IPv6 on Apple Airport Extreme/Time Capsule and OS X Client?

[alexkrishnan]

Hello,

I, like many on this forum, am completely new to the world of IPv6, so I apologize in advance for asking stupid questions :P. Since I am a resident of Fremont, CA and live less than a mile away from the main server, I thought Hurricane Electric's tunnelbroker would be perfect for me.

My goal for this topic is to gain the knowledge to create a step-by-step setup guide for Airport Extreme users for the HE tunnel complete with screenshots.

I am looking to set up an Apple Airport Extreme router running the latest firmware (7.4.2) for use with IPv6. I can access the IPv6 settings on my router by going to the Airport Utility>Manual Setup>Advanced>IPv6 and I am presented with 2 choices for the IPv6 mode:

1. Node, and
2. Tunnel

If I choose Node, the two fields that the router wants filled in are called "Local IPv6 Address:" and "Prefix Length:".
If I choose Tunnel, the 4 fields the router prompts me for are called "Remote IPv4 Address:", "Remote IPv6 Address:", "Local IPv6 Address:", and "LAN IPv6 Address:"

Which mode should I be choosing? And in that situation, which fields on the tunnelbroker.net Tunnel Details page map to which fields on the router settings page?

My ISP (The University of California) does not appear to support IPv6 "out of the box".

Thanks in advance for all your help, and even wild guesses are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
-Alex

[jimb]

1. Node, and
2. Tunnel

If I choose Node, the two fields that the router wants filled in are called "Local IPv6 Address:" and "Prefix Length:".
If I choose Tunnel, the 4 fields the router prompts me for are called "Remote IPv4 Address:", "Remote IPv6 Address:", "Local IPv6 Address:", and "LAN IPv6 Address:"

Which mode should I be choosing? And in that situation, which fields on the tunnelbroker.net Tunnel Details page map to which fields on the router settings page?

The tunnel option is what you'd use.  The following settings would correspond:

AirPort Setting	TunnelBroker Setting	Example	Notes
Remote IPv4 Address	Server IPv4 address	72.52.104.74	HE Fremont 2/Tunnel Server 3
Remote IPv6 Address	Server IPv6 address	2001:db8:1234:567::1/64	Assigned to you by HE
Local IPv6 Address	Client IPv6 address	2001:db8:1234:567::2/64	Assigned to you by HE
LAN IPv6 Address	Routed /64        or Routed /48* (/64 subnet of)	2001:db8:1235:567::1/64        or 2001:db8:8765::1/64 (from 2001:db8:8765::/48)	Assigned to you by HE                ... note difference from above

*If you need only a single LAN IPv6, the routed /64 it comes with will suffice.  If you have multiple LANs, you can request a Routed /48, which could then subnet into many (64k) /64 subnets.  For instance, you might use 2001:db8:8765::/64 on the LAN behind the AirPort, and 2001:db8:8765:1::/64 on a LAN on the other side of some other router on your LAN, etc.


If your AirPort has a public IPv4, then you're done and it should work.  If it's behind a firewall/NAT box, it'll have an RFC-1918 address (i.e. 192.168.0.x), and you'll have to make sure you set up a NAT for your public IPv4 to forward IPv4 protocol 41 (6in4) traffic to the AirPort's IPv4 address.  If your firewall doesn't allow forwarding of an IP protocol, you can use the DMZ function, or, it will probably also work if you simply rely on the NAT/connection table of your firewall to generate a nat/connection entry that will forward it to your AirPort.  However, in the last case you should generate IPv6 keepalive traffic so that the connection table entry doesn't time out.

If the AirPort provides Router Advertisement service, turning this on will cause your IPv6 capable hosts to autoconfigure an IPv6 address out of the routed /64 you configured as the LAN IPv6, and set the AirPort as IPv6 default gateway.  Otherwise you'd use DHCPv6, or manually assign your v6 addresses on your LAN hosts.

HTH

[gawul00]

Also, If you get your IPv4 WAN address dynamically (via DHCP or PPPoE), you cannot use the manual tunnel setup.  The Airport Extreme will accept the input into the listed fields, but will not establish the tunnel and will not assign the LAN IPv6 address, nor send out router advertisements on the local side.

[lethe]

Also, If you get your IPv4 WAN address dynamically (via DHCP or PPPoE), you cannot use the manual tunnel setup.  The Airport Extreme will accept the input into the listed fields, but will not establish the tunnel and will not assign the LAN IPv6 address, nor send out router advertisements on the local side.

This issue is apparently fixed in the 7.5 firmware for AEBS, which is coming down the pike soon for older devices

[RosettaStone]

The current version of the AirPort Utility shows a different set of fields for the manually configured tunnel for ipv6:

• Remote IPv4 Address
• WAN IPv6 Address
• IPv6 Default Route
• LAN IPv6 Address

Are these the same settings as before, but with different names?

[jimb]

The current version of the AirPort Utility shows a different set of fields for the manually configured tunnel for ipv6:

• Remote IPv4 Address
• WAN IPv6 Address
• IPv6 Default Route
• LAN IPv6 Address

Are these the same settings as before, but with different names?

I don't recall what the old names were, but these new ones are rather obvious:

• Remote IPv4 Address - IPv4 Address of remote tunnel server
• WAN IPv6 Address - IPv6 Address of tunnel interface (client address which HE gives u)
• IPv6 Default Route - IPv6 of HE side of tunnel
• LAN IPv6 Address - IPv6 address for the LAN interface (routed /64 goes here)

[RosettaStone]

Thanks.  The old names are mentioned earlier in this thread:

• Remote IPv4 Address
• Remote IPv6 Address
• Local IPv6 Address
• LAN IPv6 Address

"Remote IPv4 Address" and and "Lan IPv6 Address" are the same (and are pretty clear).  It's really "WAN IPv6 Address" and "IPv6 Default Route" that I'm unclear on.  Does "Local IPv6 Address" equal "IPv6 Default Route"?

