SMUS IPv6

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What is IPv6?

IPv6 is a new method of assigning Internet addresses. Google has a great explanation of what IPv6 is and why we need it here: http://www.google.ca/intl/en/ipv6/

What differences should I notice?

You should not notice any difference when browsing the Internet or accessing services and devices over IPv6.

What devices support IPv6?

Most modern devices support IPv6, including PCs, Macs, tablets, and phones.

The notable exception, at least on the SMUS network, is Google Android and Google Chromebook devices. Because Chromebooks and Android devices do not support stateful DHCPv6, they are not able to acquire an IPv6 address on our network. Additional discussion on this issue is available in the Google bug tracker: https://code.google.com/p/android/issues/detail?id=32621

How can I tell whether I am using IPv6?

There are several sites you can use to test your IPv6 connectivity. Try one of these two sites:

http://test-ipv6.com

http://ipv6-test.com

Discontinuation of IPv4

At this point we do not have any timeframe for discontinuation of IPv4 connectivity. Many sites on the Internet are not available over IPv6, and so eliminating IPv4 would stop access to those sites.

Impact to student wifi

Most devices on student wifi will now get two different addresses (IPv4 and IPv6). These two addresses have separate bandwidth totals and caps, so we have effectively doubled your Netrack allowance. The only difficulty is that it is hard to predict whether you will access a site over IPv4 or IPv6, so if you exceed your cap for either address some sites may be slowed down (the ones accessed via your capped IP version) while others may remain fast (the ones accessed via your non-capped IP version).

You can check your bandwidth usage for both IP versions by using different Netrack addresses:

https://netrack.smus.ca (IPv6)

https://netrack4.smusm.ca (IPv4)

You can also click a link in the top right to switch between the different IP versions.