IPv6 Buzz

Today our hosts discuss the essential role of Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC) in successfully deploying an IPv6-mostly network. SLAAC is required to assign a unique IPv6 address to the Customer-side Translator (CLAT), which allows devices to operate on IPv6. However, enterprise operators might prefer using DHCPv6 for network tracking and accountability, potentially trapping them in... Read more »

One of the early design principles of the Internet was end-to-end connectivity: that is, every device on the Internet would be publicly addressable, and every device could share its resources or provide services. That design principle wasn’t achieved with IPv4 for a variety of reasons (including address scarcity, and many network owners not wanting endpoints... Read more »

If you’re looking for a network automation project but you’re worried about breaking stuff, why not build your automation adventure around IPv6? If your production traffic runs on IPv4, you can experiment with automated configurations and changes using IPv6 without negatively impacting that v4 traffic. You can get a two-for one experience learning both IPv6... Read more »

Ed, Nick, and Tom discuss the need for Network Address Translation v6 to v6 (NAT66). While Network Prefix Translation (NPTv6) exists, its limitations make it insufficient for real-world business needs. They also highlight that without a standardized NAT66, the market is forcing vendors to implement their own, hindering widespread IPv6 adoption. Episode Links: IPv6-to-IPv6 Network... Read more »

Are you struggling to get IPv6 working, whether in a lab or even a pilot deployment? Ed, Nick, and Tom walk through the essentials of IPv6 troubleshooting, revealing the non-negotiable differences between IPv4 and IPv6 that can trip up even experienced network engineers. They break down why blocking all ICMP, like in v4, will instantly... Read more »

Thinking of setting up an IPv6 lab this year? Our hosts dive into a major update on building and testing modern IPv6 networks, focusing on the game-changing “IPv6-mostly” architecture. They break down the essential components you need to get this working, including DHCP Option 108 and the nitty gritty of client support. In this episode,... Read more »

Will Microsoft’s CLAT bring widespread adoption rates for IPv6? Will there be significant advancements in corporate and cloud adoption as well? Will this finally be the year we see the fix for the RFC 6724? Ed Horley, Tom Coffeen, and Nick Buraglio make their predictions for the new year in the first IPv6 Buzz of... Read more »

Kubernetes is a popular container orchestration platform. Today’s IPv6 Buzz episode explores the benefits of using IPv6 in Kubernetes, and how Kubernetes uses IP addresses in both the control plane and data plane.We also address why the adoption rate is estimated to be so low, from default configurations to issues with non-IPv6-aware applications inside containers.... Read more »

The newly published RFC 9898 is the discussion of today’s podcast. The IPv6 Buzz crew explore the complexities of neighbor discovery and review solutions for both operators and architects. They share how this RFC serves as a single, detailed resource to improve your understanding of neighbor discovery and to reduce the potential attack surface in... Read more »

What does it take for an entire country to adopt IPv6? Our guest today is Tenanoia (Noia) Simona, CEO of Tuvalu Telecommunications Corporation, the country’s sole telecommunications provider. She’s here to walk us through the difficulties of connecting the many islands of Tuvalu and their journey to achieving one of the world’s highest IPv6 adoption... Read more »

Today the IPv6 Buzz crew provides updates on the latest in IPv6 standards, RFCs, and best practices. They break down the recent discussions around RFC 6052, explore the options for RFC 8215, and share Nick’s spin on the now defunct testipv6.com site. Episode Links: RFC 6052 RFC 8215 RFC 6598 IPv6.army

RFC 9872 makes recommendations for NAT64 prefix discovery for hosts supporting v4-to-v6 translation. Co-host Nick Buralgio is a co-author of this RFC, so we’re taking the opportunity to talk about it in detail. We discuss the problems RFC 9872 is addressing and why a new RFC was needed for operational guidance, not necessarily defining a... Read more »

Sometimes weirdness occurs within DNS if you’re on an IPv4 network and you connect to a dual-stack or v6-only VPN. Maybe the browser doesn’t connect, but you can still send pings, or vice versa. Is the OS getting confused about which stack and which order of interfaces to request services? Is the weird behavior being... Read more »

We’re diving into another IPv6 Basics today with the topic of dual-stack, which means running the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks simultaneously. We get many questions about the implications of running dual-stack, and in this episode we’ll provide answers. We start by getting a little finicky about the definition of dual-stack, and then talk about... Read more »

Today we talk about measuring IPv6 and IPv6 statistics. We talk about why it’s useful to measure IPv6, how to track v6 deployment initiatives, and tools to help with your measurements. Episode Links: Google IPv6 – Google IPv6 Global Statistics Dashboard IPv6 Enabled – Hexabuild Episode Transcript: This episode was transcribed by AI and lightly... Read more »

