Welcome to IPv6
From SixXS Wiki
This page intends to provide a quick introduction into IPv6 and how to get your computer talking with other IPv6 computers.
Contents |
What is IPv6?
IPv6 is the next generation of the IP protocol, which is used to communicate with other computers across the internet. The main difference is the number of computers than can be addressed with an IP address. To quote Wikipedia:
"The very large IPv6 address space supports a total of 2128 (about 3.4×1038) addresses—or approximately 5×1028 (roughly 295) addresses for each of the roughly 6.5 billion (6.5×109) people alive in 2006.<ref>U.S. Census Bureau</ref> In a different perspective, this is 252 addresses for every observable star in the known universe.<ref>ABC: Number of visible stars put at 70 sextillion</ref>
While these numbers are impressive, it was not the intent of the designers of the IPv6 address space to assure geographical saturation with usable addresses. Rather, the longer addresses allow a better, systematic, hierarchical allocation of addresses and efficient route aggregation. With IPv4, complex Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) techniques were developed to make the best use of the small address space. Renumbering an existing network for a new connectivity provider with different routing prefixes is a major effort with IPv4, as discussed in RFC 2071 and RFC 2072. With IPv6, however, changing the prefix announced by a few routers can in principle renumber an entire network since the host identifiers (the least-significant 64 bits of an address) can be independently self-configured by a host.”
You may not have heard about IPv6 until now and are wondering whether it is worth wasting your time getting to learn about, given that you haven't heard much about it. In our opinion, yes you should learn about it, since it is going to happen sooner or later. Consider that from inception some technologies can take a good while before hitting the popular conciseness, as was the case the compact disk, but it did happen, so it may be upon you before you realise. With the number of available IPv4 addresses running out, we need a way forward before things do break.
The truth is most people won't notice IPv6 until it is before them, in much the same way as the public utility going from copper to fibre or the Y2K issue. If you are in the IT field then especially important that you understand it, because you will be the the type of person that people will turn to when lost.
How to Get IPv6
How you get your computer talking to other IPv6 based hosts depends very much on where you are and what your expectations are. Generally there are four approaches:
- Native
- Single tunnelled host
- Tunnelled subnet
- Subnet with 6to4
Native
If you have a forward thinking ISP or company, then you may already have access to IPv6 without even realising. If in doubt ask your provider or check their literature. It should be noted in some cases you need to activate the feature if they provide it. If your provider does provide IPv6 then you may already have it without realising. If this is this case it is a matter of testing your connection by trying to connect to another IPv6 based host outside of your network. Some are listed here:
- SixXS Wiki: IPv6 Enabled Service Providers
- SixXS FAQ: Where can I get native IPv6 / Which ISP's provide IPv6?
Single tunnelled host
Using a tunnel broker such as SixXS (there are others), you establish a tunnel between yourself and the provider, who is already connected to the IPv6 based internet.
In the case of SixXS you need to create yourself and an account, make a request for a tunnel and then set up the client software (Aiccu).
Tunnelled Subnet
Some tunnel providers also provider the option of providing a subnet. In this case they provide a range of addresses that you can use to identify each computer on your local network. IPv6 does not use NAT, so they range of addresses you have been allocated is important if you want all your computers in your network talking IPv6 to the outside world.
In the case of SixXS, once you have your basic tunnel setup you can request a subnet for your network. Once you have been provided a subnet you will either configure your IPv6 ready router or use a computer in your network as gateway.
Subnet with 6to4
Some routers on the market offer the option of creating an IPv6 subnet. With these it is simply a matter of putting them in IPv6 'automatic' mode, then using 6to4, they will connect to the IPv6 based internet. You computers on the local network will then be allocated IPv6 addresses by the router.
Firewall
As mentioned above IPv6 does not use NAT, so this means ALL your computers on you network are accessible from beyond your router. For this reason you should make sure that both your router and each individual computer is configured with a firewall. In certain cases you may find you already have a firewall in place that is actually blocking your traffic, so you will need to configure it to allow the traffic you want to get through.
Certain operating system already have IPv6 firewalls, but do not have it enabled by default or do not have a GUI to edit it. In this case you will have to look at the documentation for your operating system and get technical.
How to Test Your Connection
The simplest way at this point in time is to connect to one of the two sites below:
In both cases you will get an animation when you are connected using IPv6. In the case of Kame it will be swimming turtle and in the case of Google it will be the bouncing letters.
