Navigating the IPv6 Transition: Lessons from the ‘World’s Fastest Temporary Network’

Every year, the SC Conference – also known as the International Conference for High-Performance Computing, Networking, Storage, and Analysis – moves to different American cities, showcasing cutting-edge supercomputing technology powering scientific and commercial breakthroughs.

In the weeks leading up to the exhibition, a volunteer force of some of the brightest minds in networking converge to build SCinet, the world’s fastest temporary network, established to support the enormous high-performance networking needs of the conference.

Each year, we challenge ourselves to advance the network’s capabilities. As SCinet chair for this year’s SC Conference (SC24), my job is to lead the full implementation of IPv6 into the network.

The event demands months of planning and teamwork to ensure we’re covering every aspect needed for seamless connectivity and compatibility while providing the security necessary to protect the systems using the network during the conference.

With IP addresses running out due to all the devices coming online, the US government has mandated that agencies achieve 80% compliance with IPv6 by the end of fiscal year 2025. This puts pressure on agencies, but the rest of the world will need to keep up too as the need for IPv6 is real, especially in a world where IoT devices stretch computing and data collection to places it’s never been. 

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Lesson One: Navigating Complexity With Incremental Implementation

Anyone involved with networking knows that making the transition to IPv6 is no small feat. The differences between IPv4 and IPv6 are significant, affecting several aspects of the network, including security, addressing, configuration, and routing.

A key challenge for SCinet is that many systems and client devices still don’t support IPv6. With such a diverse user base, this requires taking an incremental approach to this transition to ensure compatibility across the board and maintain an accessible network. 

We are implementing a dual-stack environment to help manage this challenge and allow us to crawl before we walk. It’s also helping to mitigate risks by starting with non-critical systems, such as management networks and some of our WiFi in the previous year.

By starting small, we manage risks and minimize potential disruptions as we work toward the full transition. This approach also allows us to collect important data that we can use to inform other phases of the switchover.

This multi-step process has allowed us to be adaptable and flexible, giving us the ability to adjust our rollout based on real-time feedback as we address challenges that crop up along the way. It’s allowed us to leverage our rollout as a learning process – rather than a five-alarm fire – and handle unforeseen issues while learning important lessons for future segments of the upgrade.

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This year’s SC Conference takes place in Atlanta on November 17-22. (IMAGE: SC CONFERENCE)

Security has been another key consideration. One of the ironies of the federal government mandate is that certain key agencies do not use IPv6 networks due to the security policies configured on their devices and computers, which prevent them from connecting.

By maintaining an IPv4 stack, we are being responsive to our stakeholders’ conference needs, which are a high priority for us as we plan and build this advanced network.

Finally, data collection has been a key aspect of our phased rollout. By collecting data through monitoring and reporting tools that we’ve developed to track IPv6 traffic, we can identify compatibility challenges and adoption rates, allowing us to make informed decisions along the way. This lets us optimize our implementation strategies as we work toward new milestones.

Using an incremental approach has allowed SCinet to be more flexible in our implementation, as well as be responsive to the network users, so we can deliver innovation while maintaining connectivity for the conference’s overall needs.

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Lesson Two: Implement a ‘Tiger Team’

One of the key lessons we’ve learned from the incremental rollout is that a ‘tiger team’ is necessary to make the kinds of advancements we want even as we manage the many technical hurdles and coordination efforts across the various teams within SCinet.

Initially, we had an open effort, where everyone tried to contribute to the IPv6 implementation. However, this meant it wasn’t necessarily a primary responsibility for anybody, which created many issues that only multiplied our challenges.

Recognizing this, Brenna Meade, one of the technical directors and a senior network architect for international networks at Indiana University, suggested creating a dedicated team focused specifically on IPv6. Thus, our IPv6 tiger team was created.

With a tiger team in place, there is no confusion about who is responsible for what. We have a dedicated group of experts concentrating on every aspect of our rollout, including routing, LAN, wireless, and security. Decision-making has been streamlined, enabling our team to quickly make decisions and focus on deployment goals specific to their areas of responsibility. 

