[ipv6-wg] IPv6-only network during RIPE 71

> Marco, Nick - what do you think? I definitely see a lot of interest
> and support in the community for moving IPv6-only
> network out of the experimental state. Probably moving dual-stack
> network to legacy this meeting might be bit extreme (we do care about
> people who do not care about Ipv6 yet, don't we? ;)) and we do not
> provide bad network experience), but what about stop calling it
> "experimental" and include it in the list of the standard SSIDs?

Dear Jen, colleagues,

We very much appreciate the on going efforts of the IPv6 Working Group to support the deployment of IPv6 and especially for providing people the means to experience an IPv6 only network fist hand. The RIPE NCC IT operations team has been involved from the start of this project and with help from community members, the network setup has evolved and is now mostly integrated with the regular meeting network layout.

So far we are happy to note that this parallel operation of an IPv6-only network has not led to any major operational incidents that impacted the availability of any of the RIPE meeting networks.

However we did see several reports of issues at clients with OS or client software showing unexpected or erroneous behaviour. We also noted that there is still some confusion amongst attendees regarding the different functionality of the available networks.

Our primary concern is that within the resource constraints we have on staff time and expertise, we cannot offer detailed support to end users, who are experiencing problems. We are aware that several techniques exist to remedy some of the expected problems with client software, but these appear not universally available across all clients. Also none of these solutions have been tested in the specific environment of the RIPE meeting network.

We have to take into account that RIPE meetings have participants from different backgrounds and with different expertise. People might not be that well versed in the technical background of IPv6, or might not be able to adjust their systems to work correctly in this network setup.

Our primary objective is that everybody who attends a RIPE meeting is satisfied with the network quality offered and is able to do his or her work without the need of additional changes, software or detailed support.

Taken into account the discussion in this working group, we do agree that labelling the IPv6-only network as “experimental” might have unintended consequences and leave the impression that IPv6 is not ready for deployment.

We support the working group in their efforts to change the messaging surrounding this initiative to make it appear less experimental and put more confidence in IPv6 as a technology, which is ready for broad deployment.

At the same time we are not assured that an IPv6-only environment will not lead to any problems at the user level, which might be perceived as a problem with the RIPE meeting network.

We are happy to work with the community in implementing changes to the network name and documentation and promotion efforts. Our IT staff has confirmed that we can change the name and password without much effort and this can be done prior to RIPE 71.

However we must also insist that, at this stage, that there must be no confusion with the primary dual stack network, which is supported by RIPE NCC staff.

On an additional note we must warn the community on the use of any relative or subjective names such as “new” and select an alternative that provides a functional description of the network.
 
We invite the community to use this upcoming RIPE meeting to collect further feedback and develop user level documentation on any remaining problems and any possible workarounds that could avoid such issues. 

We hope that this documentation in turn can form the basis for a discussion with the broader RIPE community on a proposal to change configuration of the primary network and provide confidence that such a change would not lead to any operational problems for RIPE meeting attendees or otherwise have impact on the stability of the RIPE NCC operated infrastructure.

We hope to see you all soon in Bucharest,

Marco Hogewoning

RIPE NCC