The first version of the of the USGv6 standards profile was published in 2008 and the USGv6 test program became operational in 2009. In the years since the USGv6 Program (as the effort is commonly known) has been referenced in Federal Acquisition Regulations, used as the basis for USG Agency strategic plans and acquisition policies and has resulted in the detailed documentation and test of IPv6 capabilities in a large number of commercial products.
In November 2020, OMB issued memorandum M-21-07 "Completing the Transition to Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6)", which outlines the Federal government's strategic intent "to deliver its information services, operate its networks, and access the services of others using only IPv6". The policy also instructed NIST to update and expand its USGv6 standards profile and test program to facilitate this government-wide initiative.
In anticipation of this request, NIST and its partners undertook a significant revision of the USGv6 Profile and Test Program to update their technical specifications and streamline their use in Federal procurement processes. USGv6-r1, the first major revision of the USGv6 Program, has several objectives:
The USG move toward IPv6-only network environments dramatically increases the need to assure the quality, completeness and interoperability of the IPv6 capabilities in IT products and services. While IPv6-only environments will greatly reduce the complexity of operating dual-stacked networks, it does imply that systems will not be able to rely on IPv4 as a fall back service. This revision to the USGv6 Profile and Test Program is aimed at providing the tools that agencies can use to protect future investments in IPv6 enabled products and services.
NIST and its partners in the USGv6 Program have published the specifications below:
Additional supporting information:
USGv6-r1 Test Methods
We are in the process of updating the USGv6 test selection tables for revision 1 of the profile. The tests will appear below as they are published. See previous version of USGv6 profile for tests that are yet to be updated.
NOTE: The current set of conformance and interoperability test plans and methods are not designed to support the testing of virtualized components within cloud infrastructures.
While the general applications / service test plan can be used to develop individual test methods for specific Software as a Service (SaaS) offerings, the development of general IPv6 conformance and interoperability tests methods suitable for testing Platform as a Service (PaaS) and Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) is still under development.
Users of the USGv6 program should not require conformance or interoperability test results from PaaS or IaaS services until such test plans have been published in the table below.
Cloud service providers interested in helping define additional tests methods for such environments are encouraged to contact the address below.
Note, despite the current lack of USGv6 test methods for IaaS and PaaS cloud offerings, agencies should still be developing detailed requirement statements for IPv6 capabilities in both the management and control interfaces and network services in cloud service procurement documents as required by the FAR. These requirement statements should support the USG strategic intent to transition all USG networked information systems and their interfaces to external systems to use only IPv6.
When USGv6 test methods appropriate for cloud services emerge, agencies can require test results from a USGv6 accredited lab to provide additional confidence that vendor offerings meet the stated IPv6 procurement requirements. Until that time, agencies will have to use other methods to validate vendor claims of compliance.
Questions or comments about the USGv6 Program can be sent to the discussion list: usgv6-program [at] list.nist.gov
Capability | Conformance Tests | Interoperability Tests | Functional Tests |
---|---|---|---|
IPv6-Only | IPv6_Only_v1.1_F.pdf | ||
Core | Core_v1.3_C.pdf | Core_v1.3_I.pdf | |
Addr_Arch | Addr_Arch_v1.2_C.pdf | ||
SLAAC | SLAAC_v1.2_C.pdf | ||
DHCP_Client | |||
DCHP_Server | |||
IPsecv3 | |||
IPsec-VPN | IPsec-VPN_v1.0_C.pdf | IPsec-VPN_v1.0_I.pdf | |
IPsec-SHA-512-VPN | IPsec-SHA-512-VPN_v1.0_C.pdf | IPsec-SHA-512-VPN_v1.0_I.pdf | |
OSFPv3 | |||
BGP | |||
NPP_FW | NPP_FW_v1.1_C.pdf | ||
NPP_IDS | NPP_IDS_v1.2_C.pdf | ||
NPP_IPS | NPP_IPS_v1.1_C.pdf | ||
Application / Service | App_v1.0_F |