What’s Wrong With This IPv4 Application?

See any problem with entering IPv6 addresses using this user interface? Probably not going to work to well, is it? 🙂

Iphone ipv4

This is just the network config interface of an IP phone I had on my desk. While some of you from the VoIP world might recognize the vendor, the truth is that most IP phone vendors’ apps have similar interfaces. These are the type of user interfaces I discuss in Chapter 1 of the book and that will be one of the biggest challenges for app developers. In the case of IP phones, the challenge is even greater because it is running on an embedded device using typically a special-purpose operating system.

Where do you have user interfaces like this lurking in your applications?

Demonstrating IPv6 User Interface Issues – with the web site theme!

Rather ironically, I have found that the WordPress theme I’ve been initially using for this site demonstrates perfectly the kind of user interface display issues that will bite so many developers with IPv6. Here’s a screenshot of me visiting the site from an IPv6 site (part of the address covered for security purposes):

Ipv6 design

As you can see, it goes well outside the column containing the box with the address in it.

In contrast, over on Code.DanYork.com I’m using a different theme and the same exact widget displays the IPv6 address fine there:

Codedanyorkcomipv6address

The big difference is the style sheets use a smaller font size and the column is also bigger.

I’m not too worried about the display here in the current theme because I’m going to be changing the theme for a couple of reasons (it may even have changed already by the time you read this post). But it serves as precisely the kind of user interface issue that application developers will need to examine.

Migrating Apps to IPv6 Now Available For Purchase at O’Reilly.com

I’m very pleased to announce that “Migrating Applications to IPv6” is now available for purchase as an eBook from O’Reilly Books:

Migrating Applications to IPv6 - O Reilly Media

The book is available in the formats of ePub, Mobi and PDF and should work with any eBook reader out there, including the iPad, Kindle, Nook, iPhone, etc.

The beautiful thing about purchasing the book as an eBook from O’Reilly is that you will be notified as soon as there are any updates. Given that companies and software vendors are only now starting to really look at migrating to IPv6, I expect that there will be a good bit of change in the time ahead as people learn more about migrating applications to IPv6. My plan is to periodically update the book as more information becomes available as more apps are migrated. For that reason, I’d strongly encourage you to purchase the eBook version of the book so that you’ll keep getting upgrades as they become available.

Announcing “Migrating Applications to IPv6”

If IPv6 is to be adopted on a large scale, the applications running on desktop systems, laptops, and even mobile devices need to work just as well with this protocol as they do with IPv4. This concise book takes you beyond the network layer and helps you explore the issues you need to address if you are to successfully migrate your apps to IPv6. It’s ideal for application developers, system/network architects, product managers, and others involved in moving your network to IPv6.

  • Explore changes you need to make in your application’s user interface
  • Make sure your application is retrieving correct information from DNS
  • Evaluate your app’s ability to store and process both IPv6 and IPv4 addresses
  • Determine if your app exposes or consumes APIs where there are IP address format dependencies
  • Work with the network layer to ensure the transport of messages to and from your app
  • Incorporate IPv6 testing into your plans, and use the correct IPv6 addresses in your documentation