The IPv6 Revolution is Nigh

Out of the UK this week comes word that, for the first time, root-and-master level domain name servers are returning addresses records that have the ability to map domain names to IPv6 addresses. This means that the foundation blocks are in place for all domain names to directly map to IPv6 addresses, essentially paving the way for machines across the planet to use IPv6 to reach a significant portion of the Internet.

In the near future, applications such as a browser or email will be able to directly map domain names to an IPv6 address without first communicating to a domain name server with an IPv4 address. This is an important step, because up until now resolving a domain name to an IPv6 address involved the use of an intermediary device to perform address mapping or translation -– and those intermediary devices are not in widespread use.


It also means that we may have the final piece of the puzzle in place to migrate the Internet addressing scheme to IPv6, a shift that has been in the works for more than a decade.

While IPv6 does offer advantages over IPv4, the transition to this new Internet addressing scheme is not without controversy and contention in the Internet community. There are more than a few technical issues that need solving before we see the deprecation of IPv4.

I wonder if this week’s development will accelerate the adoption of IPv6 or exacerbate the issues for network operators. It’s clear to me that, in order for the Internet to continue to grow and scale, it needs a migration path beyond IPv4 addresses. The news that domain name servers are being enabled to return IPv6 addresses is a step in the right direction -– I just wonder if this is the road we really want to take. To that end, are you building your infrastructure and applications to use IPv6 addresses, or is this still far in your future?

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