Migration to Native IPv6 (dual stack) completed

Dear community

To communicate on the Internet, every device needs a unique address – an IP address. But the available IP addresses have been used up - at least for IPv4 (Internet Protocol Version 4). Therefore, there is a switch to the successor IPv6, with more options for assigning addresses on the Internet.

Swisscom introduced the Internet protocol IPv6 with 6rd almost 10 years ago to accelerate the roll-out of IPv6. For this purpose, the IPv6 addresses were tunneled through IPv4. With the current dual stack operation (native IPv6) - the parallel operation of IPv4 and IPv6 - this tunnel is no longer necessary and additional functions are possible such as prefix delegation.

The Internet-Box 2, 3 and 4 were converted to dual stack at the beginning of 2022. In the last few weeks we have also completed the migration for the Internet-Box standard and plus - and today pulled the plug on the IPv6-6rd platform.

What does this mean for me as a customer?

Normally this change is not noticeable. Even if you have an older router (e.g. Centro Grande) that doesn’t support dual stack, you won’t notice any problems. Although these customers can no longer benefit from IPv6, the connection to IPv4 remains.

Customers with a third-party router (e.g. Fritzbox) must check the configuration and, if necessary, manually switch to dual stack.

If you have any questions or are unclear, please contact us with a comment.

I wish you a peaceful Advent season

MichelB

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IPv6 may be a small step from the perspective of the average user, but for the further development of the Internet it is a giant leap towards the future. Thanks to the IPv6 team at Swisscom for their work in the background, and congratulations on the completed migration from 6rd to dual stack.

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Have you tried turning it off and on again?

@PowerMac wrote:

IPv6 may be a small step from the perspective of the average user….

From the perspective of the average user, it’s absolutely nothing, because they don’t even know what IP is, let alone what the difference is between IPv4 and IPv6. what advantages IPv6 has.

But of course, from a technical point of view, IPv6 is absolutely necessary for the further development and survival of the Internet and Swisscom’s commitment in this direction is therefore unavoidable.

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Thank you for this relatively important information.

I would also like to thank you for the integration that Swisscom started with 6RD over 10 years ago. It was visual, educational and fun. Special thanks to Martin Gysi.

But time has also gnawed at this, as the name suggests, rapid deployment.

So it’s nice now that the migration to native IPv6, which was long overdue for me, has been completed.

I think it would be good if Swisscom announced the parameters here and in the relevant places.

E.g. the prefix size of /56. Settings in the Internet Box for prefix delegation, e.g. /60 and whatever else comes to mind for Swisscom. There are still WAN interface settings for third-party routers, which you can expect via SLAAC and DHCPv6. You may now have time for core tasks like this again since the home functions are deactivated. A first step has already been taken with https access to the WUI of the Internet boxes 🙂

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Thanks for the information. I was wondering why my IPv6 connectivity suddenly disappeared at 9 a.m. yesterday. Now it is clear why my 6th tunnel no longer works.

Now I have to deal with IPv6 prefix delegation and I haven’t really gotten it to work yet. I have now installed dhcpcd on my Linux LAN router and also get an IPv6 WAN address. I turned on the prefix delegation on the IB2. At first it said “not available” and only after resetting the IB2 does it now seem to work. Strangely enough, IB2 now tells me “delegated prefix” it would be a /56 but my dhcpcd tells me “wan: delegated prefix xxxxxx::/58”. The /64 prefix assignment for each interface via dhcpcd already worked and radvd advertised it happily. But somehow the routing didn’t work yet. There’s still a worm in there somewhere.

Basically, the dual stack configuration is a step forward. Very good.

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  • Werner has responded to this post.

    SkyBeam

    I have been using the dual stack for a few months now and at the beginning you only received a 62 prefix as a delegated prefix in the downstream network, but for some time now you have always received a 58 prefix, regardless of what you explicitly said a DHCPv6 client, so even if you request a 56, you will still receive a 58 for the downstream router.

    As you can see from the system log, my Asus Merlin router has definitely agreed on the 58 prefix with the Internet box for weeks:

    5380D605-419A-4D3E-A9B2-4F063AB690C0.jpeg

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    Hobby-Nerd ohne wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten zur Swisscom

      @Werner

      Thanks for your answer. Doesn’t really help me at the moment.

      my dhcpcd configuration currently:

      noipv6rs
waitip 6
ipv6only
slaac private
interface wan
        ipv6rs
        iaid 1
        ia_pd 1 lan0/0 lan1/1

      In the log I also see the /58 prefix:

      wan: delegated prefix xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c0::/58
lan0: adding address xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c0::1/64
lan1: adding address xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c1::1/64
lan0: adding route to xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c0::/64
lan1: adding route to xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c1::/64

      radvd also seems to work. Even via TCPdump I can see the packets going out over the WAN interface, but I never get a response:

      16:46:58.638255 lan0 In IP6 xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c0:c813:42ea:2ddc:8c7c > 2a00:1450:400a:803::2004: ICMP6, echo request, id 1, seq 71, length 40
16:46:58.638285 wan Out IP6 xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:31c0:c813:42ea:2ddc:8c7c > 2a00:1450:400a:803::2004: ICMP6, echo request, id 1, seq 71, length 40
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      I’ll answer here myself…

      The problem has apparently been solved.

