IPv6 Settings in AirPort Utility 6.0. Where are they?

They are gone in the "new and improved" 6.0, it would appear.

You need to download AU 5.6 for IPv6 and other "advanced" configurations.

http://support.apple.com/kb/DL1482

6.0 is beyond horrible.

Yeah, I don't get it. I can understand them releasing a utility that is simplified for novices but why not just call it AirPort Utility Lite or just add an 'Advanced' mode in v6.0. What's the point of now having to maintain two different utilities.

Gino Cerullo wrote:

Yeah, I don't get it. I can understand them releasing a utility that is simplified for novices but why not just call it AirPort Utility Lite or just add an 'Advanced' mode in v6.0. What's the point of now having to maintain two different utilities.

"Simplified for novices," appears to be the Apple philosophy these days. The same thing was done in the leap from Snow Leopard Server to Lion Server, advanced configuration settings were removed from the server management tools. I guess Apple believes that you shouldn't be doing anything if you don't know what you're doing. If you do know what you're doing, don't look to Apple to provide the tools you need.

Worst update ever. I am glad others are very annoyed by the removal of the "advanced" features.

I tried some key combos thinking they hide it, but alas nothing turns up working for me. Although I did figure out how to make it pop up as a new window for editing rather than a pull down. I think I held the option key and clicked edit to do that.

I made a guess, but I left feedback on the Airport extreme feedback. http://www.apple.com/feedback/airportextreme.html

I use IPv6 in my network and the loss of the ability to configure the IPv6 settings in an AirPort is very anoying. I have an older AirPort and wal thinking of upgrading but this IPv6 issue is making me think of replacing it with somehting non-Apple.

In general I find the IPv6 support in OS X falling behind. Both Linux and Windows support DHCPv6 but OS X doesn't. And don't tell me that DHCPv6 is not needed because of IPv6 auto-config.

Listen, you can go out and buy whatever you want but if you don't understand the concept of downloading AirPort Utility 5.6 to access all the configuration options of the previous version, including IPv6 configuration, then you are mighty dense.

AirPort Utility v6 is a re-write of the software from the ground up. It is not currently complete but was released early. You don't have to use it if you don't want to. You can wait until it has been updated to include all the features you are used to.

As for DHCPv6, you need to understand that IPv6 was designed without DHCP in mind precisely because every host can have static IP address and that address was configured automatically. What purpose does DHCP serve in such an environment?

The original purpose of DHCP was two fold. For administrators on a LAN it meant that they could push out IP addresses from a central server making their life easier because they did not need to go around to each machine and configure a static IP address. For ISPs it addressed the shortage of IP addresses since computers could share in a poor of IP addresses that was smaller than the number of computers that needed them. NAT was added later to further address the dwindling pool of available addresses.

For the end user, DHCP is a headache. It means that their IP address remains dynamic and can, and probably will, continue to change between re-starts. Why is this bad? It means that if I want to directly access servers on my LAN from the WAN I can't because the IP address can change at any time. It means that people will continue to need kludgy work-around services like DynDNS to correct the wrong-headed decision to implement DHCP.

Please tell me why you think DHCP is still needed in a world with auto-config and static IPs. I'd like to hear your thoughts on the matter. Maybe I'm missing something. I suppose you are also in favour of re-introducing another legacy kludge in the form of NATv6.

I use IPv6 in my network and the loss of the ability to configure the IPv6 settings in an AirPort is very anoying.

Suggest that you download and install AirPort Utility 5.6 for Mac OS X Lion and use it to configure all of your Apple devices.

Leave AirPort Utility 6.0 on your Mac (You cannot delete it)

Lets stop being so condescending. I understand very well how to download a "old" utility and use it, I have already done it. I am trying to point out that when a vendor provides an automatic update to an application or utility removing a big portion of its functionality is a bad move. I have no issue with a company rewriting an application to utility from scratch but I have an issue when they release a new version with many features removed. Look at the response to Apple's release of Final Cut Pro X and OS X Lion Server.

Currently the stateless auto-config mechanisms don't do much more than give you an IP address on an interface and allow it to communicate on the network. If there are any other pieces of info that you want to hand out to the client the IPv6 mechanisms are either limited or nonexistent like supplying the hosts DNS Domain and DNS servers. I realize that the intent is for the IPv6 auto-config mechanisms will eventually cover many of these things but I do not see it being viable for a long time. So in the interim there needs to be another solution if IPv6 is to be a technology that will be used in Enterprise environments.

