Scope of article
This article focuses on the physical and (on a software-defined network) virtual network nodes (like routers, switches, and gateways) that perform or enable the exchange of data between and among wide-area networks (WANs), rather than those network nodes that initiate data exchanges (like computers, smart phones, and sensors). This data exchange originally used Internet Protocol IPv4 and now uses either IPv6 or IPv4. It is also done using wireless broadband (sometimes referred to as fixed-wireless access).
IPv6 WAN Deployment
A network address plan is an essential element in any WAN deployment. See the IPv6 Address Plans article in the Network Management section for more information about IPv6 Address Plans.
Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS) is widely used to implement wide-area networks, and will continue to be widely used in the future despite rumors that Software-Defined Wide Area Networking (SD-WAN) is replacing MPLS.
This presentation considers a wide array of topics associated with deploying IPv6 on a WAN. It was presented at the 2013 Asia Pacific Regional Internet Conference on Operational Technologies (APRICOT). This presentation describes some of the transit and peering issues involved in IPv6 enabling a backbone network. This presentation describes some of the solutions to problems that can arise when network nodes are attached to multiple networks simultaneously using provisioning domains (PvDs).
For additional information about IPv6 enabling a backbone network, this presentation entitled Deploying a Production IPv6 Network in 30 Minutes or Less (or its free) was presented at the 46th North American Network Operators’ Group (NANOG46). Since 1998 and continuing to the present, the NANOG has presented in-depth tutorials on a variety of IPv6 deployment topics and offers a wide range of other resources.
This dive into IPv6 implementation presentation may provide more than you wanted to know about IPv6 enabling your network. It was presented at the American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN) XXII meeting in 2009. Google maintains its own in-depth IPv6 Knowledge Base specific to IPv6 network design, configuration, and deployment.
Best Current Operational Practices (BCOP) are available for:
General peering and transit configurations
Public peering exchange point configurations
External and internal border gateway configurations.
(Note: A best practices document describes actions or practices that are known to produce good outcomes when followed.)
IPv6 Segment Routing (SR)
The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Request for Comments (RFC) 8986 Segment Routing over IPv6 (SRv6) Network Programming provides an in-depth review of SR concepts. These presentations discuss SR over MPLS networks with IPv6 in a Cisco environment, this presentation discusses it in a Juniper environment, and this paper discusses it in a Linux environment. Information about IPv6 MPLS network deployments using:
6-Provider Edge (6PE) is in this presentation and this later presentation, and
Border Gateway Protocol-4 (BGP) along with RIPng, EIGRPv6, IS-ISv6, and OSPFv3
is in this presentation and this later presentation
while information about MPLS network deployments using:
a. SR and Traffic Engineering Extensions (TE) (SR-TE) is compared with the earlier
Label Distribution Protocol (LDP) and Resource Reservation Protocol with TE (RSVP-TE) side-by-side
approach in this article,
b. Loop Free Alternates (LFA), Remote LFA (RLFA), and their successor Topology-Independent LFA
(TI-LFA) that leverage SR are compared in this article,
c. Label-Switched Paths (LSP), RSVP-TE, and SR protocols are compared in this article, and
d. Several additional network deployment options discussed on the Juniper Networks Routing forum.
Finally, check the Before you Begin article in the Deployment section of the IPv6 Knowledge Base for material from 5G Americas, Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS), and Cisco.