Stateful NAT64: Network Address and Protocol Translation from IPv6 Clients to IPv4 Servers

Abstract

This document describes stateful NAT64 translation, which allows IPv6-only clients to contact IPv4 servers using unicast UDP, TCP, or ICMP. One or more public IPv4 addresses assigned to a NAT64 translator are shared among several IPv6-only clients. When stateful NAT64 is used in conjunction with DNS64, no changes are usually required in the IPv6 client or the IPv4 server. Status of This Memo This is an Internet Standards Track document. This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has received public review and has been approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Further information on Internet Standards is available in Section 2 of RFC 5741. Information about the current status of this document, any errata, and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6146.

Diameter Network Address and Port Translation Control Application

“…DNCA assumes a 1:1 relationship between an endpoint, the access-session it represents, and the associated DNCA session. NAT64: IPv6-to-IPv4 address family translation, see [RFC6145] and [RFC6146] PPP: Point-to-Point Protocol [RFC1661] 3. Deployment Framework 3.1.…”

“…A key motivation for doing so is the depletion of available public IPv4 addresses. This document defines a Diameter application allowing providers to control the behavior of NAT and NAPT devices that implement IPv4-to-IPv4 network address and port translation [RFC2663] as well as stateful IPv6-to-IPv4 address family translation as defined in [RFC2663], [RFC6145], and [RFC6146]. The use of a Diameter application allows for simple integration into the existing Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting (AAA) environment of a provider.…”

Wireline Incremental IPv6

“…NAT64 [RFC6146] provides the ability to connect IPv6-only connected clients and hosts to IPv4 servers without any tunneling. NAT64 requires that the host and home network support IPv6-only modes of operation.…”

“…Operators may not want to subject their mature IPv4 service to a "new IPv6" path initially while it may be going through growing pains. Dual Stack Lite (DS-Lite) [RFC6333] and NAT64 [RFC6146] are both technologies that require IPv6 to support connectivity to IPv4 endpoints or content over an IPv6-only access network.…”

Deterministic Address Mapping to Reduce Logging in Carrier-Grade NAT Deployments

“…To meet the growing demand for Internet connectivity from new subscribers, devices, and service types, some operators will be forced to share a single public IPv4 address among multiple subscribers using techniques such as Carrier-Grade NAT (CGN) [RFC6264] (e.g., NAT444 [NAT444], Dual-Stack Lite (DS-Lite) [RFC6333], NAT64 [RFC6146], etc.). However, address sharing poses additional challenges to operators when considering how they manage service entitlement, public safety requests, or attack/abuse/fraud reports [RFC6269].…”