System Administration Guide: IP Services

ProcedureHow to Enable an IPv6 Interface for the Current Session

Begin your IPv6 configuration process by enabling IPv6 on the interfaces of all systems that will become IPv6 nodes. Initially, the interface obtains its IPv6 address through the autoconfiguration process, as described in IPv6 Address Autoconfiguration. You then can tailor the node's configuration based on its function in the IPv6 network, either as a host, server, or router.


Note –

If the interface is on the same link as a router that currently advertises an IPv6 prefix, the interface obtains that site prefix as part of its autoconfigured addresses. For more information, refer to How to Configure an IPv6-Enabled Router.


The following procedure explains how to enable IPv6 for an interface that was added after Oracle Solaris 10 installation.

Before You Begin

Complete the planning tasks for the IPv6 network, such as upgrading hardware and software, and preparing an addressing plan. For more information, see IPv6 Planning (Task Maps).

  1. Log in to the prospective IPv6 node as Primary Administrator or as superuser.

    The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

  2. Enable IPv6 on an interface.


    # ifconfig inet6 interface plumb up
    
  3. Start the IPv6 daemonin.ndpd.


    # /usr/lib/inet/in.ndpd
    

    Note –

    You can display the status of a node's IPv6-enabled interfaces by using the ifconfig-a6 command.



Example 7–1 Enabling an IPv6 Interface After Installation

This example shows how to enable IPv6 on the qfe0 interface. Before you begin, check the status of all interfaces configured on the system.


# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=1000849 <UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 8232 index 1
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 
qfe0: flags=1000863 <UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 
           index 2
        inet 172.16.27.74 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 172.16.27.255
        ether 0:3:ba:13:14:e1 

Only the qfe0 interface is currently configured for this system. Enable IPv6 on this interface as follows:


# ifconfig inet6 qfe0 plumb up
# /usr/lib/inet/in.ndpd
# ifconfig -a6
lo0: flags=2000849 <UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 8252 index 1
        inet6 ::1/128 
qfe0: flags=2000841 <UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 1500 index 2
        ether 0:3:ba:13:14:e1 
        inet6 fe80::203:baff:fe13:14e1/10

The example shows the status of the system's interface before and after qfe0becomes IPv6-enabled. The -a6 option of ifconfig shows just the IPv6 information for qfe0 and the loopback interface. Note that the output indicates that only a link-local address was configured for qfe0, fe80::203:baff:fe13:14e1/10. This address indicates that as of yet no router on the node's local link advertises a site prefix.

After IPv6 is enabled, you can use the ifconfig -a command to display both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses for all interfaces on a system.


Next Steps