NeTS: Small: Exploring the Challenges of Network Migration - An IPv6 Case Study and its Consequences

将互联网规模的基础设施过渡到更新的技术是一项不小的壮举。 我们正处于这样一个过渡时期，即，从互联网协议版本4（IPv4）到其版本6（IPv6）。 IPv6在15年前就标准化了，但直到最近，人们都没有什么动力去采用它。最近最后一大块IPv4地址的分配改变了这一点，迁移到IPv6互联网变得更加紧迫。 然而，这种迁移仍然充满了不确定性和挑战，我们克服这些挑战的能力可以在过渡的持续时间和成本方面发挥重要作用，许多人认为这对互联网的持续增长至关重要。 在这种情况下，本研究的目标是双重的。 首先，它试图深入了解互联网向IPv6过渡仍然面临的一些障碍，并提出可能的补救措施。 其目的是查明主要障碍仍然存在的地方，以便集中努力消除这些障碍。 特别是IPv6连接质量对内容提供商决策的影响，即谷歌、YouTube、雅虎、Hulu等，能够通过IPv6直接访问对IPv6互联网的可行性至关重要。 这些决策的延迟不仅会延长向IPv6互联网过渡的时间，而且会使过渡变得更加繁重，因为需要昂贵的网关。 因此，确保采用IPv6没有障碍或尽可能少的障碍对互联网的未来至关重要。 为实现这一目标，该项目采取双管齐下的办法。 第一个依赖于一组广泛的测量来表征互联网上IPv6的采用;特别是在与内容访问相关的方面。第二个是分析这些测量数据，以提取导致IPv4和IPv6性能差异的共同属性。 识别这些常见属性将有助于查明IPv6性能较差的原因（如果存在）。 因此，使补救措施，以促进更全面，更迅速地采用IPv6。本研究的第二个目标是开发“模型”，可以帮助我们更好地理解，并最终规划未来的互联网迁移到新的技术。 这些模型试图将新网络技术的采用与采用该技术的收益和成本联系起来，同时考虑到通常占主导地位的现有技术的影响。 将被调查的模型依赖于营销科学和经济学的方法，但研究的一个关键方面将是使用项目第一部分获得的测量数据来验证这些模型。 因此，验证将在迁移到IPv6的背景下进行，但结果应该对未来的迁移有影响，包括迁移到提供当前Internet版本（无论是IPv4还是IPv6）所不具备的新功能和附加功能的技术。该项目的更广泛影响沿着两个方面。 确保互联网向其新版本IPv6的迁移顺利进行，可以产生重大的社会和经济影响。 它可以促进许多设备的更快集成，这些设备现在正在启用互联网，并且在此过程中推动了对新互联网地址的日益增长的需求，因此IPv6。 这种“物联网”延伸到汽车、智能电表、监测桥梁健康状况的传感器、供水等设备，所有这些都有巨大的潜力，可以创造一个更安全、更清洁的环境。然而，实现这一潜力在很大程度上取决于成功迁移到IPv6;该项目希望促进这一点。 此外，开发模型以更好地理解向新网络技术迁移的力量代表了多学科研究的一个实例，其成功可以促进跨学科的进一步合作和互动。 它还可以帮助培养博士生更好地解决现代研究问题。

Transitioning an infrastructure of the size of the Internet to a newer technology is no small feat. We are in the midst of such a transition, i.e., from the Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) to its version 6 (IPv6). IPv6 was standardized 15 years ago, but until recently there were few incentives to adopt it. The recent allocation of the last large block of IPv4 addresses changed that, and migrating to an IPv6 Internet has become more urgent. This migration is, however, still rife with uncertainties and challenges, and our ability to overcome them can play a major role in both the duration and the cost of a transition that many view as vital to the continued growth of the Internet. In this context, the goals of this research are two-fold. First, it seeks to provide insight into some of the obstacles that the Internet's transition to IPv6 still faces, and propose possible remedies. The intent is to identify where major roadblocks remain, so as to focus efforts on eliminating them. In particular, the impact of IPv6 connectivity quality on the decisions of content providers, i.e., the likes of Google, YouTube, Yahoo, Hulu, etc., to become directly accessible over IPv6 is critical to a viable IPv6 Internet. Delays in those decisions will not only extend the duration of the transition to an IPv6 Internet, it will make it much more onerous because of the need for expensive gateways. As a result, ensuring that there is no or as few as possible obstacles to adopting IPv6 is of critical importance to the future of the Internet. To realize this goal, the project follows a two-prong approach. The first relies on an extensive set of measurements for characterizing IPv6 adoption across the Internet; in particular in as much as it relates to access to content. The second involves analyzing these measurement data to extract common attributes that contribute to differences in performance between IPv4 and IPv6. Identifying those common attributes will help pinpoint causes of poorer IPv6 performance, when present. Hence, enabling remedies to foster a more complete and more rapid adoption of IPv6.The second goal of this research is to develop 'models' that can help us better understand and eventually plan future Internet migrations to newer technologies. Those models seek to connect the adoption of a new network technology to the benefits and costs of adopting it, while accounting for the effect of an often dominant incumbent technology. The models that will be investigated rely on methodologies from marketing science and economy, but a key aspect of the research will be to validate those models using the measurement data obtained in the first part of the project. The validation will, therefore, be cast in the context of a migration to IPv6, but the results should have implications for future migrations, including migrations to technologies that offer new and additional capabilities not available from current Internet versions, be they IPv4 or IPv6.The broader impact of the project is along two fronts. Ensuring that the Internet's migration to its newer version, IPv6, proceeds smoothly can have a significant societal and economical impact. It can facilitate a faster integration of the many devices that are now becoming Internet enabled, and that in the process are fueling the growing need for new Internet addresses, and therefore IPv6. This 'Internet of Things' extends to devices like cars, smart utility meters, sensors monitoring the health of bridges, water supply, etc., that all have a tremendous potential for a safer and cleaner environment. Realizing this potential is, however, heavily depend on a successful migration to IPv6; something that the project hopes to facilitate. Additionally, the development of models to better understand the forces that shape migrations to newer network technologies represents an instance of multi-disciplinary research whose success can foster further collaboration and interactions across disciplines. It can also help train doctoral students better equipped to tackle modern research problems.