Four Key Words for Successful Large-Scale Deployment of IPv6

【51CTO.com original article】In 2019, IPv6 transformation and large-scale deployment have become the hottest topics in the industry. At the end of 2018, the People's Bank of China (PBOC), China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, and China Securities Regulatory Commission jointly issued the "Action Plan for Promoting Large-Scale Deployment of Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)" (hereinafter referred to as the "Action Plan") in the financial industry, requiring that the portal websites of financial service institutions need to support IPv6 connection access by the end of 2019 and complete the IPv6 application system transformation by the end of 2020.

Such an architectural adjustment involves all aspects of financial enterprise business, not to mention that time is tight, tasks are heavy, and challenges are imminent. In this regard, F5, as a global leader in the field of application delivery networks (ADN), believes that ensuring a smooth transition during IPv6 transformation and deployment, and an overall IPv6 deployment that is stable, fast, secure, and efficient will become an inevitable choice for financial enterprises, making the construction method of "more, faster, better, and cheaper" a real reality.

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IPv6 large-scale deployment faces three urgent challenges!

The action plan issued by one bank and two regulatory bodies pointed out that in order to ensure the orderliness and security of the entire migration process, financial institutions should set up a special leading group and include the completion of IPv6 deployment in work assessments. In addition, they should provide special funding guarantees, establish professional technical teams, improve operation and maintenance and security assurance capabilities, and organize special inspections on a regular basis.

With a dedicated team and special funds, the next challenge is how to achieve it faster in terms of technology. The main technologies for migrating from IPv4 to IPv6 currently include dual protocol stacks, tunnels, and protocol translation. Regardless of which transition method is chosen, the biggest challenge is how to achieve a smooth transition from IPv4 to IPv6. In fact, since 2017, network equipment manufacturers have provided a large number of products for this purpose. However, to date, only a handful of financial companies have truly completed the transformation and deployment. The reason is not that companies have limited knowledge of IPv6 network migration or lack of policy guidance, but that they have failed to find a good solution to the three major challenges in the transformation process: rapid migration of applications, business stability during the migration process, and more secure application guarantees.

For financial enterprises, the relationship between different business systems and network parameters is complex. In order to smoothly migrate IPv4 terminals, network equipment and application systems with huge amounts of data to IPv6 networks within a specified time, strong technical capabilities are required. More importantly, during the transformation and deployment process, it is necessary to ensure the stable operation of the current business at all times without interference.

In addition, completing IPv6 deployment is not the only purpose of network migration, but also to establish security protection capabilities that are superior to the current IPv4. Therefore, while controlling the transition process to IPv6 networks, monitoring and managing the entire migration process and infrastructure to ensure safe deployment has become another core requirement for financial companies to carry out IPv6 transformation and deployment.

More, faster, better, cheaper, IPv6 deployment is smooth and worry-free

In response to the needs and challenges of large-scale IPv6 deployment in enterprises, F5 has proposed an overall solution for enterprise customers, especially financial enterprise customers, to create "more, faster, better, and cheaper" solutions to help enterprises achieve fast, secure, and efficient IPv6 deployment, and ensure stable system operation and smooth business during the migration process.

· Ensure business stability in multiple dimensions. F5's BIG-IP LTM can provide a variety of tools to help enterprises migrate to IPv6 networks. BIG-IP LTM is known for its load balancing, high availability, and SSL processing capabilities, and also has compression, caching, rate adjustment and other performance. It can run stably in various environments or mixed environments, becoming a bridge for enterprises to smoothly transition to IPv6.

· Rapidly achieve large-scale deployment. Using F5 equipment, enterprises can quickly and efficiently achieve IPv4/IPv6 protocol conversion at the network layer and application layer, and migrate applications to the IPv6 network without changing the background application code. This operation can not only quickly and effectively complete the migration task, but also simultaneously ensure business continuity. At the same time, F5's BIG-IP LTM can also migrate services according to the deployment progress of the enterprise to meet the rhythm of IPv6 deployment of different enterprises.

· Ensure good overall security. In the process of migrating to IPv6, the network will carry both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic. During this process, the stability and security of the enterprise business system will become the focus of technical support. At this time, the comprehensive use of F5's lightweight dual-stack tunnel solution and address translation solution can avoid possible unknown security risks. At the same time, F5's BIG-IP LTM has passed the IPv6-ReadyGold Logo and USGv6 certification. While meeting the interoperability of IPv4 and IPv6, it fully ensures application security in the IPv6 environment. In addition, F5's Advanced WAF™ solution will also help users better ensure application layer security during the migration process through functions such as traffic identification, credential security, application layer DDoS defense, and flexible deployment.

· Effectively save overall costs. When upgrading a network from IPv4 to IPv6, the complexity of the process and the quality of the selected products will affect the project's TCO (total cost of ownership). In addition to the costs of upgrading hardware and software, as the deployment period is extended, the time and labor costs incurred by the enterprise due to the migration process, as well as the increased technical costs to prevent security risks will increase the company's investment. Based on years of practical experience in the financial industry, F5 uses industry-leading product quality and security measures to escort the enterprise's IPv6 transformation and deployment process, and implements the plan prudently in a planned and step-by-step manner. Compared with similar products, it helps enterprises effectively save overall costs on the basis of truly one-step smooth migration.

A glimpse of the whole picture. Under the policy requirements, I believe that every financial enterprise will regard IPv6 as one of the key tasks this year, and strive to achieve the construction goals of "more, faster, better, and more economical". Face the application challenges, find the right partners, grasp the technical advantages, and take action now!

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