Guest blog post by Chris Grundemann

On a cool but clear Dearborn evening in October of 2009, several members of the NANOG and ARIN community walked from our hotel to share a meal at a nearby restaurant. The large party was forced to split across two tables. The deciding factor of which table to sit at? Those who wished to talk shop at one and those who did not at the other. I chose shop talk, along with Igor Gashinsky, Aaron Hughes, Lee Howard, and Jason Schiller. As is typical of a dinner shared among friends and colleagues in this industry, conversation wandered as the meal, and the night, wore on. As is even more typical of this particular group of Internet experts and evangelists (not counting myself, the token newb), the conversation reliably returned to methods for improving the Internet.

On this bright night the topic de jour was creating an information repository, for engineers by engineers, to collect and distribute living documents containing best practices for designing, building and operating an IP network. The IETF BCP process was too slow and inflexible for this purpose and there were no other existing mechanisms that came as close to fitting the bill. So it became clear that if this were to materialize, it was up to us. Many napkin notes, email messages, shared meals, cigarette breaks, cocktail hours, BoFs and Tracks later; we have carved out a foundation for this library to be built upon.

http://www.ipbcop.org/ houses that foundation and is also the home of the grand library created in theory that fateful night and now being constructed in reality: BCOP – Best Current Operational Practices.

The premise is simple; virtually all network-engineering tasks have been performed and perfected by someone, but those practices also change over time as more experience is gained and new tools become available. This leads to two overarching goals:

1)   Collect current information from active and experienced engineers. The best place to seek operational advice is from a network engineer who has learned from their mistakes and the mistakes of those who came before them. Someone who has done well what you now seek to do. Not everyone (especially new engineers, working on new networks) has access to an accomplished sage of network engineering however. Gathering the advice of these experts into a common pool gives everyone, all around the world, equal access to this previously very “tribal” knowledge. This open access to the very best current operational practices helps put more networks and more engineers on a more equal footing, creating a better Internet for all of us (less mistakes and less bad habits equals less hassles for everyone).

2)   Maintain living documents, flexible to change over time. Technology changes. It’s changing faster every day. Network and Internet technology is no exception. In order for the advice gathered to stay relevant, it must stay current. The documents that contain these best current operational practices must be living; they must be open to new information, additional experience and changes in the underlying technologies. They must embrace flexibility or face eventual insignificance.

Now that a foundation embracing and upholding these goals has been built, it’s up to you to ensure the success of the BCOP library. How? Well, here are a few starters:

1)   Use the existing BCOPs as references, for yourself, those who work with you, and elsewhere in your network. Link to them and tell other network engineers about them!

2)   Join the BCOP mailing list and comment on the current draft BCOPs under development.

3)   Create a new BCOP and work with the Global Network Engineering Community (GNEC) to complete it and have it ratified as an official BCOP!

All three of these tasks are of vital importance for the success of this new but crucial effort. Doing any one of these things ensures your place as an active member of the GNEC, and as an influencer on the future of network engineering. I also encourage you to follow BCOP on Twitter, Facebook, and/or Google+ and engage in the conversation there. Let’s grow this valuable resource together!

Imagine a time when your refrigerator will be able to report inventory and let you know when you’re running low on eggs, your flowerpots tweet when they need water, and your thermostats self-regulate. Think you need to wait until the year 2150?

Guess again. These are all examples that have been bandied about in discussions about the Internet of Things, and they could happen sooner than you think.

Ericsson reports the Internet of Things will greatly expand over the next 10 years, projecting that there will be 50 billion Internet connected devices by 2020. Everything from household appliances to vehicles will be connected to the Internet.

However, in order for the Internet of Things to be fully realized, we will need to address the current depletion of IPv4 addresses. The ever-increasing number of connected devices, such as tablets and smartphones, contributes to this depletion, making IPv6 adoption more important now than ever before.

