6bone (IPv6 Testing Address Allocation) Phaseout
draft-fink-6bone-phaseout-04

INTERNET-DRAFT R. Fink
June 12, 2003 R. Hinden
 6bone (IPv6 Testing Address Allocation) Phaseout
 <draft-fink-6bone-phaseout-04.txt>
Status of this Memo
 This document is an Internet-Draft and is in full conformance with
 all provisions of Section 10 of RFC2026.
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 The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT",
 "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this
 document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].
 This Internet-Draft expires on December 12, 2003.
Abstract
 The 6bone was established in 1996 by the IETF as an IPv6 Testbed
 network to enable various IPv6 testing as well as to assist in the
 transitioning of IPv6 into the Internet. It operates under the IPv6
 address allocation 3FFE::/16 from RFC 2471. As IPv6 is beginning its
 production deployment it is appropriate to plan for the phaseout of
 the 6bone. This note establishes a plan for a multi-year phaseout of
 the 6bone and its address allocation on the assumption that the IETF
 is the appropriate place to determine this.
 This document is intended to obsolete RFC 2471, "IPv6 Testing Address
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INTERNET-DRAFT 6bone Phaseout Plan June 2003
 Allocation", December, 1998. RFC 2471 will become historic.
1.0 Introduction
 The 6bone IPv6 Testbed network was established in March 1996,
 becoming operational during the summer of 1996 using an IPv6 testing
 address allocation of 5F00::/8 [TEST-OLD] using the original (and now
 obsolete) provider based unicast address format. In July 1998 a new
 IPv6 Addressing Architecture [ARCH] replaced the original provider
 based unicast address format with the now standardized Aggregatable
 Global Unicast Address Format [AGGR].
 To allow the 6bone to operate under the revised IPv6 address
 architecture with the new Aggregatable Global Unicast addressing
 format, [TEST-OLD] was replaced with a new IPv6 testing address
 allocation" of 3FFE::/16 in [TEST-NEW]. During the fall of 1998, in
 anticipation of [AGGR], the 6bone was re-addressed under the 3FFE::/16
 prefix with little problems.
 From the fall of 1998, until the issuance of this note, the 6bone has
 continued to successfully operate with Aggregatable Global Unicast
 Address prefixes from the 3FFE::/16 allocation, using a set of 6bone
 routing practice rules specified in [GUIDE], and later refined to
 6Bone backbone routing guidelines in [PRACTICE].
 During its lifetime the 6bone has provided:
 - a place for early standard developers and implementers to test
 out the IPv6 protocols and their implementations;
 - a place for early experimentation with routing and operational
 procedures;
 - a place to evolve practices useful for production IPv6 prefix
 allocation;
 - a place to provide bootstrap qualification for production IPv6
 address prefix allocation;
 - a place to develop IPv6 applications;
 - a place for early users to try using IPv6 in their hosts and
 networks.
 As clearly stated in [TEST-NEW], the addresses for the 6bone are
 temporary and will be reclaimed in the future. It further states that
 all users of these addresses (within the 3FFE::/16 prefix) will be
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INTERNET-DRAFT 6bone Phaseout Plan June 2003
 required to renumber at some time in the future.
 Since 1999 planning for, and allocation of, IPv6 production address
 prefixes by the Regional Internet Registry (RIR) community has been
 underway. During 2002 more production IPv6 address prefixes had been
 allocated than are allocated by the 6bone at the top level. It is
 generally assumed that this is one reasonable indicator that planning
 for a 6bone phaseout should begin.
 It is generally assumed that there is still some remaining need for
 the 6bone, at least for current usage that will take time to evaluate
 and possibly move to production IPv6 networks when possible.
 It is generally viewed that the 6bone is an IETF activity as it was
 established by IETF participants to assist the IETF in developing
 IPv6 protocols, and also to assist in the IPv6 transition. To this
 end, the [TEST-NEW] RFC specified that the 6bone testing was to be
 under the auspices of the IETF IPng Transition (ngtrans) Working
 Group 6bone testbed activity. However, during 2002 the ngtrans
 working group was terminated and replaced to a certain degree by the
 v6ops working group, which did not include oversight of the 6bone in
 its charter. Therefore it is assumed that it is appropriate to use
 the IETF Informational RFC process to determine a 6bone
 phaseout plan, as well as an appropriate way to get community
 feedback on the specifics of the 6bone phaseout.