[jimb]

No.  Local would equal the WAN IPv6 address.

BTW, I'm presuming the "manual tunnel setup" context here.  In another context (ethernet interfaces for instance), WAN IPv6 address could simply mean your WAN (or outside) IPv6 address assigned by the ISP.

[lethe]

"Remote IPv4 Address" and and "Lan IPv6 Address" are the same (and are pretty clear).  It's really "WAN IPv6 Address" and "IPv6 Default Route" that I'm unclear on.  Does "Local IPv6 Address" equal "IPv6 Default Route"?

No.  Local would equal the WAN IPv6 address.

BTW, I'm presuming the "manual tunnel setup" context here.  In another context (ethernet interfaces for instance), WAN IPv6 address could simply mean your WAN (or outside) IPv6 address assigned by the ISP.

I have to confirm what jimb said here.  Apple swapped the order of remote and local ipv6 when they upgraded from 7.4 to 7.5 firmware.

AEBS 7.4 "remote IPv6 address" = AEBS 7.5 "ipv6 default route" = hurricane electric tunnelbroker "server ipv6 address"
AEBS 7.4 "local IPv6 address" = AEBS 7.5 "wan ipv6 address" = hurricane electric tunnelbroker "client ipv6 address"


I've taken a screenshot of all three side-by-side

[alexkrishnan]

Sorry for the huge delay and for dissappearing off the face of the planet, I left the country for a while :P

So I'm still not getting this working. I am going to attach a screenie of the configuration utility, and if it is super-obvious to someone who is more well-versed in IPv6 please take the 30 seconds to enlighten me. Thanks so much for putting up with my thickheadedness!

-Alex

[kkinloch]

Did you ever get this working?

I just tried to do the same and have some problem. I setup the Airport:

Remote IPv4 set to HE's Server IPv4
WAN IPv6 set to Client IPv6 (as assigned by HE)
IPv6 Default Route set to Server IPv6 address (that would be the HE side)
LAN IPv6 set to Routed /64 assigned by HE (but I did give it ::1 at the end of the assigned /64)

Then on my Mac I manually configured IPv6 as follows:

Router (same address as LAN IPv6 on the Airport)
IPv6 Address (same as Routed /64 but with ::2 at the end)

So this is not working so I did a few ping6 attempts:
I can ping the computers local IPv6 address
But cannot ping the Airports LAN IPv6 address (ping six says there is not route)

Next I deleted the default IPv6 route and then reapplied a default route for IPv6 ensuring that it went to the address assigned to the Airport (LAN IPv6, if you will)

Still not working. Anyone have suggestions?

[kkinloch]

Just in case anyone is still trying to make this work on AEBS with 7.4 firmware

http://lists.apple.com/archives/ipv6-dev/2010/Jan/msg00002.html

I broke down and got a D-Link DIR-655 and was up and running rather quickly.

My OS X computer didn't pick up an IPv6 from the D-Link regardless of using Stateless or Stateful AutoConfiguration. But doing a manual config got it up and running.

[wschultz]

I set this up a couple of days ago on version 7.5.1, worked instantly.

Adding the ipv6 DNS server took me a minute to find, add it in Internet --> TCP/IP and now even DNS works. Good stuff.

/etc/resolve.conf still only shows the base stations ipv4 address but test-ipv6.com shows 10/10 readiness.

[jdh]

It seems the main issue with the Time Capsule and AEBS, both on the 7.4.x and 7.5.x firmware has to do with whether you're using a PPPoE connection.  In short, it seems that the current firmware revisions only support automatic 6to4 tunnels when a direct PPPoE WAN link is being used, however manual tunnels work fine if the device is using a direct TCP/IP connection with either a static or DHCP-leased WAN address.  I've tested both configurations here and the HE tunnel worked fine over a direct cable modem connection, but failed consistently on my primary PPPoE connection.

[orcaman42]

So in perspective I have a time capsule & airport extreme both running 7.4.2 here's what works for me

Applications>Utilities>Airport Utility>TCP/IP
Configure tcp/ip manually (copy dhcp settings from your provider)
Then
From HE / Settings Pannel
Anycasted IPv4 Caching Nameserver / DNS Server(s):
(I use ipv4 version here to match the rest of the input being ipv4)

Advanced>IPv6
IPv6 Mode: Tunnel
Block Incoming IPv6 Connections: Checked (But maybe optional)
Configure IPv6: Manually
Remote IPv4 Address / Server IPv4 Address:
WAN IPv6 Address / Client IPv6 address: (remove /64 from the end)
IPv6 Default Route / Server IPv6 address: (remove /64 from the end)
LAN IPv6 Address / Routed /64: (remove /64 from the end & add a 1 on the end)

Hit "Update" while that's rebooting open (on your computer) Apple>System Preferences>Network
Choose connectivity you want to use, Airport, ethernet you'll have to do both
Select Advanced>TCP/IP>Configure IPv6: Automatically
Hit OK & reboot your computer.

Once it comes back up you can check it in your network panel. If you select ethernet:
You'll see your IPv6 address appear under your search domains field.

If you select Airport:
Click Advanced>TCP/IP
You'll see your IPv6 address appear under your Configure IPv6: Automatically Your router address, IPv6 & Prefix Length addressing information will be filled in for you. You should now be able to ping6 ipv6.google.com & load the page in Safari. If you were using customized DNS settings (such as OpenDNS) on your machine's Network Pref's Panel (s), remove them, reboot and try again.