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I wonder if I can communicate via IPv6. I know this depends on the ISP. Is there any simple way how to deterimne if my ISP provides IPv6 connection or at least if my router provides this functionality?

If there is not such possibility to use "real" IPv6, what is the best way to simulate it on Ubuntu?

Pavel S.
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    The easiest way to check whether you've IPv6 connectivity or not is by pinging an IPv6 address: ping6 ipv6.google.com. If it says "Network unreachable" or sth, you do not have IPv6 connectivity. Personally, I'm using OpenVPN for IPv6, but it may not be the best option. – Lekensteyn Jan 21 '12 at 20:55
  • I cannot ping6 any server. But is it caused by my ISP not providing ipv6? Or do I just have something set up incorrectly? – Pavel S. Jan 21 '12 at 21:21
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    It's likely your ISP, the Linux kernel and networking tools have excellent support for IPv6 (I'm running a Debian server with IPv6) – Lekensteyn Jan 21 '12 at 21:26

3 Answers3

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If you want to know if the ISP provides IPv6 you probably should just ask them. If their phone support people don't know then they probably don't offer it, or they don't offer it with production quality.

Routers usually show something about IPv6 in their user interface. If your router doesn't mention IPv6 at all then you can assume it doesn't do IPv6. Too many routers still don't support IPv6. I have had good experience with the Linksys E4200 and the D-Link DIR-657 in case you want to buy a new one.

Sander Steffann
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    +1 for ask them. Enough people do that and the answer may change to "yes, we have IPv6". I used to ask my ISP every 9 months or so, until I started working there – Azendale Oct 13 '12 at 06:02
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Most routers do not have IPv6 support. There may be a few coming on the market that do, especially if they are using a xxWRT based O/S. IPSs are also racing to catch up. I use OpenWRT on my router to provide IPv6 capabilities including a stateful firewall. These techniques are equally applicable to Ubuntu on which I run my servers. I started with a 6to4 tunnel and later upgraded to a 6in4 tunnel using a broker.

Linux (Ubuntu) kernels and utilities have long supported IPv6. For a while this support was problematic, but the problems seem to have been worked out. IPv6 is very good at self configuration. However, auto-configured systems may not be easy to reach by name. This could be considered appropriate for client systems.

The number of sites supporting IPv6 is small but growing. I encourage you to explore IPv6. Be aware that IPv6 can provide you internal systems with Internet routeable addresses. Protect and firewall your systems accordingly.

BillThor
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Most ISP don't have IPv6 as of yet. If they do, you probably have to activate it on your router.

Alternatively, there are many tunneling techniques, which encapsulate your IPv6 in IPv4 traffic to a tunnel broker which releases your traffic to the IPv6 network.

If you install such a solution with a tunnel broker you'll have true IPv6 connectivity, which may be a little bit slower because it has to be encapsulated and gets routed via a tunnel broker.

There are quite a few other ways to access the IPv6 internet from behind an IPv4 ISP if you like to experience with that.

Georg Schölly
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