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The Internet Operating Systems BSD

IPv6 Over OpenBSD 69

darkuncle writes: "While doing some research into setting up an OpenBSD box as a firewall/NAT box/DHCP server for my home network, I ran across a cool writeup at 2600 Australia about how to implement IPv6 on OpenBSD. For anybody that's been thinking about exploring IPv6, this article (along with the FAQ linked above) provides some good starting points. "
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IPv6 Over OpenBSD

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  • by Anonymous Coward
    Okay, things appear to be fine now...

    The doco is now coming from the co-lo box....

    Thanks for the hits - we never expected to the see the doco on Slashdot...

    Dogcow
    2600 Australia
  • by Anonymous Coward
    I've seen more 'hype' about IPV6 than actual documentation. Short guides like this are great but what im really looking for is a nice book on how the routing and such works. Does anyone know of one being developed?
  • by Anonymous Coward

    An analysis of current trends indicates that ipv6 will be obsolete before it is completed.

    It will then be necessessary to skip ipv7 because that is the stylish thing to do these days.

    Work will then begin in ernest on ipv8.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Hi all,

    Please bear with us if the download of the openbsd-ipv6.html document is a tad slow.. Although we're on a 128k link and although I've got Apache 302'ing some of you to our co-lo box (which is on FDDI to the backbone) it doesn't seem to be working 100% of the time for all browsers...

    Dogcow
    2600 Australia
  • Insider reports have shown that the 'next' version after IPv6 (short for "Internet Protocol vaporware Six") will actually be "Microsoft Active Direct Internet Service Protocol 2002 with NT Technology". MADISP2kwNTT will be far superior to current IPv4 (short for "Internet Protocol that Works Just Fine But Is Not Fully Buzzword Compliant version 4") implementation.

    An "OpenSource" group (yes, OpenSource -- even if OpenSource has nothing to do with a topic, it wouldn't be /. without a OpenSource tie-in!) of 3l33t hax0rz is planning on boycotting MADISP2kwNTT and making an incompatable version, "3l33t Linu0r3z k-Rad Pr0t0c0lZ0r!", for use among Linux loving groups. No 'Mic0rshaft n0t-3l33t d00dz' will be able to use this protocol, as you will have to swear allegence to the GNU GPL and kiss the ring of Pope RMS before you can use it.

    An analysis of current trends indicates that us BSD users will, however, continue to use IPv6 without problems, and will laugh with insane glee at the users of non-IPv6 compliant OS'es.

    jason

    *returns to OpenBSD box, striking ph33-ur into the hearts of Mandrake-using sKr1pt k1ddi3z everywhere*
  • My father worked for Subaru back in the '80s... it is for this reason that I know what the ip in Subaru ipV6 stands for:

    itsa pieceofshit.

    :)
  • It's crunch time already. Ever tried calling a circuit provider (*shudder* Qwest) and requesting another /24? Your better off calling up and asking for a ride in the company helecopter, you'd probably have a better chance of that. More fun, too.

    j.
  • A bit more research will reveal some interesting facts - for example, IPv6 switchover will *not* have to be forced. Why? Because it's designed to be COMPLETELY backwards-compatible with existing IPv4 protocol and hardware. As to address space ... ISPs won't be able to charge for what they don't have; namely v4 address space, which will be disappearing shortly. The analogy of IPv6 to mass counterfeiting is completely off the mark. IPv6 is superior in countless ways to IPv4, and ANYBODY that has done any kind of research into it will not dispute that fact, even people that might stand to make a few bucks (temporarily) from the shortage of IPv4 addresses. Do what was suggested by a previous poster - take a couple hours and read up on this issue at: 6bone.net [6bone.net]
    IPv6.net [ipv6.net]
    IPv6.com [ipv6.com]
    All of those pages have a good number of links to sites that will provide detailed explanations of the issues involved here.
  • Hey, thanks for the positive feedback. To throw out a little more info, we're running:
    • FreeBSD
    • Linux
    • Win2k
    • Solaris
    • OpenVMS
    across
    • Nortel
    • Cisco
    • 3Com
    routers. We're running Quake natively over v6 :) Bind 9, Apache for v6, ssh, etc., etc. Stop by if you're at the show... Heck, if I can get these kernel patches in, we might even play with v6 mobility under Linux. Woot!
  • If you want the low-down information, the obvious thing to do is check out the RFCs. Here are several that I have found interesting:

