The Internet is Running Out of Space
Internet real estate will be depleted by 2012 if ISPs and other companies don't jump on IPv6 quick.
Experts report that the last of the large blocks of net addresses to be sold and leased on the Internet will be handed over by November 2011. The Internet is apparently running out of virtual real estate, and is estimated to be depleted of vacant space by April 2012, mere months before the world will come to an end. For consumers and businesses, that means no more new websites--the ever-expanding, virtual galaxy we call the Internet will cease to grow in size.
The problem resides with the current version of the Internet Protocol addressing scheme. IPv4 only has enough space for approximately four billion addresses. That's right, 4 billion. It's insane to think that the current World Wide Web has nearly eaten 4 billion IP addresses, however that seems to be the case, and the next version of the Internet Protocol addressing scheme, IPv6, offers trillions. Trillions.
As it stands now, around 300 million addresses still remain for allocation, and that number is expected to go rather quick. The predicted Internet Doomsday was originally dated further back, however the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) recently dished out two chunks of IP addresses, thus pushing the estimated depletion to an earlier date. Now the remaining IPv4 addresses are being rationed, requiring proof that the address is really needed.
Obviously the big issue here is that ISPs need to incorporate IPv6, however ISPs and other countries are dragging their feet. Both protocols can work side by side, however the translation of one address into the format of another could cause a delay for the end-user. The Internet would be a much better place--not to mention offer additional virtual real estate--if everyone took to IPv6 rather quick.
Axel Pawlik, managing director of Ripe NCC said that some IPv6 addresses are actually in use, however they're not appearing on the Internet. Currently only 6-percent of the networks forming the Internet actually use IPv6.
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If I make it to the end of the internet, do I win?
in before the paranoid spastics start going "OMG! 2012! THE END OF THE WORLDS!"
a huge transition, but hey, got to do it someday. more power to them. just as long as i can keep my DYNAMIC ipv6 address!!
Hopefully the world ends first... amirite?
That's kind of scary when you think about it... Why didn't anyone think that we might need more than 4 billion addresses? And now that we do, what's stopping us from switching to ivp6 or whatever it was?
Maybe the internet will have a global flood, of porn popups, and we'll all have to hitch a ride on giant internet arks....
The Internet is Running Out Of IP addresses, not out of space...
For the record...
IPv4 looks like 192.168.1.1 and is made up of 4 groups of 8 bits (0's and 1's).
IPv6 looks like 1E73:BC1D:59C7:9CF4:19AF:98B2
I can only speculate on why someone wouldn't want to adopt such a fascinatingly overcomplicated numerical system.
this actually means we have used way more than 4 billion addresses... just around 4 billion "unique address"
IPv4 is
4,294,967,296
unique addresses
IPv6 is
281,474,976,710,656
Unique addesses
we actually have more address being used in IPv4 that stated above due to private addresses like the ones you have in your home (192.168.x.x) that are non-routable... businesses have their own class A and class B non-routable addresses also
We would have ran out before now if it wouldnt have been for these non-routable addresses being put into effect.
IPv6 needs to roll out... all new hardware supports it (for years now) and there are many advantages to IPv6, just so many companies need to upgrade hardware or maybe just take the time to do the switch.
companies are always slow when it comes to change they should have already addressed.
Same thing Apple does with each generation of iSomething. They have the technology, but leaving stuff out on purpose so people buy the new version. Same thing will happen when IPv6 goes to the consumer market, all modems, routers, NICs, etc will carry the nice lable "IPv6 compliant".
What happened to IPv5?
http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/b [...] _ipv5.html
this actually means we have used way more than 4 billion addresses... just around 4 billion "unique address"IPv4 is4,294,967,296unique addressesIPv6 is281,474,976,710,656Unique addesseswe actually have more address being used in IPv4 that stated above due to private addresses like the ones you have in your home (192.168.x.x) that are non-routable... businesses have their own class A and class B non-routable addresses also We would have ran out before now if it wouldnt have been for these non-routable addresses being put into effect.IPv6 needs to roll out... all new hardware supports it (for years now) and there are many advantages to IPv6, just so many companies need to upgrade hardware or maybe just take the time to do the switch.companies are always slow when it comes to change they should have already addressed.
I think this is right in saying 'the internet'. Since, the internet is generally defined as the locations on the overall WAN. My laptop is under one of those locations, but since it has no unique IP, it's not a direct part of the internet.
That's how I would see it.
My router on the other hand; is.
Also; Can't wait to get my first IPv6 router. I just want that piece of mind.
Um...if they run out of space...won't that force people to use IPv6?
This is a classic example of the bandaid on the wound. If you pull it off slow it hurts like hell and drags the agony on for a prolonged amount of time; however, if you pull it quickly it still hurts like HELL but subsides far quicker.
We just need to pull the switch and if shit hits the fan pick 'er up as we move along. I'm sure Corporations and Governments are the big ones holding that method back given 16% of the world still uses 10 year old IE6
Seriously? SERIOUSLY?! People are still taking that seriously? if I'm going to die in 2012 then something good better happen to me before then, because so far life has seemed fit to punish me.
AHEM.... as for the whole internet running out of space thing... hurry up and jump to IPv6... it has more space. and has built in capabilities that v4 doesn't.
I personally think ISP's don't want to do it because with more availability means it SHOULD cost less.
This is Al Gore's fault!
That's kind of scary when you think about it... Why didn't anyone think that we might need more than 4 billion addresses? And now that we do, what's stopping us from switching to ivp6 or whatever it was?
Do you remember Y2K? That was where the first programmers only allocated for a two digit year instead of a four digit year. They did this because they didn't think that these new-fangled computers would be around to see the year 2000 so why make it possible to display a date past '99? This the same situation. At the time that the addressing protocol was developed they assumed that 4 billion was more than enough addresses.