Once IPv4 addresses are exhausted all new growth on the Internet will utilize IPv6 addresses, and every connected device will need to be IPv6 compatible in order to connect to an Internet that will span both address protocols. Developers and device operators must adopt IPv6 to make cross device communication possible, and they need to deploy IPv6 in their product lines from the very beginning of the production process.

This exponentially larger addressing pool will allow connected devices to be used for consumer, medical, retail or even agricultural applications, like managing crop moisture with sensors. The possibilities are endless.

The Internet of Things has the potential to change the future, and it doesn’t stop there. Check back with our Exploring IPv6 blog series next month as we ruminate about what the future of the Internet will look like.

We haven’t been gone long, but we miss Vancouver already. ARIN XXIX, our most recent Public Policy and Members Meeting, was a huge success.

In three short days we covered everything, and we mean EVERYTHING, from ARIN policy proposals on ASN transfers and IPv4 transfers, to the draft policy ARIN-2011-7: Compliance Requirement, and much more.

If you need a little refresher or if you missed out on any of the discussion, free free to peruse our full meeting report here.

But it wasn’t all shop talk. We also had a great time getting to know new faces and reconnecting with old ones. From our welcome happy hour at the Four Seasons Vancouver to the ARIN social at Grouse Mountain, there were plenty of opportunities for everyone to catch up outside of the meeting doors.

Thanks to all of the on-site and remote participants who helped us continue our mission to shape the future of the Internet. Hope to see you all again at ARIN XXX, October 24-26 in Dallas!

Day Three marked the end of our Public Policy and Members Meeting in Vancouver, BC.  Today brought you the Members Meeting portion of ARIN XXIX. This meeting was open to everyone. Read on for your daily recap.

We heard updates from each ARIN department and reports on the ARIN Advisory Council and ARIN Board of Trustees.  The day wound down with an ARIN Financial report and open microphone session.

The full meeting report will be available 4 May at: https://www.arin.net/participate/meetings/reports/ARIN_XXIX/ The meeting materials and presentations are already available at that link.

Thank you to everyone who participated in ARIN XXIX.  Your contributions led to an interesting and productive Public Policy and Members Meeting.

If you joined us in person or online, don’t forget to complete the meeting survey for your chance to win a 16GB Samsung Galaxy Tab!

Small print: Only one raffle entry per participant will be allowed. The winner will be chosen at random and notified via email, followed by an announcement on the ARIN website on 4 May 2012.

Day two of ARIN’s Public Policy and Members Meeting in Vancouver has just drawn to a close, and we’ve had another great day of policy discussions, presentations, networking opportunities, and more.  Here is your daily recap for Day 2 of ARIN XXIX.

After we called the meeting to order, we jumped right into reviewing open suggestions as part of the ARIN Consultation and Suggestion Process. You were reminded to participate in the open consultation on suggestions. Next we discussed projects awaiting prioritization at ARIN and invited you to participate in a survey to further gather community input on aforementioned projects.  We gave an update on the Policy Development Process and heard from RIPE NCC.  Throughout the day, we received reports on IANA Activities, NRO Activities, the NRO NC, ARIN Policy Implementation and Policy Experience.

Today the ARIN community had lively discussions on four draft polices including:

ARIN-2012-3: ASN Transfers

ARIN-2012-1: Clarifying requirements for IPv4 transfers

ARIN-2012-2: IPv6 Subsequent Allocations Utilization Requirement

ARIN-2012-4: Return to 12 Month Supply and Reset Trigger to /8 in Free Pool

The Public Policy portion of ARIN XXIX concluded this afternoon with an open policy hour and open microphone session.

Tomorrow we’ll be back again at 9:00 AM (PDT) for the Members Meeting which is open to everyone.  If you aren’t here with us in Vancouver, please join us remotely via one of these convenient remote participation options—including live webcast, audio, and text transcripts.

Day one of the ARIN XXIX Public Policy and Members Meeting has come and gone.  It is has been a great day.  Hopefully you joined us either in person in Vancouver, British Columbia, or remotely via one of our remote participation options.  If you didn’t, it is ok; just read this recap of the day’s events and check back tomorrow to join us for the fun starting at 9:00 AM (PDT).