    • RFC1883 [ietf.org], a top-level specification of IPv6 which includes ALL KINDS of cool stuff. If you're only going to read one, make it this one.
    • RFC2374 [ietf.org], which involves assigning Unicast (like the IPv4 address you have now, only bigger) addresses
    • RFC2462 [ietf.org], stateless autoconfiguration; why many hosts won't need DHCP any more
    • These documents barely scratch the surface, but they're interesting and they have splendid references. :-) For random RFCs, go to http://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc####.txt, where #### is, obviously, the RFC number. Happy reading...

  • The tech mail list is not the best list for those questions, which is why some people were probably crotchety and stuff. Bad excuse for them though.
    The Misc list is the best place for those questions - and you will still run into crotchety people there too, but you will get friendly people too. Personalities differ. I get the same results no matter where I go in real life or on the computer.
    Sorry to hear your experience wasen't so positive.


  • First we need the distribution providers to start turning on IPv6 support. I've managed to setup a RedHat box to do IPv6, but it required redoing the kernel, manually patching a couple of packages, and replaing quite a few other packages. Your average user just isn't ready for this yet.

    Let me throw a few links at anyone who wants to try setting up IPv6 on their box. Be careful, you can really foul up a machine doing this wrong.

    Instead of doing a IPv6 use day, we need an IPv6 lobbying day. Get your distribution provider to compile IPv6 support in to the default kernel (at least as a module), and start including the IPv6 packages and scripts with their installation.

  • FreeBSD has ipv6 support and tools in FreeBSD 4.0 also. OpenBSD kind of spanks anyways. Try to install it sometime. It's a good workout.
  • That said, how do I do anything but harm Amazon if I use their servers to search for books but never buy from them?

    Yes, that is exactly the point. I used to feel "bad" about looking at their reviews and never buying from Amazon (because of pricing and shipping times). Now, thanks to the boycott, I can do the same thing and feel that, morally, it is the right thing to do.

    Aside from that, the original poster did have a point. Whenever linking to Amazon, one should remind others of the boycott.

  • I would suggest checking out FreeBSD [freebsd.org] release 4.0. There is support for IPv6 built into the default install.
  • I remember at some point I had all three BSD's, plus RedHat Linux, Solaris7/i386 *and* the GNU/Hurd all installed on the same machine with Grub as multi-bootloader.

    The major pain in the ass was the naming scheme for partitions. Also, it seemed that none of these OS's was able to mount the partitions of every other one in read/write mode.

    After a while, I finally understood that, although it was geeky and fun, having six OS's on the same machine was a rather pointless waste of disk space...
  • People on ipv4 network, cannot just connect to ipv6. Right?! Why not use ipv6 for spreading stuff like decss, reversed engineered code and your favorite mp3's? create a site that is accessible via the ipv6 interface but not ipv4, the morons err idiots are not yet on ipv6 yet!
    Just a thought. :) Best enjoy this before the "mass" migrates to it.

  • That's great that OpenBSD has IPv6 support, and it looks like it has for some time. But the simple fact of the matter is that IPv6 isn't going to take off until people start actually USING it. Are there *any* non-research sites hooked up to the 6Bone? If the leaders (term used loosely) on the Net--such as /., Wired, Salon, Ars Technica, etc.--began using it and advertising the fact that they were we'd start to see more usage and interest. And let's face it folks: MS ain't gonna commit resources to IPv6 until they see demand for it, and it ain't *really* gonna take off until they do. But in the meantime, some of the movers and shakers in the dubya-dubya-dubya world CAN do things to promote it.

