Topic: IPv6 support and issues moving forward

[Bozely]

As I see it, after much reading of the forums, support for IPv6 is still in the pipeline and while a few individuals have had a crack at it there is no official package.

Now, while I have an understanding of the IPv6 fundamentals, it is the grey area where these two protocols coexist and must be translated (or not) that evades me and ultimately I'm trying to get my head around real world situations that will no doubt occur.

Could someone explain the routing between the following remote client and server setup?

Location A - SME 9.1 behind an IPv4/IPv6 enabled router with an IPv4 public address
Location B - A client assigned with an IPv6 public address by the ISP trying to access resources at Location A

I'm no networking guru, just trying to make head and tail of the issues we may face moving forward, so all insights appreciated.

http://test-ipv6.com/ a quick look here gives me the dismal news I am 0/10 ready for IPv6  .

[CharlieBrady]

An oversimplified answer is that there are two Internets, the IPv4 Internet and the IPv6 Internet. Many devices exist in only one of those Internets, and many exist in both. IPv6 only devices can't talk directly to IPv4 only devices, and vice-versa.

I think your question might be answered here:

http://serverfault.com/questions/596616/how-do-i-reach-ipv4-addresses-from-an-ipv6-only-network

[Bozely]

Thanks Charlie, keeping it simple...

In an IPv4 world you are assigned a public IPv4 address which is the "gateway" address to your internal network, traffic hits your router and gets distributed to local addresses as configured.

The key difference, if I understand correctly, is that all of my devices will have their own unique IPv6 public address on the IPv6 internet should they be configured to do so.

Therefore as long as clients, be that a laptop, phone or tablet, have IPv4/IPv6 dual stack capability there shouldn't be an issue with the connectivity in my scenario? from what I understand...

[CharlieBrady]

Therefore as long as clients, be that a laptop, phone or tablet, have IPv4/IPv6 dual stack capability there shouldn't be an issue with the connectivity in my scenario? from what I understand...

If they have IPv4/IPv6 dual stack, and have an IPv4 address assigned and have a gateway device with an IPv4 address then they will have connectivity. IOW, you can just ignore the IPv6 capabailities when considering that pathway.

Note that all you told us about Location B was that it had an IPv6 address.

[Bozely]

What happens in the scenario where ISPs no longer provide an IPv4 public address to the client who is trying to connect?

I'm guessing residential internet providers will just start rolling this out as they run out of IPv4 addresses and suddenly remote connections will become an issue for many?

[CharlieBrady]

What happens in the scenario where ISPs no longer provide an IPv4 public address to the client who is trying to connect?

Read my earlier note and the link referenced there. IPv6 only clients can only access IPv4 only resources via gateway proxies.

[ReetP]

What happens in the scenario where ISPs no longer provide an IPv4 public address to the client who is trying to connect?

I'm guessing residential internet providers will just start rolling this out as they run out of IPv4 addresses and suddenly remote connections will become an issue for many?

Bearing in mind that most of the globe still operates on IPv4 you are unlikely to be forced to IPv6 anytime soon.

I'm sure you will see a lot more DHCP and double natting (common to see now in mobiles) along with a large majority of sites having dual capability before they go completely IPv6

This was a nice gentle read :

http://www.zdnet.com/article/five-ways-for-ipv6-and-ipv4-to-peacefully-co-exist/

B. Rgds
John

[CharlieBrady]

This is worth reading - with a slightly different ipv6 design, ipv4 would have been just a small corner of the larger ipv6 internet, and we wouldn't need dual stacks and broken connectivity.

https://cr.yp.to/djbdns/ipv6mess.html

and see also:

http://www.megacz.com/thoughts/ipv6.html