As for why ISPs are slow to switch over, the equipment to translate between IPv4 and IPv6 costs money. And nobody likes spending money.
I seem to remember a quote saying that we would never need more than 640k of memory. Look how that turned out. IPv6 FTW guys. get with it.
I would like to know who first started "OMGz the Worldz going to end!! Oh Nooezzz". It's getting a little old when people still think it's going to end or too lazy to look up what is actually going to happen. SIGH...........
My predictions for 2012 computer industry
1)The internet will implode
2)Bill Gates will reign supreme
3)Steve Jobs will cry about it
4)Your computer will burn to the ground
5)You will cry about it
I call bull**** about the 2012 computer thing and the implementation of Ipv6 gives isp's the opportunity to milk us more money for "Advanced Technology" when in fact they have no other choice.
Either myself or the author is seriously misinformed here. IPv6 should support WAY MORE than just a few trillion IP addresses. The correct figure should be 2^128, which is something like hundreds of trillions OF TRILLIONS OF TRILLIONS of addresses. I hope, as a layperson, I'm wrong because otherwise that would be seriously embarrassing for the author.
Seems like Y2K for the IP....
I took the Cisco CCNA certification classes through my high school, and even our junky hand-me-down routers and switches supported IPv6... 4 years ago! I'm actually a bit surprised that IPv6 adoption is only at 6%.
(cut)
I can only speculate on why someone wouldn't want to adopt such a fascinatingly overcomplicated numerical system.
i feel ya, i am about to finish my CCNA i am taking in HS. not only am i angry at the slow adoption rate, also that all of the course (cept 1 section) is based off of IPv4. which will be useless soon, least the basic concept is the same. but we have known about the depletion of public IPv4 addresses for a long time, the big corporations just don't profit, so they wont do it will they are forced.
IPv6 should support WAY MORE than just a few trillion IP addresses. The correct figure should be 2^128,
3.402e+38
or
340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,770,000,000
note: i put 0's because that's where my calculator cut off.
who cares about this when our economy is sinking and people losing their jobs and don't find any... I would turn off the Internet as it destroying jobs
The is a big reason people are not comfortable using IPv6. A large part of your address is your PC's MAC address, every connection is uniquely identifiable down to a specific PC. The internet currently is more or less anonymous because the closest you can trace someone's unique identifier (IP) is to their ISP, which most are resistance to handing over their lists. With IPv6 you can track down to the PC, even identify the NIC being used.
Also NAT is nearly impossible to do with IPv6, no in fact it ~is~ impossible to do with a pure IPv6 system. The engineers that designed the specs for IPv6 got all snotty and swore NAT should never be used without taking a look at the 2nd biggest reason to use it. NAT can hide an entire range of private IP's behind a single public IP. This makes your private network invisible to anyone outside of it and forces all external traffic through a security device that filters and translates the requests. This in effect makes every single NAT router a firewall device by default, and a very effective one at that. When you combine a state full packet inspection software with NAT you get a secure router / FW that is nearly impervious to hacking. The only way through is to find an open port (port mapping) and hope you can do a buffer overflow on whatever is on the other side of the port-mapping. But a hacker can't see whats on the other side, so its blind hacking at best.
I've built my own Linux based router by using CentOS 5 + Via Epia platform with 4x GB Ethernet interfaces. Using shorewall + snort and watching the logs I get hack attempts every 3 seconds or so. Usually by what appears to be someone sending packets to an entire range of known ISP IP's hoping a few reply and are hackable. My router discards these packets without even replying to them. This technique would be nearly impossible on a pure IPv6 system because my internet systems are exposed to the entire g'damn world. Their each uniquely addressable, and while the state full packet inspection would still be scanning, a hacker would be able to address packets to specific clients. More ever they could scan the packets coming from an ISP and map the location and nature of every single client attached to that ISP.
On this same note, ISP's could then charge you based on your "network device count" instead of a single charge. Since there is no way to hide your internal network layout from your ISP, they could easily say "hey looks like you got five devices there, that is $39.99 USD each". Five devices is router + XBOX 360 + PS3 + smartphone + PC.
IPv6 gives unprecedented control of the network to a network administrator, it alleviates the IP address congestion we're facing and for these reasons network engineers love it. But it pose's serious risk home users and corporations alike. It completely removes privacy from the internet. This is the reason everyone has been super slow to adopt it, its neither cost-effective nor a wise move unless you absolutely have to.
If they can ever add NAT and masquerading functions to IPv6 then you'd see a huge migration of ISP's and major networks over to it. IPv6 has been supported by nearly every network device for the past five years. Your $80 home router supports it now, and you can get its support on Windows XP and beyond.
lol what a deceptive title. This is old news as well.
Banned for tabloid journalism tactics imo.
The Internet is Running Out Of IP addresses, not out of space...
+999999
Also. The internet is not a big truck(and not something you just dump something on), it's a series of tubes!!! The internet is tubes!!!
Nope, I'm in Japan on the VERY small island of Okinawa sporting an IPv6 address. This island is only 65 miles long and I got fibre pulled to my house. How you like them apples?
This is old news, how about an article about how many IPv4s we WASTE.
Please tell me the people talking about routers even know what IPv6 is? My 5 year old router has IPv6 option. 2 of my schools are already using IPv6 to the internet and IPv4 internal (easer to label). And if you do use IPv6 its easer to rout. And if your ISP is cheap and dont update their DNS you could just use a internet based one (openDNS). I just asked my ISP for a IPv6 address instead of IPv4.
Wow. I have worked on many different brands of household routers and all of them have IPv6 and IPv4 options. I have never encountered a business router to not have the option. (switches you might need to get a different firmware)