Application Aspects of IPv6 Transition
RFC 4038
Document | Type | RFC - Informational (March 2005; No errata) | |
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Authors | Jun-ichiro Itoh , Myung-Ki Shin , Yong-Geun Hong , Eva Castro , Pekka Savola | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Internent Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized (tools) htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 4038 (Informational) | |
Action Holders |
(None)
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Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | David Kessens | ||
Send notices to | pekkas@netcore.fi, jonne.Soininen@nokia.com |
Network Working Group M-K. Shin, Ed. Request for Comments: 4038 ETRI/NIST Category: Informational Y-G. Hong ETRI J. Hagino IIJ P. Savola CSC/FUNET E. M. Castro GSYC/URJC March 2005 Application Aspects of IPv6 Transition Status of This Memo This memo provides information for the Internet community. It does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2005). Abstract As IPv6 networks are deployed and the network transition is discussed, one should also consider how to enable IPv6 support in applications running on IPv6 hosts, and the best strategy to develop IP protocol support in applications. This document specifies scenarios and aspects of application transition. It also proposes guidelines on how to develop IP version-independent applications during the transition period. Shin, Ed., et al. Informational [Page 1] RFC 4038 Application Aspects of IPv6 Transition March 2005 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ................................................. 3 2. Overview of IPv6 Application Transition ...................... 3 3. Problems with IPv6 Application Transition .................... 5 3.1. IPv6 Support in the OS and Applications Are Unrelated... 5 3.2. DNS Does Not Indicate Which IP Version Will Be Used .... 6 3.3. Supporting Many Versions of an Application Is Difficult. 6 4. Description of Transition Scenarios and Guidelines ........... 7 4.1. IPv4 Applications in a Dual-Stack Node ................. 7 4.2. IPv6 Applications in a Dual-Stack Node ................. 8 4.3. IPv4/IPv6 Applications in a Dual-Stack Node ............ 11 4.4. IPv4/IPv6 Applications in an IPv4-only Node ............ 12 5. Application Porting Considerations ........................... 12 5.1. Presentation Format for an IP Address .................. 13 5.2. Transport Layer API .................................... 14 5.3. Name and Address Resolution ............................ 15 5.4. Specific IP Dependencies ............................... 16 5.4.1. IP Address Selection ........................... 16 5.4.2. Application Framing ............................ 16 5.4.3. Storage of IP addresses ........................ 17 5.5. Multicast Applications ................................. 17 6. Developing IP Version - Independent Applications ............. 18 6.1. IP Version - Independent Structures..................... 18 6.2. IP Version - Independent APIs........................... 19 6.2.1. Example of Overly Simplistic TCP Server Application .................................... 20 6.2.2. Example of Overly Simplistic TCP Client Application .................................... 21 6.2.3. Binary/Presentation Format Conversion .......... 22 6.3. Iterated Jobs for Finding the Working Address .......... 23 6.3.1. Example of TCP Server Application .............. 23 6.3.2. Example of TCP Client Application .............. 25 7. Transition Mechanism Considerations .......................... 26 8. Security Considerations ...................................... 26 9. Acknowledgments .............................................. 27 10. References ................................................... 27 Appendix A. Other Binary/Presentation Format Conversions ........ 30 A.1. Binary to Presentation Using inet_ntop() ............... 30 A.2. Presentation to Binary Using inet_pton() ............... 31 Authors' Addresses ............................................... 32 Full Copyright Statement ......................................... 33 Shin, Ed., et al. Informational [Page 2] RFC 4038 Application Aspects of IPv6 Transition March 2005 1. Introduction As IPv6 is introduced in the IPv4-based Internet, several general issues will arise, such as routing, addressing, DNS, and scenarios. An important key to a successful IPv6 transition is compatibilityShow full document text