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Forum Discussion
RBR850 IPv6 Support
Hello,
Our ISP has recently enabled dual stack IPv4/IPv6 across it's network. This has led me to configure and start looking at the Orbi configuration for IPv6 to try and mirror what we have available on IPv4.
The IPv4 configuration is such that we run a local dhcp server which is also a pi-hole. This allows us to filter content and track what is being DNS resolved across the network. This capability has been extremely useful when trying to diagnose malicious network traffic etc and it's logging capabilities are much more useful than what I have from the netgear armor/filtering/block sites.
That leaves me with the Orbi IPv6 configuration which allows me to hand out the IPv6 DNS server if it has a constant IPv6 address. Unfortunately with the ISP configuration we have a dynamically allocated IPv6 /64 which means the starting prefix regularly changes. This seems to be a very common configuration for ISP's around the globe. The Orbi allows me to configure an interface id for itself whiich means it always get the same network address within the prefix that has been allocated by the ISP. Is there any way to get the orbi to either
* Have IPv6 autoconfig and dhcp disabled (on the orbi) and still run IPv6 with the autoconf or dhcpv5 being handled by a second device
* Have the Orbi allocate the IPv6 DNS servers based on an offset or token similar to how it handles the interface id for it's own allocation. On linux this is typically done via IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration.
* Other options I have not thought about??
It seems that the Orbi range of products lack real IPv6 support which seems odd given the global shortage of IPv4 addresses becoming a more pressing issue. I currently manage numerous businesses with Orbi's that have the same problem and need to find a solution as turning off IPv6 is not viable as more services are becoming IPv6 only. (see https://www.hetzner.com/news/12-21-ipv6-only/ as a recent example).
Is there something that I am missing in terms of capabilities or is there a way to turn on a more advanced configuration mode on the orbis?
FYI. I am also unable to select RBR850 from the drop down Model menu at the top of this form.
6 Replies
(I have a suspicion that my understanding of networking is not up to this task, but what the heck....)
I have implemented Pi-hole DNS servers on my Orbi and use their private IPv4 addresses in the Orbi DNS configuration.
Would IPv6 not be similar: i.e. use the fe80 Link Local addresses of the Pi-hole servers in the Orbi DNS configuration.
Orbi is going to give out its own IP address as the DNS, so all that matters is that the Orbi be able to find the Pi-holes on the local network.
The fact that the Orbi public IP changes from time to time never enters into the situation.
What am I missing?
Thankyou for responding, I appreciate it.
The Orbi interface will not allow me to put in a link local address. It returns an error stating that it must be a global unicast address. I have attached a screen shot of the error.(I knew this was 'over my head')
I have two Pi-hole DNS servers, and entered the Link Local IPv6 addresses for them into my Orbi RBR50.
(See attached screen shot)
Got no error pop-up.
Logically, I think, "why should the Orbi care where the user directs DNS queries?" Private IP addresses are OK. Why not Link Local IP addresses?
So, my (ancient) Orbi will take Link Local IPv6 addresses for DNS.
It is a more complicated task to verify that IPv6 DNS requests get sent to my two Pi-holes. I think (hope) that I have my PC set to use the Orbi DNS and my "ping -6" command forces IPv6 for DNS. But, I am not seeing the DNS requests in the dashboard of my Pi-holes. Grrrr.
I get IPv6 from my ISP via 6rd, which is most common. Up until a FW update a while back it was severely stable. Now I have to reboot the RBR850 and over time success is more unlikely and doesn't last long. Using the ISPs router (CenturyLink) which has an amazing UI, getting IPv6 is easy and constant. I have been using IPv6 for decades for internal networking so I'm use to having it around. On the WAN it's even better, when it works.