Transitioning from IPv4 to IPv6, or at least IPv6-mostly, is no easy task. Today’s show provides some education and advice about IPv6 transition mechanisms. We cover options such as NAT64, DNS64, PREF64, and more, as well as use cases. Also, if your technology vendors aren’t offering some of these mechanisms, ask for them – you’re... Read more »

You’ve sent in questions and on today’s IPv6 Buzz episode Ed, Nick, and Tom answer them. Questions include using DHCPv6 versus SLAAC in a home network, IPv6 and email services, a NAT66 recap, and more. Stay tuned for full episodes coming up that cover Path MTU discovery and IPv6 and containers. Episode Links: Google IPv6... Read more »

We’re continuing our IPv6 Basics series discussing on this episode deployment. We’ll help you sort out why you should deploy IPv6, things to consider before starting a deployment, and what approach you should take such as “inside out” vs. “outside in” and when you should deploy IPv6. Lastly we explain why you should seek out... Read more »

Let’s talk about common misconceptions regarding DNS and IPv6. We’ve heard these often enough that we felt we should talk through each one. We cover issues including what kind of DNS record types can be returned via IPv6 (and IPv4, too), more details on what really goes on with Happy Eyeballs, and combining A/AAAA records... Read more »

Today’s show is in memory of Fred Baker, who passed away on June 18, 2025. Fred was a pivotal figure in the IPv6 community. He was the long-time chair of the v6ops working group, and had a distinguished career at Cisco as a Technical Fellow. To honor Fred and his contributions, we’re sharing our interview... Read more »

The Hexabuild team is providing a new community resource, an IPv6 compatibility checker, for those trying to figure out IPv6 network hardware and software compatibility. It’s currently in an alpha version. We talk about what inspired it, what it does, and possible future updates. We also want to get your feedback on whether this is... Read more »

Let’s chat about point-to-point links. On today’s episode we cover what should and shouldn’t be done, and discuss why following RFC’s doesn’t always get you to the right place. We dig into questions including: Don’t we just use link-local addresses for point-to-points? Shouldn’t we assign a /127, just like we do a /31 in IPv4?... Read more »

Our IPv6 Basics series continues with link-local addresses. Link-local addresses are unicast addresses used for addressing on a single link. The intent of link-local addresses is to let devices that may not have a router or global unicast address allocation mechanism still be able to communicate on a network segment. On today’s show we dig... Read more »

Today we talk with Tommy Jensen, a Senior Technical PM Strategist at Microsoft, about IPv6 support in Windows. Tommy shares what he hears from enterprises that are moving toward IPv6-mostly, strategies for dealing with older applications and devices that expect IPv4, and how the customer conversations he’s having about IPv6 now are more engaged and... Read more »

What if there was an simple way to test software and services to see if they work in a variety of IPv6 environments, including v6-only, dual-stack, and others? That’s the goal of the IPv6 Test Pod Project. This project provides a device, at no cost to the applicant, that comes with a variety of v6... Read more »

On today’s episode we’re doing some follow up on listener comments and questions that have come in via the Follow Up on packetpushers.net. We cover questions regarding IPv6 for small businesses, then go even smaller and answer a question about IPv6 for home networks. Lastly, we have a quick discussion about Path MTU discovery with... Read more »

Our ongoing IPv6 Basics series continues with an episode on v6 routing essentials. We start with a comparison of various routing protocols: RIP, OSPF, IS-IS, EGP, and BGP. We look at pros and cons of each, and discuss challenges such as dual stack IPv4 and IPv6 network implementation, memory and resource use with IPv6, and... Read more »

In this episode of the IPv6 Buzz, we dive into two RFCs for discovering IPv6 prefixes: 7050 and 8781. Why these two? First, 8781 is being proposed as preferential to 7050. Second, co-host Nick Buraglio is an author on 8781 and has insights to share. We start with some background on RFC 7050, including the... Read more »

IPv6 Buzz welcomes back Veronika McKillop, the founder and President of the UK IPv6 Council, to talk about the council’s formation and achievements in the past ten years. We look at IPv6 adoption in the UK and its challenges, and what the future holds for IPv6. Veronika highlights the need for improved IPv6 education in... Read more »

Want to know how an IPv6-only wireless network was deployed at a conference with 18,000 attendees? Join us as we talk through the technical details with Tom Costello, a senior network engineer at Argonne National Laboratory. Tom volunteers at the International Conference for High Performance Computing, Networking, Storage and Analysis (SC for short) to help... Read more »