    So to all you sysops out there: Please do so. PLEASE.

    -Rev.
  • IPv6 is comming and it is comming fast. I figure it'll be about 2 years before most top level providers start implementing it.

    Two years is extremely slow in the computer age ....

  • What 'current trend' are you citing?
  • Of course, when you sign up for a freenet6 account, it generates the config script for you...
    :>
  • Not that it's any of my business (never used *bsd), but if I read a post like this, I'd tell him to go ahead.

    Just fork off!
  • using the old I P Freely joke is freaking awesome!
  • FYI - if anyone is in/around Las Vegas right now there is a good demo IPv6 network in the iLabs section of Interop. There are also some free classes/tutorials going on there.
  • you're supposed to read the article because it'll tell you both how to set ip6 up in the l33t3st way possible
  • I bet you didn't change default mount options for FreeBSD filesystems. By default FreeBSD mounts disks with synchronous metadata updates option set, which obviously slower than Linux's default asynchronous mount. It is great deal safer though.

    Also, it also should be noted that softupdates technology is available on FreeBSD for quite some time now. Softupdates eliminate synchronous metadata updates while providing the same level of fault-tolerance. You really should have tried turning softupdates while doing your benchmarking because without them you are comparing apples and oranges and your claim about Linux having better performance is totally unfounded.
  • You have an ultra secure OS thats ported to a dozen different architectures. I personally don't care what attitude Theo has, I use the OS for its features. Funny you should mention his attitude, theres a certain RMS interview you should read where he interrupts the guy interviewing. Look at the part where he says people shouldn't get paid for closed source software.

    http://tlug.linux.or.jp/rms.html

  • Do you have any proof to claim that linux is faster than BSD? In what way? A better server, a better desktop OS? I use OpenBSD for my firewall and in 6 months do you know how many security patches I've needed? Zero. How many remote root exploits did redhat 6.2 have?
  • Runs an ipV6.

    tcd004

  • Please do not search Amazon for books! Go to NoAmazon.com instead. It's much better and will explain why Amazon is evil.

    I prefer to reserve the word evil to actual instances of moral reprehensibility.

    That said, how do I do anything but harm Amazon
    if I use their servers to search for books but never buy from them?

    Anomalous: inconsistent with or deviating from what is usual, normal, or expected
  • I wonder how long it's going to be until crunch time. I wonder how many ip's are still avalible... and I wonder how long before ipv6 becomes implemented.

    Here at Penn State we hve Internet2, it's rather interesting to use and very exciting in development... However, I wonder if all the older, more loved, software is going to be compatible with ipv6. I can possibly see a wrapper being setup for it...

  • You know, I had that same idea, that Open BSD should make a great choice for a masq/firewall box for my cable modem. I had been using an old 486 with a pair of ne2000-compat SMC ISA NIC's running RH5.2 to do this, and I decided one day to switch out the HD and try setting up the box using OpenBSD instead of Linux.

    I had mixed results. I couldn't get the NE2000 cards to work very well, apparently there are some issues with ne2000 cards.

    The packet forwarding worked ok but I didn't find much support for stuff that doesn't work well with masq out of the box (ala ip_masq_ftp, ip_masq_irc, etc).

    What really put me off was the hostile attitude I got when I posted newbie questions on one of the newsgroups (think it was openbsd.tech). You know, I know how to search deja and look for faq's and RTFM and I din't think my question was inappropriate, but man did I get a lot of grief. Probably got 3 flames for every helpful reply. Who needs that?

    So instead I went and installed slack and decided I would put off another *BSD adventure for another day.
  • Yes but you are too close to that buy button.
  • Theo and his openBSD deservies a lot of criticism Yeah, like for OpenBSD's complete lack of support for SMP.
  • What are the diffeences between the various BSD o/s's?