Auto config works well in an environment where the client decides what "static" IP is used but the actual address doesn't really matter. Having a client auto-configure its address can make it difficult from a Firewall rule perspective. There are no solutions that I have seen for setting up firewall access rules that are based on anything IPv6 host specific other than IP/MAC. Until there is stateless auto-config is of limited use in many situations.

Why are you including NAT in with DHCP? They are different solutions and you can use DHCP without NAT and NAT can be used without DHCP.

NAT allows systems to communicate with systems outside their network without reveling their IP address or requiring them to have a routable address. By the proper use of IPv6 Link local, site local and global addresses there is little need for NAT anymore but I doubt that need for it will go away any time soon but that is a completely different topic.

DHCP has nothing to do with accessibility of addresses from the internet. Residential ISPs use DHCP to keep from having to manually configure the client devices and to help manage available addresses. Their primary goal is to allow the home user access to the Internet not to allow you to access your home systems from the outside. To work around this without having to pay extra for a static address is why things like DynDNS was created. What real company that requires access to their systems has a dynamic IP address from their ISP?

For client devices I agree that the stateless auto-config in IPv6 is much better than a simple DHCP server used for just handing out IP addresses.

Other than in the Residential ISP addresses in DHCP implementations you have a lease time that allows clients to have the same IP address and the only reason that they would change is if they do not renew them within the lease time or a new device grabbed the address because of DHCP Pool Exhaustion. If you are getting IP addresses changing on you you either have an issue with the client renewing it lease, the DHCP server lease timeout is too short or the DHCP Pool is too small.

Once IPv6 stateless auto-configuration has matured and has most of the features that DHCP can provide then I completely agree that DHCP can be gotten rid of but until them it is still needed and should be supported.

I have already done that, it is still annoying that some major functionality was removed.

I have already done that, it is still annoying that some major functionality was removed.

If Apple hears from enough users, maybe they will get the idea. They will very likely not see your comments on a user forum.

Apple - AirPort Extreme - Feedback

I guess it depends on your perspective. I look at it as functionality that as not been added in yet. I guess I'm a 'glass half-full' type of guy. 😉

I understand the frustration with the software that was pushed out in the update not including functionality that you expect but I don't understand the irrational hand-wringing over it. They released a separate version in tandem that has all the functionality required in it. And no, it is not an 'old' version. The previous version was 5.5.3 the current version is 5.6.

I am sure other users like myself have left feedback. I agree with ClaCour though, Apple did a very poor move here by removing such needed functionality. The new interface is nice, but lacking those advanced features I need to configure is not a win win situation for me.

IPv6 is not the only thing removed. From a compare I see these features missing

• Can't set time automatically from a selected server
• Allow setup over wan using BonJour (or configure those options)
• Multicast Rate
• Transmit Power
• WPA Group key timeout
• Use Inteference robustness
• Set Radius on access control and configure it
• Ethernet Wan port speed
• Printers (unless it hides it when no printers detected)
• Share disks over internet using Bonjour
• Can't configure the workgroup or WINS
• Can't set any of the logging and stats stuff (including syslog destination address, log level, snmp, snmp over wan and community string)
• Can't view the logs and stats

I did a quick side by side compare and tried to locate everything that moved. Those are all the features in 5.6 that no longer exist in 6.0

To me it has nothing to do with half-full/half-empty. The "AirPort Utility" that is being presented as the new update doesn't have the functionality I have used before.

The description on the update says:

Use AirPort Utility to set up and manage your Wi-Fi network and AirPort base stations, including AirPort Express, AirPort Extreme, and Time Capsule. See a graphical overview of your Wi-Fi network and devices. Change base station and network settings, or manage advanced features such as security modes, wireless channels, and more.

There is nothing about a removal of features or a warning to advanced users to check a link with the details of the update. If you look at the link for the Download for AirPort Utility 5.6 it states:

If you are configuring or setting up a newer AirPort Base Stations that support 802.11n, you should use AirPort Utility 1.0 for iOS or AirPort Utility 6.0 for OS X Lion, or later.

I have a AirPort that supports 802.11n and based on this I should use the limited version.

The info available is basically missleading and confusing.

I don't see this as irrational hand wringing over it. Without people complaining Apple will not realise that they really need to add this functionality back and we could get left with a minimally functional utility.

Finally! Apple has added IPv6 support in the new AU 😀