On Wed, Apr 24, 2013 at 10:00 AM, David Beveridge <dave@bevhost.com> wrote:
Hi, my name is David Beveridge.  my username is bevhost (Beveridge
Internet Hosting)

I have been using redhat since about version 3. After version 9, it
split into fedora core and enterprice linux, I used fedora for while
until centos came out and I've pretty much been using that ever since.
 I've also dabbled in SME Server (e-smith server and gateway), which
is kind of like Microsoft Small Business Server but build on CentOS.

I now work for an ISP here in Australia that has a network of captive
portals providing Internet access (mostly to university students), but
also in shopping centers etc.

We have around 20,000 subscribers on the service.

The back end servers run on ESX using CentOS 6 with nginx, php,
freeradius and MariaDB cluster using Multi-Master-MySQL.

We have no-where near enough IPv4 addresses to give everyone a public address.
One of our problems is that captive portals rely on NAT and support
for NAT on IPv6 is just not happening for now anyway.

So it looks like we'll have to look at other means of connecting our customers.
They can connect via the captive portal and get a Private IPv4 address
behind our NAT or they can run PPPoE to get a better service with
Public Addresses.

Most ISP use PPPoE to connect customers, but for this to work with
IPv6, it is important that customers be allocated an IPv6 Global
Address.
To do this you need a DHCPv6 Client package that supports DHCPv6
Prefix Delegation over PPP.
 
Hmmm. Can't you just offer a very modest IPv6 discount to serve most customers, and use a variety of internal VPN services to manage the IPv4 based services? Or do you still require NAT to serve the customers who just plain aren't ready for IPv6 (which is, sadly, so many of them!)
 
My observation as a customer, and as an IT consultant these days, is that it's *amazing* what you can get away with if you offer a discount for it. (And yeah, we're of vaguely similar length of experience. My first Linux or UNIX was actually Minix. My first professionally supported Linux was  Red Hat 4.2. Not RHEL 4.2, Red Hat 4.2. That confuses recruiters these days....