IPv6 Monitoring

Get to know your IPv6 network

Carsten Strotmann

Created: 2025-01-24 Fri 16:13

Agenda

  • Monitoring of IPv6 networks
  • Monitoring of Dual-Stack networks
  • Monitoring IPv6/Dual-Stack services
  • Monitoring Network Functions

Monitoring of IPv6 Networks

The importance of monitoring

  • Especially when IPv6 is introduced in a network, monitoring of the active network components and services is essential
    • Only through correct and comprehensive monitoring can problems be quickly identified and rectified.
  • Monitoring for IPv6 should therefore be set up before IPv6 is activated in the networks.
    • At a minimum, the monitoring should include the functional scope of the current IPv4 monitoring.

Modern Monitoring

  • Many networks take the introduction of IPv6 as an opportunity to re-evaluate the network monitoring, adapt it to the new requirements and modernize it
    • Use of NetCONF/YANG instead of SNMP
    • Integration into the configuration management
    • Use of modern network monitoring tools (Prometheus, Grafana visualization etc)

Monitoring of Dual-Stack networks

DNS vs. IP address based monitoring

  • In IPv4-only networks, there is often a one-to-one relation between the IPv4 address and the domain name of a service
  • In Dual-Stack networks, a service can have multiple IPv6 addresses besides the IPv4 address
    • There might be a need to monitor the service on all addresses

DNS vs. IP address based monitoring

  • Care should be taken to ensure that the services are not only monitored via domain name, even if the end devices address these services via a domain name
  • When connecting via domain name, only one of the two network protocols is tested (IPv4 or IPv6)
    • Usually IPv6 is preferred by the operating systems IP stack
  • Therefore, in addition to monitoring via a domain name or an URL, monitoring via dedicated IPv4-only and IPv6-only domain names or IP addresses should be configured

Recommendations for IPv6 monitoring

Monitoring for Dual-Stack services

  • The following active monitoring tests are recommended per service:
    • Connection to the service via IPv4 Address
    • Connection to the service via IPv6 Address
    • Connection via dual stack (via domain name)
    • Test DNS resolution via IPv4
    • Test DNS resolution via IPv6
    • Test DNS resolution via dual stack

Monitoring of Network Services

  • The following services should be monitored in the network:
    • Test DHCPv4 address assignment (if available)
    • Test DHCPv6 address assignment (if available)
    • Test Router Solicitation / Router Advertisement (per router)
    • Test OSPFv3 route information (internal routing)
    • Test BGP route information (external routing)

Monitoring of Network Services

  • The following services should be monitored in the network:
    • Test NTP time request
    • Test IPv4 firewall function
    • Test IPv6 firewall function
    • Test application and protocol proxy (per service, if available)

Questions?

questions.png