IPv6 Center of Excellence
Welcome to the Infoblox IPv6 CoE blog!
Paul, Tom and I share this blog, though we each publish under our own bylines. While we’ve usually got IPv6 topics on our minds, we’re also interested in hearing what’s on yours. If you have questions or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch with us at ipv6coe@infoblox.com.
Here's a neat IPv6 subnetting method. Using any number of bits available in the subnet ID, it will allow you to calculate the number of remaining prefixes and enumerate each resulting prefix.
Note that the method is best for numbering and enumerating prefixes using non-nibble boundary bits. Recall that If we stick to the nibble boundary in the subnet ID we always get either 16, 256, 4096, or 65536 prefixes. Also, enumeration is simple as each hexadecimal character represents a nibble and prefixes will never "divide" a hex character.
You may have heard that the Internet is running out of IPv4 addresses. With the explosion of IP-enabled mobile devices and a growing global Internet community there is an ever-increasing need for public addresses. The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are reducing their supply of addresses and service providers are feeling the crunch. The RIRs each have different stages and phases of their rundown and some RIRs are trying to perform a graceful run out of IPv4 addresses.
Where IPv6 adoption is concerned, it's natural to focus on the larger themes -- themes the Infoblox IPv6 Center of Excellence routinely covers: the phased approach to IPv6 adoption, the importance of proper auditing of hardware and software, obtaining IPv6 addresses and connectivity, creating (and revising) an IPv6 address plan, and getting content online over IPv6.
One aspect of IPv6 adoption that may touch on these but is often overlooked or neglected: network management and/or monitoring and the systems that provide it.