IPv6 Address Prefixes Reserved for Documentation
draft-moreiras-v6ops-rfc3849bis-00

Abstract

[RFC3849] specified an IPv6 prefix to be used in documentation, in order to reduce the likelihood of conflict and confusion when relating examples of deployed systems. This prefix was reserved to be used in examples in RFCs, books, documentation, and the like. It became widely accepted and used.

Although the IPv6 documentation prefix proved to be very useful, a /32 prefix is not enough to be used to document some kinds of IPv6 deployments, such as large ISP deployments, transition techniques, and other useful examples that require longer prefixes. This document requests the allocation of a new global unicast /20 block, as a documentation prefix, and expands the range of uses that can be expected for these prefixes. It also updates [RFC3849].

Status of This Memo

This Internet-Draft is submitted in full conformance with the provisions of BCP 78 and BCP 79.

Internet-Drafts are working documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Note that other groups may also distribute working documents as Internet-Drafts. The list of current Internet-Drafts is at http://datatracker.ietf.org/drafts/current/.

Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any time. It is inappropriate to use Internet-Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as "work in progress."

This Internet-Draft will expire on February 12, 2014.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (c) 2013 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved.

This document is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) in effect on the date of publication of this document. Please review these documents carefully, as they describe your rights and restrictions with respect to this document. Code Components extracted from this document must include Simplified BSD License text as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions and are provided without warranty as described in the Simplified BSD License.

Table of Contents

• 1. Introduction
• 2. Terminology
• 3. IPv6 Documentation Prefixes
• 4. Operational Implications
• 5. Security Considerations
• 6. IANA Considerations
• 7. References
• 7.1. Normative References
• 7.2. Informative References
• Authors' Addresses

1. Introduction

This document describes the IPv6 address blocks provided to be used in documentation. These blocks SHOULD be used to describe network topologies, transition techniques or other systems, in RFCs, books, videos, and documentation in general. They also MAY be used in didactic laboratories, which aim to teach IPv6 or network principles.

The first block was reserved in [RFC3849], from the address space of the Asia Pacific (APNIC) regional addressing community. Other documentation ranges have been defined in the IETF, such as example domain names described in [RFC2606], and IPv4 documentation-only address blocks described in [RFC5737]. The IPv4 ranges reserved in [RFC1918] for private use are also used in documentation, as well as the Autonomous System numbers reserved in [RFC6996].

Although the address block defined in [RFC3849] was within the range of a conventional allocation size for an Internet Service Provider, and it was expected that it could accurately match deployment scenarios, there are some situations that can't be represented accordingly with a prefix of 32 bits, such as: transition techniques, peering between multiple ISPs, IPv6 address plan for multi-regional ISPs, and others.

This situation leads to the same problem that [RFC3849] tried to address. Some documentation material, particularly some didactic material and laboratories, today is using IPv6 prefixes drawn from address blocks already allocated or assigned. A similar situation with IPv4 addresses caused problems in production environments, because of address and routing conflicts with other services.

This document reserves an additional larger IPv6 block for documentation, avoiding such problems. It does not obsolete the current IPv6 documentation block 2001:0db8::/32, since it is widely deployed. Nonetheless, it updates the current practice and specifies one larger IPv6 block, for the same use.

2. Terminology

The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC2119].

3. IPv6 Documentation Prefixes

The blocks provided for use in documentation are: 2001:0db8::/32 (v6-TEST-NET-1), and DDDD:D000::/20 [Note to RFC Editor: this address range is to be added before publication] (v6-TEST-NET-2).

4. Operational Implications

Addresses within the v6-TEST-NET-1, and v6-TEST-NET-2, SHOULD NOT appear on the public Internet and are used without any coordination with IANA or an Internet Regional Registry (RIR). Network operators SHOULD add these address blocks to the list of non-routeable address spaces, and if packet filters are deployed, then this address block SHOULD be added to packet filters.

These blocks are not for local use, and the filters may be used in both local and public contexts.

5. Security Considerations

There are no new security considerations pertaining to this document.

6. IANA Considerations

IANA recorded the allocation of the IPv6 global unicast address prefix v6-TEST-NET-1 as a documentation-only prefix in the IPv6 address registry.

IANA is asked to record the allocation of v6-TEST-NET-2 prefix, within the range reserved for Global IPv6 addresses, for use as an additional documentation-only prefix, in the IPv6 address registry.

No end party is to be assigned any of these address blocks.

7. References

7.1. Normative References

7.2. Informative References

Authors' Addresses