      The probable cause was that the clients were probably still using addresses that had previously been assigned via the router advertising (radvd). The old addresses were no longer part of the advertisements (checked with radvdump).

      After a client restart they were gone and the clients now used the most current addresses and then it worked.

      I’ll leave it like that - maybe it will help someone.

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      @SkyBeam

      If you don’t have a static prefix (which Swisscom doesn’t offer on private connections), you might be able to pay attention in the future to how often the prefix is ​​renewed by Swisscom on the network side, in order to deal with the delegated dynamic prefix in one local network, I think this is crucial information, which Swisscom has not yet communicated.

      @MichelB

      Maybe some information about the renewal interval of the dynamic IPv6 prefix for private customers in the Swisscom network?

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      Hobby-Nerd ohne wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten zur Swisscom

      @Werner

      Sure, I can do it. Or I should see this in my DDNS statistics because it is logged here when the IP changes - and thus also the prefixes.

      Theoretically, there are no reasons to change the IPv6 prefix. At least not as long as the CPE doesn’t go offline and the lease expires (recycling). There should be enough addresses/prefixes available so that they can remain virtually static.

      EDIT: I just saw that my DDNS provider only offers statistics for 1 month. So I’ll probably have to look in there more often or do something else. Hopefully nothing changes that often.

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      Does anyone know the correct IPv6 native settings for the Fritz boxes? But I get the diagnostic information: “Internet connection IPv6 could not be established: No response from DHCPv6 server (SOL)”.

      😕

      2022-12-17 Edit: Dualstack to IPv6 Native.

      🤷‍♂️

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      @andiroid

      I don’t have a Fritzbox myself and therefore don’t know the specific detailed options that are offered to you when you switch on the IPv6 connection.

      From a network perspective, the obvious operating modes would be “Native” or “Dual Stack” and if you have to specify a prefix length, I would try 56.

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      Hobby-Nerd ohne wirtschaftliche Abhängigkeiten zur Swisscom

      @Werner

      Or prefix length 58, at least that’s what my dhcpcd says you can get from IB2.

      wan: delegated prefix 2a02:1210:xxxx:xxxx::/58
      Show original language (German)

      It might be better to deal with the individual topics in their own threads. Regarding FRITZ!Box you could continue this here: [https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Router-Hardware/IPv6-nativ-mit-FritzBox/td-p/711115](https://community.swisscom. ch/t5/Router-Hardware/IPv6-nativ-mit-FritzBox/td-p/711115) There it is Actually, there are tips that could possibly work now.

      Otherwise, unfortunately, like in the “SRG channel finally in Full HD” there will be a hijack and then unfortunately people will discuss home installations with switches, etc., bypassing the actual thread. I actually find it tedious.

      Then it would of course be important to mention how you want to operate the FRITZ!Box. Directly on the WAN or via PD on the Internet Büx.

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      @Tux0ne wrote:

      It might be better to deal with the individual topics in their own threads. Regarding FRITZ!Box you could continue this here: [https://community.swisscom.ch/t5/Router-Hardware/IPv6-nativ-mit-FritzBox/td-p/711115](https://community.swisscom. ch/t5/Router-Hardware/IPv6-nativ-mit-FritzBox/td-p/711115) There it is Actually, there are tips that could possibly work now.

      Thanks for the tip, we’ll do it!

      😉👍

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      @Werner wrote:

      @SkyBeam

      If you don’t have a static prefix (which Swisscom doesn’t offer on private connections), you might be able to pay attention in the future to how often the prefix is ​​renewed by Swisscom on the network side, because for dealing with the delegated dynamic prefix in In a local network, I think this is crucial information, which Swisscom has not yet communicated.

      @MichelB

      Maybe some information about the renewal interval of the dynamic IPv6 prefix for private customers in the Swisscom network?

      @Werner I have experience from my Anschluss:

      - the IPv4 has not changed since mid-May 2021 -> so the same public IPv4 address for 1 ½ years

      - the IPv6 has not changed since the end of February 2022 -> so the same public IPv6 address for over 9 months.

      Show original language (German)
      6 days later

      Hello zame

      Thanks for the lively discussion and questions.

      Renewal interval of the dynamic IPv6 prefix

      Basically, the interval is specified by the network and can change at any time. There is no static prefix for private customers. However, it is not relevant to setting up the routers. As long as the session exists, the prefix remains the same. The same prefix is ​​preferred for a new session.

      Prefix Length

      The router receives a /56 prefix. You can also see this in the web portal as soon as prefix delegation is switched on.

      I can’t say in detail how to set up a Fritzbox so that it works with IPv6. However, I will have the experts check whether we can make recommendations.

      Greetings and happy weekend,

      MichelB

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        My Internet Box Plus still seems to be trying to use a 6th ipv6 and I can no longer get a working ipv6 connection

        internetaccess.jpg

        Firmware version actually looks good, I updated it manually

        Firmware version 11.04.22/11.04.20

        I also tried rebooting several times but without success

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