NOTE: This survey feedback was submitted to DOST-ASTI PREGINET for the PANASIA project “Building a Philippine IPv6 Research Network.” It was first published on http://www.ipv6.asti.dost.gov.ph/panasia/dante.html  and on http://www.msuiit.edu.ph/ipv6/, which are no longer accessible, and is now reposted here for documentation.

General questions

1. What are your objectives in setting up the testbed? What problem(s) does this Project try to address (if any)?

Our objectives in setting up the testbed include the following: (a) to have a first hand experience on deploying an IPv6 network in an organization, (b) to open avenues for research for our students, faculty, and staff researchers, (c) to keep up with this networking technology, and (d) to have possible partnerships with other organizations engaged in IPv6 technology and strengthen the existing partnership between MSU-IIT and DOST-ASTI. We submitted a proposal to PREGINET because we wanted to become part of this testbed project, so that in the future, we will not have a hard time implementing IPv6 in our organization whenever our ISP switches to IPv6.

2. Have you achieved these objectives?

I have now gained a working experience on IPv6 to get started. Well of course, I still need more knowledge on this, covering the more advanced topics. As to research, I am setting up Linux boxes with IPv6 connection here in MSU-IIT, so that our ICT students, faculty, and staff will be exposed to this new internet protocol.

3. How would you rate your knowledge in ipv6 before the Project? After the Project?

I have a little knowledge on IPv6 before the project. All I know is it can solve the IP address shortage problem inherent in IPv4. But I have no idea how to deploy it in our organization. After the project, well, at least now I can make our Linux servers talk IPv6, setup PC routers, and configure IPv6-aware/ready server applications.

4. In what disciplines or areas of study can ipv6 help research in the Philippines?

Definitely it will help our country in the area of information and communications technology (ICT). No more IP addresses shortage.

5. Can you suggest new applications where ipv6 will be useful?

VoIP? With the current cost of calling abroad, maybe it is time to have an alternative. VoIP for every Filipino!

6. If you are a school, where is ipv6's place in your school?

ICT is one of the top priorities of MSU-IIT. Right now, we’re into the use of open source software. Our ICT students, faculty, and staff are into projects (as financial/inventory systems, online learning, etc.) which use software applications/components which are open sourced. With the addition of IPv6 connectivity in our school, it now opened a new area wherein they can work on projects which are IPv6-ready and port other applications which are not. As community extensions of MSU-IIT will be fully implemented in the future, the need for additional IP addresses would no longer be a problem.

7. In your idea, has this project helped build an ipv6 research network in the Philippines and in your place?

I think so. With the testbed partners scattered on the three major islands of the Philippines, the project has already taken the initial step towards building an IPv6 research network. As soon as we will have additional trained personnel for this project here in MSU-IIT, we will begin the extension to our neighboring MSU campuses and other schools.

8. What other skills do you need in ipv6?

Basically, I have no formal CISCO training. Our existing CISCO router’s configuration is from people from our ISPs (Globe and PREGINET), mailing lists, IRC channels, whom I asked for help. If ever IPv6 will go full blast in the near future, we will have a hard time again in making it work.

9. Where does the ipv6 standard or your deployment fallen short?

Well, the people behind IPv6 were not able to please everybody. I am a DJB fan but unfortunately, not all of his software are IPv6 ready. I read somewhere that he is not advocating the IPv6 thing. Anyway, I found alternatives for his software which are IPv6-aware.

10. Can you safely say that you can extend the network on your own?

I can say that here in our organization, we can extend the network on our own provided that the software needed will be freely available. One thing I am particularly concerned of is the IOS currently running in our CISCO router. It does not support IPv6 yet.

11. Will you maintain the network and how?

Yes, we will maintain the network, by engaging in joint projects with neighboring schools and institutions, linking them to the IPv6 network. As long as our budget allows us to, we will maintain this network.

12. Do you think you can initiate ipv6 activities in your area?

Maybe. But I cannot do this alone. I am still planning of an IPv6 workshop for our students, faculty, and staff starting the second semester of this school year. And then extend this workshop in our area with their help. It would also hasten the activity if manuals/lecture notes on IPv6 (with emphasis on the use of IPv6-aware/ready open sourced software) would be available for our use.

The IPV6 Journey

I had a 2-day one on one training with Engr. Carla P. Quiblat of ASTI on the ABCs of IPv6. She also taught me the rudiments of setting up a FreeBSD PC router. But when I finally setup my own PC router here in MSU-IIT, I chose Linux. I am more familiar with the Linux OS than FreeBSD. I used the RedHat 9 distro for my IPv6 PC router. I was a bit happy because the needed software (zebra, radvd, etc.) are already there and the default kernel has the IPv6 capability enabled so no need to recompile a new one. Sample configurations of zebra, ospf6d, and radvd were provided to us by Engr. Quiblat. I just made little modifications to them to fit them in our setup. I added the subdomain ipv6.msuiit.edu.ph and let the PC router do the DNS service for that subdomain. I used BIND for the DNS server. It’s quite easy to setup, all you have to do is compile it, with the IPv6 enabled and you’ll have an IPv6-ready DNS server. Since I already had the experience of configuring BIND for IPv4, configuring it for IPv6 is not as painful as doing it the first time. With the help of the mighty Google, I was able to find sample IPv6 BIND configurations, and an online tool for building the reverse DNS entries. The second application I installed was an SSH server. It accepts IPv6 connections by default, so no worries. The next one is an FTP server. After hours of googling, I came across with the Pure-FTPd server. Its features are tempting I should say. Secure, it has FXP support, etc. and of course, it’s IPv6-ready. Then I installed an SMTP server. Sad to say, my favorite Qmail didn’t make it. I went for Postfix with IPv6 patch instead. Then I installed Apache for my http server. The one shipped with RedHat 9 is already httpd 2.x and supports IPv6 out of the box.

In summary, the new look/format of the IPv6 address is a bit confusing but you’ll get used to it as you configure more and more applications. Sometimes it's a bit disappointing that software you already use do not support IPv6 yet.

Acknowledgments

Many thanks to the Department of Science and Technology - Advanced Science and Technology Institute, and the Philippine Research, Education, Government, and Information NETwork for choosing MSU-IIT as one of the testbed partners.