IPv6 adoption should cross 50% in 2025. In today’s podcast, we discuss the implications and significance of IPv6 adoption reaching this milestone. While this transition might not be visible to average users, it does impact IT professionals. We explore varying adoption rates across industries, and talk about compliance requirements will soon necessitate IPv6. We also... Read more »

In this end of-the-year episode of IPv6 Buzz, we review the significant developments in IPv6 throughout 2024 and share projections for 2025. We discuss the introduction of a new documentation prefix, analyze IPv6 usage statistics, and review No NAT November. For 2025, we explore the possibilities of updates to RFC 6724 and global adoption of... Read more »

Continuing the IPv6 Basics series, today’s podcast addresses IPv6 address planning. Special “guest” Tom Coffeen who literally wrote the book, IPv6 Address Planning, helps answer questions and gives advice on how to effectively plan IPv6 addresses. We discuss topics such as the importance of long-term planning and understanding prefix sizes, common design pitfalls, and the... Read more »

When you start fresh with IPv6, you have a lot to gain in terms of routing, reputation and security. Today’s show focuses on the differences between provider-assigned (PA) and provider-independent (PI) address spaces. The team discusses the benefits of PI space and the clean slate it offers for address reputation and security. As always, strategic... Read more »

If you’re going to use DHCPv6, you have options, but there are some things you need to know in order to be able to build out your DHCPv6 configuration properly. Today’s IPv6 Buzz explores similarities and differences between DHCP and DHCPv6, particularly the operational model. And as always, you’ll want to verify and test before... Read more »

IPv6 address provisioning is the topic of this latest installment of the IPv6 Basics series. The hosts focus on Stateless Address Auto Configuration (SLAAC) and Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6 (DHCPv6). The differences between SLAAC and DHCPv6 are explained, including their use cases, the complexities of address management, and the importance of understanding... Read more »

In this episode we discuss the complexities of deploying IPv6 on a compressed timeline. We cover the need for careful planning, training, and understanding the protocol’s nuances. The conversation looks at the risks of delaying deployment, the benefits of incremental implementation, and the global momentum towards IPv6 adoption. Misconceptions about IPv6 are addressed, stressing that... Read more »

IPv6 Buzz welcomes back Nick Buraglio, a frequent guest, to discuss RFC 9637. We get into the details of RFC 9637, which describes the new documentation prefix space for IPv6. We also explore the process of how RFCs go from idea to standard in the IETF. (Cue the “I’m Just a Bill” song from Schoolhouse... Read more »

Our series on IPv6 basics continues with Router Advertisements (RAs) within the Neighbor Discovery Protocol. We look at how hosts bootstrap onto a network using ICMPv6, discuss the timing of sending out an RA, and then cover the configuration of RAs, including key flags and options. We also talk about the importance of understanding the... Read more »

The move from IPv4 to IPv6 is not straightforward. In a world where use cases for both protocols exist, there needs to be some sort of transition. Dual stack is one option but “IPv6 mostly” is another. On today’s show, guest Ondřej Caletka from RIPE NCC explores transitioning to an IPv6-centric network while retaining IPv4... Read more »

Nathan Sherrard shares insights from his Cisco Live US sessions on today’s show. We discuss the current state of IPv6 adoption, adoption challenges, and the strategic importance of transitioning to IPv6. Nathan rounds out the show with IPv6 topics worth keeping an eye on. Episode Guest: Nathan Sherrard, Sales Engineer, Cisco Nathan Sherrard is a... Read more »

RFC 9099 addresses security considerations for operating IPv6 networks, including issues such as address allocation and architecture, security considerations for DHCPv6 and DNS64, and more. Two of the RFC’s co-authors, Merike Kaeo and Eric Vyncke, join the IPv6 Buzz team to talk about the motivations for and challenges of creating RFC 9099. Episode Guests: Merike... Read more »

What are the operational considerations and differences between DHCP and DHCPv6? In today’s episode we explore the implications for network management, security, and operational models. We also discuss the challenges of DHCPv6 failover, high availability, complex device tracking and identity management in various environments. Episode Links: Scott’s Infoblox IPv6 CoE blog post Introducing DHCPv6 Prefix... Read more »

Imagine a world with no broadcast storms, basically no DAD issues, not even ARP and reverse ARP. That is the world of IPv6 neighbor discovery. In today’s episode, we teach you the simplicity of IPv6 neighbor discovery: just native Layer 3 addresses, ICMPv6, and multicast. If you’ve ever been annoyed at a guy hopping on... Read more »

If you don’t blame “destination unreachable” messages on DNS servers, are you even a real network engineer? All joking aside, Johannes Weber joins the show today to teach us how to use ICMPv6 to troubleshoot network issues, pinpointing if the problem is within your network or outside of it. He walks us through identifying possible... Read more »