IP support (SharePoint Server 2010)
Applies to: SharePoint Server 2010, SharePoint Foundation 2010
This article explains the support for Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) and Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) in Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Products.
SharePoint 2010 Products support the following environments:
IPv4-only
Mixed IPv4 and IPv6
IPv6-only
In a SharePoint environment, "mixed" can be defined as one of the following likely scenarios:
- Both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols are running.
- Some of your client computers are using only IPv4 and some of them are using both IPv4 and IPv6.
- Your client computers are using only IPv4, but the computer running Microsoft SQL Server is using both IPv4 and IPv6.
By default, the IPv6 protocol and the IPv4 protocol are both installed and enabled in Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2. When both IPv4 and IPv6 are enabled, IPv6 is preferred over IPv4 when using names and Domain Name System (DNS) name query responses contain both types of addresses. Additionally, you can remove the IPv4 protocol so that the computer runs only IPv6.
To determine what versions are being used on your network, you can use the IPConfig.exe tool. If the display of the ipconfig command at a Command Prompt contains rows named “IPv6 Address” or “Temporary IPv6 Address,” you have IPv6 in your environment. If all of your IPv6 addresses begin with “fe80” and correspond to rows named “Link-Local IPv6 Address,” you do not have IPv6 in your environment. For additional information, see IPConfig (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=122336&clcid=0x409).
The following list shows other important considerations regarding IPv6:
For any computer that is authenticated by using a domain controller and is only running IPv6 within a SharePoint 2010 Products environment, the domain controller must be running Windows Server 2008 or Windows Server 2008 R2. Ensure that you use the correct service pack and any additional software prerequisites. For more information, see Hardware and software requirements (SharePoint Server 2010).
All versions of Microsoft SQL Server supported for SharePoint 2010 Products also support IPv6. For more information about IPv6 support for SQL Server 2008, see Connecting Using IPv6 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=183115). For more information about IPv6 support for SQL Server 2005, see Connecting Using IPv6 (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=183118).
In SharePoint 2010 Products, when using IPv6 protocol, all end-user Uniform Resource Locators (URLs) must be based on DNS names with AAAA (quad-A) records. A DNS AAAA record resolves a DNS name to an IPv6 address. Browsing to SharePoint URLs that use IPv6 literal addresses is not supported. An example of a literal address URL is http://[2001:db8:85a3:8d3:1319:8a2e:370:7344]. However, SharePoint 2010 Products support entering IPv6 literal addresses for certain farm administration functionality, such as entering the server name when creating or attaching databases. For server names that use a literal address format, you must enclose the literal address within square brackets. For more information about AAAA records, see Adding a Resource Record to a Forward Lookup Zone (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=181956).
For additional information about IPv6 in Microsoft products, see the IPv6 TechCenter (https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/p/?LinkId=71543&clcid=0x409).