In reality, IPv4 is already outdated. With global IP addresses at their limit, it’s best to make the shift to IPv6 sooner rather than later. But what are the costs of switching? With F5 Networks BIG–IP Carrier–Grade NAT™ (CGNAT), not much. The shrinking number of available Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses and the exploding number of devices that require access to the Internet means that service providers are under pressure to transition from the universal IPv4 standard to the newer IPv6. Not only do service providers need to make the transition to IPv6 in order to take advantage of benefits such as auto configuration, simpler route tables, and IPSec, but they must also do so while still supporting IPv4. F5 Networks™ provides seamless support for both IPv4 and IPv6 networks, enabling service providers to transparently manage application delivery, availability, performance, and security between both network topologies at one central location. Service providers are feeling increasing pressure to transition from the well—known and universal Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) standard to the newer IPv6 standard, while still supporting both network topologies.

There are many reasons for this, including the  shrinking number of available IPv4 addresses and the number of devices that require access to Internet applications and services. Although the IPv6 standard includes new features beyond the unlimited new address space, the world still runs largely on IPv4. As new network technologies continue to drive users toward what will eventually be an all IPv6 network, service providers will need to be ready to adapt, manage, and support a dual network architecture for the duration of the transition. To properly handle the burden of introducing and supporting IPv6, service providers need a smart migration plan and tools to help provide an orderly transition between the two standards. These tools should give the organization the freedom to test, move, and migrate its existing infrastructure at a controlled, secure, and manageable pace. F5 Networks BIG–IP™ products provide support for both IPv4 and IPv6 networks, allowing service providers to manage application delivery, availability, performance, and security between both network topologies at one central location all without the need to deploy point products throughout the infrastructure.

Managing IPv4 Address Depletion And Migrating To IPv6

Service providers face two primary challenges with their IP address space: the exhaustion of IPv4 addresses and the transition to IPv6 addresses. Evident for years now, the situation has steadily worsened with sustained subscriber growth, device proliferation, and the rise of always on connections. To mitigate short—term IPv4 address exhaustion while developing longer term plans for IPv6, many service providers first implement a carrier—grade network address translation (CGNAT) solution in their core networks. These solutions relieve the constraints in available IPv4 addresses by enabling translation between private and public IPv4 addresses and public IPv4 addresses in N:1 or 1:1 configurations. However, service providers are not able to simply flip a switch to make all applications, services, and equipment IPv6–capable and ignore IPv4 because customers and Internet content will inevitably continue to run on IPv4 for years to come. To successfully transition to IPv6, service providers must be able to support IPv4 and IPv6 simultaneously across the data center, network infrastructure, and security systems on a wide range of platforms and between multiple hosting locations.

F5 Networks Solution

The F5 Networks BIG–IP™ system provides a high—performance, scalable CGNAT solution for IPv4 address translation. The F5 Networks BIG–IP™ platform also functions as a native IPv4 to IPv6 gateway for advanced services by managing application delivery in both networking topologies. Service providers can support IPv4 address mitigation and simultaneously migrate clients and servers to IPv6 networks–at strategic points of control at the core network or in the data center. Specifically, the F5 Networks BIG–IP™ platform provides the following; IPv4 and IPv6 Dual Stack. NAT44 and NAT444 translation between private IPv4 addresses and public IPv4 addresses in N:1 or 1:1 configurations. NAPT (PAT) to use both private IPv4 addresses and specific port numbers during translations in order to exponentially scale available source addresses. Deterministic NAT capability that maps private IP addresses to public IP addresses and reduces logging requirements. Endpoint Independent Mapping – Filtering, including full cone NAT feature set. NAT64 and DNS64 resolution services, including reverse proxy as a way to migrate easily to IPv6.

Features And Benefits

Deploy F5 Networks™, services as a software module that runs on F5 Networks™ hardware, or on any leading hypervisor. F5 Networks™ hardware is built with complete control over design, testing, and manufacturing–resulting in carrier—grade reliability and availability. By combining F5 Networks™ hardware with the TMOS operating system and F5 Networks F5 Networks BIG–IP™ software, you’ll get a fully integrated system to run your applications at peak performance. IPv4 is spoken for and IPv6 is already in play, gaining more ground as we move forward. Simply switching to IPv6 opens you up to interoperability issues with IPv4 devices, websites, and services. But with F5 Networks BIG–IP CGNAT™, you don’t have to choose. You can easily communicate with new IPv6 addresses, with flawless IPv4 backwards compatibility. Plus, you must have the capabilities to support simultaneous implementations of IPv6 enabled devices, such as broadband modems and mobile devices, as well as IPv6 enabled Internet content that proliferates from major content providers. Interoperability – enable any service to run on any blade.