In case you missed it yesterday, an event happened that you will probably tell your grandkids “I remember when…”.
Yesterday, IANA (that’s the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority; they do exist) allocated the last two publicly available IPv4 address blocks to APNIC (the Asian Pacific organization that miters out IP addresses in that area). While the announcement below seems to be routine and only for those really into IP addressing, it does mark a milestone in the Internet – IPv4, as predicted, is running out of addresses. All hail IPv6!
These last two address blocks, 39/8 and 106/8 represent the last freely available /8 address blocks under IPv4 and triggers a provision among the addressing community to work together to distribute the last 5 /8 blocks remaining. When they are gone, that’s it for IPv4; no more IP’s to give out.
But don’t worry, there is still IP’s available under current IPv4 allocations and they will still be available for a while. But it does mean the Internet is crossing over from IPv4 to IPv6. In a few years time, the net will have to be IPv6 to accommodate everyone who wants to use it.
So what does this mean to us in security? Well, for one, our customers are going to be forced to move to pure IPv6 networking in the next few years. One of our largest clients, Comcast, even has a website up devoted to letting everyone know of their progress in this transition: http://www.comcast6.net/
As for Oracle’s middleware, all of it can be reach via IPv6. That does not mean all middleware is IPv6 yet (we are working on that) but all outward facing interfaces such as web proxies, etc., can handle the dual stack. There are some IPv4 only interfaces, but they are for local services and would appear in local or closely linked network segments. For more details, see the Oracle Fusion Middleware Adminstration Guide.
But it does mean customers will be asking for IPv6 as a checkbox in their evaluation processes.
Here is the text of the announcement yesterday, which can be found at https://www.apnic.net/publications/news/2011/delegation
Two /8s allocated to APNIC from IANA
Published on: Tuesday, 1 February 2011
Dear Colleagues
The information in this announcement is to enable the Internet community to update network configurations, such as routing filters, where required.
APNIC received the following IPv4 address blocks from IANA in February 2011 and will be making allocations from these ranges in the near future:
- 39/8
- 106/8
Reachability and routability testing of the new prefixes will commence soon. The daily report will be published on the RIPE NCC Routing Information Service.
Please be aware, this will be the final allocation made by IANA under the current framework and will trigger the final distribution of five /8 blocks, one to each RIR under the agreed “Global policy for the allocation of the remaining IPv4 address space”.
After these final allocations, each RIR will continue to make allocations according to their own established policies.
APNIC expects normal allocations to continue for a further three to six months. After this time, APNIC will continue to make small allocations from the last /8 block, guided by section 9.10 in“Policies for IPv4 address space management in the Asia Pacific region”. This policy ensures that IPv4 address space is available for IPv6 transition.
It is expected that these allocations will continue for at least another five years.
APNIC reiterates that IPv6 is the only means available for the sustained ongoing growth of the Internet, and urges all Members of the Internet industry to move quickly towards its deployment.
