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Learning IPv6?

Posted by Cliff on from the picking-up-a-new-skill dept.

fsckme asks: "With IPv6 starting to filter its was into the internet I thought that it was about time to learn it. However digging around I've found sites like www.ipv6.org and the IPv6 FAQ but I haven't found a tutorial teaching the basics. Can anyone recommend a nice web based tutorial of even a decent book?"

11 of 39 comments (clear)

  1. I'd like a tutorial on by redcliffe · · Score: 5, Insightful

    turning your windows, mac and linux combination network from IPv4 to v6. I've seen a lot of articles that cover part of it, but I'd like a step by step on the whole process. Thanks,

    David

    1. Re:I'd like a tutorial on by noahm · · Score: 3, Informative
      Only IPv6? Most of these machines won't be able to do it. At this point, it's far more common to run both IPv6 and IPv4 on a host simultaneously. For whatever reason it seems that OSs hosts are unable to use IPv6 DNS hosts. I've gotten Linux to work IPv6-only (kernel 2.4.x, Debian unstable). I have heard from one of the FreeBSD network coders that FreeBSD can't do it, though that might not be current information. I don't think there's any way to get Windows to use IPv6 hosts for DNS servers.

      WinXP can do dual-stack (IPv6 and IPv4) just fine. Just run 'ipv6 install' from a command prompt and you'll have a working autoconfiguring IPv6 host. Their docs are quite helpful.

      I don't know anything about IPv6 on Macs, though I'd love to try it. Apparently OS X can do it, though all the pages I've found to describe it are in Japanese.

      noah

  2. Quake! by Disevidence · · Score: 3, Informative

    For the hoplessly bleeding edge, their is a Q uake Version modified to use Ipv6. They even have a server up!

    --
    Think nothing is impossible? Try slamming a revolving door.
  3. I have the same problem by Economist · · Score: 3, Insightful

    When i look at the output of ifconfig, i notice my network cards have IPv6 addresses like fe80::248:54ff:fe6e:f6c2/10. Now, that makes me wonder, where did it get that address from (i've never said to use that address) and what's with the /10 in the back? I thought i read that /x means the same on IPv6 than it did on IPv4. I'm confused....

    So if anybody finds me a site wich explains such things in an easy to understand manner, i would be delighted.

    1. Re:I have the same problem by hazen_vs · · Score: 3, Informative

      Hey,

      IPv6 has a very diffrent way of nameing things. First off you have the folling addresses on each card;

      v6 (128bit in hex)
      Multicast (128bit in hex w/reserved header)
      Group Multicast (128bit in hes w/reserved header)
      Network Multicast (128bit in hes w/reserved header)
      Network (same as above)
      Broadcast (same as above)
      and last but not least all those v4 addresses too. so yes the /10 is a leagacy compliance feature.

      --
      Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment ~Tesla
  4. Re:Comer by hazen_vs · · Score: 4, Informative

    Linux Magazene's Last months Issue has a very comphrensive overview. As well as the following sites.

    Solaris 8 Faq
    IPng Overview
    Juniper's Perspective

    For those in the "Know" BSD has had V6 compliance for quite some time now. OpenBSD, NetBSD and FreeBSD all support it but OpenBSD will install v6 by default due to it's added security mesaures.

    By the way, "IT's all infrastructre?!" A statement that those of us whom actually provide said "Infrastructure" make it seem simple much like magic, it's seamleass and it works well than it's abvoiusly a testament to those that put "it" together.

    IPv6 will often be refferd to as IPng in earlier documents.

    For those of you whom think "Well I should just plug in to v6 and I'm there." I have only one though; Ignorance is bliss and there are a lot of blissful people out there.


    --
    Peace can only come as a natural consequence of universal enlightenment ~Tesla
  5. solaris article in Sysadmin by obtuse · · Score: 4, Informative

    There was an article in Sysadmin magazine recently.

    Getting on the 6bone Quickly With Solaris8
    http://www.samag.com/documents/s=1441/sa m0111d/

    --
    Assembly is the reverse of disassembly.
  6. Implementing IPV6 by bihoy · · Score: 3, Informative


    Implementing IPV6: Supporting the Next Generation Internet Protocols

    A former colleage of mine had this book and liked it. I have not read it personally but I just checked it out on Amazon. It looks like it has a lot of useful information.

    Here's a bit from their description:

    "IPv6 is a critical new technology, essential for the geometrically increasing traffic on the net. The second edition of Implementing IPv6 shows networking professionals the how and why of making the transition -- and points out both IPv6's capabilities, and the potential issues it raises for network managers."

    Inside you'll find everything you need to:

    Learn the IPv6 addressing architecture.

    Keep up to date with the latest Request For Comments (RFC) documents.

    Understand such hot issues as upper layer protocols, APIs, and security.

    Manage IPv6 Internetworks.

    Master transition mechanisms and routing.

    Troubleshoot autoconfiguration and local network issues.

    Understand all the capabilities and shortcomings of the next generation...

  7. Freenet6 by larse · · Score: 4, Informative
    Not so much a tutorial, but Freenet6 makes it *very* easy to connect to the 6bone, if your upstream ISP doesn't support IPv6 yet:

    http://www.freenet6.net/

    And they are part of the FreeBSD ports tree already.

  8. Cisco Technical Documents by keep_it_simple_stupi · · Score: 3, Informative

    There are technical documents here from Cisco. That doesn't make them easy to read, but it should be at least correct. Happy reading!

  9. what about IPv6 do you want to learn? by noahm · · Score: 4, Informative
    You didn't make it clear if you wanted to learn how to set up IPv6 on your network, or if you wanted to learn to program IPv6-enabled apps. You also didn't indicate what OS you are using, which means you can really only get general answers.

    Programming IPv6 apps is actually quite easy, and actually involves programming protocol family independent code if you want to do it right. On the client end, this basically involves using a function (getaddrinfo(3)) to get a linked list of all addresses associated with a given hostname in any protocol family (IPv4, v6, or even something fun like AppleTalk) and walking along the list until you get a good connection. This has the added advantage that if you are trying to connect to a host that has multiple IP addresses, and some of them are non-responsive (i.e. a round-robin DNS situation), your client will try connecting to each IP address until it succeeds.

    If you're trying to learn how to configure and use IPv6 on your hosts, try some of these: