Internet Armageddon all my fault: Google chief

[Divine Discontent]

Photo of Vint Cerf

The "father of the internet" says the world is going to run out of internet addresses "within weeks" – and it will be all his fault.

Google's chief internet evangelist, Vint Cerf, who created the web protocol, IPv4, that connects computers globally, said he had no idea that his "experiment" in 1977 "wouldn't end".

"I thought it was an experiment and I thought that 4.3 billion would be enough to do an experiment," he said in group interview with Fairfax journalists.
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The protocol underpinning the net, known as IPv4, provides only about 4 billion IP addresses - not website domain names, but the unique sequence of numbers assigned to each computer, website or other internet-connected device.

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http://www.smh.com.au/technology/technology-news/internet-armageddon-all-my-fault-google-chief-20110121-19z9i.html

[johnroshan]

1. Aren't companies already transitioning to IPv6?

I guess that should provide some extra connections.

[freshwest]

2. So that those with IP addresses now will pay more to keep them?

I wouldn't call it internet Armegeddon. Just more competition for less addresses. Any crisis hyped is going to cost more money.

Perhaps someone with more knowledge and imagination can figure out why this is or is not a problem. Seem inevitable.

[Goldom]

4. Not a problem.

IPv6 is already in place and ready to switch on as far as home computers are concerned. Servers just need to finish getting ready, but it shouldn't be a big deal. It will expand the available addresses something like a million fold. (Edit: It's way more than million fold. IPv4 had billions of addresses, IPv6 has some word I've never even heard before. It's about 10^30 more addresses.)

[Statistical]

6. IPv6 isn't ready to switch over.

It is a mess. The telcos put it off for decades and now they aren't ready. There are whole host of issues at every level from end servers, backbones, ISP, home routers, and local computers. Most IPv6 computers are improperly configured. IPv6 DNS is a mess right now. Dual Stack and Hybrid mode doesn't gracefully deal with fallover (when site that is both IPv4 & IPv6 loses IPv6 connectivity).

We will get there (simply because we have no choice) but it is far from ready to flip a switch. We likely will be dealing with ugly hacks, workarounds, and dual stack legacy issues a decade from now.

http://test-ipv6.com/

[freshwest]

8. Yup. Mine won't go there. Says it may in the future.

[boppers]

12. "We likely will be dealing with ugly hacks, workarounds, and dual stack legacy issues"...

As compared to the current system. that's not much of a change.

:evilgrin:

[BadgerKid]

3. Facebook, Google, Yahoo Commit to 'World IPv6 Day' Trial

Several of the Internet's most popular Web sites - including Facebook, Google and Yahoo - have agreed to participate in the first global-scale trial of IPv6, the long-anticipated upgrade to the Internet's main communications protocol known as IPv4.

The trial - dubbed "World IPv6 Day" - requires participants to support native IPv6 traffic on their main Web sites on June 8, 2011. Leading content delivery networks Akamai and Limelight Networks also committed to the IPv6 trial, which is being sponsored by the Internet Society.

http://www.pcworld.com/article/216611/facebook_google_yahoo_commit_to_world_ipv6_day_trial.html?tk=rel_news

[freshwest]

7. That sounds about right. And they will herd traffic to those sites.

Sounds like the reason for the big mergers going on. And the end of what was called net neutrality.

It appears to be the outcome because of a lack of government investment. Since some governments (Sweden, I think) treated internet access as a basic utility and worked to make it universal.

BTW, like the avatar.

:hi:

[Agony]

5. test your IPv6 configuration here

http://test-ipv6.com/

[Control-Z]

9. Thanks for the link.

I'll be going back to it a few times, I'm sure. Bookmarked.

[Ichingcarpenter]

10. Vint Cerf looks like

Dr. Wallace Breen of black mesa.

We need to call Dr. Freeman to fix this internet stuff

[JBoy]

15. He reminds me of Ben Bernanke.

We're fucked.

[boppers]

11. CIDR and NAT changed all this.

Not only are we okay, we're more efficient, and IPv6 can roll out over the next 5-10 years with no issues.

[Statistical]

13. NAT makes things very clumsy.

For example try using windows remote desktop to a host behind a router/firewall with a dynamicly assigned IP address that is NATing systems behind it. Now that one isn't too tough. Ok now try having a setup where you can RDC to any host behind same router/firewall. It can be done but it is hardly "zero config".

Sad thing is some IP are running out of addressable space so they are double NATing entire neighborhoods. Also while CIDR makes IP allocation more efficient it makes the routing tables much longer and much more complex. This adds overhead to the processing and routing of every packet.

Now none of this is "the death of the internet" but we have known about IPv4 address space exhaustion for pretty much two decades now. It is going to suck for China even more. They have one of the lowest per capita IP allocation rates yet their internet enabled population will grow the fastest.

[boppers]

18. Yeah, port tunneling is a hassle.

WRT China, I expect them to be early adopters, for the reasons you mentioned.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Google, Facebook and Yahoo to test new net addresses (BBC) {IPv6}

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=439&topic_id=195608&mesg_id=195608

check your system here: http://test-ipv6.com/

[hunter]

16. I was proactive with the stuff I really cared about.

Now all that's left is the :wtf: I'll wait 'til something bad happens.

My home network is a rat's nest. I don't know how or why it works anymore. I only fix it when it's broke and I rarely remember what I did.

I have no idea what AT&T does anymore. They are a mystery, even to themselves I think. I used to have a nice twisted pair with Pacific Bell but our neighborhood's phone system has been "upgraded" at least twice since then breaking my internet connection both times.

I wonder how much of the internet is put together like that?

[boppers]

17. "I wonder how much of the internet is put together like that?" All of it?

By most standards of design, it's insane, and won't work. There's no centralization, there's loose standards that are honored as often as they are ignored, and it's run by a weird conglomeration of public and private networks.

Kinda funny that it *does* work.