Re: Why do some providers require IPv6 /64 PA space to have public whois?

[Owen DeLong <owen () delong com>]

On Dec 10, 2012, at 2:53 PM, Ian Smith <I.Smith () F5 com> wrote:

> > Quite the opposite in fact. In IPv6 a /64 is roughly equivalent to a /32 in IPv4. As in, it's the smallest possible 
> > assignment that will allow an end-user host to >function under normal circumstances.
>
> > SWIP or rwhois for a /64 seems excessive to me, FWIW.
>
> IPv4/32 is both a routing endpoint and a host.  IPv4 is a 32 bit combined routing and host space.
>
> IPv6/64 is a routing endpoint and v6/128 is a host.   IPv6 is a 64 bit routing space and also a 64 bit host space for 
> each routing space, not a 128 bit combined routing and host space.

You can make a /128 a routing endpoint in IPv6 just like a /32 in IPv4 with all the same rules, restrictions, and 
limitations.

> Evidently, the whois requirement is for networks, not nodes, which makes sense when you think about how the entity 
> that controls a /64 is assuming responsibility for 2^64 network nodes.

Correct (in the first part). In reality, nobody has 2^64 nodes, that's more than the square of the current host 
addressing available in all of IPv4. You'll never see a /64 full of hosts. For one thing, there's no concept for 
switching hardware that could handle that large of a MAC adjacency table, nor is there ever likely to be such.

Owen

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doug Barton [mailto:dougb () dougbarton us] 
> Sent: Monday, December 10, 2012 5:05 PM
> To: Schiller, Heather A
> Cc: Constantine A. Murenin; nanog () nanog org
> Subject: Re: Why do some providers require IPv6 /64 PA space to have public whois?
>
> On 12/10/2012 01:27 PM, Schiller, Heather A wrote:
> > I think most folks would agree that, IPv4 /32 :: IPv6 /128 as IPv4 /29 
> > :: IPv6 /64
>
>
> Doug
>
>
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