Unix Support

IPv6 for sysadmins
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7. IPv6 in practice

7.1. Configuration

On most Unix variants, simple IPv6 configuration is just that, simple. If you're happy using the settings provided by stateless autoconfiguration, it's usually a case of changing one line in a configuration file to say that you want IPv6 enabled. Unfortunately, precisely which line in which file is somewhat variable.

7.2. Network server programs

Whether an individual server application supports IPv6 is obviously dependent on the server in question. In many cases, even if the application supports IPv6, it may be necessary to explicitly enable its use. For instance, most version of inetd require IPv6 services to be listed separately from IPv4 services, with a protocol field of udp6 or tcp6 instead of udp or tcp.

7.3. Network client programs

Network clients, on the other hand, will typically use IPv6 automatically if asked to connect to a host with an AAAA record. If a host has both A and AAAA records, the client should try them in turn until one works, much as when a host has multiple A records. Many clients have options to explicitly force the use of IPv6 or IPv4: for instance OpenSSH has -4 and -6 options. A few programs, such as ping and traceroute on systems other than Solaris, have entirely separate IPv6 versions (ping6 and traceroute6 respectively).


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The title of this document is: IPv6 in practice
URL: http://www-uxsup.csx.cam.ac.uk/courses/moved.ipv6_basics/x144.html