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IPv6 for the Linksys WRT54G
AndersBrownworth writes "Earthlink Research and Development has released a firmware load for the Linksys WRT54G wireless access point that supports end-to-end IPv6. They suggest features such as extremely large address space, stateless autoconfiguration and low cost restoration of end-to-end addressability will revolutionize IP communications. It would be interesting if releases like this significantly boost the IPv6 take-up rate but as far as I know, Earthlink doesn't supply end-to-end IPv6 yet."
With the firmware being so easily changed, you can run just about anything on it.
I mean, I telnet into mine right now and review settings.. Which I love.
There is a list of firmware at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WRT54G
Proceed with Format (Y/N)? Y
Plenty of devices and operating systems fully support IPv6, but that doesn't mean anyone uses it. With things like widespread usage of NAT making the IP availability crunch less and less of a problem, there is no real incentive for the average user to convert to IPv6.
For the great unwashed masses, using IPV6 will mean that:
1) Their ISP supports it
2) The Windoze protocol stack uses it.
I know that Linux on my machine has an IPV6 stack available, but do any commercial ISPs deliver connectivity? It isn't exactly something they put in their TV ads.
"Sic Semper Path of Least Resistance"
I really need that new address space. I mean, there are only 16842752 addresses in the 10.x.x.x and 192.168.x.x address spaces. With the 15 million wireless devices I keep in my home, I was starting to get worried!
Toronto-area transit rider? Rate your ride.
OpenWRT has had this for what, a year now?
.... etc
ipkg install kernel-ipv6
modprobe ipv6
ip tunnel add
this isn't news
I use Earthlink and saw a link on their site about 6 months back for "testers" of their broadband offerings. I signed up cause it offered discount service. About 3 months ago, they sent me a new router (a Linksys, but not the same one as this article) and set me up with end-to-end IPv6. So far, all's worked fine and w/o issue. Perhaps this firmware patch is to be released before they start offering it to more users...
Lets tally it up... +1 - Elitism in the terms of your superior computer knowledge vs. whatever else they do, the irony being the average Slashdotter's hygiene is probably somewhat below your "unwashed masses" +1 - Use a clever name in reference to Microsoft or its OS. +1 - Mention you use Linux. +1 - Mention you are ahead of even the elite Linux crowd by doing something special (IPv6, hand compiling kernel code would also have applied here.) Total: +4. Summary: Mod Parent Up! The comrade speaks the truth!
Some people think incremental steps like this will somehow help IPv6 rollout worldwide. I think that is a completely different problem, and very hard to solve. Any volunteers to solve the hard and difficult problem?
The best description I know about The Problem comes from Dan Bernstein, The IPv6 mess.
The IPv6 designers don't have a transition plan. They've taken some helpful steps, but they typically declare success (``IPv6 support'') when the real problem---making public IPv6 addresses work just as well as public IPv4 addresses---still hasn't been solved.
it really doesn't matter how slow NAm and EU are in changing, because most of humanity will be using IPv6 regardless.
.-/
You either surf the wave or it crashes over you.
-- Tigger warning: This post may contain tiggers! --
This thread will of course trigger a bunch of replies from people saying we don't need IPv6, but in fact, we do, badly, and the need is only increasing with time.
NAT helps somewhat, but if you're using NAT your computer can't receive incoming connections. That's a problem for servers, for peer-to-peer networking, for games, and for VoIP. Home users can usually work around this with their firewall configuration, but businesses usually can't (one important reason being that only one computer behind the firewall can receive connections this way, not multiple). And, as someone pointed out in the last IPv6-related thread, merging the networks of two corporations is a nightmare - they both use the same IP addresses.
There are theoretically 4 billion IP addresses total. That sounds like a lot, but an IP address isn't just a number which can be assigned individually; what you do is hand out big consecutive blocks of them, so that routers can say things like "for 123.231.*.*, send packets in this direction". The shortage of IP addresses has introduced lots of special cases, so that internet routers need tons of memory and processing power to figure out the mess.
Finally, switching to IPv6 cuts off one of the major ways worms propagate. The Sapphire worm, for example, worked by picking a random IP address and trying to infect it, repeating for a whole bunch of IPs, and it was able to double every 7 seconds. That works because the odds of finding a computer (not necessarily a vulnerable computer) is about 10%. With IPv6, that changes to 10^-28% - instead of doubling the number of infected computers every 7 seconds, it would've scanned for a few years, never find a single computer, and get disinfected.
Is IPv6 a tool looking for a job to do?
It's not a chicken-and-egg thing, where everyone would do it if there were only the infrastructure, but there's no infrastructure because no one's doing it yet. At least, it doesn't seem that way to me.
