Special Addresses
  • Address Configuration
  • ICMPv6
  • NDP
    • Neighbor Advertisement & Solicitation
    • Router Advertisement & Solicitation
    • Router Redirection messages
    • Duplicate Address Detection

• Internetworking IPv6
  • Routing tables
  • PMTU discovery
  • Neighbor reachability
  • Dynamic routing

• IPv6 and DNS
  • AAAA and PTR DNS RRs
  • Co-existence with IPv4
    • Default Address Selection
  • Dynamic DNS
  • Implementations
    • ISC BIND
    • Microsoft DNS Server

• IPv6 Security, Mobility and QoS?
  • Introduction to Network Security
  • Cryptography Techniques
  • IPsec
    • Modes of operation
    • Protocols
    • ISAKMP
    • IKEv2
  • Mobility
    • Introduction to Mobile IP
    • IPv4 Mobility
    • IPv6 Mobility
  • QoS?
    • Traffic Class
    • Flow Label

• Migration to IPv6
  • Dual Stacks
    • IPv4 mapped IPv6 addresses
  • NAT
    • NAT-PT
  • Tunnel brokers
    • Application support

• IPv6 on Platforms
  • GNU/Linux
  • FreeBSD?
  • Cisco (using Quagga)
  • Microsoft Windows

• Setting up common IPv6 Applications
  • HTTP Server
    • Apache httpd
  • SMTP Server
    • Postfix

Approach

Following rules will be followed in preparing the courseware:

• The courseware would be developed in an open environment, where it can be reviewed and tested by others.
• All the technical facts in the courseware should be cited.
• All of the technical information mentioned in the courseware should be cited from a publicly available source like RFCs.

Responsibilities

Following individual(s) and organization(s) are part of this project:

Schedule

The courseware development process is going to take 500-600 hours, i.e. around 4 months inclusive of courseware development and QA required.

Budget

Terms and Conditions

TODO

-- AshishShukla - 25 Sep 2008