IPv6 when replacing f2000 Eir FTTH

chriskbhr

Hi,

I replaced the f2000 on my Eir FTTH connection, with a netgear Orbi pair. All IPv4 works fine, but can't get the Orbi router to get an ipv6 address.

The f2000 was set to DHCP for ipv6, and I set the Orbi also to DHCPv6, but it never gets an address.

Anyone know if there is special magic required ?

Thanks

chriskbhr

According to v16 of Technical Handbook – open eir NGA National Deployment

---

Note that due to a current software limitation of the DSLAM, open eir recommends enabling only
the IA_PD request on the IPV6 DHCPv6 client CPE, unless the CPE supports IAPD & IANA joint
DHCPv6 renews

---

Looking at the f2000, it sends a single DHCPv6 request with only IAPD in the request

Looking at the Orbi, it sends a single DHCPv6 request with both IAPD and IANA in the request


Anyone know if thats actually important enough to be the problem ?

Marlow

Are you setting it up as IPoE or PPPoE ? Both are possible with Eir.

The DSLAM limitations only apply on IPoE.

/M

chriskbhr

Neither ? shrug, unless IPoE is regular ethernet ?, it's FTTH, so Ethernet from a Fibre to Ethernet Converter (supplied by Eir etc).

I use Vlan 10, as required , to get ipv4, but the DHCP option for ipv6 doesn't get an address.

I do see the request via wireshark when I plug into the WAN connection from my laptop, but as i've then broken the connection I can't see the negotiation fail.

I suspect maybe it's something on the netgear side, it has many options for ipv6 configuration, including 'auto detect' ,'auto config' , 'pppoe' etc.

Marlow

chriskbhr wrote: »

Neither ? shrug, unless IPoE is regular ethernet ?,

IPoE so, yes. It's basically DHCP and the DHCP request triggers the authentication .

You could try setting up PPPoE instead. So Vlan10, PPPoE over that. Username: eircom@eircom.net , password: broadband1.

That way it pulls the IP from a BRAS opposed to the exchange.

/M

Packet

chriskbhr wrote: »

Looking at the f2000, it sends a single DHCPv6 request with only IAPD in the request

Looking at the Orbi, it sends a single DHCPv6 request with both IAPD and IANA in the request


Anyone know if thats actually important enough to be the problem ?

Yes, that is enough to prevent it connecting.

Set the router to only request a delegated prefix (IAPD) and not request a WAN address (IANA).

In future an update will be applied to make it get a delegated prefix irrespective of whether IANA is requested.

chriskbhr

maybe I should have tried harder more before posting.

So, choosing 'auto-config' (not 'auto-detect') seems to make it work. The UI is a misleading, as it says 'Routers ipv6 address on WAN' 'Not Available' , which seems like a bug, but maybe it's link local, there is no way to see it.

scrolling down, it gives an ipv6 addr for 'routers ipv6 address on LAN' , which is assigned from Eircom.

devices now receive ipv6 addresses, i'm assuming by SLAAC , and can traceroute6 to ipv6.google.com, so all works

Thanks for your hints and tips, I appreciate the assistance.

notahappycamper

Off topic but why would you want ipv6 over ipv4? What’s the difference and need for same?

Marlow

notahappycamper wrote: »

Off topic but why would you want ipv6 over ipv4? What’s the difference and need for same?

IPv4 is being outfased.

The RIPE IPv4 pool, from which Internet Providers in Europe, Northern Africa and the middle East are allocated IP addresses, has been depleted since September 2012 (6 years ago).

Nearly all other regions can't allocate any IPv4 addresses anymore.

IPv6 has been around 20 years now. The original 6bone testbed ran from 1996 to 2004. IPv6 has been considered production since then.

Unfortunately network gear manufacturer and ISPs were slow to roll out IPv6 to end customers, so now internet providers have to come up with all sorts of shortcuts, due to the IPv4 shortage. Unless they implement IPv6 ... which they are supposed to do.

IPv6 does the exact same as IPv4, just with bigger numbers. Some things even better. But as times go along, ISPs will have to share IPv4 adresses between multiple customers (CGNAT) and fixed IPv4 will be impossible to obtain. The mobile operators already use CGNAT because of not having enough IPv4 addresses.

Early adopters in Ireland were Smart and Airwire. These days Eir, Virgin and a good few of the regional ISPs have it implemented properly.

/M

chriskbhr

some ISPs give out ipv6 by default, and actually convert that to ipv4 so things work right. Virgin is an example of this. The way they do the ipv6 <-> ipv4 means work vpns drop frequently, incoming ipv4 connections don't work etc.

In those cases you might be able to get virgin to move you to regular ipv4, but they are resisting more and more as they run out of ipv4 space. It's easier to have working ipv6 where you can, to get around those type of ip issues. And there are other carriers around the world do similar things

most android phones in the US now have ipv6, and ipv6 pages do really load faster, as you aren't going through their overload ipv4 infra.

Also, if your phone is ipv6 and it's implemented end to end correctly to the sites that you use, like whatsapp etc, you battery life is longer, because you aren't keeping your radio as frequently at high power to maintain an ipv4 connection. Nokia did a study that showed up to 20% better battery life, but most infrastructure still isn't setup right to make that real.

For me, I simply would like working ipv6 on my linux server so that I can vpn directly to it without doing ipv4 NAT and all the things that go with it. For the vast majority of people they won't even know the difference today.

Marlow

chriskbhr wrote: »

some ISPs give out ipv6 by default, and actually convert that to ipv4 so things work right. Virgin is an example of this. The way they do the ipv6 <-> ipv4 means work vpns drop frequently, incoming ipv4 connections don't work etc.

That's what is called CGNAT. Carrier Grade NAT.

/M

Packet

The problem with not getting an IA_PD (delegated prefix) when an IA_NA is requested has been fixed, on the network side.
It was caused by the network rejecting the IA_PD request when an IA_NA (single WAN IPv6 address) was also requested.
Now if an IA_NA is also requested the request for the IA_PD will still be honoured.
On the CPE side the router still needs to react gracefully to requesting IA_NA but not getting one.
Some do, some don't. For the ones that don't turning off the IA_NA request will avoid the problem.

ED E

Great info

TANGLEWOOD

Hi Guys. Just reading your posts and wondering what your take is on changing the settings on the Eir router to IPv4. These changes were recommended as live streaming would perform with better. Woukd you agree or will it make no difference? Thanks.

Marlow

TANGLEWOOD wrote: »

Hi Guys. Just reading your posts and wondering what your take is on changing the settings on the Eir router to IPv4. These changes were recommended as live streaming would perform with better. Woukd you agree or will it make no difference? Thanks.

Absolutely not. Having IPv6 enabled or disabled should make no difference whatsoever. Things should actually work better with IPv6 enabled.

It's not even funny anymore, what urban myths people come up with to "optimize" things.

When you say live streaming, what service are you talking about ? Are they even IPv6 enabled ? Because if they are not, then they wouldn't be advertising an IPv6 address on their side. If they are and it doesn't work the same or better with IPv6, then their service is flawed and you should look for a better solution.

Disabling IPv6 is not a solution. It's creating a far bigger problem.

/M