With accountable leaders in place, our tiger team can work hands-on in a lab situation, focusing on configurations and tests in a virtual setting. They also participate in regular architecture meetings to learn about how the implementation is going and achieve alignment as a team on the implementation.

This dynamic has helped to foster a sense of teamwork as the group can effectively collaborate on problem-solving as issues arise in this complex transition. 

Choosing the tiger team came down to a few different factors. The first was the individuals’ clear desire to be involved through their engagement in championing IPv6. Many had previous experience with IPv6, though not all of them.

The second factor came down to which systems would be impacted by the IPv6 implementation, where we leaned on each technical team, like the wireless and routing teams, to nominate someone from their ranks to be a part of the tiger team. 

The bottom line for us has been how our approach to problem-solving has been impacted. We have observed that by having a tiger team in place, we can be more proactive, anticipating issues and addressing them directly. Previously, we had to fix things after they were impacted. Instead, the tiger team is better able to anticipate issues before they become problems, enabling a much smoother transition.

By having specialized leaders take ownership of their regions of the network, our strategic planning has improved, powering a better implementation. The tiger team is proving to be an important aspect of our IPv6 evolution.

Lesson Three: Education and Training via Collaboration and Community Engagement

The SCinet team is made up of volunteers who recognize this unique opportunity to learn about high-performance networking in an environment where they can rub shoulders with some of the most incredible people in the industry.

We are faced with the challenge of having people with varying levels of experience and expertise join us each year. This aspect of SCinet means we are faced with upskilling our team members to ensure they are prepared to tackle their responsibilities when the implementation phase goes live just ahead of the conference.

Enhancing people’s skill sets is a key part of being involved with SCinet, and this is no different when we’re tackling a project like IPv6. 

To advance the knowledge and skills of our volunteer force, we have implemented several training strategies, including hands-on workshops, tech talks, and virtual labs.

We lean on virtually every resource that we can leverage, including relationships with vendors, academic institutions, and other tech communities, to support our efforts.

Engaging with our broader network has allowed us to share practices, tools, and experiences, making the transition smoother and more effective.

Ultimately, we are engaged as leaders to create a culture of knowledge sharing, collaboration, and free exchange of information and ideas.

Of course, as a volunteer organization connected with a conference, we have deeper connections than other IT operations might have. That said, virtually every IT operation has a community around it that it can (and should) pinpoint and leverage to advance training.

The long-term benefits of engaging your community for training and collaboration are clear. Through SCinet, we have created a knowledgeable volunteer force ready to tackle a multitude of networking challenges. Then, they bring that knowledge and experience back to their home institutions, further promoting the expertise and advancements. As part of the SCinet mandate, we aim to help other organizations implement technologies such as IPv6 into their home networks. 

By persistently building a culture of learning and sharing, organizations can strengthen their community ties, promote expertise, and be responsive to situations while advancing their networks and serving their users.

Integrating Lessons into Future Networks

SCinet’s journey with IPv6 has taught us many valuable lessons that can apply to other high-performance networking environments. By adopting an incremental implementation strategy, creating dedicated project teams, and investing in education and collaboration, other organizations can navigate their own IPv6 transitions more smoothly.

We encourage the networking community to adopt these strategies and insights to accelerate their own IPv6 implementations. The transition may be complex, but with careful planning and a collaborative approach, it is entirely achievable. We also encourage people to attend the SC24 conference this November in Atlanta and see firsthand how the implementation is going, as well as learn about all of the emerging technologies that are being showcased.

Finally, anyone interested in networking technologies should consider joining SCinet as a volunteer, working with an excellent team to design, deliver, install, and operate one of the fastest, most sophisticated temporary networks in the world. The world of networking is evolving faster than ever. The best way to keep up is through engagement. I hope to see you out there in the field!

Angie Asmus is the director of network and telecommunications at Colorado State University and the SCinet chair for SC24. This year’s SC Conference takes place in Atlanta on November 17-22.