What should a hosting company do to prepare for IPv6?

Solution 1:

See this PDF on what to think about when preparing for IPv6, also look at the reference section in the end.

I would also reccomend Deploying IPv6 Networks

See also John Curran's presentation

To summarize: 1. get an IPv6 address space

2. verify ipv6 connectivity (native or tunneled) this includes things like DNS, ssl certs

3. Operating systems, software, and network management tool upgrades may be required for IPv6 functionality

4. Router, firewall, and other hardware upgrades (anti-spam appliances etc)

5. IT staff and customer service training- there's no point in preparing for IPv6 if you haven't taken some time to learn how it works

Solution 2:

I suggest that hosting company needs to upgrade their Server Load Balancer (SLB) equipment to IPv6 support. It will ease IPv6 deployment (SLB will give you virtual IPv6 address and either v6-v4 (dual stack) reals server, v6-only reals server, and v4-only reals server).

I have evaluated one of the SLB from Brocade (ADX1000) that give you IPv6 SLB, and you can easily make your existing IPv4-only server to give IPv6 services via SLB without (almost) any configuration on your existing server.