PIP Report - IPv6 Technical Workshop

University of Auckland, New Zealand

Lynnold M Wini (Assistant Engineer – Webmaster)

The IPv6 Technical Workshop was an initiative taken by InternetNZ in collaboration with REANNZ, Cisco, Packet Clearing House, NZRS, auDA and FX Networks.

Most participants were from New Zealand with the exception of 3 Pacific Island participants from Niue, Samoa and Solomon Islands. Participants represented ISPs, telecommunication companies, a representative from SPREP (a Pacific Island regional organization), computer firms and universities.

Tutors: Gaurab Upadhaya (Packet Clearing House) Nathan Ward (InternetNZ) Johnny Martin (InternetNZ)

Workshop Duration - The workshop was conducted at the University of Auckland, Symonds St. It was conducted from the 8th to the 12th of September 2008.

Day 1 – 3 - Guarab Updahaya ran the initial tutorials on IPv6 from day 1 to 3. Here is a summary of the topics that were covered during the three days including labs done during practicals.

Basic Introduction – IPv4 & IPv6 - Basic introduction to IPv4 especially focusing on IPv4 IP Classes, then delved into an introduction to IPv6 covering technical and even political issues affecting the development, uptake of IPv6 globally.

IPv6 Standards & Protocols - Here the focus was on a comparative analysis between IPv4 & IPv6. IPv6 Addressing & Routing Protocols - Emphasis on the changes administrators would expect when implementing IPv6 and what protocols to use. BGP Enhancement for IPv6 OSPF for IPv6.

IPv6 Security Routing - Equipment used for practical exercises were delayed and could not be set up for the first day of the workshop. Guarab used this opportunity to spend time on routing in IPv4.

Notable Quotes - Guarab stated that aside from a bigger addresses space, there are no additional benefits for organizations, ISPs and the rest of the world to deploy IPv6.

Lab Practical - The lab practical for the first day was cancelled as equipment had not arrived from Christchurch. When the equipment did arrive, participants were grouped into teams of 2 with 7 groups in total. Practical 1 – Groups were allocated a router with instructions to configure the setup with IPv4 address scheme and using BGP & OSPF Practical 2 – Each team was then required to configure the same routers to allow them to use IPv6 address scheme using BGP & OSPF Practical 3 – Extended the lab to configure routers using iBGP & eBGP for IPv4 & IPv6.

Assignment – An assignment lab concluded this set of theory and practical exercises. Using the concepts learnt in previous labs, teams were given a diagram of a network and asked to configure routers according to the diagram.

Day 4 – 5 - Nathan Ward concluded the workshop with his tutorial and lab practicals of IPv4 Transistion using 6to4 & Teredo. His lab practicals were focused on applying 6to4 and Teredo on the lab setup using from Day 1 to 3. Personally, for me this was the most difficult component of the workshop. I will need to research and read more into this to grasp the concepts.

Conclusion - It has been a while since I last attended a very technical workshop and I was very pleased this workshop was very technical in nature. Network administration is outside my immediate area of responsibility but I attended because of my interest in IPv6 and its imminent deployment in the Pacific Islands.

What I had previously encountered as classroom concepts became very real during the workshop and I am very pleased to have had the opportunity to learn and practically apply those concepts during the workshop.

I am very pleased this workshop placed a 60/40 emphasis on practical exercises. Recommendations - I strongly recommend that this training opportunity should be made readily available for Pacific Island countries with strong emphasis on bringing network administrators to attend. Perhaps a consideration for PacNOG to initiate a training like this in its next meeting.

I applaud the PIP initiative and I hope it can still provide some financial support for participants from the Pacific Islands.