You need to simply edit /etc/network/interfaces file and add the IPv6 networking configuration. Here is our sample setup:
- Ipv6 Address IP: 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0010/64
- Ipv6 Gateway IP: 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0001
- Interface name: eth0
- IPv6 Type: Static
Adding IPv6 To Ubuntu Systems
Open /etc/network/interfaces file, enter (first login as root):
$ sudo -s
Make a backup and edit the file:
# cp /etc/network/interfaces /etc/network/interfaces.backup
# vi /etc/network/interfaces
Append configuration as follows:
### Start IPV6 static configuration iface eth0 inet6 static address 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0010 netmask 64 gateway 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0001 ### END IPV6 configuration
Save and close the file. You can reboot the server or restart networking (Ubuntu server without systemd) service:
# /etc/init.d/networking restart
If you are using systemd (Ubuntu Linux 16.04 LTS server and above), enter:
# systemctl restart networking
Test IPv6 Configuration
To see your IPv6 address, enter:
# ifconfig eth0
# ip -6 address show eth0
Display kernel IPv6 routing table:
# netstat -nr -6
Ping to ipv6 enabled site such as cyberciti.biz (or ipv6.google.com):
# ping6 cyberciti.biz
Sample Output
PING cyberciti.biz(www.cyberciti.biz) 56 data bytes 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=1 ttl=60 time=65.3 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=2 ttl=60 time=64.2 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=3 ttl=60 time=63.9 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=4 ttl=60 time=63.9 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=5 ttl=60 time=64.1 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=6 ttl=60 time=64.0 ms 64 bytes from www.cyberciti.biz: icmp_seq=7 ttl=60 time=64.0 ms
You can also run a traceroute:
# traceroute6 cyberciti.biz
Sample Output:
traceroute to cyberciti.biz (2607:f0d0:1002:11::4), 30 hops max, 40 byte packets 1 ivp6gw.rose.simplyguide.org (2607:f0d0:2001:a::1) 0.739 ms 0.847 ms 0.962 ms 2 2607.f0d0.2000.0001.0000.0000.0000.0005-static.v6reverse.softlayer.com (2607:f0d0:2000:1::5) 1.079 ms 1.197 ms 1.313 ms 3 2607.f0d0.1000.0001.0000.0000.0000.0105-static.v6reverse.softlayer.com (2607:f0d0:1000:1::105) 64.457 ms 64.575 ms 64.691 ms 4 2607.f0d0.1000.0001.0000.0000.0000.0056-static.v6reverse.softlayer.com (2607:f0d0:1000:1::56) 64.810 ms 64.925 ms 65.045 ms 5 www.cyberciti.biz (2607:f0d0:1002:11::4) 67.486 ms 67.604 ms 67.719 ms
A note about IPv6 based DNS server
Edit /etc/network/interface file using a text editor and add the following line:
dns-nameservers 2001:4860:4860::8888 2001:4860:4860::8844
The Google Public DNS IPv6 addresses are used in above config file. Here is my complete listing:
Fig.01 Enable IPv6 for Ubuntu Server
Further Readings:
- See sample IPv6 Firewall Script for Linux iptables.
🐧 5 comments so far... add one ↓
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instead of typing
### Start IPV6 static configuration
useiface eth0 inet6 static
pre-up modprobe ipv6
address 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0010
netmask 64
gateway 2607:f0d0:2001:000a:0000:0000:0000:0001
### END IPV6 configuration
### Start IPV6 static configurationiface eth0 inet6 static
pre-up modprobe ipv6
address 2607:f0d0:2001:a::10
netmask 64
gateway 2607:f0d0:2001:a::1
### END IPV6 configuration
hi, after following your tutorial, this is the output that I get when I restart networking
*Reconfiguring network interfaces…
FATAL: Module ipv6 not found.
Failed to bring up eth0. [OK]
IPv4 still works fine but not v6. I have been able to add and use an IPv6 address with the ifconfig command. Also when do “lsmod | grep ip” – nothing with IPv6 is displayed. Any idea what the problem is? Using Ubuntu 9.10 Server
IPv6 module is already built-in to kernel, no need to use modprobe ipv6 command on Ubuntu 10 anymore (probably since version 9)
I was getting the error “SIOCADDRT: File exists” when I tried to do a ‘networking restart’. Had to reboot the box for it to enable the static IPv6 address.
please let me know, what is the configutration for dhcp ?