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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

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!

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.

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!

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.

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!