We kicked off the day with a First Timers’ Breakfast to welcome all new attendees and introduce them to their first ARIN meeting.  Then we opened the Public Policy portion of the ARIN Meeting agenda with a warm welcome from John Curran, ARIN President and CEO. Next up, we received reports about the Advisory Council’s On-Docket Proposals, Regional Policy Development, the status of Internet Number Resources, and IPv6 IAB/IETF activities.  We also received updates from APNIC and LACNIC, and heard a fascinating feature presentation on Today’s Mobile Internet by APNIC Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston.

ARIN meeting participants discussed draft policy ARIN-2011-7: Compliance Requirement and were later asked to comment on the Advisory Council changes made to draft policy ARIN-2011-1. This afternoon we heard from an IPv6 Panel comprised of community members, sharing the successes and setbacks of their IPv6 implementations.  Finally, the day rounded out with a presentation on ARIN’s IPv4 Countdown Plan and an open microphone session.

Thanks to all meeting participants for making day one of ARIN XXIX a success.  Check back tomorrow for the live webcast, audio, and text transcripts.  We’ve got a full agenda available to help you know when you can tune in to specific sessions if you can’t spare the whole day to be with us online.  For meeting attendees in Vancouver, enjoy the ARIN XXIX evening social at Grouse Mountain tonight!

Now is your chance to catch a sneak peek of all the ARIN XXIX Meeting Materials before the meeting even begins on Sunday.  Attendees will receive a hard copy of these materials at registration in Vancouver, but you can view them online now!

These documents should help you to prepare for the meeting (whether you’ll be attending in person or participating remotely).  You’ll want to review each handout carefully to make sure you’re ready for the policy discussions and fun to be had at ARIN XXIX.

Included in the ARIN XXIX Meeting Materials are these items:

ARIN XXIX Meeting Program
ARIN XXIX Discussion Guide (draft policy proposals)
Number Resource Policy Manual (NRPM)
PDP Expected Standards of Behavior
Understanding the IPv4 Market & ARIN Transfer Options
First Timers’ Handout & Acronym Guide
Interacting With ARIN’s Registration Services
…and links to other helpful information on ARIN’s website

Also, we thought we’d let you know that we’ve added two special features to the ARIN XXIX agenda that you won’t want to miss.

• A presentation on “Today’s Mobile Internet” by APNIC Chief Scientist, Geoff Huston, scheduled for Monday morning.

• An IPv6 Panel: Successes and Setbacks where an impressive lineup of panelists will discuss their experience with IPv6, scheduled for Monday afternoon. Don’t miss your chance to ask them your questions as well.

Remember, you can view and participate in these agenda items (and many more) even if you can’t join us in Vancouver.  There is still time to register as a remote participant.  Just go to our ARIN XXIX Meeting Page, click “Register for ARIN XXIX” and select “ARIN XXIX Remote Participant” from the drop-down menu.

The ARIN XXIX Public Policy and Members Meeting is less than one week away, and we’re excited to dive into lively discussions surrounding IPv6, draft proposals, and more. Before we get started with the nitty-gritty of the meeting, we want to point out a few easy ways you can get more involved at ARIN XXIX.

If you have attended ARIN meetings in the past, you know how important it is to thoroughly review the ARIN Meeting Discussion Guide that is handed out at registration. The guide contains valuable information about what will be discussed during the meeting, as well as full text versions of all draft policies on the ARIN XXIX agenda. If you have feedback on any of these policies, remember that all discussions and votes at the meeting are for the consideration of the Advisory Council. To give attendees and remote participants a head start, we posted all the meeting materials at: https://www.arin.net/participate/meetings/reports/ARIN_XXIX/materials.html

For those of you who will be joining us for the first time, be sure to make time for the First Timers’ Breakfast on Monday morning to meet with key ARIN staff and Advisory Council members. For more information on what to expect from your first ARIN meeting, feel free to check out this handy guide.

