The Dirt on IPv6 At SCALE!

 
SCALE will be delivering both IPv4 and IPv6 network address space to all vendors, orgs, and attendees. This will be the second year that both ACT USA and Digilink Network Services have provided IPv6 to the show. Stu Sheldon, SCALE's Tech Advisor explained how it will work at the Expo.
 
When tasked with how to provide IPv6 for the show, the only viable choice was the dual stack method. This method allows for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses to be assigned to systems on the show network. This method also allows for a user to turn off IPv6 if they so choose. The network will provide both auto-configuration and stateful configuration for IPv6.
 
The stateful configuration was a new twist this year. Its real purpose was to allow us to advertise an IPv6 DNS server via DHCP6. This will allow users to attempt to setup systems running only IPv6 on the network. Although this will be available, there will most likely be little use in doing it, other than to test your OS to see if it will work properly on an IPv6 only network.
 
Although it would have been nice to route native IPv6 traffic to the show, the provider was unable to do so this year. We were forced to create a 6in4 tunnel to a router in ACT USA's Los Angeles NOC. In turn Digilink Network Services (One of ACT USA's primary transport providers) will be routing the native IPv6 data free of charge for the the weekend show.