How IPv6 is helping in the search for dark matter – and why that’s important to UK research and education

The problem is that the present internet addressing system, IPv4, only has capacity for about 4.2 billion addresses – all of which have already been allocated. Even with the IPv4 address-sharing techniques that have evolved, that’s not enough for the increasing number of new devices, in particular those that need to be directly addressable. 

IPv6 was specifically developed to solve this problem: it will allow (approximately) 340 trillion trillion trillion unique IP addresses.  

The world is moving towards IPv6  

While IPv6 won’t supplant IPv4 straight away, the move is gaining momentum.  

Already, more than 35% of UK network traffic is IPv6. Content providers such as Google, Facebook and Netflix are all available over IPv6, mobile networks are moving towards IPv6 only, and most people – although they probably don’t know it - have devices that are IPv6-enabled. 

UK research and education needs to catch up 

While 60% of Jisc members have shown some interest in IPv6 and received an IPv6 address assignment, currently Jisc’s Janet Network sees only about 10% of its traffic running over IPv6.  

Clearly, UK research and education are not yet embracing this new standard at the same rate as commercial networks.  

So, what’s the problem?  

While the two protocols can run over the same network infrastructure and be used by the same applications, direct communication between IPv4 and IPv6 is not possible.  

The challenge is to introduce IPv6 capability in a timely way while ensuring that existing services continue to be accessible using IPv4. The commonly adopted solution for this is to run both protocols alongside each other in a mode known as dual stack. Applications can then take advantage of IPv6 where it is available. 

A phased approach is often the best solution 

The Janet Network backbone is fully enabled for IPv6: it’s dual stack throughout, and IPv6 is included free-of-charge as part of Jisc’s Janet IP connection service.

All a Janet-connected site needs to do is turn on IPv6 support internally and start using the protocol.  

Janet-connected organisations are tending to opt for a phased approach to the transition. This typically entails first adding IPv6 on public-facing services and then following an incremental dual stack deployment across their campus – starting, for example, by enabling researchers and students in their computer science department. 

A great demonstrator of this approach is the demanding work currently being carried out by Imperial College London, which uses dual-stacked IPv4/IPv6 throughout most of its on-campus infrastructure. 

IPv6 and the search for dark matter 

The high energy physics (HEP) group at Imperial College is part of the Worldwide Large Hadron Collider Computing Grid (WLCG), which was developed to handle the prodigious volume of data produced by CERN’s LHC experiments. It combines about 1.4 million computer cores and 1.5 exabytes of storage at over 170 sites in 42 countries to form a massively distributed computing infrastructure that provides more than 12,000 physicists around the world with near real-time access to LHC data, and the power to process it. 

Imperial College HEP Group is participating in two of CERN’s nine LHC experiments, which range from studying the ‘standard model’ (including the Higgs boson) to searching for extra dimensions and particles that could make up dark matter.