Hypothesis: Implementing a dual network is the best solution for moving to IPv6 addressing in an existing network.
Proposal Outline:
Introduction:
- Addressing the inevitable: IPv4 address are running out
- IPv6 is the solution to increasing IP address space
- Research hypothesis
IPv6 Implementation Strategies (Literature Review):
- Strategies for implementing IPv6 (tunneling, translation, dual network)
- What has proven successful in the transition
- Why moving towards IPv6 implementation is so important
Methodology:
- Set-up two IPv6 test labs
- One test lab will utilize IPv6 routing (dual network solution), the other will use IPv6 tunneling
- Transition edge devices to IPv6
- Pre-test: Setup IPv6 network monitoring and ensure operability on edge devices
- If all is clear, move on to implementing on internal devices and then host devices
- Post-test: Verify the whole network is communicating properly without issue
- Analyze who can successfully work without issue and which solution was the least time and resource consuming
Discussion:
- Potential for future studies:
- Successfully implementing IPv6 in complex environments
- Strategies for the transition
- Problems encountered and solutions to work through them
- Weakness of study/potential issues:
- Unknown variables that vary within networks could cause issues
- Legacy programs that don’t have IPv6 capabilities could have problems once a transition is complete
- Strength: familiarizing with IPv6 as the transition is inevitable as technology grows
- Understanding that we will all move to IPv6 as technology progress and more devices communicate across networks