IPv6 came about when the Internet exploded in the early 90's. Folks looked at the address space and said "Hey, we're running out of room!"
The solution in IPv6 was to use 128-bit addresses instead of 32-bit ones, and to design the next gen of protocols using the lessons learned from the previous one. TCP/IPv4 was designed in an era when security was not in as much focus as it is now.
It seems like about two minutes after IPv6 began to be developed, the world discovered NAT and firewalls. We'd always had routers with private networks, but NAT made it possible for mortals to set up. A whole company with thousands or millions of IP addresses can be hidden behind a very small set of IPv4 addresses.
That solution has worked so well that few feel the need to use IPv6.
I wonder what will happen to force the issue?
Raise your children as if you were teaching them to raise your grandchildren, because you are.
This could be useful for breaking the cycle that prevents adoption of IPv6. ISPs don't provide service because there isn't enough user demand. Users don't demand it in part because a lot of software would break. And software developers don't provide IPv6 support because their ISP doesn't support IPv6. Yes, you can configure tunneling software but if you are behind a NATing and Firewalling router, there are likely to be some problems and by the time you are done configuring it, you don't have time to work on the software; this project actually replaces a commonly used router with one that enables IPv6 rather than getting in the way. And likewise, most people can't really switch to IPv6 only until almost everyone supports IPv6. So, this could help provide critical mass.
The web page is pretty vague about what is actually going on under the hood. Presumably this distribution creates a tunnel to some IPv6 relay router but what gateway or tunneling protocol is used is not specified.
Ever tried putting Asterisk on one? It's sweet!
The WRT54G might be a nice piece of hardware. But I still like my WRAP more. It has a Compact Flash slot and, most importantly, a serial port.
I find a WRT54G extremely cumbersome to use without a low level access port and the danger of wrecking the device by uploading a wrong firmware.
With the WRAP, I can prepare "firmware" images on an extra computer, I can even test-boot them in a virtual machine and then transfer them straight to a CF card knowing that there is no way the device will ever get inoperable due to a bad OS image (except flashing a wrong BIOS, which sits in a separate area outside of any compact flash card).
Speaking of BIOS, there even is a BIOS update for WRAP with included Etherboot to boot an OS over the net, yay!
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6
You're underestimating the power of inertia in the US. Remember that this is a country that still doesn't recognize the metric system!
Just set up an IPv6 tunnel (Linux SIT tunnels support this natively), and point it to 192.88.99.1 to send to non-6to4 addresses. Other 6to4 destinations will be auto-tunnelled with IPv6-over-IPv4, and any IPv6 packets sent to you will also be automatically routed over IPv6-over-IPv4 by the Internet. Therefore, there's no need to set up a tunnel with a third party if you're using 6to4.
Fedora Core supports 6to4 more or less out-of-the-box. All you need to do are two things: /etc/sysconfig/network (why does Slashdot split the lines?):
2. Add these lines to the1. Add these lines to
You're underestimating the power of inertia in the US. Remember that this is a country that still doesn't recognize the metric system!
Doesn't matter. We already converted over in science, in manufacturing, and in retail.
Why do you think it's 8.5 ounces when you buy a carton? It's actually a metric measurement - we just pretend it isn't for the consumer.
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NAT stands for ``Network Address Translation'' not ``Stateful Firewall.'' I will never understand why people confuse these things so easily.
You, sir, have hit the nail on the head.
What people like about NAT boxes from a security perspective is that they must implement a particular sort of stateful firewalling in order to do their job. But a very simple stateful firewall accomplishes *exactly* the same security task without the limitations of NAT.
Note to ACs: I usually delete AC replies without reading them. If you want to talk to me, log in.
Covad actuallly provides what you would call "Layer 2" connectivity between their equipment at the local telco's CO and the ISP's equipment using ATM. The ISP will provision both upstream connectivity to the internet and then an ATM trunk to Covad, who feeds all of that ISP's customers terminating at their DSLAMs (where your copper pair is split off to) at the various LEC's central offices and "concentrates" them using ATM PVCs (permanent virtual circuits) onto to the ISP's trunk. The ISP then feeds the data between the internet pipes and the ATM trunk.
IPv6 is an attempt to re-engineer the IP protocol to solve a number of problems, but exactly how it does so has shifted a few times over the course of time. Here is a summary of what it does, why it matters, and what it means to the newcommer:
IPv6 is a simpler, heirarchical protocol
IPv6 is automagic
It's a small world and it smells funny; I'd buy another if it wasn't for the money; Take back what I paid (SoM)
NAT rewrites addresses, it is not a firewall and it does not provide decent security in itself.
Of course it runs NetBSD. BTC: 1NT7QvbetmANwaMzhpVL6