IPv6 on ma.ttias.be

There’s more than one way to write an IP address

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Tue, 09 Jul 2019 11:31:32 +0000

Most of us write our IP addresses the way we’ve been taught, a long time ago: 127.0.0.1, 10.0.2.1, … but that gets boring after a while, doesn’t it?

Cloudflare now serves F-Root instance

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Fri, 15 Sep 2017 19:39:23 +0000

This is pretty cool, CloudFlare has become the host of one of the anycast root nameservers.

MariaDB MaxScale 2.1 defaulting to IPv6

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Tue, 20 Jun 2017 05:04:04 +0000

This little upgrade caught me by surprise. In a MaxScale 2.0 to 2.1 upgrade, MaxScale changes the default bind address from IPv4 to IPv6. It’s mentioned in the release notes as this;

Follow-up: MIT no longer owns their /8

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Thu, 20 Apr 2017 23:53:51 +0000

More details have emerged now with regards to “MIT no longer owns 18.0.0.0/8” . Turns out, it’s a big move from IPv4 to IPv6 on the MIT network, where the sale of their IP addresses are being used to fund the move to IPv6.

MIT no longer owns 18.0.0.0/8

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Wed, 19 Apr 2017 21:14:32 +0000

That’s a very big block of scarce IPv4 addresses that have become available again. One block inside this /8, more specifically 18.145.0.0/16, was transferred to Amazon .

Apple prepares iOS to move to IPv6-only networks

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Thu, 05 May 2016 07:57:28 +0000

Update 11/05/2016: the original message in this article was wrong, please read the updates below.

Apple Favours IPv6, Gives IPv4 a 25ms Penalty

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Mon, 13 Jul 2015 18:49:36 +0000

This is pretty exciting news for the adoption of IPv6 .

Belgium Leader in IPv6 Adoption

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Wed, 25 Mar 2015 15:45:24 +0000

According to Akamai, at least.

PHP 6: The Missing Version Number

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Sun, 18 Jan 2015 11:17:25 +0000

For those active in the PHP community for a while, it’s not exactly a secret. But to the outside world, it may seem odd that the PHP version numbers jump from the 5.x series straight to 7.x, without the magical number 6.

Whois at the CLI: get all IP ranges from an AS number

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Sat, 26 Apr 2014 20:37:32 +0000

Just a note to my future self, in case I ever need it again. All you need is the AS number.

Re-enabling IPv6 support on CentOS kernels after update

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Tue, 29 May 2012 04:36:47 +0000

A Kernel update on one box led to the following system error when trying to enable its IPv6-addresses again.

# /etc/init.d/network restart
Shutting down interface eth0: [ OK ]
Shutting down loopback interface: [ OK ]
FATAL: Module off not found.
CRITICAL : [ipv6_test] Kernel is not compiled with IPv6 support
Bringing up loopback interface: [ OK ]
Bringing up interface eth0: FATAL: Module off not found.
CRITICAL : [ipv6_test] Kernel is not compiled with IPv6 support
 [ OK ]
FATAL: Module off not found.
CRITICAL : [ipv6_test] Kernel is not compiled with IPv6 support

Enable IPv6 connectivity for Nginx

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Thu, 15 Mar 2012 12:16:14 +0000

Enabling IPv6 connectivity in Nginx is very easy, providing you already have a valid IPv6 connection/IP on your server. You should normally already have a configuration as follows.

How IPv6 Headers Are Formed, Compared To IPv4

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 20:00:16 +0000

On the cisco.com website, there is an excellent write-up on IPv6 headers . The author describes in great detail how the IPv6 packets are created, and how they compare to IPv4.

IPv6 And Security: What You Probably Don’t Know

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 20:00:56 +0000

For anyone claiming IPv6 is more secure than IPv4, take a deep breath, count to ten, and rethink your arguments again. While IPv6 has some technological advantages over IPv4, I wouldn’t go so far as saying it’s safer.

Stateless Autoconfiguration To Replace DHCP For Some Systems

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 20:00:00 +0000

Stateless Address Autoconfiguration is a technique where individual nodes in a network can generate their own unique IP address, based on a “network address” which the router will send out, and a unique part generated from the hosts’ MAC address.

Neighbor Discovery (ND) To Replace ARP In IPv6

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 20:00:31 +0000

Neighbor Discovery – or ND – is the protocol used by IPv6 to determine neighboring hosts, and will replace ARP which was used in IPv4. It will perform similar tasks of the Address Resolution Protocol (ARP) and ICMP Router Discovery Protocol . It’s purpose remains to get the MAC/Link Layer addresses of available hosts, and the connection information of available routers in the network.

IPv6 Address Space & Reservations

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 20:00:34 +0000

At the very highest level, the IPv6 address space is divided into six main parts, each having its own purpose and meaning.

Address Types: Unicast, Multicast & Anycast

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Sun, 21 Mar 2010 20:00:26 +0000

IPv6 has three types of addresses: unicast , multicast and anycast .

A unicast address is used to refer to a single host. It is meant to send data to a single destination.

Address Notations In IPv6

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 20:00:22 +0000

From a visual point-of-view, the biggest change from IPv4 to IPv6 is the way addresses are formed. The IPv4 way of writing addresses, is by placing four 8 bit groups, seperated by a point “.”.

Recycling older IPv6-related posts

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 20:42:29 +0000

About a year ago, I was focussing on mastering the “tips and tricks” around IPv6. Since I didn’t think it actually belonged on this blog, I started a new one – mainly for myself, as a reference. In the upcoming days I’ll be recycling some of the more interesting posts concerning IPv6, and publishing them here. Gives me more time to focus on this blog, since I’ve been neglecting it lately.

Starting The IP:v6::guide – IPv6 Knowledge

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 22:45:56 +0000

As I firmly believe in the future of IPv6, and the urgency at which we need to teach ourselves and implement its services, I started the IP:v6:guide blog.

IPv4 and IPv6 network charts

mattias@ma.ttias.be (Mattias Geniar) — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:00:32 +0000

Having colleagues that go to RIPE meetings, sure has its advantages. Besides learning a bit more of the operations of one of worlds largest Internet Resource Allocators, they get to bring home some ‘goodies’, including useful IPv4 and IPv6 network charts. My guess is the IPv6 chart will be used quite often, in the not-so-distant-future …