We know that not all of you can make it to Vancouver for the meeting, so we’re making the entire meeting available remotely via webcast. While remote participants may be missing out on some of the fun in Vancouver, you will still have access to all materials used during the meeting and can contribute to policy discussions in real-time from anywhere in the world.

As always, we encourage all attendees and remote participants to ask questions, to provide feedback about all draft policies throughout the meeting, and to vote in straw polls.  We hope that you take the opportunity to get involved at ARIN XXIX, whether in Vancouver or online. Either way it’s going to be a great meeting!

Over the past couple of months, our exploration of the Internet has proven to be quite the undertaking. We’ve determined what an IP address is and discovered where all the IPv4 addresses have gone. But that has left us wondering: where do IPv6 addresses come from?

When the original Internet Protocol, IPv4, was deployed in 1981, it was never intended for public use. Once the Internet began to grow, IPv4 address availability began to shrink at a worrisome pace.

In the mid-90s, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) took a number of steps to free up and maximize available IPv4 address space. They introduced ideas like Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) private address allocation for address reuse and Network Address Translation (NAT) gateway conversions. Although these techniques were successful in the short-term, it was understood that they would not be enough to keep up with the growth of the Internet in the long-term.

The IETF recognized a new Internet protocol would be needed, and thus IPv6 was created and deployed by 1999. Since then the protocol has been enhanced, including the addition of mobile IPv6 specifications in RFC 3775 from 2004.

Today IPv6 adoption rates are on the rise.  As evidenced by the 2011 Global IPv6 Deployment Monitoring Survey, about 70% of respondents plan to deploy IPv6 by the end of 2012.  These results are indicative of where IPv6 is headed.

Increased adoption means a wide range of smart devices such as smartphones, household appliances, and vehicles can each have an IP address to connect to the Internet. In addition to creating a significantly larger pool of addresses, IPv6 also brings enhanced quality of service that is required for applications like IP telephony, video/audio, interactive games and e-commerce. The way people and businesses use the Internet is changing for the better.

The evolution of Internet architecture over the past couple of decades is pretty remarkable, and it’s about to get even more interesting. Check back with our Exploring IPv6 blog series next month as we dig even deeper and uncover what IPv6 will mean for the alluring Internet of Things.

Normally we talk about WHY you should be involved with ARIN, but today we want to stick to the practicalities. With our first 2012 Public Policy and Members Meeting just a couple weeks away, now is the perfect time to get up to speed.

First, we recommend you join the ARIN Public Policy Mailing (PPML) List, and second, we highly suggest you participate in an ARIN Public Policy and Members Meeting.  Our next meeting will be held 23-25 April in Vancouver, BC, and while it might be a little difficult to make arrangements to be there if you haven’t yet, remote participation is a great option. Before we send you off to register, let’s take a quick look at exactly how policy discussions work and review the proposals on the ARIN XXIX agenda.

What are policy discussions at an ARIN Meeting like?

At every ARIN Public Policy Meeting there is a list of draft policies that will be discussed by the community.  The policies are addressed one-by-one following these steps:

• Staff Introduction
• Advisory Council presentation
• Moderated discussion (including remote participant questions and comments)
• Straw poll to assess community support

Watch this video as an example of a staff introduction of a draft policy that was discussed at our last meeting in Philadelphia; it will be on the docket of the upcoming meeting as well.

Which policies will be discussed at ARIN XXIX?

ARIN-2012-4: Return to 12 Month Supply and Reset Trigger to /8 in Free Pool

ARIN-2012-3: ASN Transfers

ARIN-2012-2: IPv6 Subsequent Allocations Utilization Requirement

ARIN-2012-1: Clarifying requirements for IPv4 transfers

ARIN-2011-7: Compliance Requirement

ARIN-2011-5: Shared Transition Space for IPv4 Address Extension

ARIN-2011-1: ARIN Inter-RIR Transfers

Everyone is invited to participate in ARIN’s policy development process, and we hope you will join us in helping to shape the future of the Internet.  Join the PPML mailing list and register for ARIN XXIX today!

