Skip to main content

Deprecation of "ip6.int"
draft-huston-ip6-int-03

The information below is for an old version of the document that is already published as an RFC.
Document Type
This is an older version of an Internet-Draft that was ultimately published as RFC 4159.
Author Geoff Huston
Last updated 2015-10-14 (Latest revision 2005-05-27)
RFC stream Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)
Intended RFC status Best Current Practice
Formats
Stream WG state (None)
Document shepherd (None)
IESG IESG state Became RFC 4159 (Best Current Practice)
Action Holders
(None)
Consensus boilerplate Unknown
Telechat date (None)
Responsible AD Bert Wijnen
Send notices to david.kessens@nokia.com
draft-huston-ip6-int-03
Individual Submission                                          G. Huston
Internet-Draft                                                     APNIC
Expires: November 28, 2005                                  May 27, 2005

                        Deprecation of "ip6.int"
                      draft-huston-ip6-int-03.txt

Status of this Memo

   By submitting this Internet-Draft, each author represents that any
   applicable patent or other IPR claims of which he or she is aware
   have been or will be disclosed, and any of which he or she becomes
   aware will be disclosed, in accordance with Section 6 of BCP 79.

   Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering
   Task Force (IETF), its areas, and its working groups.  Note that
   other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-
   Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
   time.  It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference
   material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

   The list of current Internet-Drafts can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/ietf/1id-abstracts.txt.

   The list of Internet-Draft Shadow Directories can be accessed at
   http://www.ietf.org/shadow.html.

   This Internet-Draft will expire on November 28, 2005.

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).

Abstract

   This document advises of the deprecation of the use of "ip6.int" for
   Standards Conformant IPv6 implementations.

Notes

   [START: This section not for RFC publication]

   This memo has been prepared as part of the activities of an ad hoc
   advisory committee to advise the IAB on a number of matters relating

Huston                  Expires November 28, 2005               [Page 1]
Internet-Draft                   ip6.int                        May 2005

   to IPv6.  It is proposed that the note be published as an Internet
   Standards action for IPv6 as a BCP.

   This advice does not directly address legacy issues relating to
   continued of the "ip6.int" domain.  While the use of the ip6.int
   domain was deprecated in August 2001 upon the publication of BCP 49
   (RFC 3152), the document indicated that the use of the ip6.int domain
   would "likely be phased out in an orderly fashion."

   While it is apparent that implementors of IPv6 protocol stacks have
   noted this advice, and configured more recent IPv6 implementations to
   use the "ip6.arpa" domain as a means of mapping from an IPv6 address
   to a fully qualified domain name, there is still some level of
   activity associated with the ip6.int domain, including continued
   delegation requests and some level of queries.  The justification of
   the operational costs of continued maintenance of this domain is
   questionable, given its deprecated status, the now piecemeal
   population of the domain with delegated zones, and the continuing
   level of confusion to end users and network administrators while two
   reverse mapping domains remain operational.

   This document proposes the action to complete the phase out of
   ip6.int from use in IPv6 for the IPv6 DNS reverse mapping function on
   1 September 2005.

   There has been consideration of the inclusion in this document of an
   examination of the current status of implementations with respect to
   their support of ip6.int, a commentary on the implications of
   operating a protocol stack that continued to attempt reverse
   resolution using ip6.int queries, and an examination of possible
   mechanisms for an indefinite legacy functionality.  This has not been
   done here, as the consideration has been to constrain the scope of
   this document to that of a standards-related action related
   specifically to the deprecation of ip6.int.

   As a further note regarding legacy and backward compatibility
   measures, some exploratory activity has been noted that proposes the
   use of DNAME records in "ip6.int" using a redirection pointer to the
   relevant delegation points in the "ip6.arpa" domain.  There are some
   associated issues with the use of base relative names in reverse
   domains to allow the DNAME to work, and there may also be a need for
   some further investigatory activity relating to the soundness of the
   use of DNAME redirection in this context.  This activity falls more
   into an operational task regarding legacy management, and is
   considered to be outside the intentionally limited scope of this
   particular document.

