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                   IPv6 in 2022   
                   By Michiel van der Vlist, 2:280/5555   
      
      
   Another year has passed. When we compare the statistics as published   
   by the end of 2021 with those of today, we see that IPv6 in Fidonet   
   has grown, but the growth is falling. From 103 to 108 nodes this time.   
      
      
    110 -|                                                              .   
        -|                                                        .   
    100 _|   
        _|                                                  .   
     90 _|   
        _|                                            .   
     80 _|                                      .   
        _|   
     70 _|                                .   
        _|   
     60 _|   
        _|                          .   
     50 _|   
        _|   
     40 _|                    .   
        _|   
     30 _|   
        _|              .   
     20 _|   
        _|   
     10 _|        .   
        _|  .   
      0 _|__.____________________________________________________________   
            |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |     |   
         2013  2014  2015  2016  2017  2018  2019  2020  2021  2022  2023   
      
      
   The number of nodes flying the INO4 flag remained stable at 5.   
      
   2022 was the year that it was ten years ago that the Internet society   
   declared IPv6 Launch day.   
      
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_IPv6_Day_and_World_IPv6_Launch_Day   
      
   It was also ten years ago that RIPE ran out of IPv4 adresses. IANA and   
   APNIC had already run out a year earlier. ARIN ran out in 2015. What I   
   find remarkable is that despite the mathematical fact that there are   
   only enough IPv4 adresses to give about half the world's population an   
   IPv4 address of their own, there are still people around that are in   
   denial regarding the need to make the transition to IPv6.   
      
   There are also suspicious minds that have launched the theory that   
   some of the players are willingly and knowingly opposing the transit-   
   ion to IPv6 to protect the value of their hoarded IPv4. There is no   
   denying that IPv4 has become a tradable commodity and that the rules   
   of supply and demand have caused the price of an IPv4 address to rise   
   sky high. In 2021 the price almost doubled from $25 to $50 and during   
   2022 it was quasi stable between $50 and $60. A child can see that   
   this is a bubble that will burst some day. When "everyone" has IPv6   
   the price of IPv4 will collapse. It is bound to happen but nobody   
   knows when. So the theory is that "forces" are opposing IPv6 to pro-   
   tect their investment in IPv4. While I can see that this may be the   
   case, I do not expect these "forces" actually have the power to sig-   
   nificantly delay let alone stop the coming of IPv6. IPv6 is here and   
   it will eventually replace IPv4.   
      
   A trend we do not really see continue is the move towards native   
   IPv6. Today 34 of 108 nodes use a tunnel. In 2021 it was 34 of 103.   
   Still about 1/3. This has been more or less constant over the past   
   five years. In 2017 it was 22 out of 64. Over the years The ratio   
   remains at about 2/3 native, 1/3 tunnel. This is not what I expected   
   and goes against the general trend on the InterNet that native IPv6   
   is slowly gaining foot and replacing transition mechanisms such as   
   tunnels. Maybe what we are seeing is that the Fidonet Pioneer Spirit   
   is still here and that sysops do not want to wait for providers to   
   support native IPv6 and take things in their own hands by setting up   
   tunnels.   
      
   The very fact that a third of the IPv6 sysops still uses a tunnel   
   shows that we still have a long way to go. Normally when native IPv6   
   is available from the provider one does not use tunnels any more. So   
   there is still a substantial amount of InterNet providers that do not   
   offer native IPv6 to their customers.   
      
   Then again, many may already have native IPv6 from their ISP without   
   being aware of it. ISPs and sofware developers try to make the trans-   
   ition from IPv4 to IPv6 invisible for the normal user. If one is not   
   looking for it, one may not see it. Even Fidonet sysops may miss it.   
      
   Unless your are running a very old version of your OS, (WIn 95) or   
   a niche OS like ArcaOS, your system is ready for IPv6. All modern   
   OS's had IPv6 support for wel over a decade. Surf to www.kame.net   
   and if you see the turtle swim, you have IPv6.   
      