 This plan for a 6bone phaseout specifies a multi-year phaseout
 timeline to allow sufficient time for continuing operation of the
 6bone, followed by a sufficient time for 6bone participants to
 convert to production IPv6 address prefixes allocated by the relevant
 Regional Internet Registry (RIR), National Internet Registry, or
 Local Internet Registries (ISPs).
 It is anticipated that under this phaseout plan the 6bone will cease
 to operate by June 6, 2006, with all 6bone prefixes fully reclaimed
 by the IANA.
 This document is intended to obsolete RFC 2471, "IPv6 Testing Address
 Allocation", December, 1998. RFC 2471 will become historic.
2.0 6bone Phaseout Plan
 To provide for the continuing useful operation of the 6bone, to the
 extent that IETF consensus judges it to be useful, 6bone top level
 address prefixes known as pseudo TLA's (pTLAs) MAY continue to be
 allocated until January 1, 2004.
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INTERNET-DRAFT 6bone Phaseout Plan June 2003
 Thus after the pTLA allocation cutoff date January 1, 2004, it is
 REQUIRED that no new 6bone 3FFE pTLAs be allocated.
 To provide for sufficient planning time for 6bone participants to
 convert to production IPv6 address prefixes, all 6bone prefixes
 allocated by the cutoff time specified above, except for allocations
 withdrawn as a matter of 6bone operating procedures, SHALL remain
 valid until June 6, 2006.
 Thus after the 6bone phaseout date June 6, 2006, it is the intent
 that no 6bone 3FFE prefixes, of any size/length, be used on the
 Internet in any form. Network operators may filter 3FFE prefixes on
 their borders to ensure these prefixes are not misused.
 It should be noted that this RFC does not intend to imply that a
 6bone prefix holder, whether at the pTLA top level or lower, should
 seek a production IPv6 address prefix at any specific level. It may
 be entirely reasonable for a 6bone prefix holder to seek a higher
 level, or a lower level, IPv6 prefix as their specific needs dictate.
3.0 Normative References
 [ARCH] Hinden, R., S. Deering, "Internet Protocol Version 6
 (IPv6) Addressing Architecture", RFC 3513, April 2003.
 [AGGR] Hinden, R., S. Deering, M. O'Dell, "An Aggregatable Global
 Unicast Address Format", RFC 2374, July 1998.
 [RFC2119] Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
 Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.
 [TEST-NEW] Hinden, R., R. Fink, J. Postel, "IPv6 Testing Address
 Allocation", RFC 2471, December 1998.
 [TEST-OLD] Hinden, R., J. Postel, "IPv6 Testing Address Allocation",
 RFC 1897, January 1996
4.0 Informative References
 [GUIDE] Rockell, R., R. Fink, "6Bone Backbone Routing Guidelines",
 RFC 2772, February 2000.
 [PRACTICE] Durand, A, B. Buclin, "6bone Routing Practice", RFC 2546,
 March 1999.
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5.0 Security Considerations
 This document defines a phaseout plan for the usage of the IPv6
 Testing Address Allocation [TEST-NEW], which uses addresses
 consistent with [AGGR]. It does not have any direct impact on
 Internet infrastructure security.
6.0 IANA Considerations
 This document defines a phaseout plan for the usage of the IPv6
 Testing Address Allocation [TEST-NEW]. The IANA MUST reclaim the
 3FFE::/16 prefix upon the date specified in 2.0.
 When the 6bone Testing Address Allocation is reclaimed by the IANA,
 it is expected that many network operators will filter it on their
 borders to ensure these prefixes are not misused.
 There is experience from the IPv4 world that such filters may not be
 removed promptly should this address space be reallocated, and it is
 recommended that the IANA bears this in mind before reallocating it
 in a manner that would require it to be routed globally within the
 current Internet.
7.0 Authors' Addresses
 Robert L. Fink
 email: bob@thefinks.com
 Robert M. Hinden
 Nokia
 313 Fairchild Drive
 Mountain View, CA 94043
 US
 phone: +1 650 625-2004
 email: bob.hinden@nokia.com
8.0 Full Copyright Statement
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 others, and derivative works that comment on or otherwise explain it
 or assist in its implementation may be prepared, copied, published
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INTERNET-DRAFT 6bone Phaseout Plan June 2003
 and distributed, in whole or in part, without restriction of any
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