    I am fairly new to the Unix world and don't have many answers :(
  • It is coming. Take a look look at the web site. There is a project going on to bring SMP to i386 and sparc.
  • IPV6 ALLOWS MORE SECURITY & STABILITY TO EXISTING INTERNET SERVERS -- I HAVE YET BEEN ABLE TO FIND ADEQUATE TECHNICAL DOCUMENTATION TO IMPLEMENT THIS PROTOCOL OVER A WIDE VARIETY OF SYSTEMS (UNIX/VMS/BSD)
  • Guys, this is the same exact text I responded to almost a year ago on slashdot. What a joke. I can't even remember the user name I had back then.

    "Denial, it's not just a river in Egypt..."

    Give me a break. Style over substance? I think so. This is emotionally loaded bull shit that doesn't say or mean much.
  • "I agree that FreeBSD is in deep trouble. And while FreeBSD is beset with its own internal strife, it is not the only BSD to be affected by this cancer"

    This means absolutely nothing. What strife in FreeBSD? Strife in NetBSD and OpenBSD? The event you talk about is long gone. Maybe you should write a message fear mongering about Torvalds and Tannenbaum arguing.

    "But in reading his email he obviously has a problem with taking any criticism, and had no problem with jumping down someone's throat with a flamethrower and foul language. Denial, its not just a river in Egypt... "

    Heh, moron. What does this have to do with anything? Oh, and I love the stupid platitudes.

    "It just seems that *BSD has an extra heaping helping of bad attitudes that make commercial vendors look like pikers"

    Evidence? Lies..

    "If you *really* read that email thread, you would see the attitude loud and clear. "We don't think that it helps anything for you to tell someone he's a f**khead when he's posting a message trying to help with the OS development." "F**K YOU, *I* want control of the source and if you don't like it I'll fork my own off!"'

    This is relevant to anything, how? Emotionally loaded style over substance garbage.

    "The split had nothing to do with the quality of his coding work, and everything to do with his nasty attitude towards people... and NOT just the people of NetBSD Core, but other people who were just civilians trying to help out, or looking for help. No wonder BSD is dying. "

    Well, you sure get extra points for posting a replica copy of a couple of year old message. Isn't it weird that your prophecy hasn't come true? :)

    I'd like a reply -- or are you too stupid to come up with original work?
  • A real OS like what? Windows NT? Come on, mention relevant features in a "decent OS". Oh, I forgot. You're just a sysadmin who knows nothing.
  • by Anonymous Coward
    Beats me why slashdot is promoting IPv6; it's the best wetdream the Feds ever came up with for finally eliminating anonymity on the net.

    All they have to do is to mandate that all U.S. routers use IPv6, keep full logs of all connections, and make these logs accessible at will, in real time.

    In the past, people didn't believe that this would come to pass. Unfortunately, there are two key reasons why this will now happen. The first is the existing example of the phone companies, who were mandated by Congress to implement wiretapping of digital technology. They balked at the cost, until Congress last year gave them a few hundred million of our tax dollars to shut up and implement it.

    The ISPs will balk too; until they're given enough cash to do it. A Billion dollars would certainly smooth over a lot of ruffled feathers, and probably get them chomping at the bit for a piece of that action.

    And second, technology keeps getting more powerful and cheaper every year. It's only a matter of time now before realtime tracking is putforward by the FBI to assist with "protecting" us from Terrorists, Child Porn, Drugs, and what not.

    Sure wish someone would protect us from the thugs at the FBI.

    Actually, with this "feature", market research companies could use this to keep track of your viewing habits like never before. And pay the ISPs for this information. This is a revenue generating product for the company which buys into it; the amount needed for funding the right lobbiests to get this law passed is chicken feed.

    And given that some Cisco employees had the gaul to stand up at a recent IETF and announce that they'd be implementing a wiretapping protocol for the FBI (and the IETF could go to hell), you can bet Cisco would jump at the chance to screw your privacy any way they could.

    How silly the fools who created the IPv6 standard now seem. Unless this was their original intention; and it's hard to believe that they were complete idiots and missed all of this.

