RhinoSoft.com - Newsletter Archive

Upcoming Transition To IPv6

A point we touched on briefly in our Serv-U 10 release newsletter was our newly-added support for IPv6 in both Listeners and in IP Access rules. Since we only went over the topic briefly, this newsletter is being sent to provide more information to network administrators about the upcoming changes to the Internet as the transition begins to take effect.

While IPv6 was a humorous topic in the 90's (with network administrators joking about giving toasters and refrigerators IP addresses), it is rapidly becoming a serious topic and concern as the last addresses available for IPv4 are allocated to businesses and Regional Internet Registries worldwide.

Internet Addresses and You

When the Internet originally took hold in the public arena, the network used the newly researched IPv4 (developed in 1980) to provide addressable space to computers and servers. These "IP Addresses" functioned as points of contact on the Internet - just as a physical address is required to send someone a letter, an IP address is required to send someone information over the Internet.

However, researchers in 1980 did not expect the Internet to become a worldwide phenomenon, and they did not expect the technology to become so widely adopted so quickly. Because of how computers represent IP addresses when talking to each other, version 4 of the Internet Protocol includes the technical limitation of providing about 4.3 billion unique addresses. This seems like a large number until you consider that both China and India have estimated populations over one billion persons on their own, and many people use multiple devices that each require their own IP address.

While IP Addresses are currently still available, the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority which oversees IP address allocation estimates that within 2 years, they will begin receiving valid allocation requests that will be denied due to lack of addresses. New allocation requests will have to be in IPv6 space, which means that your organization should start preparing now to serve customers in IPv6.

How To Prepare

Preparing for the transition to IPv6 means that your services and applications will need to support IPv6 - this goes double for customer-facing systems. Beginning now, companies should start contacting their application providers to request IPv6 support in future versions of their software. Some vendors, such as us here at RhinoSoft.com, have already begun this process, and the Serv-U File Server with its FTP Voyager JV add-on are already fully IPv6 capable. Companies also need to request IPv6 addresses from their Internet Service Providers. Many national ISPs have not yet added support for IPv6, but consistent demand for IPv6 address space will help to push this matter into priority.

Having the correct version of Windows is also important. Windows Vista, Server 2008, Windows 7, and Server 2008 R2 all include native IPv6 support, so upgrading to a current version of Windows is required. Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 also support IPv6 but only through command-line, so it is much more difficult to configure.

Configuring Serv-U for IPv6

Once you have an IPv6 compatible version of Windows installed, and you are running Serv-U 10.0 or newer (required for IPv6), you can take the easy steps to serving your files to the world using the new IPv6 system. For new installations, IPv6 is already enabled by default during the installation wizard. For existing customers who have upgraded from older versions and now need to serve IPv6 service, follow the steps below:

1) Open the "Domain Details | Listeners" menu
2) Click "Add"
3) Select the service you wish to provide over IPv6 (like HTTP)
4) In the "IP Address" field, select
"<< All Available IPv6 Addresses >>"

This will not interfere with your existing listeners in any way - IPv4 and IPv6 are completely unique and separate methods of communicating, so you can run both IPv4 and IPv6 with no fears of interference or other problems. Once the listener is running, you are now ready to connect to Serv-U using IPv6. For example, if you configured the new HTTP listener for IPv6 and saved it, this URL in your browser will connect you to Serv-U via IPv6:

http://[::1]

The brackets in the URL tell your browser that you're typing in an IPv6 address, and the ::1 in IPv6 means "localhost" or that you are connecting back to yourself. Congratulations! You have just made your first IPv6 connection.

IP Access Rules and IPv6

Serv-U completes its IPv6 support suite by fully supporting IPv6 IP Access rules for allowing and denying connections for IPv6 addresses as well as IPv4 addresses. You can use the same nomenclature defined at the KB article http://www.rhinosoft.com/KnowledgeBase/KBArticle.asp?RefNo=1069 for IPv6 addresses, including CIDR notation.

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Thank you for taking the time to read.

Thomas J. Parikka - Tech Support Engineer
http://www.RhinoSoft.com
Voice: +1(262) 560-9627
FAX: +1(262) 560-9628