Smooth use of IPv6 from IPv4 by “Feel6 Farm”

In this section, we have been introducing various ways to connect to IPv6 and ways to use IPv6 for different purposes. Now, a demonstration experiment called “Feel6 Farm” is underway in Japan, which allows participants to use IPv6 Internet from their current IPv4 environment without any detailed knowledge about IPv6. With this service, majority of the current Internet users can establish IPv6 connection with almost no change in their current environment, and can achieve the connection almost automatically without giving any thoughts about IPv6. After establishing IPv6 connection, users can immediately start using various contents and network services that utilize IPv6. The experiment is planned to continue until the end of July, and it is free of charge.


It is possible to use contents and services immediately

Let’s first take a look at what you can do by participating in this experiment. We have been told that the name “Feel6” reflects the theme of this experiment, “ to allow one to feel IPv6”. With this theme, the experiment not only allows you to connect using IPv6, but also installs IPv6 compliant Web browser and mail client for you, automatically displays various IPv6 compliant contents, and allows you to use the content of your choice.

When you register for the experiment, various software components will be automatically installed on your PC. After the installation, clicking on the “BitBasket6” icon will display the login screen shown in Figure 1. When you login, IPv6 connection will be established, and contents similar to those shown in Figure 2 will be automatically displayed.


Figure 1

Figure 2

A window shown in the center of Figure 2 displays contents pushed by the organizer of the experiment. A window on the right hand side contains a list of Video-on-Demand programs provided by IPv6 Promotion Council of Japan only on IPv6. At the bottom of the screen, a news ticker will be displayed. In addition, at the bottom left corner of the screen, IPv6 address assigned to the terminal, the address of the IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel server the terminal is using, and IPv4 address the terminal is using will be displayed. You can also access live streaming pictures provided by Shonan-beach FM from the menu.

BitBasket6 has a portal function, which looks like the picture shown in Figure 3. Here, the user can find a list of Web sites related to IPv6, and also a list of recommended Web sites that allow connection via IPv6. BitBasket6 also provides mail function. IPv6 compliant mail client shown in Figure 4 will be automatically installed, and the user can exchange E-mail via IPv6 using the mail account created during the registration process for the experiment. Furthermore, there is a bulletin board for general topics regarding IPv6 and another one for the user support, and it is possible to ask various questions regarding IPv6, or obtain user support. As shown in Figure 5, there is also a tool that lets you check network information easily using Ping and Trace.


Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Of all the applications this experimental project provides, the one that we found most interesting is “UbiqMail”. If E-mails are downloaded to the IPv6 compliant mail client running on the terminal that is participating in the project and always connected to the Internet, the user can access those E-mails from remote location via network, and reply to them. Rather than accessing the mail server, this software allows the user to directly access the data that has been downloaded to their mail client.

The reason you could access you own PC just by typing your ID and password is that, in this experiment, each user ID has fixed IPv6 address associated to it, and this information is managed by the experiment’s operation headquarter. In the future, it might become possible to apply this type of strategies to remotely control household appliances that are connected to an in-home network.


Environment needed for participating in the experiment

“Feel6 Farm” experiment uses IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling so that IPv4 terminals can access IPv6 network. In other words, by wrapping the IPv6 communication with IPv4, it allows the IPv6 terminals to exchange data via IPv4 network. “Feel6 Farm” experiment is also equipped with a system that configures the tunnel dynamically, so it can accept environments that use dynamically allocated IPv4 addresses (in other words, environments where IPv4 address changes every time the connection is established, or changes at a certain time interval). Therefore, it is also possible to participate in the experiment using dial-up connection, such as connection via modem or PHS. However, IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling requires global IPv4 address. Because of this requirement, it is not possible to join the experiment if you only have private IPv4 address assigned, which is the case with certain CATV Internet connection services in Japan.

In the case of normal ADSL and FTTH services provided in Japan, only one global IPv4 address is dynamically assigned to the user. Therefore, it is a common practice to enable router’s Network Address Translation (NAT) function inside the user’s house, and assign a private address to each terminal and share one global address allocated by the IPS among many terminals. In this configuration, terminal itself can’t build a tunnel, so some change in the configuration, such as setting the router to bridge mode is needed.

Another way to resolve this issue is by building the tunnel not from the terminal, but from the router. In this case, IPv6 communications sent from the home network will be wrapped by IPv4 at the router, go through the IPv4 Internet connection service, reaches Freebit who is the main organizer of this experiment, unwrapped there, and arrive at the other terminal on the IPv6 network. However, in order to achieve this, you need to use a router that is equipped with the system that is used by Freebit. At the time of writing, Yamaha’s RTA55i is the only router that has a firmware compliant to this experiment.

At the time of writing, Windows XP Service Pack 1 is the only PC operating system that can participate in this experiment. However, the project is planning to support Macintosh OS X from April.

Registration procedures for using “Feel6 Farm” are surprisingly easy. You just have to access http://start.feel6.jp/ and register. First, the web site automatically checks your operating system and the network environment to see if they are compatible with the experiment. When that is finished, all the necessary software will be installed, and mail client software will be automatically configured. After this procedure, you will be able to use the contents and services immediately, just like we mentioned at the top of this article. The process of joining the experiment is totally automated to the level that is awe inspiring, and you don’t need to worry about any of the cumbersome procedures, so please try it for yourself.

Web page for “Feel6 Farm” experiment
http://start.feel6.jp/