Continuing on my series posting from the network portion of the MVP Summit (sorry for the delay in posting but I am still in Seattle - this time on vacation - and I have been in non-stop activities), I will post some about the improvements in IPV6 included in Windows Vista.

A lot of the “goodies” won’t appear until Beta 2 but a few “might” appear in an upcoming interim build. IPV6 is turned on by default - either using native mode or one of the three tunneling methods (ISATAP, 6to4, or Teredo). Each has its strong points:

• ISATAP - Used for internal networks.
• 6to4 - Used for machines that are directly connected to the internet without a NAT (network address translation) device
• Teredo - Used for machines behind NAT devices (i.e., home computers)

All of these technologies are currently available in Windows XP. However, each implementations have limitations that reduce their usefulness. Microsoft is addressing many of these shortcomings in Windows Vista.

I see great potential in Teredo - especially with helping end users with Remote Desktop connectivity. The biggest hurdle in implementing Remote Desktop is the limitation that using a NAT device (i.e., SOHO router, internet connection sharing) causes. Teredo allows tunnelling through the NAT device directly without any overly complicated port forwarding. The two hurdles yet to overcome is the configurability of an IPV6 firewall and the availability of a IPV6 compatible dynamic dns service.

I’ll post more on IPV6 after I get a chance to play with the October interim build (whenever it may arrive) instead of just relying on demos and powerpoint slide decks.

Tags: IPV6, MVPSummit, MVP Summit