Setting up IPv6

Unfamiliar with IPv6? Try Hurricane Electric's free IPv6 certification.

Introduction

By default you will only get one IPv6 address. You can receive a /64 subnet upon request to support@prgmr.com. IPv6 subnet prefixes and default gateways are given below.

Prefix: 2605:2700:0:2::/64 (or 2605:2700:0:3::/64)
Default Gateway: 2605:2700:0:2::1 (or 2605:2700:0:3::1)

Prefix 2605:2700:0:5::/64
Default Gateway: 2605:2700:0:5::1

Prefix: 2605:2700:0:17::/64
Default Gateway: 2605:2700:0:17::1

Calculating your IPv6 address

Your IPv6 address is the prefix + your IPv4 address. (If you were using the old prefixes of 2001:470:21:20::/64 and 2001:470:21:31::/64, be aware that they are deprecated.)

IPv6 addresses consist of 8 groups of 16-bit hexadecimal numbers. Consecutive groups of 0's are represented by a double colon ::

Example: 2605:2700:0:3::adc5:47aa is equivalent to 2605:2700:0:3:0000:0000:adc5:47aa.

Finding your IPv6 address

The easiest way to find your IP addresses is through the Reverse DNS option on the Management Console. Select option 8.

Name                                   ID   Mem VCPUs      State   Time(s)
cnryhilln                              42   128     1     -b----    4503.1

  Wiki at http://wiki.prgmr.com
  Please contact support@prgmr.com with any issues accessing your machine.

  Options for "cnryhilln"
  1. out of band console (press ctrl-] to escape, not resizeable)
  2. create/start, opens OOB console (try this if the machine is not running)
  3. shutdown (requests operating system to shut down)
  4. force power off (destroy/hard shutdown)
  5. reboot (requests operating system to reboot)
  6. swap i386/amd64 bootloaders currently "i386"
  7. view/add/remove ssh authorized_keys
  8. set reverse dns
  9. swap pvgrub/grub2 bootloaders currently "pv-grub"

  0. exit
  enter selection> 8
0. 71.19.155.15 --- cnryhilln.xen.prgmr.com
1. 2605:2700:0:17::4713:9b0f --- cnryhilln.xen.prgmr.com

Updating your /etc/network/interfaces for Debian/Ubuntu

Once you have your sddress, add the following lines to your /etc/network/interfaces file (remember to substitute your own address for the one in the example):

iface eth0 inet static
    address 64.71.167.165
    netmask 255.255.255.128
    gateway 64.71.167.129
iface eth0 inet6 static
    address 2605:2700:0:3::4444:630e
    netmask 64
    gateway 2605:2700:0:3::1

Updating /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 for Fedora and CentOS

DEVICE=eth0
IPADDR=64.71.167.165
NETMASK=255.255.255.128
GATEWAY=64.71.167.129
IPV6INIT=yes
IPV6ADDR=2605:2700:0:3::4047:a7a5
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=2605:2700:0:3::1

Setting the default route with IPV6_DEFAULTGW is broken in CentOS/RHEL 5.2 and earlier, so in that case a route for 2000::/3 to the same router should work almost as well. A static ipv6 route can be set in /etc/sysconfig/static-routes-ipv6 like

eth0   2000::/3        2605:2700:0:3::1

For more information on ipv6 and other settings in /etc/sysconfig, see /usr/share/doc/initscripts-8.45.30/ or whatever version initscripts is on your system. (And be sure to use the correct gateway for your network. The gateway for the 2605:2700:0:3:: prefix is different from the gateway for the 2605:2700:0:2:: prefix.)

On CentOS you may need to add "NETWORKING_IPV6=yes" to /etc/sysconfig/network if the IPv6 address is not assigned on ifup.

Making sure the IPv6 module is loaded

When rebooting my IPv6 connection was not initialized automatically. Adding the line "ipv6" to /etc/modules makes sure that the IPv6 kernel module gets loaded.

Bringing the interface up

You can either just reboot your server, or bring down the interface from the virtual console and then bring it up again. If you are connected directly via SSH and bring down the interface, you won't be able to send any more commands after bringing down the interface, so make sure you bring the interface up in the same command:

ifdown eth0 && ifup eth0

Testing your connection

david@kauri:~$ ping6 ipv6.google.com
PING ipv6.google.com(pv-in-x93.1e100.net) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from pv-in-x93.1e100.net: icmp_seq=1 ttl=54 time=24.0 ms
64 bytes from pv-in-x93.1e100.net: icmp_seq=2 ttl=54 time=24.0 ms

Congratulations, your native IPv6 connection is now up and running.

You may also want to test your connection from the outside, you can use the tools at http://www.berkom.blazing.de/ or browse your website with ipv6 using http://www.sixxs.net/tools/gateway/

IPv6 on NetBSD

Add a line to /etc/ifconfig.xennet0:

 inet6 2605:2700:0:3::XXXX:XXXX prefixlen 64 alias

Add a line to (or create) /etc/route.conf

 inet6 -net 2000::/3 2605:2700:0:3::1

Remember to use the correct gateway for your prefix. The gatway for the 2605:2700:0:3:: prefix is different from the gatway for the 2605:2700:0:2:: prefix.

Setting up your own /64

To get your own /64, email support@prgmr.com and ask for one. Once you receive it, you can configure it in Debian or Ubuntu by changing the IPv6 section in your /etc/network/interfaces file to look like this (be sure to change the IP addresses):

iface eth0 inet6 static
    address 2605:2700:0:3::4444:630e
    netmask 64
    gateway 2605:2700:0:3::1
    up ip -6 addr add 2605:2700:1:f00d::1/64 dev eth0
    up ip -6 addr add 2605:2700:1:f00d::beef/64 dev eth0

For Fedora or CentOS, add the following line to your /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file, changing the addresses as necessary:

   IPV6ADDR_SECONDARIES="2605:2700:1:f00d::1/64 2605:2700:1:f00d::beef/64"

You can also add addresses under your prefix to a dummy, VPN, or bridge interface. You MUST keep your old address that you calculated earlier in the article because your prefix is routed through that address.