NPt and non-static IPs

[Nick2253]

I currently have Charter at home, and I'm using Charter's 6rd border relay to connect via IPv6.  Everything is working well.

I've been thinking about moving my network from IPv4 to IPv6 internally, which means I need to come up with a way of statically addressing my server/routers/etc in IPv6.  Currently, I just use dynamic IPv6 IPs.

However, as a home user, I have a dynamic IP address.  I don't want to be in a situation where I have to renumber my entire network simply because my WAN IP changed.  This has led me to researching a number of options, including ULAs with NPt, multiple IPs, and even some enterprise level stuff (BGP), which I know isn't going to happen on a home network.

I've got a few questions, and I hope you can help:

• Can you set NPt destination prefix to track the WAN IP?

• Knowing you can configure multiple IPv6 addresses on an interface, can you configure both a static (ULA) and dynamic (globally routeable, tracking the WAN) address?

• Am I even going about this the right way?  Is there a better solution?

Thanks!

[jimp]

1. No, not yet (though it's a feature we'd like to see eventually)
2. You might be able to do that by adding an IP Alias VIP for your ULA address to the interface.
3. There's no "right" way to do what you're after currently. There is a pending pull request to let some things be done more easily with tracked interfaces like setting a static DHCPv6 mapping inside whatever prefix you happen to receive.

Something else to consider: If everything registers itself in your DNS structure properly, static addresses become unnecessary as well.

[Nick2253]

@jimp:

1. No, not yet (though it's a feature we'd like to see eventually)

I'm glad to hear that I'm not the only one that wants this!  I may have to dust off my coding gloves and see what I can do to help make it happen.

2. You might be able to do that by adding an IP Alias VIP for your ULA address to the interface.

This is an interesting approach that I hadn't thought about.  I'll have to look into that more.

3. There's no "right" way to do what you're after currently. There is a pending pull request to let some things be done more easily with tracked interfaces like setting a static DHCPv6 mapping inside whatever prefix you happen to receive.

That's pretty awesome.  I look forward to its inclusion.

Something else to consider: If everything registers itself in your DNS structure properly, static addresses become unnecessary as well.

Ohh, if only this were truly possible.  Unfortunately, not everything in my network is capable of registering itself in my DNS.  And as a home domain user, I need statics for at least my DNS server (which is not on pfSense).

Ultimately, it sounds like I'm still a bit early on the IPv6 adoption, at least for my usecase.  Hopefully these things will be better supported in the future.  Thanks for the input!!

[snowyrain]

Hello,

@Nick2253:

• Can you set NPt destination prefix to track the WAN IP?

@jimp:

1. No, not yet (though it's a feature we'd like to see eventually)

Such a feature would be very nice. I need it for IPv6 load balancing (2xDSL with dynamic IPv6). Please add this!