Nginx: Configure and Install With IPv6 Networking Support

How do I configure IPv6 networking under nginx? How do I assign and use an IPv6 address under nginx web server? How do I enable IPv6 Support in nginx?

You can easily configure IPv6 under nginx as follows. First, make sure IPv6 networking is working properly. See IPv6 CentOS / RHEL, FreeBSD, Debian / Ubuntu Linux, and Novell Suse/OpenSUSE Linux network configuration for more info.

How To Set Up Nginx with HTTP/2, SSL and IPv6+IPv4 Support on Linux or Unix

Compile Nginx With IPv6 Support

You need to pass the –with-ipv6 option to configure command. Type the following command to compile it, enter (this is default on the latest version so you can skip this step):
# cd /path/to/nginx-src-code/
# ./configure --without-http_autoindex_module --without-http_userid_module \
--without-http_auth_basic_module --without-http_geo_module \
--without-http_fastcgi_module --without-http_empty_gif_module \
--with-poll_module --with-http_stub_status_module \
--with-http_ssl_module --with-ipv6
# make install

Verify IPv6 support in nginx

Verify the IPv6 support in nginx web server with the following command:
# /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -V
OR
# nginx -V

nginx version: nginx/0.8.46
built by gcc 4.1.2 20080704 (Red Hat 4.1.2-48)
TLS SNI support disabled
configure arguments: --without-http_autoindex_module --without-http_userid_module --without-http_auth_basic_module --without-http_geo_module --without-http_fastcgi_module --without-http_empty_gif_module --with-poll_module --with-http_stub_status_module --with-http_ssl_module --with-ipv6

OR a simple short command:
# nginx -V 2>&1 >/dev/null | grep --color -o with-ipv6
Sample outputs:

with-ipv6

How do I enable IPv6 Support in nginx?

Make sure you pass options as per your setup. Please note that all IPv6 addresses are specified in square brackets.

Edit configuration file

Edit /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf or /etc/nginx/nginx.conf, enter:
# vi /usr/local/nginx/conf/nginx.conf
Make sure listen directive is updated as follows (this must be placed between server { … } directives ) :

# listen to all IPv4 and IPv6 interfaces for port 80
# IPv4
listen :80;
# IPv6
listen [::]:80;

In one line listen to both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses:

listen [::]:80;

Do not listen on IPv4 but only on IPv6:

listen [::]:443 default ipv6only=on;
listen [::]:80 default ipv6only=on;

How to configure nginx with HTTP/2+SSL and IPv6/IPv4 support?

The syntax is:

        # port 443 IPv4 with http2 and ssl
        listen 443 ssl http2;
        # port 443 IPv6 with http2 and ssl
        listen [::]:443 ssl http2;
        # port 80 IPv4
        listen *:80;
        listen [::]:80;
        # my server name :)
        server_name www.cyberciti.biz;

Reload nginx server

Reload and restart nginx configuration, enter:
# /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -t && /usr/local/nginx/sbin/nginx -s reload
OR
# nginx -t && nginx -s reload
OR
# systemctl reload nginx

How do I listen only on 2607:f0d0:1002:59::2 IPv6 address?

Edit config file as follows:
listen listen [2607:f0d0:1002:59::2]:80;

How Do I verify that both IPv6 and IPv4 are working?

Use the netstat command to verify ip binding:
# netstat -tulpna | grep nginx
Sample outputs:

tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:80                  0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      33094/nginx         
tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:443                 0.0.0.0:*                   LISTEN      33094/nginx         
tcp        0      0 :::80                       :::*                        LISTEN      33094/nginx 
tcp6       0      0 :::443                      :::*                        LISTEN      33094/nginx 

The line tcp6 indicates that my nginx is listing on IPv6. You can also use the wget command or a web browser to verify the same:
$ wget http://[2607:f0d0:1002:59::2]/
Please note that you need to update your DNS and set AAAA type of record of IPv6.