For many network managers around the world, IPv6 is no longer a topic for the future, no longer something talked about for years without any change in the real world. For many, IPv6 is a live reality now, or implementation is firmly on the current agenda: they have to start dealing with it in detail in their network planning if they haven’t already.
If you are one of these many, you probably already know about the issues and headaches in supporting DDI in IPv6.
- IPv6 addresses are not human readable or memorable – using a spreadsheet to handle managing IPv6 addresses will simply not work
- IPv6 address boundaries are much more difficult to manage
- You will struggle to represent your IPv6 network in business logic
- Most networks move to IPv6 in stages, starting with a dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) structure:
- So every device in your network will have at least two IP addresses – IPv4 and IPv6
- For this you will need two separate DHCP servers – DHCPv4 and DHCPv6
DDI applications equipped to manage IPv6 and dual-stacked environments ease the transition and make the administration of large, complex IP spaces easier, saving your time and money.
Some would argue that successful IPv6 implementations simply cannot be done without an IPv6-ready DDI management solution. Whereas with one, you can:
- Increase available IP space
- Get a fresh start in planning your IP addresses
- Ensure risk free IPv4 / IPv6 coexistence
- Track IPv6 and dual-stack hosts through DNS
- Simplify allocation of IPv6 addresses, subnets and client settings
- Discover IPv6 addresses in use
- Eliminate risks of misconfiguration and ensuring consistency
- Enable administrators to create, split and join IPv6 networks
- Streamline and improve the packet delivery process over IPv4
- Enhance service-level for the end-users
- Improve levels of information security
- Map your business logic to IPv6 infrastructure