I'm total newbie on IP6..
so, what mean with numbers on IP6 and howto know/get it?

2001:4830:1655:1::/64

2001:4830:1655::/48

or it just convert from IP4? It look hard for me.. hope everyone have a big time to teach me

TQ

While not entirely correct, it is easiest to think of the IPv6 address space as completely separate from the IPv4 address space.

One good place to find out general information about IPv6 is...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPv6

Do we get IPv6 connectivity from Linode, or do we need to use something like a he.net tunnel?

(I'm not complaining if we don't get it -- I've never used IPv6, and I don't really need it now.)

I don't believe Linode offers native IPv6 connectivity yet, I'm using a SixXS tunnel at the moment (he tunnel for the house). A lot of providers are starting to state they are or have upgraded their backbone, but I don't think many in the US are providing it universally to their clients yet. On ThePlanet's blog they say they have upgraded their backbone but they aren't universally providing it to the cages yet, only on special request.

Maybe someone got it from another providers. So I can take advantages howto use it later... I looking around this linode forum and many post about it...

* Sorry!..hehe.. I does mistake while posted this tread.. I try to join http://www.linode.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=2879

I think the confusion might be that the Linode DNS manager does allow you to enter IPv6 address (AAAA records) which is where the wish list items I mentioned are coming from. I don't believe that Linode provides native IPv6 connectivity at the moment, but it's your node, there is no reason why you cannot setup a tunnel broker yourself to provide IPv6 connectivity. Which is what I did for my Linode, through SixXS.

You can also get a free tunnel through HE (no matter where you are in the world). It is NOT limited to Fremont data center users. It's open to anyone, anywhere, HE customer or not.

http://tunnelbroker.net

If you've got a static IP on your end then you could be off-and-running within seconds. You can create an account and request a tunnel. They auto-create both on the spot. Then you just click once to activate it after you set up your end.

They also list sample configs for various OSes to help with setup. Keep in mind that it being a free service to the general public, they provide zero support. You must also keep your tunnel up -- they ping6 it once a day. If that fails, they will disable the tunnel. (You can re-enable, but you'd have to go login to your tunnel broker account and reactivate it.)

Works well for me. If you have iptables filtering, make sure you have appropriate ipv6 permits set up, too!

Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that there isn't many ISPs providing native IPv6 services throughout their customer base. I can say that at least one U.S.-based provider does (I work for them) but I don't want to name names since I'm not a shill. I did notice that IPv6 is much more heavily used in Europe and Japan. Not a lot in the U.S., sadly.

Good luck to the original poster, and have fun.

Thanks for that information -- it's interesting and helpful.

I've always felt that I should know how to set up IPv6, just because it's coming, but at the same time, I don't see any practical payoff in using it now.

Is there some value to it that I'm missing? Services that are only available on the IPv6 net?

The main value I see from it now is that it seems like it would allow me to set up a virtual network for my own systems, scattered around various places, in a cleaner way.

Is that the sort of thing people do with it?

Value of IPv6? Well, it provides a whole bunch of benefits. I won't enumerate them here since I'm a little rusty with the list.

Why has it taken off with large providers in the U.S.? Because for a few years now, it has been a mandatory prerequisite for certain U.S. Department of Defense contract bid checklists. If you didn't support it, you couldn't bid for lucrative government (DoD) contracts.

Why has it taken off in Japan? Well, years ago, the entire Internet was essentially divided into regions. A RIR would then allocate its region's block to providers in the region.

Japan had a greater population density and greater use of IPv4 IPs, percentage-wise, so they were really feeling IPv4 pressure. NAT'ing went ever so far. They're also pretty good with technology so trying IPv6 wasn't a hard sell. This helped to ease a lot of the IP addressing pressure.

In the U.S., originally, we were going to run out of IPv4 addresses which was the original impetus for adopting IPv6. However, we seem to have hit a plateau with IPv4 so the major pressure is not quite there any more. Still a potential threat lurking in the background but not as urgent now.

IPv6 addressing space is HUGE!!!! I have an obscenely-sized netblock allocated to me -- the smallest that could be sanely routed, at work. This affords me ability to do all sorts of good subnet allocations and effective firewall filtering.

IPv6 also has a concept of autoconfiguration/router discovery. It's kinda DHCP-like and nice because it just 'works'. Has a bunch of other features. It's a nice skill to learn (for setup) if you ever want to work in Europe/Asia or in the U.S. at a DoD contractor or bidder.

IPv6 is actually now reasonably stable. Cisco, Juniper, I think also Huawei, etc. all supports IPv6 in their main router code now. Pretty much any OS released in the past year or two supports it out of box. This includes: Windows Vista, MacOS X, Linux, OpenVMS, AIX, Solaris, etc.

There are still some quirks in setting up apps to support IPv6 but not too bad. I spent one very intensive weekend with another person at work setting up (from scratch) IPv6-enabled apps, configuring them, ironing out bugs, testing on various platforms. I tested with OpenBSD, Linux, Solaris, AIX, and Windows. All worked great.

So... for most people, there is no real need or reason to play with IPv6. But for some, it's an interesting new skill to master and looks good on a resume/CV as an 'advanced' technical skill that few knows.

P.S. To test if you're connected via IPv6, go to http://www.kame.net
If it's IPv6, the turtle will be dancing.

The reason we didn't run out of IP4 addresses is two fold; 1) moving to CIDR (classless routing) help be more efficient, and 2) many people using NAT routers meaning that they only needed 1 address. NAT has its own problems but it works for most people

IP6 is potentially useful but *shrug* I really don't see the need. Since most people are tunnelling IP6 over IP4 it's actually less efficient for traffic. You need your upstream to provide the IP6 connection for efficiency.

_________________
Rgds
Stephen
(Linux user since kernel version 0.11)

NAT needs to die already.

European IP addressing group: it's time to jump on the IPv6 bandwagon (Ars Technica, 29 October 2007)
In May, ARIN, the organization giving out IP address in North America, told us it's time to start adopting IPv6. Five months and another 76 million IPv4 addresses later, ARIN's European counterpart, Réseaux IP Européens (RIPE) adopted a resolution in much the same vein during its fall meeting last week.

_________________
/ Peter

I agree.

Lots of people have made predictions about IPv6 and it's eventual adoption, so this comment probably isn't worth the bits it stored in, but I think you will see the IPv6 momentum gain significant speed during 2008.

Hate to bump this but I wish Linode would offer native IPv6, at least for their Freemont boxes since HE does provide native IPv6 for dedicated and colo servers.

Yes I agree. That would be awesome and make all my friends jealous.