IPv6 Network Administration

Chapter 5. Installation and Configuration

Of a good beginning cometh a good end.

Proverbes, John Heywood

We now want to look at actually configuring the IPv6 stacks on various operating platforms. First we'll describe the support present in each platform and say how to install and enable it. As the state of the art progresses, of course, the sort of instructions in this chapter should become less and less relevant, since hardly anyone needs to know how to install their IPv4 stack on their machine! Then we'll move on to the specifics of commands for testing the stack, displaying information about it and troubleshooting. This part of the chapter contains many tables showing the details of configuring the basic aspects of IPv6 on all the platforms. Tables of details rarely make exciting reading, but they are necessary because of variations between the platforms we cover. The overall aim is that, at the end of this chapter, you should have the requisite information to take a new machine from zero to hero on your IPv6 network.

We don't cover anything other than the simplest of transition mechanisms, however, so if your network relies on complicated ways to get an IPv6 connection, or if you are looking to understand how best to support IPv6 from a network manager's perspective, we advise you to look at Chapter 4, the planning chapter.

Finally, before we close the chapter we have a look at some common problems you might encounter as you take your first steps with IPv6.

Right—now it's on to ...