Roadmap for Basic IPv6 Support in Orbi

[dholm]

I purchased the RBK50 system recently, not realizing that in 2019 it still lacks basic IPv6 support.

Is IPv6 port forwarding/opening on the near-term (next month or two) roadmap?  Otherwise this is getting returned.

[Chuck_M]

I am not sure you will find anyone who can authoritatively answer that in this Community.  We are folks who enjoy helping others but do not speak on behalf of Netgear... that question may be better/authoritatively answered somewhere else.

[FURRYe38]

IPv6 has basic features already. I don't think there is much support or need for any port fowarding since IPv6 does things different from IPv4. 

Most things are being handle automatically from the Orbi perspective. 

Nothing gets added or upated in a month or two. Usually takes longer then that if and when NG approves and designs something like that. Orbi is still waiting on USB drive support and thats been on going for over two years now.

Good Luck. 

[dholm]

There is no ability to open ports to allow incoming connections to IPv6 addresses. All inbound IPv6 connections are blocked at the router.

From Google searches, it looks like this has been an issue for over two years. Sounds like this product has been abandoned.

[FURRYe38]

What is the Mfr and model# of the ISP modem the NG router is connected too?

Orbi just has two FW updates with in a month time frame. I wouldn't call this abandoned. 

Posslibly something that NG isn't supporting on there routers. Something you can ask NG support about and see. 

[randomousity]

I can assure you, this isn't an abandoned product line. As @FURRYe38 said, we've had a couple firmware updates in the last month, and I recently beta tested firmware in the weeks before those.

As for your particular needs, I don't know. I don't use IPv6, personally. Do these not do what you need them to? I only enabled it for the purposes of grabbing the screenshots, so I didn't poke around on other pages to see if there are additional settings that become available when IPv6 is enabled, e.g., port forwarding.

But my understanding is that, with the way IPv6 works, port forwarding is unnecessary because every IPv6 address is globally unique. And, given that, you'd have to be pointing directly to your device's IPv6 address, and not the router's, as the router would interpret a request to its IPv6 address as a remote manangement connection attempt. So, if you've been pointing to the Orbi's IPv6 address, and have remote management disabled, that would explain why everything is just dropped at the router. I've also heard that enabling IPv6 pinging on the debug page is necessary for proper operation. If you haven't done that, you might give it a try.

You can also check the router's logs after attempting a remote connection via IPv6 and see if that gives you any insight into the problem.

[dholm]

My devices all get a unique IPv6 address via SLAAC, and I am able to make outbound IPv6 connections, however you cannot make inbound connections to those addresses (e.g. SSH from the office to my network at home) since the Orbi firewall blocks all inbound IPv6 connections that are not part of an existing outbound session.

It's true that port "forwarding" is not the correct term; it would more accurately described as "opening". However, there is nowhere in the UI to open IPv6 ports to tell the Orbi to allow the traffic to pass.