IPv6 Guidance for Internet Content Providers and Application Service Providers
RFC 6883

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Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF)                      B. Carpenter
Request for Comments: 6883                             Univ. of Auckland
Category: Informational                                         S. Jiang
ISSN: 2070-1721                             Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd
                                                              March 2013

              IPv6 Guidance for Internet Content Providers
                   and Application Service Providers

Abstract

   This document provides guidance and suggestions for Internet Content
   Providers and Application Service Providers who wish to offer their
   service to both IPv6 and IPv4 customers.  Many of the points will
   also apply to hosting providers or to any enterprise network
   preparing for IPv6 users.

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/rfc6883.

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.

Carpenter & Jiang             Informational                     [Page 1]
RFC 6883                IPv6 ICP and ASP Guidance             March 2013

Table of Contents

   1. Introduction ....................................................2
   2. General Strategy ................................................3
   3. Education and Skills ............................................5
   4. Arranging IPv6 Connectivity .....................................6
   5. IPv6 Infrastructure .............................................7
      5.1. Address and Subnet Assignment ..............................7
      5.2. Routing ....................................................8
      5.3. DNS ........................................................9
   6. Load Balancers .................................................10
   7. Proxies ........................................................11
   8. Servers ........................................................12
      8.1. Network Stack .............................................12
      8.2. Application Layer .........................................12
      8.3. Logging ...................................................13
      8.4. Geolocation ...............................................13
   9. Coping with Transition Technologies ............................13
   10. Content Delivery Networks .....................................15
   11. Business Partners .............................................16
   12. Possible Complexities .........................................16
   13. Operations and Management .....................................17
   14. Security Considerations .......................................18
   15. Acknowledgements ..............................................20
   16. References ....................................................20
      16.1. Normative References .....................................20
      16.2. Informative References ...................................22

1.  Introduction

   The deployment of IPv6 [RFC2460] is now in progress, and users
   without direct IPv4 access are likely to appear in increasing numbers
   in the coming years.  Any provider of content or application services
   over the Internet will need to arrange for IPv6 access or else risk
   losing large numbers of potential users.  For users who already have
   dual-stack connectivity, direct IPv6 access might provide more
   satisfactory performance than indirect access via NAT.

   In this document, we often refer to the users of content or
   application services as "customers" to clarify the part they play,
   but this is not intended to limit the scope to commercial sites.

   The time for action is now, while the number of IPv6-only customers
   is small, so that appropriate skills, software, and equipment can be