Time Capsule and IPv6.

I think this is very dependent on your internet service provider. Some ISPs have rolled out pilot programs for a small portion of subscribers, but most do not support IPv6 natively yet.

I have FiOS, and I know they do not yet support direct IPv6 except for a few testers.

When IPv6 is directly available from your ISP, you should be able to set the TC as a host or router and automatically have the TC cobble its IPv6 address (equivalent to DHCP, but cooperative). Apple software for access points and Mac OS X and iOS devices has supported this for a while, but the ISP infrastructure, for the most part, does not yet.

Do you have the TC set as a host or a router? Make sure it's not link-local only. (Sorry -- you probably checked this first thing, but I'm just making sure.) In Airport Utility>Advanced>IPv6>IPv6 mode should probably be router if you want every device on your network to be a true external node. Make sure you have good firewalls enabled for all your computers.

Who is your ISP? It would seem that -- while they might have glitches OUTSIDE their network because people haven't converted yet -- they should be using autoconfigure in a standard way and the TC ought to respond to that.

I'm sure Apple would like feedback (apple.com>Contact Us>Website Feedback>Product Feedback) because they've been trying to be out and ahead with IPv6 for quite some time now.

I am not certain. Given that Apple has been trying to lead in IPv6 (having Mac OS X IPv6 ready quite some time ago, and iOS ready not too long after the iPhone debuted), I would suspect autoconfiguration should be built in (as you describe, not by DHCP but by the IPv6 protocol of combining an IP-given prefix with a router-generated suffix).

Thanks. Very interesting.

Yes - was finaly able to get this to work after the last firmware upgrade.

Works with Mac, iPad, iPhone and Android clients - but for some reason not yet with Win 7 clients (win 7 is for some reason not able to get a v6 address from the TC)

I'm sorry if this is a numpty question but are we saying that the TC is fully IPv6 compliant? I know that my ISP is not yet (Virgin Media in the UK) but I want to be sure that my TC will not be the limiting factor once they do pull their corporate fingers out.

I use their Modem/router (Superhub) simply as a modem and I understand that these will be able to use IPv6 even if they can't right now. The Superhub then passes everything through to the TC.

I am trying to get my head around this problem to see if it even a problem.

Yes, the Time Capsule is fully IPv6 compliant and can be set to be a host, router, tunnel, or link-local only device. As long as you have your other router fully bridged, so the Time Capsule is doing all the address assignment work (sort of like DHCP, but IPv6 works differently by handing out a prefix and letting devices assign the rest of their address themselves), you should be good to go as soon as your ISP fully supports IPv6.

Depending on their rollout, you may have to tunnel, or you may be able to be a router with your ISP doing address assignments. Remember, ideally with IPv6, everyone is directly on the net and accessible directly from every other address without the need for network address translation, but devices must have good firewalls.

Linda.

Thanks so much for that. I guess that I will have to check that the Virgin modem/router settings are right. It would all be very much simpler if they would just issue modems to those who wanted them rather than having to do all this bridging stuff. I would like to be sure that my system is setup as you suggest but I can't be sure.

I would be glad of any help checking that I am set up correctly. Does this forum allow any sort of PM or email?

ernie

If you have general questions, we will all be happy to help. Generally it's best to ask in the open because others benefit from the discussion.

Right now, unless you are working as an IT specialist doing IPv6 rollout, it might be best to just wait until you hear more from your Internet provider. Pretty much no one has switched yet.

Take care.

Thanks Linda.

I just don't want to be left in the dark or told a bunch of lies by my ISP so that they can keep doing nothing. I will take your advice and sit on my hands for a while.

Ernie.

It's a chicken-and-egg thing. Sites won't go IPv6 until ISPs provide the right infrastructure, and ISPs won't provide the right infrastructure until forced to because some sites are IPv6 only.

I think you'll see a lot more action on this in the next two years now that the main pool of IPv4 address is exhausted.

Truly, today, though, essentially nothing on the net publicly is IPv6. I actually hooked up with Hurricane Electric's free tunnel and had IPv6 working at my house for a short time (yes, through my Time Capsule -- worked fine), and I had lots of trouble finding anything to surf. Yes, Google and a few other sites have IPv6 sites, but they really are essentially no different than IPv4, or else they are specific sites just meant to test IPv6 (no real content). So, at least as of today, you're not missing anything.

Very few US ISPs have IPv6. Most are just in the beginning of tests with a few select customers. This is going to change over the next few years.

It isn't as simple as just flipping a switch, because as I mentioned, every computer becomes a fully addressable node on IPv6, and DHCP goes away, to be replaced mostly with a protocol where your ISP gives you a prefix, and your equipment appends a long suffix. Those two together uniquely identify your computer and can be found from ANYWHERE on internet. That means the routing protocols have to track a phenomenally larger number of routes than they did before, or (in practice) they have to hand off the job to routers down the line. The whole addressing scheme works differently and it will take some time for the ISP equipment to be fully compliant.

Linda . I am confused 😉 - On my TC I only see local, host and tunnel as options, no router.

I have native dual stack on the wan link and a /48 routed from the PE towards me and and the TC replies to ping from the PE.

How do I find the router option? Is it only supported on newer TC's- mine is some years old, but up to date with firmware according to airport utilities.