  • by Anonymous Coward
    Bah! Someone once said that all progress in the world comes from people who are unreasonable. From the release notes of NetBSD 0.8, dated 19 April 1993: "We can walk our road toghether if our goals are the same; We can run alone and free if we persue a different aim."

    Great developers are *NOT* generally known for their highly refined people skills. Let them call it as they see it, and if you should become offended, well... then your propensity to become easily offended is a problem you should address. Perhaps you never witnessed a "spontaneous expression of strong feelings" from Linus Torvalds? Eric Raymond? Richard Stallman? even (gasp) Bill Gates?

    In the final analysis, the only measurement that counts is the results achieved. All we should ask of Theo (and every other developer of leading/bleeding edge work) is that he "keep on keeping on". The world needs more egotists just like him! There are enough sheep/lemmings/whatever in the world.

    Henry David Thoreau (1817-1862) once said: I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of the time. To be in a company (corporation?), even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone. I never found a companion that was so companionable as solitude.

    I suspect that Henry David Thoreau and operating system developers have much in common.

  • The more posts there are which are off-topic, irrelevent, inflamatory and divisive, the fewer moderaor points can be used on promoting the more interesting or informative posts, in this discussion or others.

    Please! This drivel about *BSD has nothing to do with IPv6, or even OpenBSD. It's a fight over who said what to whom, when, how, why, and whether the cow delivered a three-headed calf afterwards.

    If you want to fight about BSD, become one of those showman wrestlers on TV, or a professional boxer. Who knows? It might even make you rich. You might still be a dork, but you'll be a rich dork, rather than a rather bland, boring one.

  • Then they can always look to Bay, or Telebit. Telebit has some =excellent=, low-cost IPv6 routers, and were the first to ship, I believe.

    Of course, there's nothing to stop an ISP from installing GateD 3.6-ipv6, MRT or Zebra in the meantime, and tunnel to the 6bone. Don't see many ISPs doing this, though. Maybe I'm just being cynical, but ISPs are not doing that much to encourage router companies to bring out the goods. Threats of taking their business elsewhere would do it, and probably would save the ISPs money in the process. Cisco knows all this, but it doesn't worry them, as the ISPs are preferring to stay dormant.

  • IPv6 is an ingenious protocol, dismised by too many ISPs and backbone internet providers as an irrelevent frivolity.

    Oof. Actually many ISPs do really really want to switch to IPv6. ISPs hate people who spoof ips just like everyone else.

    There are several things blocking the path to IPv6. One of the major things that is blocking the movement to IPv6 is lack of support in Switches and Routers. Hell, all of Cisco's releaces of IOS that are IPv6 compliant are all Beta. Now would you like to sign up with an ISP who's uptime is far short of 99.99%?

    IPv6 is comming and it is comming fast. I figure it'll be about 2 years before most top level providers start implementing it.

  • All they have to do is to mandate that all U.S. routers use IPv6, keep full logs of all connections, and make these logs accessible at will, in real time.
    • Yeah, right. "full logs of all connections."
    • Why is IPv6 necessary for this? Why not just force ISPs to make "full logs of all connections" for v4?
    • What is the big "privacy" issue? If you're talking about the "embedded MAC address" FUD, read the RFCs and learn all about the "u" bit in the EUI. You don't have to base your stateless autoconfig'ed address on your MAC.
    • IPsec cures all woes -- when you control both ends (which is the only situation you can ever trust, don't kid yourself), wiretapping is irrelevant. Don't believe that the spec'ed ciphers haven't been hacked by the /dev/null cartel (NSA)? Fine, write your own. You can write your own, you know...
  • The only part of this that isn't obvious is why to use IPv6. Actually, that's obvious, too--it's fun to play with new things.

    There's a little more to it than that. IPv6 has a much bigger address space - which won't affect you directly - and also has much-enhanced security features and the ability to set up links with predictable real-time performance (IOW it's ideal for Quake).
    --
  • The primary goal of OpenBSD is security. Hence, it is the obvious choice for a firewall system. In the home environment, the firewall system will also need to provide other services, such as NAT and DHCP.

