Is it time to bring back the IPv6-only hour (well, half hour)?

[Matthew Petach via NANOG <nanog () nanog org>]

On Thu, Mar 31, 2022 at 2:01 PM Mark Andrews <marka () isc org> wrote:

> You have to try running IPv6 only occasionally to weed out the
> dependencies.  You can do this on a per node basis.  Just turn off the IPv4
> interface and see how you run. I do this periodically on my Mac and disable
> IPv4.  This also makes my recursive nameserver IPv6 only as well.  You then
> see what breaks like sites where one of the cdn’s is IPv4 only despite the
> page itself being reachable over IPv6. Or the nameservers are not reachable
> over IPv6.
>
> Write down what you find is broken and report it.
>
> --
> Mark Andrews


This reminds me of days gone by, when NANOG used to have an IPv6-only hour
in the agenda, where IPv4 connectivity would be turned off, so people could
identify problem areas.

Unfortunately, it tended to mostly be an excuse to head to the coffee bar,
or enable "offline" mode in your mail client before it started, with little
active engagement in the room.

It might be interesting for NANOG86 in Hollywood to make it a formal part
of the agenda; not just an hour with no IPv4, but a focused half-an-hour in
which the focus of the room is on identifying problem areas; display an
anonymized "word cloud" on the screens in the room and remotely that people
can list sites, vendors, protocols, anything that they observe failing to
function from the point of view of an IPv6-only client.

We've talked about the need for people to "name-and-shame" in order to get
movement from some software and hardware vendors, but people are often
understandably reluctant to put their name on a 'name-and-shame' post that
could jeopardize their job.  Would doing it through an anonymized word
cloud give people more air coverage to list items they see that don't work
in an IPv6-only world?  (Clearly, there's limits; if you're the only
employee of a company, and you discover your employer's VPN endpoints don't
work from a v6-only network, you might think twice about listing it in the
word cloud--anonymization can only do so much to protect you!)

A forum leader at the microphone, making suggestions for services people
should test, functions they could try to exercise, sites they could try to
reach to start the ball rolling; and then as the word cloud starts to fill
in, solicit people's input on similar services to see if they fare any
better.  In fact, having two word clouds, red (doesn't work) and green
(does work) might be an even better idea, so that it's not just a
name-and-shame, but also a name-and-praise session, thanking those who have
done the work to make v6-only connectivity work, and calling out those who
still have work to do.

Or is this a ship that has already sailed, and attempting to resurrect it
will do nothing more than goose coffee sales for a brief interval?

Thoughts and feedback welcome!

Matt