Our ARIN XXIX Public Policy and Members Meeting in Vancouver is only weeks away, and we can’t wait! This year’s event promises to be chock-full of opportunities to network with individuals from across the ARIN region, reconnect with peers and make new friends. We will be doing a lot of serious work to help shape the future of the Internet (just look at our full agenda for ARIN XXIX!), but we’ll also have some time for attendees to get to know each other outside of the meeting doors. Here’s a rundown of the official social activities on the agenda.

What: Welcome to ARIN XXIX Happy Hour
When: Sunday, 22 April from 5:00 – 6:30pm
Where: Chartwell Room (lobby level), Four Seasons Hotel
Why: Cocktails, networking and an opportunity to meet the ARIN Board, Advisory Council and NRO Number Council members, and ARIN staff
*Please RSVP on your meeting registration form

What: ARIN Social
When: Monday, 23 April from 6:30 – 11:00pm
Where: Grouse Mountain
Why: Open bar and dinner buffet, breathtaking views of the Burrard Inlet, Downtown Vancouver and English Bay, an impressive Lumberjack Show, and a chance to spot local wildlife on a walk with a Grouse Mountain ranger. Thanks to the Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) for sponsorship of this event.

For those of you who might find free time for sightseeing or plan to extend your stay, there are plenty of additional options to make the most of your time in Vancouver.

• Stanley Park – Home to the Vancouver Aquarium, this park has more than dolphins, sea lions and beluga whales; walk along its famous seawall for scenic ocean and city views or take a hike through the woods without ever leaving the city.
• Capuano Suspension Bridge – Located in nearby North Vancouver, this bridge offers a one-of-a-kind treetop adventure.
• Downtown Vancouver – Robson Street and Gastown offer world-class shopping, restaurants and nightlife and Granville Island hosts a public market seven days a week.
• Museums – The Vancouver Art Gallery and the University of British Columbia’s Museum of Anthropology, which is renowned for its collection of First Nation’s art and artifacts, make for a wonderful cultural experience.

Do you have any recommendations for things to do while we’re in Vancouver? Tell us below.

Last January, ARIN traveled to the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas to encourage attendees to take steps toward IPv6. While at the show, ARIN President and CEO, John Curran, appeared on several live broadcasts to spread the word.

In an interview on TPN: Tech Podcast Network with Jeffrey Powers from Geekazine and Andy Smith from Geocaching World, John examines the global impact of IPv4 depletion, why mobile carriers should roll out native IPv6 networks, and the necessity for content providers to make content available over both IPv4 and IPv6 in the coming years.

Considering the number of people who need to access the Internet at home, at work, and on their smartphones and tablets (not to mention mobile hotspot connectivity), the bottom line is IPv4 address space is too small for a pervasive Internet.

Watch the full broadcast segment below. What do you think of John’s comments?

There are 4,294,967,296 IPv4 addresses.  At first glance 4,294,967,296 seems like a large number.  Could you imagine how long it would take to travel 4.3 billion miles? The total weight of 4.3 billion elephants? Or the cost to throw a party for 4.3 billion friends? However, when it comes to IPv4 addresses, that number is just not large enough to satisfy the needs of the ever growing and changing Internet.

We are inching closer to the point where Regional Internet Registries will not be able to distribute IPv4 addresses to everyone who needs and qualifies for the address space. The global free pool of IPv4 reached empty when IANA distributed a final /8 to each of the RIRs in February of last year. APNIC reached their final /8 of IPv4 space in April 2011, and other RIRs, such as the RIPE NCC and  ARIN, are expected to soon follow suit.

Ever wondered where all the IPv4 went? Well let’s take a look :

The graphic above, prepared by the NRO in December 2011, explains just where all of the IPv4 address space has gone. The IPv4 address pool is made up of 256 /8s (read slash eights).  Each /8 contains 16,777,216 addresses.  From the graphic above you can see the status of each of the 256 /8s that IPv4 contains.

