Topic: The internet is about to run into an IP wall

[NUMBERZero]

Heard on the news this morning that the internet is about to run out of IP addresses.

And here's a link to an age old article back in 2006 about it. This one says that it will run out in 2010
http://www.internetnews.com/infra/article.php/3605501

Here's the Wiki article. This one says it will run out early 2011 and that IPv6 will have to take over.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv4_address_exhaustion

[Zantor]

IPv6 is the industry's answer to this problem. IPv6 uses a 64-bit (I think; someone clarify plz) hexadecimal address, rather than a 32-bit decimal IP address. This allows for a significantly greater number of IPs within the industry standard address classes.

[-<WillyP>-]

Actualy 128bit, Acording to wikipedia:

IPv6 has a vastly larger address space than IPv4. This results from the use of a 128-bit address, whereas IPv4 uses only 32 bits. The new address space thus supports 2128 (about 3.4×1038) addresses.

IPv6 has been around for a while, all but the oldest hardware/ firmware/ software should be compatible.

[Foil]

Don't worry, this isn't "heading toward a crisis".  The issue was anticipated years ago, and we're slowly transitioning to IPv6.

[TechPro]

Yup.  You can be sure with technology (and thus the Internet) there will always be change.

And if anyone is still concerned that we'll run out too soon, you can monitor it here:  http://www.potaroo.net/tools/ipv4/index.html

[PyroJockey]

But are we ready for Y21K? 

[-<WillyP>-]

But are we ready for Y21K? 

I think you mean Y2.1K...  I am not planning to be around for year 21,000. 

You can visit an IPv6 only website here: ipv6.google.com If that works you should be good to go.

The site TP linked to is running dual stack, that is, serving requests for both IPv4 and IPv6.

[PyroJockey]

I think you mean Y2.1K... 

oops...yeah

[-<WillyP>-]

Well if you are comparing this to y2k, that doesn't bode well.

Y2K was over-hyped as almost the end of the world, no one knew what would happen, but they were sure found of shouting out the worst case scenarios. For most people, nothing happened.

IPv6 is just the opposite... most people are blissfully ignorant, and most experts say, no big deal, it shouldn't be an issue, it's under control, etc... So if you compare it to Y2K it is quite the opposite, which means bad things will happen. What if the internet shuts down?

Not that I think anything even remotely that serious will happen.

[PyroJockey]

So in this case Y2K = cry wolf?

[-<WillyP>-]

Well, that was my take, I don't recall hearing any horror stories about Y2K, whether it was because it was so well known that everyone was prepared, or whether it was never really going to be an issue anyway.

But you don't hear doom and gloom stories about IPv6, or running out of address, or massive system failures that will occur when we switch over... So I am, saying, tongue in cheek of course, that if you are going to compare it to Y2K it is the opposite.

But in reality, and all seriousness, I doubt we will even notice. I already have my machine set to handle IPv6, it was set up that way before I even knew what it was. There is a link I posted above to a Google IPv6 only site.

[Scyphi]

If memory serves, the only problems that arose the night Y2K was to happen was that a Chinese computer system dealing with nuclear reactors (I believe, it was nine, nearly ten years ago) went down, and as was later revealed, the reasons why were completely unrelated. Y2K, as I understood it, didn't happen at all, in the slightest.

Which is humorous, because everybody was really thinking that something bad would happen, so much so that I know at least one guy wrote a book about how bad Y2K was going to be.

[TechPro]

There was also a NASA satellite that went a little "wonky" due to Y2K but they corrected it.

As for IPv6, you'd be surprised how many systems are not ready for it or not configured for it (XP, anyone?) mostly because Microsoft's IPv6 stack for the older OS versions is shall we say "a bit buggy" ... but at the same time, I expect we'll see more regarding that when it gets closer, and the solutions will be there.  There is just too much to lose by the big software makers to not be ready.

[-<WillyP>-]

I am running XP, and IPv6 compatability is an option in the internet dialog, and I can connect to Google's IPv6 only website, so I think that means i'm good to go... right? 

Now, does IPv6 mean that all IP's need to switch to IPv6 at some point, or, if you already have an IPv4 address you can keep it, with IPv6 addresses being handed out after IPv4 runs out?

[Zantor]

IPv4 and IPv6 can be used concurrently. Vista, Win7, and Linux machines do it all the time.