IPv6 CPE Survey - Updated (January 2011)

Note: Please find a list of related articles here: IPv6 CPE Surveys .

Your input is needed

Thanks to everyone who provided feedback and contributed to this matrix. In order to make this information more useful for a large user base, we are planning to send out a proper survey to gather more structural feedback about the range of equipment that is currently in use. Please refer to The Future of the IPv6 CPE Survey - More Input Needed for more background information. The actual survey will be announced in a few weeks once we determined what type of information will be most useful to gather.

Recent updates to the IPv6 CPE matrix

That means this will be most likely be the last time we update theIPv6 CPE matrix as it stands at the moment. The next one will be based on the feedback we receive from the survey. Please note the following changes:

General observations

In general we see an uptake of 6RD on both the demand side, as well as from vendors adding it to their feature list. The number of responses however, from people actually using it and being able to tell whether it works is currently zero. If you happen to run 6RD on any of the listed boxes or even on equipment we don't know, please tell us about your experiences.

We have also seen some new entrants to the market of IPv6 CPE. That means people are taking it more seriously and demand is increasing. Again, if you are running an unlisted box or you manufacture a device which isn't included, please let us know. Please keep in mind that for the device to be included, it has to be available from shops and has to be suitable for mass deployment. We know there ways to make it work by flashing hardware with alternative firmwares. But this does require a certain degree of knowledge and when it breaks, you are usually on your own. This makes it less suitable for a mass roll out as the average user wants support and warranties to work.

Vendor specific updates

AVM: AVM moved IPv6 from 'labor' into their productions releases, which include the brand new 7390. There are indications that most of the earlier problems got fixed, but at the same time some others popped up (there seems to be an issue with PPPoA for the AVM 7390). The latest versions should now also include support for 6RD, although only allowing for the full 32 bits being mapped.

Zyxel: RFC1483/bridge and RFC1483/routed has been user confirmed.

D-LINK: These are the current supported versions; sources in D-Link indicate more are being worked on: DIR-601 Rev.A1, DIR-615 Rev.C1/C2/E1/E2/E3/E4, DIR-652 Rev.A1, DIR-655 Rev.B1, and DIR-825 Rev.B1

As far as the product is concerned, it's mostly a 'home gateway' being limited to PPPoE at the moment. Another thing to note is that although RFC 5006 has been implemented, due to lack of support in clients (Windows 7 is named explicitly), it has been pulled from the release. The feature is available upon request.

The same goes for management - as the boxes are aimed at retail, only a webGUI is offered, but TR69 and SNMP are available for specific tenders.

IPv6 Survey Matrix Values

The matrix below lists the features and various models of CPE on which we have information. The status fields can have five different values:

Unknown ( - ):

Neither the vendor nor the community can confirm the feature is present.

No:

Vendor or testing confirms the feature is not supported.

Claimed by vendor:

The vendor has confirmed the feature is present. However, we haven’t heard any reports from the community confirming whether it actually works and we haven’t been able to test it ourselves.

Broken:

Feedback from the community or test results indicate the feature is there but not working.

Buggy:

Feedback from the community or test results indicate the feature is showing irregular behavior or is not working as expected.

Confirmed:

Based on community feedback and testing we can confirm the feature is there and working as expected.

We advise you to always use the latest software. Please also note that the information in this article is just a snapshot of the current status and what might work for others may not work for you.

Acknowledgements

This is ongoing work coordinated by Marco Hogewoning, Co-chair of the RIPE IPv6 WG. If you have any additional information about the equipment listed in the matrix, please do not hesitate to contact us at labs@ripe.net . You can also leave comments directly under the article.