IPv6 Software
Independent (stand-alone) software packages which implement subprotocols or features of IPv6 and are not (necessarily) distributed with or bundled into a base operating system. Support for the operating systems varies and sometimes only a small subset or single system is supported.
DHCPv6
As most operating systems do not include software for proper DHCPv6 support into the base system, third-party software supplies this functionality for both Linux/BSD and Windows systems.
| Software | Platforms | DHCPv6 | Functions | Options |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco IOS DHCPv6 | Cisco IOS | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP Prefix Delegation Relay IDs Lifetime |
| Dibbler DHCPv6 | Linux, Windows | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP Prefix delegation FQDN Lifetime Leasequery Timezone AAKey |
| HP-UX DHCPv6 | HP-UX | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS, NIS, SIP |
| ISC DHCP DHCPv6 | Linux, BSD, Solaris | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP, BCMCS Prefix Delegation Relay IDs FQDN Lifetime |
| Linux DHCPv6 (Obsolete) |
Linux | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS Prefix delegation Lifetime |
| Solaris DHCPv6 | Solaris | Stateful | Client | DNS |
| WIDE DHCPv6 | Linux, BSD | Stateful Stateless |
Server, Client, Relay | DNS, NTP, NIS, SIP, BCMCS Prefix delegation Lifetime |
| Windows 7 | Windows 7 | Stateful Stateless |
Client | DNS, FQDN? Lifetime |
| Windows Server 2008 | Windows Server 2008 | Stateful Stateless |
Client Server |
DNS, NIS, SIP, NTP Lifetime User class |
| Windows Vista | Windows Vista | Stateful Stateless |
Client | DNS, FQDN? (Prefix delegation) |
Source: own research. Data from April 2009.
Firewalls
Most operating systems include IPv6-capable firewall/packet filters, which mostly just extend the existing IPv4 firewall to include filtering of IPv6 packets. Some add more options, such as ICMPv6 filtering and other IPv6 specialities.
| Platform | Product | State | Integrated |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cisco IOS | ACL | Stateful | yes |
| FreeBSD | ipfw pf ipf |
Stateful Stateful Stateful |
yes yes yes |
| HP-UX 11i | ipf | Stateful | yes |
| Linux | netfilter | Stateful (since 2.6.20) Stateless (before) |
yes |
| Mac OS X | ipfw | Stateful | yes |
| NetBSD | pf ipf |
Stateful Stateful |
yes yes |
| OpenBSD | pf | Stateful | yes |
| Solaris | ipf | Stateful | yes |
| Windows XP | Windows Firewall | Stateful | yes (SP2) |
| Windows Vista | Windows Firewall | Stateful | yes |
| Windows 7 | Windows Firewall | probably | probably |
Source: Partially taken from Status of Open Source and commercial IPv6 firewall implementations (Peter Bieringer: September 2007. Accessed May 2009) and own research (data from May 2009)
Stand-alone IPv6 stacks
IPv6 support for the open source operating systems is based mainly on two separate open source projects from Japan — KAME for BSD (and Apple) and USAGI for Linux.
KAME
While software from the KAME project is used as IPv6 stacks in the BSD operating systems and as software packages for IPv6 subprotocols (DHCPv6, Mobile IP), KAME also provides the so-called Snapshots (KAME-snap). These contain the complete IPv6 functionality from KAME at the latest development stage and have to be manually integrated in the target operating system.
This applies to FreeBSD, NetBSD and OpenBSD — for all three systems it is necessary to modify the operating system source (kernel and network programs) with source from the KAME-snaps. The result is a system with a more advanced IPv6 stack than its default installation; however, this configuration is probably not supported by the OS vendors.
USAGI
The Universal Playground for IPv6 Project (USAGI) provides the IPv6 code for the Linux kernel. Development is independent of the main kernel development, IPv6 functionality is taken from USAGI and integrated into the baseline kernel on certain releases.
Mobile IP
Support for IPv6 Mobility is still under development, similar to the protocol(s) itself. No popular operating system (besides the two Unixes IBM AIX and as of recently HP HP-UX) includes Mobile IPv6 software in the base installation. However, several stand-alone implementations exits for various platforms, which will may be discussed here (however Mobile IPv6 is quite complex): SHISA (BSD), Mobile IPv6 for Linux (MIPL), HP-UX Mobile IPv6, Cisco IOS IPv6 Mobility.
Tunnelling
Several of the newer tunnelling mechanisms are not integrated into most of the current operating systems. Some of these protocols are provided by independent projects as add-on software for different operating systems. A thorough research has not yet been made — however, a list and possibly more details will be added in the future. Possible entries: ISATAP, Teredo.