1. Packet Design
Easing the IPv4-to-IPv6 Transition
with Route Analytics
Alex Henthorn-Iwane
Vice-President, Product Marketing
alex@packetdesign.com
2. Complex IP Network Behavior is
Packet Design
Unpredictable and Difficult to Manage
As Applications and Services Grow More Critical
• More sensitive applications
• Less tolerance for
How Do You Know:
• Which part of the network is
carrying the application traffic?
• If the network is causing a problem?
• Where in the network to troubleshoot?
• How to accurately plan the network?
Networks Become More Redundant:
• Provide greater fault tolerance
• But also make it very difficult to
understand which routers are delivering
application or service traffic at any time
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 1
3. Logical vs. Device-Specific
Packet Design
Causes of Application Degradation
Survey of 188 IT Professionals
Question: % of application degradations are caused
by logical vs. device-specific issues?
Answer: 42% answered that at least half of the time,
logical network issues were the root cause
– Application Delivery Handbook, 2009
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 2
4. Why Existing Network Management
Packet Design
Technologies Aren’t Sufficient
Service Monitoring:
• Only looks at the end points
• Doesn’t understand the
network
SNMP Network Management:
• Only understands device status
• Doesn’t see how devices work together
• Doesn’t understand routing
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 3
5. If IPv4 Networks are Challenging,
Packet Design
IPv6 Migration Make Them More So
Most networks won’t cut over to pure IPv6
There are important engineering questions that are
difficult to answer on an ongoing basis:
Do the right routers and links have IPv6 routing
enabled?
Are the right prefixes being advertised where they
are intended to be?
Are IPv6 paths functioning as expected?
Is path redundancy is set up properly?
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 4
6. Route Analytics Technology Packet Design
• Peers with and
listens passively
to routing Route Analytics
protocols to
learn their view AS 3 (EIGRP)
of the network BGP
• Creates 100%
accurate model
of the actual
routed topology
• Records
complete routing BGP AS 1 (OSPF)
event history
• Understands all
application traffic AS 2 (IS-IS)
paths at all times
• Capable of
IGP Routing Adjacencies
modeling
network changes BGP Route Peerings
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 5
7. IGP Routing Analytics Packet Design
Establish adjacency with one router in each Area
Records every single routing update
Creates real-time network map
• Created from routing data as up to date as routing in the network
Precise understanding of traffic paths
• Paths are computed using the same procedures as routers, but
on a network-wide basis
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 6
8. BGP Route Analytics Packet Design
Set up peerings with full I-BGP mesh
• Works as Route Reflector client
• Part of an RR Cluster
• Or a combination
• Works with BGP Confederations
Routing table visualization
Per BGP attribute routing table breakdown and visualization
Before and After analysis can highlight what is different
between a known state of the network and the state in question
• This was the feature used in detecting the customer that injected the
extra routes
Root cause analysis can process 100,000s of BGP message to
determine the cause of these events
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 7
9. Integrated IGP and BGP Network Map Packet Design
All Routers and Links
Orange and magenta
are different OSPF
areas
Lines are routing
adjacencies
Blue are BGP speakers
Red elements are down
Path Tracing
Yellow is a forward path
between two routers,
green is the reverse
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 8
10. How Route Analytics Aids IPv6 Transition:
Packet Design
Network-Wide Visualization and Analysis
Engineers can see IPv4 and IPv6 routing topologies
• Can display just IPv4 or IPv6 routing topology
• Visual validation of expected network state
Trace precise v4 or v6 paths
• Select source router and destination prefix
• Route analytics shows which path will be taken through network
Network-wide prefix inventory
• Ensure that v6 address blocks are allocated to the right routers
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 9
11. Dual-Stack IPv4/IPv6 Network
Packet Design
As Visualized by Route Analytics
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Packet Design, Inc. Nov 2006 10
Proprietary and Confidential
12. Real-Time Routing Details Recorded
Packet Design
by Route Analytics
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Packet Design, Inc. Nov 2006 11
Proprietary and Confidential
15. How Route Analytics Aids IPv6 Transition:
Packet Design
Re-windable Routing History
Route analytics records all routing events and
changes, and stores it as a rewindable history
Engineers can rewind to a particular point in time
and view the precise state of the network at that time
• Before and after analysis between two points in time shows
exactly what changed in routing when a network problem was
occurring
All other tools available in the real-time view can be
used in historical mode
• Visualization
• Path tracing
• Prefix inventory
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 14
16. How Route Analytics Aids IPv6 Transition:
Packet Design
More Accurate Change Processes
Route analytics can model routing changes
• Enabling a new IPv6 router
• Adding new IPv6 prefixes
• Adding new links
• Downing routers or links for maintenance or to anticipate a
possible disaster recovery failure scenario
• Moving prefixes from one router to another
Simulate network-wide behavior that would result
• Model a change and trace a critical service path to ensure that
service would not be impacted
“Freeze time” and observe real-time changes
• Routing summary snapshot can be “frozen” and viewed in
parallel with real-time update during change window
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 15
17. Who’s Using Route Analytics? Packet Design
Hundreds of global organizations across many
industry verticals
• SPs, Mobile Operators, Cable MSOs
• Fiserv, Energy, Utility, Pharma, Healthcare, Manufacturing,
Retail, Media/Entertainment, etc.
• Local, Municipal, State, Federal Govt, Military Agencies,
Education
Dual-Stack IPv4/IPv6 Route Analytics
• Major carrier, ISPs in Japan
• European SPs
• U.S. Military/Defense agencies
Harnessing the Intelligence of IP Nov 2006 16