JULY 22, 2009

IPv6 Testing: Check Your Expiration Dates

In a recent CIO Magazine article Yanick Pouffary, technology director for the North American IPv6 Task Force and an HP Distinguished Technologist summed up why it is critical to perform IPv6 testing today:

"At least half of U.S. CIOs have IPv6 on their networks that they don't know about, but the hackers do. You can't ignore IPv6. You need to take the minimum steps to secure your perimeter. You need firewalls that understand IPv4 and IPv6. You need network management tools that understand IPv4 and IPv6."

Mr. Pouffary's quote hit home as BreakingPoint announced yesterday the industry's most comprehensive and current support for IPv6 dual-stack testing. The key word here being "current". Not only is IPv6 already on your network, but even if you did test using IPv6 traffic, the standard has changed rapidly over the years, deprecating different RFCs and most likely leaving you with spoiled test results.

Reminds me of checking the expiration date on that gallon of milk that has been sitting in your fridge for perhaps a bit too long. Sure, it's still milk, but the result you'll get when you drink the milk is going to be...well...a bit off. Same goes for testing with IPv6 traffic that adheres to a now expired standard.

This topic of testing with the most current traffic was brought up during a conversation I was having with BreakingPoint CTO Dennis Cox and we ended up including this in the news release (emphasis mine):

“No matter what your opinion is on the adoption of IPv6, it is out there. Not only is it on every network, but you also need to understand what version of the IPv6 standard your network devices comply with. IPv6 has changed a lot since the original standards. For example, if your testing tool cites RFC 2462 your tests are worse than worthless because they are giving you a false sense of IPv6 compliance. The only way to perform IPv6 validation is to have the most current implementation of the standard and the most comprehensive dual-stack testing.”

Being current (one could say fresh, if you wanted to keep riding the milk analogy) in your testing is critical, whether you are talking about realistic application protocols, the latest security attacks or the ability to generate up-to-date IPv6 traffic. Go and check the "expiration date" on your testing tools to make sure you are still testing with the most current standards.