• 130 /8s, by far the largest block of /8s, have been distributed to the RIRs for allocation in their respective regions.
• 91 /8s are contained in the central registry
• 35 /8s are not available for a variety of reasons, including experimental, local identification, loopback, private use, and multicast.

The most notable piece of information on the graphic shows that the IANA reserved space is at zero.  There are no more new /8s to distribute to the RIRs around the world and therefore supplies of available IPv4 space at each Regional Internet Registry is steadily depleting.

You might be wondering how we could go through so many addresses so fast.  There are many reasons the Internet has expanded rapidly.  One recent example is the increasing popularity and adoption of mobile technologies. How big is mobile?

• There are now 1.2 billion mobile Web users worldwide, based on the latest stats for active mobile-broadband subscriptions worldwide
• A recent report from Cisco predicts that mobile-connected devices will outnumber people by the end of this year.
• The Cisco report also forecasts that there will be over 10 billion mobile-connected devices by 2016
• Ericsson reports the Internet of Things will greatly expand over the next 10 years, projecting that there will be 50 billion internet connected devices by 2020

So next time you think to yourself “Where have all the IPv4 addresses gone?” look no further than the cell phone in your pocket.

We’re continuing to track the final /8s of available IPv4 address space at ARIN. Check our depletion counter at https://www.arin.net/ for the latest updates. 

Guest blog post by Megan Kruse

There are two kinds of people in this world – those who have already deployed the latest and greatest technologies, and those who need to.

Lots of folks (ARIN and the Internet Society included) have been touting the joys of IPv6 and DNSSEC for a long time, so I won’t bore you with the details of why they are so vitally important. Maybe you’ve already done it, in which case you have tons of hard-earned knowledge to share with the rest of the world. Or maybe you haven’t done it yet, and you’ve just been waiting for someone to ask you what you need and then cater to those needs.

We’re here to play matchmaker. Launched in January, the Internet Society Deploy360 Programme provides real-world IPv6 and DNSSEC deployment information to continue the conversation from “why do I need to do this” to “how, specifically, do I do this?” We cover both IPv6 and DNSSEC topics in a web portal with detailed, technical how-to documents, tutorials, case studies, etc., and follow that up with four ION Conferences a year, speaking engagements around the world, and constant social media interaction.

Through all of these channels, industry experts answer your specific questions and we, the Deploy360 team, then turn these real-world issues into guidance and technical resources for others to follow. We encourage direct feedback on what resources need to be added to the Deploy360 web portal and continue the ongoing dialogue about IPv6 and DNSSEC deployment.

And YOU can help!

If you’ve already deployed IPv6 or DNSSEC on your network, we’d love to chat with you to link to, or create, the following types of information:

1. Case Studies – We’d be happy to work with you on a written and/or video case study on how you deployed the new technology, your challenges, the business case you presented to management, results, benefits, etc.
2. Tutorials – Do you have a tutorial you made for your systems administrators/network engineers/etc. to walk them through the process? We’d love to share it to help others on their path.
3. Other Resources – Do you have training documents, best practices guidelines, videos, websites, or anything else you’d like to share to help others deploy new technologies faster?

If you haven’t deployed IPv6 or DNSSEC on your network yet, we’d love to chat with you, too! We already have a lot of in-depth resources for you to view and put into practice, but only you can tell us what’s missing.

1. Still need the basics, why these new technologies are important, and why you need to start today?
2. What do you need to get started? Is there a knowledge gap we can fill to help you on your way?
3. Are you stuck somewhere in the middle of the process? What technical how-to resources would get you moving again?

You’re busy. We get it. This industry moves fast and you’ve got your hands full keeping your networks updated and secure from the threat of the day. But these standards are the future of the Internet, and your organization must prepare if it wants to stay competitive in tomorrow’s IT world. Join us to help define how the global, nonprofit Internet Society can best serve your deployment information needs. We are here to listen and WILL produce the resources you need.

Talk to us in the comments below, talk to us on social media, talk to us at an ION Conference, talk to us in person … just let us know how we can help!

