The 6bone was a testbed for

Internet Protocol version 6 Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communication protocol, communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic ...

; it was an outgrowth of the

IETF The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) is a standards organization for the Internet standard, Internet and is responsible for the technical standards that make up the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP). It has no formal membership roster ...

IPng Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is the most recent version of the Internet Protocol (IP), the communications protocol that provides an identification and location system for computers on networks and routes traffic across the Internet. IPv ...

project that created the IPv6 protocols intended to eventually replace the current Internet network layer protocols known as

IPv4 Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) is the first version of the Internet Protocol (IP) as a standalone specification. It is one of the core protocols of standards-based internetworking methods in the Internet and other packet-switched networks. ...

. The 6bone was started outside the official IETF process at the March 1996 IETF meetings, and became a worldwide informal collaborative project, with eventual oversight from the "NGtrans" (IPv6 Transition) Working Group of the IETF. The original mission of the 6bone was to establish a network to foster the development, testing, and deployment of IPv6 using a model to be based upon the experiences from the

Mbone Mbone (short for " multicast backbone") was an experimental backbone and virtual network built on top of the Internet for carrying IP multicast traffic on the Internet. It was developed in the early 1990s and required specialized hardware and ...

, hence the name "6bone". The 6bone started as a

virtual network In computing, network virtualization is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform v ...

(using IPv6 over IPv4 tunneling/encapsulation) operating over the IPv4-based Internet to support IPv6 transport, and slowly added native links specifically for IPv6 transport. Although the initial 6bone focus was on testing of standards and implementations, the eventual focus became more on testing of transition and operational procedures, as well as actual IPv6 network usage. The 6bone operated under the IPv6 Testing Address Allocation (see ), which specified the 3FFE::/16 IPv6 prefix for 6bone testing purposes. At its peak in mid-2003, over 150 6bone top level 3FFE::/16 network prefixes were routed, interconnecting over 1000 sites in more than 50 countries. When it became obvious that the availability of IPv6 top level production prefixes was assured, and that commercial and private IPv6 networks were being operated outside the 6bone using these prefixes, a plan was developed to phase out the 6bone (see ). The phaseout plan called for a halt to new 6bone prefix allocations on 1 January 2004 and the complete cessation of 6bone operation and routing over the 6bone testing prefixes on 6 June 2006. Addresses within the 6bone testing prefix have now reverted to the

IANA The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is a standards organization that oversees global IP address allocation, autonomous system number allocation, root zone management in the Domain Name System (DNS), media types, and other Internet P ...

Related RFCs

* ' IPv6 Testing Address Allocation * ' 6bone (IPv6 Testing Address Allocation) Phaseout

External links

* * {{Cite web, url=https://www.sixxs.net/tools/grh/tla/6bone/, title=List of 6bone prefixes, publisher=SixXS, date=2017-06-15 Experimental computer networks IPv6 Projects established in 1996 2006 disestablishments Internet architecture