An Example of IPv6 Necessity in the Greek School Network Athanassios Liakopoulos Greek Research & Technology Network 6DEPLOY project

Outline The GSN – Introduction The Problem The IPv4 Solution (?) The IPv6 Alternative Similar Cases A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN2

The GSN - Introduction The Greek School Network (GSN) interconnects ~ school units in Greece Each school unit (usually) has … – two public IPv4 addresses, one for the edge router and one for the local (school) server. – Multiple private addresses used for interconnecting the local PCs A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN3

The Problem How it is possible to upgrade the software of the PC labs and other PCs? – Software upgrades, security patches, install new applications, etc. Technical challenged – PCs are located behind a NAT gateway – PCs may be assigned to multiple networks, e.g. lab, administration, etc – PCs use different (versions of) operating systems – PCs are often moved between the networks, e.g. during hardware upgrades A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN4

The IPv4 Solution (?) Method A: Send administration personnel to perform the upgrades manually – Time consuming task, e.g. a security update may take weeks to be applied in all PC-labs in all sites – Expensive method, especially in terms of human resources Method B: Use port forwarding at the edge routers – Simple procedure, though, significant administration overhead – Error prone process as PCs may be relocated A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN5

The IPv4 Solution (?) Method C: Use a remote management tools – Software client necessary to be installed in each connected PC. – Not applicable to all nodes, e.g. wifi access points – Expensive solution due to the large number of sites and end systems – Limitations may arise due to port forwarding conflicts and insufficient scripting support A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN6

The IPv6 Alternative IPv6 is enabled in each PC and any other network node – Upgrades can be handled centrally, based on built- in scripts and tools – Policies can easily applied based on IPv6 address (& network) A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN7

Similar Cases A services provider may upgrade more than one set-on boxes at subscribers network A system administrator may upgrade server farms without the need of a local application (?) server A user may upgrade multiple sensors firmware over the network A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN8

A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN Athanassios Liakopoulos 9

A. Liakopoulos (Jan ’09)IPv6 necessity in GSN10