    While my experience is that Linux is faster than BSD, that shouldn't be an issue here.

    The only part of this that isn't obvious is why to use IPv6. Actually, that's obvious, too--it's fun to play with new things.
  • Of course, it all depends on what kernel version you're using, what hardware you have, and what application.

    However, in one case where the application was kernel compilation (cross-compilers for another architecture, mostly gcc and friends), about a year ago, we found Linux was 10-15% faster on a single processor. I think that was FreeBSD 2.8. I know the version numbers have change a lot since then, I don't know if the performance numbers have similarly change.
  • Please do not search Amazon for books!

    Sorry, but no go. Amazon has the biggest selection of books and a score of helpful reviews with each one.

    Hint: You don't have to pay for the searches, and you're not required to buy the books.

  • This is about Openbsd (obsd) and the fact that it's implemented and can be used. I'm a freebsd user and advocate. I like IPv6 support in my bsd, but please don't be so overzealous to say that fbsd did it already. It's not about that.

    ---
  • I'm the maintainer of (one of) the Linux port [eleves.ens.fr] of the ftpd from OpenBSD. Since version 0.3.0 (of my port, taken from OpenBSD 2.7) it has had IPv6 support (this has been a pain to port, as a matter of fact).

    (I'm still a bit short of confirmations that the IPv6 part works correctly. It would be nice if more people with IPv6 connectivity could try it out and tell me.)

    Also check out my "sock" [quatramaran.ens.fr] program (instructions for use: see comments at the start of the source) for an IPv6-aware equivalent of netcat/socket that uses the spiffy getaddrinfo() function from libc.

    Besides this, I think Linux is still wanting in IPv6-aware tools. Now that the kernel supports it and the libc supports it, I think all distributions could afford to ship with a fully IPv6-aware environment. Not having ping6 and all by default is rather ridiculous.

  • It seems to me that historically it has been the "underground" that has utilized cutting-edge technologies first. BBS's first became popular (at least among the people I hung out with) whenever you could trade warez and txt files. The internet was popular with geeks and Phrack types way before .com mania shook the world, and John Carmack is definately not mainstream. All of these examples show that the edges are where innovation and application of new technologies takes place.

    So I vote "yay" to implementing some sort of pseudo-proprietary net using IPv6, expecially IPsec just to piss of the MPAA attorneys. Could Gnutella be ported to IPv6?

  • FreeBSD has had IPV6 support for several years now. It was an option with FreeBSD 3.x and ships by default with 4.0.

    Substantial development of IPV6 and IPSEC were actively developed under FreeBSD versions as far back as 2.x

    It's too bad the IPV6 deployment will remain stunted (we won't see ISPs rolling out support) until M$ decides to implement it in their operating systems...

    -p.


  • MS ain't gonna commit resources to IPv6 until they see demand for it, and it ain't *really* gonna take off until they do.


    Have fun making things up?...seeing as it's about Microsoft and how evil they are, you'll probably get moderated up as 'insightful'.

    Technical (Public) Beta [microsoft.com]

    Direct from Microsoft's research group working on ipv6 [microsoft.com]
  • I finally understood that, although it was geeky and fun, having six OS's on the same machine was a rather pointless waste of disk space...

    Yes, it is much better to have six different machines...

  • The BSD section is red. Other sections have various other colors. Most just use the default green-and-white scheme though.
  • FreeBSD 4.0 has IPV6 support right out of the box (or FTP install, whatever the case may be). In fact, if you goto www.freenet6.net [freenet6.net] you can hook yourself up with an IPV6 tunnel and start playing around with it immediately.
  • "While my experience is that Linux is faster than BSD, that shouldn't be an issue here. "

    Does anyone have any benchmarks, or is this just a passed on rumor that everyone seems to believe?

