IPv6 Intelligence

IPv6 Software

Independent (stand-alone) software packages which implement subprotocols or features of IPv6 and are not (necessarily) distributed with or bundled into a base operating system. Support for the operating systems varies and sometimes only a small subset or single system is supported.

DHCPv6

As most operating systems do not include software for proper DHCPv6 support into the base system, third-party software supplies this functionality for both Linux/BSD and Windows systems.

Table 1: DHCPv6 software packages and features
Software Platforms DHCPv6 Functions Options
Cisco IOS DHCPv6 Cisco IOS Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP
Prefix Delegation
Relay IDs
Lifetime
Dibbler DHCPv6 Linux, Windows Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP
Prefix delegation
FQDN
Lifetime
Leasequery
Timezone
AAKey
HP-UX DHCPv6 HP-UX Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS, NIS, SIP
ISC DHCP DHCPv6 Linux, BSD, Solaris Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP, BCMCS
Prefix Delegation
Relay IDs
FQDN
Lifetime
Linux DHCPv6
(Obsolete)
Linux Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS
Prefix delegation
Lifetime
Solaris DHCPv6 Solaris Stateful Client DNS
WIDE DHCPv6 Linux, BSD Stateful
Stateless
Server, Client, Relay DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP, BCMCS
Prefix delegation
Lifetime
Windows 7 Windows 7 Stateful
Stateless
Client DNS, FQDN?
Lifetime
Windows Server 2008 Windows Server 2008 Stateful
Stateless
Client
Server
DNS, NIS, SIP, NTP
Lifetime
User class
Windows Vista Windows Vista Stateful
Stateless
Client DNS, FQDN?
(Prefix delegation)

Source: own research. Data from April 2009.

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Firewalls

Most operating systems include IPv6-capable firewall/packet filters, which mostly just extend the existing IPv4 firewall to include filtering of IPv6 packets. Some add more options, such as ICMPv6 filtering and other IPv6 specialities.

Table 2: Firewall software features
Platform Product State Integrated
Cisco IOS ACL Stateful yes
FreeBSD ipfw
pf
ipf
Stateful
Stateful
Stateful
yes
yes
yes
HP-UX 11i ipf Stateful yes
Linux netfilter Stateful (since 2.6.20)
Stateless (before)
yes
Mac OS X ipfw Stateful yes
NetBSD pf
ipf
Stateful
Stateful
yes
yes
OpenBSD pf Stateful yes
Solaris ipf Stateful yes
Windows XP Windows Firewall Stateful yes (SP2)
Windows Vista Windows Firewall Stateful yes
Windows 7 Windows Firewall probably probably

Source: Partially taken from Status of Open Source and commercial IPv6 firewall implementations (Peter Bieringer: September 2007. Accessed May 2009) and own research (data from May 2009)

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Stand-alone IPv6 stacks

IPv6 support for the open source operating systems is based mainly on two separate open source projects from Japan — KAME for BSD (and Apple) and USAGI for Linux.

KAME

While software from the KAME project is used as IPv6 stacks in the BSD operating systems and as software packages for IPv6 subprotocols (DHCPv6, Mobile IP), KAME also provides the so-called Snapshots (KAME-snap). These contain the complete IPv6 functionality from KAME at the latest development stage and have to be manually integrated in the target operating system.

This applies to FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD — for all three systems it is necessary to modify the operating system source (kernel and network programs) with source from the KAME-snaps. The result is a system with a more advanced IPv6 stack than its default installation; however, this configuration is probably not supported by the OS vendors.

USAGI

The Universal Playground for IPv6 Project (USAGI) provides the IPv6 code for the Linux kernel. Development is independent of the main kernel development, IPv6 functionality is taken from USAGI and integrated into the baseline kernel on certain releases.

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Mobile IP

Support for IPv6 Mobility is still under development, similar to the protocol(s) itself. No popular operating system (besides the two Unixes IBM AIX and as of recently HP HP-UX) includes Mobile IPv6 software in the base installation. However, several stand-alone implementations exits for various platforms, which will may be discussed here (however Mobile IPv6 is quite complex): SHISA (BSD), Mobile IPv6 for Linux (MIPL), HP-UX Mobile IPv6, Cisco IOS IPv6 Mobility.

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Tunnelling

Several of the newer tunnelling mechanisms are not integrated into most of the current operating systems. Some of these protocols are provided by independent projects as add-on software for different operating systems. A thorough research has not yet been made — however, a list and possibly more details will be added in the future. Possible entries: ISATAP, Teredo.

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