   [END: section not for RFC publication]

Huston                  Expires November 28, 2005               [Page 2]
Internet-Draft                   ip6.int                        May 2005

1.  IPv6 Standards Action

   In August 2001 the IETF published [RFC3152], which advised that the
   use of "ip6.int" as the domain for reverse-mapping of IPv6 addresses
   to DNS names was deprecated.  The document noted that the use of
   "ip6.int" would be phased out in an orderly fashion.

   As of 1 September 2005, the IETF advises the community that the DNS
   domain "ip6.int" should no longer be used to perform reverse mapping
   of IPv6 addresses to domain names, and that the domain "ip6.arpa"
   should be used henceforth, in accordance with the IANA Considerations
   described in [RFC3596].  The domain "ip6.int" is deprecated, and its
   use in IPv6 implementations that conform to the IPv6 Internet
   Standards is discontinued.

   The Regional Internet Registries (RIRs) are advised that maintenance
   of delegation of entries in "ip6.int" is no longer required as part
   of infrastructure services in support of Internet Standards
   conformant IPv6 implementations as of 1 September 2005.  The RIRs are
   requested to work with their communities to adopt a schedule
   regarding cessation of support of registration services for the
   "ip6.int" domain.

2.  IANA Considerations

   IANA is advised that the "ip6.int" domain for reverse mapping of IPv6
   addresses to domain names is no longer part of Internet Standards
   Conformant support of IPv6 as of 1 September 2005.

3.  Security Considerations

   While DNS spoofing of address to name mapping has been exploited in
   IPv4, removal of the "ip6.int" zone from the standard IPv6
   specification creates no new threats to the security of the internet.

4.  Acknowledgements

   The document was prepared with the assistance of Kurt Lindqvist,
   Thomas Narten, Paul Wilson, David Kessens, Bob Hinden, Brian
   Haberman, and Bill Manning.

5.  Normative References

   [RFC3152]  Bush, R., "Delegation of IP6.ARPA", BCP 49, RFC 3152,
              August 2001.

   [RFC3596]  Thomson, S., Huitema, C., Ksinant, V., and M. Souissi,
              "DNS Extensions to Support IP Version 6", RFC 3596,

Huston                  Expires November 28, 2005               [Page 3]
Internet-Draft                   ip6.int                        May 2005

              October 2003.

Author's Address

   Geoff Huston
   APNIC

   Email: gih@apnic.net

Huston                  Expires November 28, 2005               [Page 4]
Internet-Draft                   ip6.int                        May 2005

Intellectual Property Statement

   The IETF takes no position regarding the validity or scope of any
   Intellectual Property Rights or other rights that might be claimed to
   pertain to the implementation or use of the technology described in
   this document or the extent to which any license under such rights
   might or might not be available; nor does it represent that it has
   made any independent effort to identify any such rights.  Information
   on the procedures with respect to rights in RFC documents can be
   found in BCP 78 and BCP 79.

   Copies of IPR disclosures made to the IETF Secretariat and any
   assurances of licenses to be made available, or the result of an
   attempt made to obtain a general license or permission for the use of
   such proprietary rights by implementers or users of this
   specification can be obtained from the IETF on-line IPR repository at
   http://www.ietf.org/ipr.

   The IETF invites any interested party to bring to its attention any
   copyrights, patents or patent applications, or other proprietary
   rights that may cover technology that may be required to implement
   this standard.  Please address the information to the IETF at
   ietf-ipr@ietf.org.

Disclaimer of Validity

   This document and the information contained herein are provided on an
   "AS IS" basis and THE CONTRIBUTOR, THE ORGANIZATION HE/SHE REPRESENTS
   OR IS SPONSORED BY (IF ANY), THE INTERNET SOCIETY AND THE INTERNET
   ENGINEERING TASK FORCE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,
   INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY WARRANTY THAT THE USE OF THE
   INFORMATION HEREIN WILL NOT INFRINGE ANY RIGHTS OR ANY IMPLIED
   WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

Copyright Statement

   Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005).  This document is subject
   to the rights, licenses and restrictions contained in BCP 78, and
   except as set forth therein, the authors retain all their rights.

Acknowledgment

   Funding for the RFC Editor function is currently provided by the
   Internet Society.

Huston                  Expires November 28, 2005               [Page 5]