Veteran network architect proposes IPv8 – to improve IPv4, not leapfrog v6

A veteran network architect named James Thain has drafted a proposal for Internet Protocol Version 8" (IPv8) and hopes to crowdfund work to create a testbed that will demonstrate his ideas. Thain's proposal appeared as an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Internet-Draft on April 16th. Like all such documents, it has no official standing - the multistakeholder systems under which the internet is governed allow open participation and this is Thain's contribution. The draft opens with a bold vision for IPv8, describing it as a managed network protocol suite that transforms how networks of every scale - from home networks to the global internet - are operated, secured, and monitored." On the IPv8 website he describes it as a managed network protocol suite that resolves IPv4 exhaustion, unifies network management, and stays 100 percent backward compatible - no flag day, no forced migration." The draft protocol is also a proper subset of IPv8. An IPv8 address with the routing prefix field set to zero is an IPv4 address. No existing device, application, or network requires modification." In conversation with The Register, Thain said he created the IPv8 draft because existing protocols were developed for the networking problems of the day, and things have now well and truly moved on. He also thinks that few organizations other than hyperscalers and network operators have a good reason to adopt IPv6, because it doesn't offer major improvements over IPv4 and migrations to the newer protocol seldom produce return on investment. He allows that IPv4 exhaustion means many organizations and network operators do need to consider IPv6 but feels the best course of action is to improve IPv4 so users get a better protocol without the need for upgrades. One improvement in IPv8 expands the IPv4 numberspace by adding what he calls an area code" based on a network operator autonomous system number (ASN), the unique identifiers assigned to networks by regional internet registries. ASNs effectively function as addresses for a network, to inform routing decisions. IPv8 proposes an address format r.r.r.r.n.n.n.n where the r" is the ASN address encoded as a 32-bit integer and the n" is a conventional IPv4 address. This scheme means every ASN holder gets 232 host addresses - 4,294,967,296 addresses apiece. Thain thinks that will suffice for almost every organization, and those who need more probably already operate multiple ASNs. His scheme would see the IPv4 numberspace expand to around 30 trillion (3 x 1013) unique addresses. That's well short of the 340 undecillion 3.4 x 1038 addresses available under IPv6, but Thain thinks it's still enough and that users will appreciate not having to migrate away from IPv4. It doesn't require a ton of changes to Border Gateway Protocol which already knows how to route multiple protocols," Thain told us. So does MPLS." IPv8 therefore gives you a roll forward of IPv4, you just need servers to translate the area codes'. The rest of the stack is all well-known," Thain said. There is no magic here, it is just an area code plus IPv4 Another IPv8 feature is what Thain calls a Zone server" that his draft explains runs every service a network segment requires: address assignment (DHCP8), name resolution (DNS8), time synchronisation (NTP8), telemetry collection (NetLog8), authentication caching (OAuth8), route validation (WHOIS8 resolver), access control enforcement (ACL8), and IPv4/IPv8 translation (XLATE8)." IPv8 has caused a stir in internetworking circles, and some bitter criticism. One reader wrote to us and called IPv8 "a distraction and waste of time." Others have been more nuanced. Silvan Gephart of ISP Openfactory blogged about the draft and said I like that there is a proposal thinking about the routing table, addressing, management, authentication and operational complexity as one bigger problem." Some of the criticism levelled at the protocol suggests it's the work of AI. Thain doesn't shy away from having used chatbots to work on his draft and told The Register he feels doing so is contemporary practice. He thinks he can prove the nay-sayers wrong by building an IPv8 testbed and has commenced a crowdfunding campaign that aims to raise $100,000 to cover the cost of developing open-source software, research and testing infrastructure, plus demos and documentation. You can find the crowdfunding project here. (R)