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That's cool. Why isn't HN available over IPv6 though? Softlayer (the hosting provider HN appears to use) has supported it natively since 2011. It is pretty scu

That's cool. Why isn't HN available over IPv6 though? Softlayer (the hosting provider HN appears to use) has supported it natively since 2011. It is pretty scummy that they charge for IPv6 allocations if you want more than the one address they give you though - I've never seen anyone else doing that - some providers even give you a /56 or /48 free or charge, but Softlayer charges $4 a month for a /64...

peterwwillis 14y ago
There's still free IPv6 tunnel brokers, and pg can probably afford an extra $4 a month. The fact is that no website will enable IPv6 unless they have spare time and want a mini-project. It is of course much, much preferred to have a native address. But if you're lazy you can enable IPv6 using 6to4 encapsulation and hope for the best: modprobe ipv6 MYV4=`ip addr show dev eth0 | grep 'inet ' | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d / -f 1` MYV6=`printf "2002:%.2x%.2x:%.2x%.2x::1\n" $(echo $MYV4 | tr . ' ')` ip tunnel add 6to4-ipv6 mode sit remote any local $MYV4 ttl 255 ip link set 6to4-ipv6 up ip -6 addr add $MYV6/16 dev 6to4-ipv6 ip -6 route add 2000::/3 via ::192.88.99.1 dev 6to4-ipv6 metric 1 echo 'nameserver 2001:470:20::2' >> /etc/resolv.conf echo "@ IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf echo "ns1 IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf echo "www IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p ipv6 -j ACCEPT
- stephen_g 14y ago
  You do get one free v6 address, if I'm reading their product page correctly. It doesn't really need to be a mini-project in your spare time - on some hosts I use, setting up native IPv6 took a few clicks and less than five minutes... I added IPv6 to an AWS machine using http://tunnelbroker.net http://tunnelbroker.net - setting it up in Debian literally took five minutes and then adding an AAAA record took another two or three...
  - peterwwillis 14y ago
    It takes more time than that if you've never done it before. You have to set up DNS, set up the host's networking and firewall, configure and restart your network service, test the service (all this assuming you don't need a tunnel broker). I don't think it's difficult to do at all, but the onus on the admin to figure it out (and the fact that IPv4 works just fine) means nobody ends up doing it.
kogir 14y ago
I ask in the most genuine way possible: Why? IPv6 is for when you can't get an IPv4 address anymore. To the best of my knowledge, there aren't currently users with only IPv6 addresses, so there's zero reason for us to support it. In the general case, why should any IPv4 website bother with IPv6? Is there any benefit?
- agwa 14y ago
  To set an example and encourage IPv6 adoption. Many people think IPv6 is going to fizzle, and as justification they point to the currently low adoption rate of IPv6. I'm very afraid this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and we will be stuck with a future where home users are forced to use carrier-grade NAT and even web site operators may have a hard time getting new IP addresses. I want to avoid that future if at all possible, so I do everything I can to encourage IPv6 adoption today. There may be no short-term benefit but helping IPv6 adoption has substantial long-term benefits.
- wmf 14y ago
  In some networks (e.g. Verizon) IPv6 should be slightly faster and more reliable since it doesn't go through CGN.
- p1mrx 14y ago
  - Carrier-grade NAT forces users to share IPv4 addresses, making it difficult to ban offenders without collateral damage. This problem is only going to get worse. - NATs are full of state, and state is messy. Making your site route around them may improve performance. - This is one of the few areas where software people can directly make the world a better place, by preventing "our" Internet from regressing into something that more resembles the telco network. - Lack of IPv6 support strains the credibility of companies that purport to be on the forefront of technology. Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia (and Bing?!) figured this out; why can't Hacker News? - It gives your site a green 6 in IPvFoo, instead of a red 4. Six is 2 better than four, and green is 100THz better than red.

peterwwillis 14y ago

There's still free IPv6 tunnel brokers, and pg can probably afford an extra $4 a month. The fact is that no website will enable IPv6 unless they have spare time and want a mini-project. It is of course much, much preferred to have a native address. But if you're lazy you can enable IPv6 using 6to4 encapsulation and hope for the best: modprobe ipv6 MYV4=`ip addr show dev eth0 | grep 'inet ' | awk '{print $2}' | cut -d / -f 1` MYV6=`printf "2002:%.2x%.2x:%.2x%.2x::1\n" $(echo $MYV4 | tr . ' ')` ip tunnel add 6to4-ipv6 mode sit remote any local $MYV4 ttl 255 ip link set 6to4-ipv6 up ip -6 addr add $MYV6/16 dev 6to4-ipv6 ip -6 route add 2000::/3 via ::192.88.99.1 dev 6to4-ipv6 metric 1 echo 'nameserver 2001:470:20::2' >> /etc/resolv.conf echo "@ IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf echo "ns1 IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf echo "www IN AAAA $MYV6" >> /your/zone/file.conf iptables -A INPUT -i eth0 -p ipv6 -j ACCEPT

stephen_g 14y ago
You do get one free v6 address, if I'm reading their product page correctly. It doesn't really need to be a mini-project in your spare time - on some hosts I use, setting up native IPv6 took a few clicks and less than five minutes... I added IPv6 to an AWS machine using http://tunnelbroker.net http://tunnelbroker.net - setting it up in Debian literally took five minutes and then adding an AAAA record took another two or three...
- peterwwillis 14y ago
  It takes more time than that if you've never done it before. You have to set up DNS, set up the host's networking and firewall, configure and restart your network service, test the service (all this assuming you don't need a tunnel broker). I don't think it's difficult to do at all, but the onus on the admin to figure it out (and the fact that IPv4 works just fine) means nobody ends up doing it.

kogir 14y ago

I ask in the most genuine way possible: Why? IPv6 is for when you can't get an IPv4 address anymore. To the best of my knowledge, there aren't currently users with only IPv6 addresses, so there's zero reason for us to support it. In the general case, why should any IPv4 website bother with IPv6? Is there any benefit?

agwa 14y ago
To set an example and encourage IPv6 adoption. Many people think IPv6 is going to fizzle, and as justification they point to the currently low adoption rate of IPv6. I'm very afraid this will become a self-fulfilling prophecy and we will be stuck with a future where home users are forced to use carrier-grade NAT and even web site operators may have a hard time getting new IP addresses. I want to avoid that future if at all possible, so I do everything I can to encourage IPv6 adoption today. There may be no short-term benefit but helping IPv6 adoption has substantial long-term benefits.
wmf 14y ago
In some networks (e.g. Verizon) IPv6 should be slightly faster and more reliable since it doesn't go through CGN.
p1mrx 14y ago
- Carrier-grade NAT forces users to share IPv4 addresses, making it difficult to ban offenders without collateral damage. This problem is only going to get worse. - NATs are full of state, and state is messy. Making your site route around them may improve performance. - This is one of the few areas where software people can directly make the world a better place, by preventing "our" Internet from regressing into something that more resembles the telco network. - Lack of IPv6 support strains the credibility of companies that purport to be on the forefront of technology. Google, Facebook, and Wikipedia (and Bing?!) figured this out; why can't Hacker News? - It gives your site a green 6 in IPvFoo, instead of a red 4. Six is 2 better than four, and green is 100THz better than red.