I am trying to do a project about IPv6. My first query is, can we completely disable our IPv4 address and use only our IPv6 address? My second query is, how can an IPv6-only host communicate with an IPv4-only host? What type of tunnelling is used for that? When I searched about 6to4 and 6in4, I found that these tunnelling methods are for two IPv6 hosts to communicate over an IPv4 network. So how can an IPv6 host communicate with an IPv4 host?
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4 Answers
I am trying to do a project about IPv6. My first query is, can we completely disable our IPv4 address and use only our IPv6 address?
Yes you can. ( not, if you are providing general public services "server")
My second query is, how can an IPv6-only host communicate with an IPv4-only host?
Using NAT64/DNS64. You can provide your own NAT64/DNS64-Gateway or you can just use some public DNS64-servers, like
nameserver 2001:778::37
nameserver 2001:67c:2b0::4
nameserver 2001:67c:2b0::6
nameserver 2001:8b0:6464::1
nameserver 2001:8b0:6464::2
The description is here:
http://ipv6.lt/nat64_en.php (discontinued)
http://www.trex.fi/2011/dns64.html
What type of tunnelling is used for that?
No tunnel. It is translation. It has some limits like the NAT you already know with IPv4.
But IPv6-hosts are not touched by NAT64 - the communicate straight forward.
When I searched about 6to4 and 6in4, I found that these tunnelling methods are for two IPv6 hosts to communicate over an IPv4 network. So how can an IPv6 host communicate with an IPv4 host?
Both tunnels are mostly obsolete. Some ISP use these tunnels in 6rd, but this is no good idea anymore.
Some ISP use 4in6 for ds-lite.(based on native IPv6-network)
To complete NAT64 you can add 464XLAT.
So my doubt is can we completly disable ipv4 address and use only ipv6 address.
Yes. Without a doubt, this is possible. IPv4 is more widely supported, particularly in regards to automatic address assignment (most commonly implemented as "DHCP" in IPv4). Many earlier devices do not support automatically assigning the IPv6 address (or may not support the same approach that is used by another IPv6 device), so you might need to manually set the network settings. However, once done, IPv6 ought to work pretty well, just as IPv4 ought to.
And next [...] is how a only ipv6 host can communicate with only ipv4 enabled host.
...and...
so how an ipv6 host can communicate with ipv4 host
It can't do this, directly. The only way is for traffic to be relayed. A device in the middle, which might be called a proxy or a tunnel broker or a router, will need to receive traffic on one of the Internet Protocols, and translate the payload into packets that use the other Internet Protocol.
I do wish to clarify one aspect of this answer. Two devices with IPv6 traffic could communicate, using IPv6, by placing the IPv6 packets into IPv4 packets (which may be described as a tunnel) and then communicating with IPv4. However, I would say that such computers are not "only IPv6" if they are using IPv4 packets, so that network design doesn't really match the question you were asking. I'm bringing this up because this (stuffing packets of one type into a packet, or multiple packets, of another type) is what happens with some of the protocols you mention.
What type of tunneling is using for that
There are multiple approaches, some of which you've mentioned (6to4, 6in4). The primary reason that there are multiple approaches is that there are multiple computer programmers, who had some different preferences. There may be some minor differences, like one protocol having more overhead but being better at working with networks that use NAT to modify packets.
The most important detail is that both sides will need to use the same approach in order to be able to understand packets used by the other side. Some solutions might be easier on some operating systems, or supported by a specific device that could be a router.
Correct: As soon as you disable IPv4 you lose all communication to IPv4-only systems. The IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels are meant for people of which the ISP does not provide an external IPv6 address.
What you are looking for is a 6to4 proxy, but so far I've not found any that do this, especially if your ISP does not support IPv6 yet.
Edit: You could look into 4in6 methods, to allow your IPv4 traffic to be tunneled.
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my doubt is there any way to the ipv6 only host can communicate with ipv4 only host.An ipv4 host can communicating to ipv6 host with 6to4 or 6in4 Apr 21, 2016 at 5:31
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If one side has only IPv4 and the other side has only IPv6 there is no way they can directly communicate. You will need a third party that has both IPv4 and IPv6 to help you.
You could set up an IPv4-in-IPv6 (4in6) tunnel between the third party and the IPv6-only host to give the IPv6-only host IPv4 connectivity, or you can do an IPv6-in-IPv4 (6in4) tunnel to give the IPv4-only side access to IPv6
There are other ways a third party can help as well. If the IPv4 side has access to a proxy server that has both IPv4 and IPv6 then they can use the proxy to create the IPv6 connection for them. The same principle would work on the IPv6 side.
If the initiator of the communication is the IPv6-only side then they could use a DNS64/NAT64 service. They look up the address of the IPv4 side through DNS, the DNS64 service returns a fake IPv6 address in the answer, and when the IPv6-only side connects to that fake IPv6 address the NAT64 service intercepts it and converts it to IPv4 which can then reach the IPv4-only side.
If the IPv6-only side wants to accept incoming connections from IPv4-only hosts then they could ask someone to run an SIIT-DC service for them that accepts IPv4 packets and converts them to IPv6.
But in the end you need a third party. Either to set up a tunnel with to get IPv4 to the IPv6-only side or vice versa, or to translate packets. Direct communication will never be possible in this case.
