nanog mailing list archives

Re: Problems with removing NAT from a network


From: Joel Jaeggli <joelja () bogus com>
Date: Thu, 06 Jan 2011 18:34:06 -0800

On 1/6/11 5:48 PM, Owen DeLong wrote:
Doesn't all of this become moot if Skype just develops a dual-stack capable client
and servers?

Really, only some fraction of the supernodes and the login servers need
to be dual stack.

Owen

On Jan 6, 2011, at 1:32 PM, Matthew Kaufman wrote:

On 1/6/2011 10:07 AM, Cameron Byrne wrote:

Skype is not defined in an IETF RFC, so saying you need an RFC to move
forward is bit confusing.
I don't see a disconnect at all. Skype also uses TCP and UDP, which are both subjects of RFCs.

That said, it doesn't need to be an RFC... just *a reliable way* of discovering the appropriate NAT64 prefix.
 There are several methods that just work
today,
Of the methods proposed in the survey draft, only one - the one that doesn't require the DNS64 spec or operator to 
make any changes (making an AAAA lookup for something you know only has an A record) - works but *only if* the 
mapping scheme is such that it is possible to successfully derive a functional prefix and the scheme from the 
results of that query.

So in other words, *if* the query results in an AAAA where, by inspection, you can guess where you'd need to stuff 
the IPv4 address bits *and* the resulting address causes the "right" NAT64 (if there's >1) to be used, then you're 
set.
I am all for standards, but a closed platforms generally find ways to
progress without or in spite of standards.  Skype is a closed
platform.
No question. And for all you know we might be working on other ways around this problem, but none of them as elegant 
as a defined specification for how to discover the presence of a NAT64 and the mapping.

There's lots of other apps that don't work. Skype is just the squeaky wheel
because it is so popular.

Please make a list and let us know.  Otherwise, this is just hand
waving like the IPv4 literals sites.
I'll start with "peer to peer connectivity using RTMFP in Flash Player" and "BitTorrent". Both Flash Player and 
BitTorrent are fairly popular on desktop platforms.

I'm sure there's more.


My advice to Skype is to come up with a solution to work for IPv6-only
clients. That is my advice to all apps and all content.  IPv6-only
clients are an obvious reality in an IPv4 exhausted world.
That's not the problem... the problem is reaching the existing base of IPv4 clients from those IPv6-only clients 
without making Skype relay all the traffic via servers somewhere, as I'm sure you know.

You cannot seriously come to a network operators support mailing list
and say that the network guys have to keep investing in network tweaks
while you wait for a standards body to solve a problem for your closed
non-standard applications.
I've been on this list since approximately the time it was formed, so I'm not coming here to ask for something. Just 
pointing out what will break.

I also assure you, many mobile operators are pursuing this NAT64 path
for the same reason I am.
Randy Bush would encourage his competitors to do just as you've done, I'm sure.

Matthew Kaufman







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