IPV6 Configuration on REDHAT CENTOS FEDORA

Type : System
Operating System : Redhat,Fedora,Centos

This Howto explain how to install IPV6 on a RedHat distribution. In a near futur, ipV6 will be used on each server or in all others equipments, which need network.

In this documentation, you can find the classical configuration and the tunnel V6toV4.

At the end of this article you can find some tips or tools for ipv6

For more information about IPV6 please read this article reference : http://www.generationip.com/documentation/network-documentation/36-Network%20Documentation/45-ipv6

TEST if IPV6 is enabled on your server.
Manual Configuration
Tunnel Configuration
Security Rules
Tips & Tools

TEST if IPV6 is enabled on your server.

Now, we have to test if your serveur is ready for IPV6.

Please Check if this file is present : /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/network-functions-ipv6

#test -f /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/network-functions-ipv6 && echo "IPV6 Script Present"

IPV6 Script Present

We have to check if the IPV6 module is present :

# modprobe -c | grep net-pf-10

alias net-pf-10 off

If you have this result then IPV6 is not load in your modules.

Please edit this files /etc/sysconfig/network and enable this option : NETWORKING_IPV6

#cat /etc/sysconfig/network

NETWORKING=yes
NETWORKING_IPV6=yes
HOSTNAME=YOURHOSTNAME
GATEWAY=YOURGATEWAY

Now you have to restart your networks interfaces.

#/etc/init.d/network restart

#services networks restart

Following this we have to check if your IPV6 is ready for configuration

# modprobe -c | grep ipv6
alias net-pf-10 ipv6

Good Job !!! you can start the configuration of your interface for ipV6

Manual Configuration

For the configuration of IP Address in static mode on your ethx interface, you have to put the good option in the config file of interface : /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-ethX.

The parameters to edit are IPV6INIT, IPV6_AUTOCONF, IPV6ADDR. All this parameter are define in this file : /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/init.ipv6-global

Example :

IPV6INIT=YES
IPV6_AUTOCONF=no
IPV6ADDR=2008:EEFF:10:1::1000/64

You can add directly the IP address like that :

#ifconfig eth0 inet6 add 2008:EEFF:10:1::1000/64

You have to add the route :

#route -A inet6 add default gw 2008:EEFF:10:1::ffff

If you want to use the IP command to add your address or your ip you have to use those command :

Add address :

#ip -f inet6 addr add 2008:EEFF:10:1::1000/64 dev eth0

Add Route :

#ip -f inet6 route add default via 2008:EEFF:10:1::ffff::ffff

With this manual configuration you can ping your IPV6 network like that :

#ping6 2008:EEFF:10:1::1001
PING 2008:EEFF:10:1::1001(2008:eeff:10:1::1001) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2008:eeff:10:1::1001: icmp_seq=0 ttl=64 time=0.38 ms
64 bytes from 2008:eeff:10:1::1001: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.32 ms
64 bytes from 2008:eeff:10:1::1001: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.39 ms

--- 2008:EEFF:10:1::1001 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.032/0.036/0.039/0.005 ms, pipe 2

Tunnel Configuration

To create a configured tunnel, you must have an interface named sitx (X>1) and you have to edit a file like this /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-sit1 to create an IPV6 to IPV4 tunnel. The ipV4 address must be the ip address of the extremity of the tunnel.

Example:

DEVICE="sit1"
BOOTPROTO="none"
ONBOOT="yes"
IPV6INIT="yes"
IPV6TUNNELIPv4="192.168.5.3"

The tunnel is without IPv6 address and in this case, you have to configure the routing to use it.

Example of the file : /etc/sysconfig/static-routes-ipv6

sit1 2008::/3

Security on IPV6

For the security of your server, you need to have a firewall and redhat, centos and fedora core proposed iptables. Please install this package.

#yum install iptables

Please check if this file is present :

#/etc/sysconfig/ip6tables-config

Example of rule :

#ip6tables -A INPUT -i lo -j ACCEPT

#ip6tables -A OUTPUT -o lo -j ACCEPT

After the creation of the rules please check this file /etc/sysconfig/ip6tables

#cat /etc/sysconfig/ip6tables
# Generated by ip6tables-save v1.3.5 on Sat Mar 15 23:14:33 2008
*filter
:INPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
:FORWARD ACCEPT [0:0]
:OUTPUT ACCEPT [0:0]
-A INPUT -s ::/0 -d ::/0 -i lo -j ACCEPT
-A OUTPUT -s ::/0 -d ::/0 -o lo -j ACCEPT
COMMIT

Tips & Tools

List of command Line for ipv6 debugging :

ping6

traceroute6

ip6tables

tracepath6