   If you run a binkp server you may very well be able to make binkp   
   IPv6 connects with other syspos. Binkd support IPv6 from version 1.00   
   and many other binkp software also supports it by now. You may have   
   outgoing binkp capability without knowing it. Try to make a connect   
   with one of the IPv6 nodes published weekly in Fidonews and see what   
   happens. If you make a succesful IPv6 connect, you are a candidate   
   for the Fidonet IPv6 club. There is an active search going on for   
   candidate menbers, but the search is limited to those that associate   
   an AAAA record with the host name in the nodelist. Systems that have   
   outgoing IPv6 only are not detected.   
      
   Accepting inbound IPv6 connections is the next step. First you have   
   to create a "pinhole" in your firewall that passes port 24554 or   
   whatever port you use. Then you have to advertise the IPv6 address in   
   the nodelist by adding an AAAA record to the published host name.   
   If that is gibberish to you, come to the IPV6 echo to get help from   
   the experts or read my articles titled "A second life for the LinkSys   
   part x". See the end of this article.   
      
   Other than that, 2022 was not all that eventful regarding IPv6. Not   
   for Fidonet and not for the Internet in general. We saw steady growth   
   but we can't say that IPv6 is the dominant protocol yet.   
      
   In order not to have to tell the same story over and over again, I   
   sometimes refer people to Fidonews articles I wrote in the past.   
   Since there seems to be no easely available searcheable archive, I   
   made a list of these articles. I hope I did not miss any.   
      
   My previous Fidonews articles about IPv6:   
      
      
   FN 26:31 Jul 2009   FidoNet and IPv6   
   FN 28:04 Jan 2011   FidoNet and IPv4 depletion   
   FN 28:07 Feb 2011   Fido and IPv6 Day   
   FN 28:16 Apr 2011   APNIC runs out   
   FN 28:20 May 2011   The IPv6 echo   
   FN 28:31 Aug 2011   A SECOND LIFE FOR THE LINKSYS  Part 1   
   FN 28:32 Aug 2011   A SECOND LIFE FOR THE LINKSYS PArt 2   
   FN 28:45 Nov 2011   A "first"   
   FN 29:04 Jan 2012   World IPv6 Launch Day, 6 June 2012   
   FN 29:09 Feb 2012   A SECOND LIFE FOR THE LINKSYS Part 3   
   FN 29:38 Sep 2012   RIPE is out of IPv4 addresses.   
   FN 32:17 Apr 2015   IPv6 penetration in the nodelist   
   FN 32:26 Jun 2015   ARIN is out of IPv4 addresses.   
   FN 3:252 Dec 2015   IPv6 in Fidonet by the end of 2015   
   FN 33:02 Jan 2016   IPv6 in two thousand SIX teen   
   FN 33:06 Feb 2016   Another barrier broken.   
   FN 34:01 Jan 2017   IPv6 in 2016   
   FN 34:13 Mar 2017   SixXs Sunset 06-06-2017   
   FN 34:30 Jul 2017   TV without IPv6   
   FN 34:31 Jul 2017   DS-Lite emulation experiment v2.0   
   FN 34:37 Sep 2017   DS-Lite emulation experiment 2.0, the results   
   FN 34:33 Aug 2017   DS-Lite: a solution   
   FN 34:38 Sep 2017   DS-Lite Emulation experiment v2.1   
   FN 35:01 Jan 2018   IPv6 in 2017   
   FN 35:53 Dec 2018   IPv6 in 2018   
   FN 36:52 Dec 2019   IPv6 in 2019   
   FN 38:01 Jan 2021   IPv6 in 2020   
   FN 38:20 May 2021   100 IPv6 nodes   
   FN 39:01 Jan 2022   IPv6 in 2021   
      
      
   Happy IPv6 in 2023.   
      
      
      
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