Today we kick off our first guest blog of the year.  Thanks Anurag.  Enjoy!

Guest blog post by Anurag Bhatia

The Domain Names System (DNS) remains one of the most central and essential parts of the Internet because of the simple and efficient way in which it converts domain names that we can read (like teamarin.net) into machine-friendly IP addresses (like 65.49.79.131).

This blog post discusses about how DNS works in the case of next version of Internet Protocol i.e IPv6.

As many of you already know, there are address records known as “A records” in DNS which help to connect a host-name with an IPv4 address. Just like A records in IPv4, IPv6 features quad A records which are written as AAAA records.

One core feature of a contemporary IPv6 site is its ability to “dual stack” (to connect to both IPv4 & IPv6 networks). In dual stack mode, IPv6 is preferred if it’s available, but if it isn’t, the connection will fall back to IPv4. What this means is that each domain or sub-domain name with dual stack support will need both an A record and AAAA record.

IPv6 has been available from quite some time, and most DNS hosting services offered by registrars, hosting companies and independent players support AAAA records. If you try adding a new record, you will very likely find AAAA record in the “record type” list.

If you are running your own DNS server (say on BIND), you can add an AAAA record in the host’s file just like you add an A record.

For example:

teamarin.net. 3600 IN AAAA 2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83


These components are the host-name, the TTL for record, followed by class (IN), type of record – AAAA, and IPv6 Address of the host.

Once setup, you can also look these records up using “AAAA” with dig or nslookup.

Using dig:

anurag@laptop:~$ dig teamarin.net aaaa +short
2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83

Using nslookup:

anurag@laptop:~$ nslookup
> set type=aaaa
> teamarin.net
Server: 8.8.8.8
Address: 8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
teamarin.net has AAAA address 2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83

This gives the IPv6 address associated with domain name TeamARIN.net.

There is no difference in the way the CNAME records work. If you have the www.domain.com CNAME as domain.com – creating AAAA records for domain.com will also support IPv6 for www.domain.com because it acts like an alias for the main domain. You can still, however, create an AAAA record for www.domain.com if you’d like. TeamARIN.net has created a record for both.

anurag@laptop:~$ dig teamarin.net aaaa +short
2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83

anurag@laptop:~$ dig www.teamarin.net aaaa +short
2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83

So far this blog post has looked at forward DNS in IPv6.

Reverse DNS can be set up in a similar manner. If you are running your own email server, you must setup reverse DNS that points IP address to host-names used by an email server. This plays an important part in SMTP authentication.

Just like in IPv4 reverse DNS, an in-addr.apra. zone is used, in IPv6, an ip6.arpa. zone is used. Therefore, the IPv6 address 2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83 rDNS PTR record points to TeamARIN.net.

This is accomplished by simply adding an entry for ipv6.arpa. zone:

3.8.f.4.1.3.1.4.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.7.9.0.0.1.0.0.0.0.7.4.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa. PTR teamarin.net.


You can do a reverse DNS lookup for IPv6 address by using dig -x, just like in IPv4.

Using dig:

anurag@laptop:~$ dig -x 2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83 +short
teamarin.net.

Using nslookup:

anurag@laptop:~$ nslookup
> set type=ptr
> 2001:470:1:97::4131:4f83
Server: 8.8.8.8
Address: 8.8.8.8#53

Non-authoritative answer:
3.8.f.4.1.3.1.4.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.7.9.0.0.1.0.0.0.0.7.4.0.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa name = teamarin.net.

This is how forward and reverse DNS works in IPv6. I hope you will find this post useful.

Anurag Bhatia,
System & Network Administrator
Cloudaccess.net
http://anuragbhatia.com

Any views, positions, statements or opinions of a guest blog post are those of the author alone and do not represent those of ARIN. ARIN does not guarantee the accuracy, completeness or validity of any claims or statements made by a guest blog post. ARIN shall not be liable for any representations, omissions or errors contained in a guest blog post.