    I have a debian and freebsd 3.4 box right on this desktop, and I notice nill difference in speed. I can even use linux threads on the bsd box.

    IMO, the only thing to scream about is SMP performance. I wonder what the SMP:SMP performance mentioned ratio is.
  • Hiya,
    There are more OpenBSD IPv6 stacks.

    One is the KAME IPv6 project [kame.net] wich is a stack for FreeBSD/NetBSD/BSD/OS.

    Another IPv6 stack for FreeBSd/NetBSD is made by INRIA IPv6 [inria.fr].

    Another interesting site is the Alternate Queueing (ALTQ) [sony.co.jp] for queue and bandwidth management use under *BSDs.

    And once you got this all working, why not play with OpenBSD and PGPnet [allard.nu] VPN support.

    Erik

  • by bluGill ( 862 ) on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @07:03AM (#1083095)

    FreeBSD: most popular. Wants to be the best for x86. Until reciently didn't care at all about any other platform. Still doesn't care much. Probably the best choice though if your system is x86

    NetBSD: try to run on all useful platforms. If it is a comptuer netBSD wants to run on it. An excellent choice if you have many different comptuers with different strenghts. They all look the same from an admin point of view.

    OpenBSD: orginally netBSD+, but not different enough. Doesn't care as much about portability (but has more supported platforms then freeBSD and can probably support all of netBSD's platforms with a little work) Wants to be the most secure OS possibal, and in fact it has been years since someone found a remotly exploitable security hole in default install. (You can of course configure it to be insecure.) Best choice if your not sure who will be attacking your system. (The others react quickly to problems, openBSD tends to proactivly avoid them)

    However despite the above, the *BSDs are not much different. Pick one. Theo and his openBSD deservies a lot of criticism, but nobody will claim that openBSD is not technically excellent in their area. I should note too that most of openBSD's changes have filtered back into freeBSD and netBSD over time. I'm sure that linux devolpers have looked them over too. And of course it runs in the other way.

    The best thing to do is have an infiniate amount of machines and time, so that you can run all 3 *BSDs, every linux distribution, and whatever else you can get your hand on. Then decide for yourself.

  • by jd ( 1658 ) <`imipak' `at' `yahoo.com'> on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @06:35AM (#1083096) Homepage Journal
    There are a lot of very detailed IPv6 books out there. Check out Wesley-Addison and O'Reiley - I remember seeing some of the better titles there.

    You can also check out:

    These are routers with support for IPv6 routing protocols, such as RIPng, OSPFv6 and BGP4+. (For GateD, you want the GateD 3.6-ipv6 snapshot.)

    Last, but by no means least, there's a wealth of information at the "principle" IPv6 sites:

  • by Duke of URL ( 10219 ) on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @07:28AM (#1083097)
    To anyone who doesn't regularly read the BSD section this will seem like a fresh new post.
    In reality its been cut 'n pasted so many times its beyond belief. Someone really has it out for *BSD.

    There are few worthy projects out there that DO NOT have interesting characters and wild political battles. Please take into consideration the technical merits of these operating systems, and remember that some people hate *BSDs for political reasons that are just as lowly as the not so nice stuff that goes on in the OS battles.

  • by Camelot ( 17116 ) on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @06:34AM (#1083098)
    I've seen more 'hype' about IPV6 than actual documentation.

    Well, then you haven't been doing your homework. A quick search at amazon shows a couple of books of interest, like this:

  • Fortunately, one of the main IPv6 sites ( ipv6.com [ipv6.com]) has these handy setup instructions [ipv6.com] for other OS's such as Solaris, AIX, Linux, etc.

    Caveat: as I am only a Linux user at home and stuck on WinNT at work, and have not even tried connecting to a 6 bone yet or doing IPv6 tunneling with IPv4, I can't vouch for how well the instructions work, but they look right, AFAICT.

  • by jd ( 1658 ) <`imipak' `at' `yahoo.com'> on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @07:04AM (#1083100) Homepage Journal
    IPv6 is an ingenious protocol, dismised by too many ISPs and backbone internet providers as an irrelevent frivolity.

