Measuring NAT64 Usage in the Wild

TL;DR

Measuring NAT64 Usage in the Wild investigates how IPv6 transition mechanisms perform outside laboratory settings. The authors develop a four-test NAT64/DNS64 detection suite and apply it to RIPE Atlas to identify NAT64-capable probes, revealing sparse but meaningful deployment across dozens of networks. They classify NAT64 networks and perform IPv4 vs NAT64 traceroutes with dual-stack probes, finding NAT64 paths are longer and have higher RTTs than native IPv4 paths, with variability depending on local vs remote deployments. The study demonstrates the utility and limitations of NAT64 in real networks and provides a foundation for broader, more nuanced measurements of IPv6 transition mechanisms.

Abstract

NAT64 is an IPv6 transition mechanism that enables IPv6-only hosts to access the IPv4 Internet. Understanding the deployment of NAT64, and its performance impact, is crucial to the success of the IPv6 transition, by encouraging IPv6-only deployments. We develop a set of tests for detecting NAT64 and apply them to the RIPE Atlas testbed, finding 224 probes, in 43 networks, that can use NAT64 to access the IPv4 Internet. Using 34 dual stack probes, that have both NAT64 and native IPv4 access, to compare performance, we find that NAT64 paths are, on average, 23.13% longer, with 17.47% higher round-trip times.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Address translation using DNS64 and NAT64.
• Figure 2: NAT64 detection tests and result groups.
• Figure 3: ASes of the probes. "Other" denotes ASes with two or fewer probes.
• Figure 4: Probe categorisation. The size of the circles is not proportional.
• Figure 5: NAT64 and probe locations (shaded: local NAT64, unshaded: remote).