IPv6 Enterprise Network Renumbering Scenarios, Considerations, and Methods
RFC 6879

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                          S. Jiang
Request for Comments: 6879                                        B. Liu
Category: Informational                    Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd.
ISSN: 2070-1721                                             B. Carpenter
                                                  University of Auckland
                                                           February 2013

             IPv6 Enterprise Network Renumbering Scenarios,
                      Considerations, and Methods

Abstract

   This document analyzes events that cause renumbering and describes
   the current renumbering methods.  These are described in three
   categories: those applicable during network design, those applicable
   during preparation for renumbering, and those applicable during the
   renumbering operation.

Status of This Memo

   This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
   published for informational purposes.

   This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
   (IETF).  It represents the consensus of the IETF community.  It has
   received public review and has been approved for publication by the
   Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG).  Not all documents
   approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
   Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.

   Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
   and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
   http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6879.

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RFC 6879                IPv6 Enterprise Networks           February 2013

Copyright Notice

   Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the
   document authors.  All rights reserved.

   This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal
   Provisions Relating to IETF Documents
   (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of
   publication of this document.  Please review these documents
   carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect
   to this document.  Code Components extracted from this document must
   include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of
   the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as
   described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. Enterprise Network Illustration for Renumbering .................3
   3. Enterprise Network Renumbering Scenario Categories ..............5
      3.1. Renumbering Caused by External Network Factors .............5
      3.2. Renumbering Caused by Internal Network Factors .............5
   4. Network Renumbering Considerations and Current Methods ..........6
      4.1. Considerations and Current Methods during Network Design ...6
      4.2. Considerations and Current Methods for the
           Preparation of Renumbering ................................10
      4.3. Considerations and Current Methods during
           Renumbering Operation .....................................11
   5. Security Considerations ........................................13
   6. Acknowledgements ...............................................14
   7. References .....................................................14
      7.1. Normative References ......................................14
      7.2. Informative References ....................................15

1.  Introduction

   Site renumbering is difficult.  Network managers frequently attempt
   to avoid future renumbering by numbering their network resources from
   Provider-Independent (PI) address space.  However, widespread use of
   PI address space would aggravate BGP4 scaling problems [RFC4116] and,
   depending on Regional Internet Registry (RIR) policies, PI space is
   not always available for enterprises of all sizes.  Therefore, it is
   desirable to develop mechanisms that simplify IPv6 renumbering for
   enterprises.

   This document is an analysis of IPv6 site renumbering for enterprise
   networks.  It undertakes scenario descriptions, including

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   documentation of current capabilities and existing practices.  The
   reader is assumed to be familiar with [RFC4192] and [RFC5887].
   Proposals for new technology and methods are out of scope.

   Since IPv4 and IPv6 are logically separate from the perspective of
   renumbering, regardless of overlapping of the IPv4/IPv6 networks or
   devices, this document focuses on IPv6 only, leaving IPv4 out of
   scope.  Dual-stack networks or IPv4/IPv6 transition scenarios are out
   of scope as well.

   This document focuses on enterprise network renumbering; however,
   most of the analysis is also applicable to ISP network renumbering.