Connecting to the IPv6 Internet

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Connecting to the IPv6 Internet

The simplest way to connect to the IPv6 Internet is to use 6to4, which is included with the IPv6 protocol for the Windows Server 2003 family. You can use 6to4 as either a 6to4 host or as a 6to4 router by enabling Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) on a computer that is connected to the Internet. The IPv6 Helper service automatically configures itself with the appropriate 6to4 addresses and uses a specific 6to4 relay router on the Internet. For more information, see IPv6 traffic between nodes in different sites across the Internet (6to4). The following illustration shows the configuration of a host that is using 6to4 to communicate on the IPv6 Internet through a 6to4 relay router.

With 6to4, you can ping other computers on the IPv6 Internet (for example, ping -6 ipv6.research.microsoft.com). The IPv6 Web site provides a list of IPv6-accessible servers that communicate on the IPv6 Internet. Additionally, the registry available at this site contains the names of other IPv6 Internet computers.

Some IPv6 Internet sites might be inaccessible. You might also experience connectivity problems. The tracert -dAddress command might be helpful in either case. The -d parameter prevents reverse DNS lookup on intermediate router addresses. For more information about the IPv6 Internet, see the 6bone Web site.

For additional information about configurations, see IPv6 Configurations.

For information about using IPv6 in a test lab, see Setting up an IPv6 Test Lab.

Notes

• Web addresses can change, so you might be unable to connect to the Web site or sites mentioned here.

• Internet Connection Sharing and Network Bridge are not included in Windows Server 2003, Web Edition; Windows Server 2003, Datacenter Edition; and the Itanium-based versions of the original release of the Windows Server 2003 operating systems.