Don't expect hosts to continue being generous with IPs

When I signed up for my first dedicated server three years ago, my provider handed out IPs as if they grew on trees. Just for signing up, I received 5 and was allowed unlimited add-on addresses. At one point, I had around 12 IPs on one box. Many hosts have followed this practice in order to stay competitive, but don’t expect it to continue much longer.

The fact of the matter is, few have made the switch to IPv6 and we are slated to run out of IPv4 addresses in less than two years. Until the situation is resolved, hosts will have to be much more conservative with their IPs or risk running out.

Expect free add-on addresses to become a thing of the past. Additional IPs will probably always be available, but at a cost. The days of indulgent IP allocation are near their end.

Photo | steved_np3

China feels the IP squeeze

As IPv4 addresses run out, those countries with the fastest-growing number of Internet users will run low on IPs first. A perfect example of this is China, which currently adds more people to the web per year than any other country in the world.

According to Wu Hequan from the Chinese Academy of Engineering, the land of the Great Wall is set to run out of IP addresses in two or three years. Compared to the rest of the world, it is in decent shape.

The problem is, this calculation assumes that computer deployment will continue to increase at the same rate. As tech devices like computers, cell phones, and PDAs become less expensive, adoption rises at a disproportionate rate.

IPv6 adoption so far only extends to Chinese universities. It is my guess that the number of addresses needed by this economic powerhouse will increase much more quickly than Hequan predicts. China has the disadvantage of being a relatively late Internet adopter, so when IPs were first allocated, it didn’t receive nearly as many as Western nations.

Source | People’s Daily Online

Could IP exhaustion drive up the cost of hosting?

IP exhaustion, or the increasing scarcity of the IPv4 addresses needed for the web to function, has been a problem for quite some time. ISPs are being pushed to move to IPv6, but thus far few have budged. As things currently stand, the current supply of IP addresses is slated to dry up by 2011.

What does that mean for you? Online news site bMighty.com posted an insightful article on that topic yesterday.

The consensus is that since large blocks of addresses are owned by registries around the world, some places will run out before others. A good many server users need dedicated IPs to run, and as addresses become harder and harder to come by, those providers with IPs still left to distribute could jack up prices. The operating costs for hosts will go up, too, and no doubt they will pass this expense onto their customers. Meanwhile, those of us requiring dedicated IPs for our web server software to function will end up in price wars trying to snag the few addresses left.
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TLDs slow to adopt IPv6

It seems as though data center operators and ISPs aren’t the only ones lagging behind in IPv6 adoption. Recent data provided by ICANN shows that 41% of the existing 280 Top-Level Domains have no IPv6 support whatsoever.

With IPv4 addresses still slated to run out some time in 2011, this finding is alarming. While it would be wise for these TLD operators to invest in the new technology before it’s too late, ICANN can do very little to make them do so. No doubt the problem will be exasperated even further when new gTLDs are introduced next year.

ICANN should not allow new TLDs to be created unless the owners invest in IPv6. While the organization itself cannot be held responsible for every Internet mishap, as a regulatory agency it has a duty to make sure a pragmatic policy is followed within the domain industry.

Source | CircleID

Photo | clix

Report shows world IP address distribution is uneven

A recently published document, entitled Internet IP Address 2009 Report, yields some interesting information about IP address allocation around the world.

IPs are far from evenly distributed. According to the report, the United States holds more IPv4 addresses than any other country– 37.14%. Trailing far behind with the second-greatest number of IPs is the UK with 11.37%. Third is China and fourth is Japan with 7.08% and 6.95% respectively.

Pacific islands and undeveloped or sparsely populated nations had the lowest number of IP addresses. North Korea, Pitcairn, Central African Republic, the Isle of Man, Jersey, and Liberia were among the lowest. Two countries famous for their free domains, Tokelau and Niue, also ranked extremely low.

Unless developing countries adopt IPv6 or find a way to share IPv4 addresses, they may find themselves out of luck when they wish to bring more of their citizens online. It’s no surprise that those countries that were first to connect to the Internet hold the greatest percentage of addresses. As the old saying goes, the early bird gets the worm.