    I would like to propose an IPv6 day, in which all Slashdot readers sign up with an IPv6 tunnel provider and spend the day -just- using IPv6.

    Whilst it might have absolutely no effect on outside opinion, it might give IPv6 a much-needed injection of interest. And that might pave the way for IPv6 to move out of obscurity and into general awareness.

    If there is interest in this idea, I'd like to propose June 4th as our own Independence Day. In this case, independence from IPv4.

  • by MosesJones ( 55544 ) on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @06:50AM (#1083101) Homepage
    Books...
    Ipv6 : The Next Generation Internet Protocol Stewart S. Miller; Paperback

    IP Addressing & Subnetting Including IPv6 Syngress Media; Paperback

    Ipv6 Networks Marcus Goncalves, Kitty Niles; Paperback

    And of course IPv6.org [ipv6.org] is an excellent source of info on the next generation for the internet.

    Its already here as a networking technology and for many areas its increased security model enables things that couldn't previously be done. Big privacy question marks over it though.

  • by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @06:38AM (#1083102)

    Yes folks, you read it here first on Slashdot. OpenBSD, a Canadian operating system written by Theo deRaadt while he was a grad student in Finland, is officially supporting the IPv6 so-called "standard". I ask you, what is wrong with the current IPv4 implementation? Our fine, American protocols have dragged this network out of a mess of ivory towers and into the lives of all hard-working people around the world. And no these "hackers" want to just up and destroy it, replacing it with some insiduous software developed in Japan, which has already brought about the total degredation of American youth through the Satanic influences of its "Pokemon" cult. Have we forgotten December 7th, 1941, "A day that will live in infamy", my friends?

    So what, you might be asking yourself, is so special about IPv6 that these Canadians and Japanese would be investing so much time in it? Let me tell you. In IPv4, there are only a few IP addresses to go around, and this creates the supply and demand reactions that fuel the machines of Capitalism. Not everyone can have one, and certainly few can hold on to them forever. But in this new system, the range of addresses in increased exponentially: everyone will be forced to have one by the government. You thought social security, FDR's plot to control the citizens by reducing them to numbers, was bad? Wait till the government outlaws naming children with good, Christian names. That's right folks, if those fat cats in Washington have their way, your next child may well be designated, by the government, as being "3ffe:b00:c18:1fff:0:0:0:2d9". Try singing those sweet lullabies to children with that name. No doubt it will inspire many normally-godfearing women to murder their unborn children at the slaughtering "clinics", which is what liberals, with their hatred of all that is human, really want.

    And don't think that you'll walk away scot-free either. You're new, government-assigned IP address will be used to identify you on the new government work farms. Think you like your cushy job as a Visual Basic programmer? Wait till Washington has you picking tomatoes on a desert farm in Mexico. I've never been wrong before, folks, so I know I'm right this time. IPv6 is a tool of the Illuminati, and it's branch organizaions like the Jewish Banking Interests and the Democratic Party, to control the hearts and minds of decent, Christian Americans. Don't let these Japanese "researchers", or their partner in crime, Theo deRaadt, infiltrate into your network. America's future depends on it.
  • by TheDullBlade ( 28998 ) on Tuesday May 09, 2000 @10:34AM (#1083103)
    A.K.A. Windows NT, unrelated to the other BSDs, this one stands for Blue Screen of Death.

    Some people claim that MS can't produce a stable operating sytem, but winBSD is the ultimate in stability. Once you manage to boot winBSD (inexplicably, there is no official option to boot directly into it, but there are many ways to start it), it will run forever, disregarding anything short of a power outage.

    Some may complain that there is no software for winBSD, but people make the same complaint about Linux, and the same answer applies: that doesn't make the OS bad. You can already enjoy such entertaining games as "Swear at the Screen" and "Ignore all Inputs". So start developing for winBSD today!

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