Free iPhone app tracks IPv4 depletion

Some folks may not be worried about IPv4 depletion, but for those who are, there’s a neat application called ByeBye v4 for the iPhone and iPod Touch that tracks the number of IPv4 addresses remaining.

The application provides other information, too, such as the number of IPv6 addresses in use, estimated number of days before IPv4 runs out, and the percentage of TLDs using the new system.

The tool is also available as a Windows Gadget, iGoogle Gadget, and webpage widget. It has an average rating of 4/5 stars in the Apple App Store.

Is there really a need for IPv6?

For some time now, ARIN has been pushing providers to switch to IPv6. The steady rise of computer use along with the proliferation of other web devices like cell phones and PDAs has put a heavy burden on the IPv4 system, which is expected to run out of addresses by 2011. Not so, says Paul Rubens in a recent Enterprise Networking Article.

Rubens states that most network providers have been too lazy to upgrade to IPv6, but argues there is no reason for them to spend the money on the equipment to do so. There are numerous changes that could be made to the antiquated IPv4 system to further its lifespan, including freeing up hundreds of millions of IPs reserved but not being used and using Network Address Translation.
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Africa may lead the world in IPv6 adoption

With IPv4 addresses set to run out by 2011, Internet administrators have been pushing for a switch to the new IPv6 system. Unfortunately, very few data centers have adopted the new system because of past investments made in IPv4 and the cost to upgrade.

This is why some industry experts believe Africa, a continent that has made very little investment in IT infrastructure, may lead the world in IPv6 adoption. As Calvin Brown, director of Uniform, the company that administrates the .co.za domain, put it:

The rate of IPv6 adoption in Africa seems to be higher than in other regions. It seems that this may be an area where being behind can help us get ahead

In Kenya, IPv6 has been running on the .ke registry servers since 2006. Other countries, such as Ghana, have held forums and training seminars in an attempt to educate server administrators about the need to abandon IPv4, but few have made the switch to IPv6.

One of the benefits of starting late in any situation is the ability to gain from already acquired knowledge. Though Africa may be late to the technology game, it can learn from the West’s past mistakes and build its infrastructure with the newest equipment.

Source | Computer World

Photo | Flickr

Verizon to Require Use of IPv6 in New Cell Phones

Techies in the know are aware that the current IP address system, IPv4, will run out of addresses by early 2011. To avoid a cataclysmic event two years from now when people find they can’t get on the Internet, the need to switch to IPv6 is being chiseled into the foreheads of technology CEOs from San Jose to Shanghai.

Part of the reason why we’re running out of IP addresses much faster than analysts predicted is the proliferation of cell phone usage. Believe it or not, but mobile phones use the same IP addresses our computers do to get online and make phone calls. In fact, there are more mobile subscribers than computer owners. With cell phone ownership expected to reach 5.2 billion by 2011, a huge stain has already been placed on the teetering IPv4 system.

Thankfully, mobile providers are starting to step in and do something about the problem. Verizon announced recently that it will require phones on its new LTE (Long Term Evolution) network to support IPv6.

LTE promises faster speeds and greater efficiency then current mobile network technology. It will be deployed over the next few years by all major carriers.

But should Verizon be applauded for its decision? Absolutely not. Truthfully, their decision to jump on the IPv6 bandwagon is too late to make much of a difference. By the time it starts freeing up IPv4 addresses with its new phones I expect most Internet providers will have made the switch to IPv6.

Source: CircleID

ICANN Policy Updates for May

ICANN made quite a few policy updates last month. Most of it was just talk, with the non-profit saying they were going to explore “this and that,” or set up a committee to consider x and y. Either way, it’s nice to know that the folks in California are at least pretending to do something.

Domain Transfers
ICANN wants to make it easier to transfer domains from registrar to registrar. A number of changes are currently under consideration that would speed this process up. One would involve using the Internet Registry Information Service (IRIS) to transfer contact information to the new registrar.

The most important topic discussed was a proposal to change current policy to prevent registrars from reversing domain transfers conducted by customers. Here we are in 2009 and this still hasn’t been addressed?
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