Build IPV6 test environment in Linux platform and IPV4 environment

With the continuous development of internet technology, the traditional IPV4 address can not meet the needs of users. The new generation of IPV6 protocol is increasingly widely accepted and used, and more and more software systems are required to support IPV6 network protocol. However, the existing network environment support to IPV6 is still very limited, which brings some difficulties to the development and testing of software. This article describes how to use Apache to build a simulated IPV6 environment in an existing IPV4 network.

Build IPV6 test environment in Linux platform and IPV4 environment

1 IPV6 Profile

IPV6 (Internet Protocol version 6) as a IPV4 upgrade, it is installed as a total software upgrade in devices and

The operating system. One of the most straightforward answers to why you need to use IPV6 is that IPv4, which is currently widely used, has not been able to provide enough IP addresses to meet fast-growing networks. IPV4 uses 32-bit address length, only about 4.3 billion addresses and will soon be allocated. IPV6, which uses a 128-bit address length, can provide virtually unlimited addresses. Of course, expanding the address space is just one of the many advantages of IPV6, and in addition, IPV6 can improve the overall throughput of the network, improve quality of service (QoS), Security has better assurance, support Plug and Play, mobility, better implementation of multicast capabilities, and so on.

From 1992 IPNG Working Group was established, experienced more than 10 years of development, although IPv6 to reach the same level with IPv4 still have distance, but there are more and more support IPV6 equipment put into use, more and more software system began to support IPV6. IPV6 has now been able to provide basic services such as dns,web,email,ftp,telnet. Windows,sun,apple and other operating systems have been or are about to support the IPV6 protocol. IBM has also been committed to the development of IPV6, as early as 1997, IBM released the support IPV6 AIX. Today Db2,lotus,rational,tivoli and WebSphere are also gradually supporting the application of IPV6.

2 simulating IPV6 network in IPV4 environment

As mentioned in the previous section, many of the software related to Web applications are now supported by IPV6, and a large number of software is in the development phase of IPV6 support. But as far as development is concerned, many development environments do not provide good support for IPv6, especially when the applications that are developed need to go through older routes and even public networks. If you want to upgrade your network device to support your development environment, it will be a huge cost, sometimes unrealistic (such as upgrading public network support IPV6 in the short term).

It is very important to study how to simulate the IPV6 environment in the existing IPV4 network environment so that the development and testing work can be carried out smoothly. The following describes a HTTP/HTTPS network development test environment that simulates IPv6 on a Linux platform via an Apache server.

2.1 IPV6 Network requirements and the existing network environment

Figure 1 shows a typical HTTP network application, and if you need to provide IPV6 support for such a network application, developers and testers may encounter the following three scenarios:

The client and server are running on the same LAN, as shown in Figure 1-a

The client and server run on the same Intranet, and the network path between them needs to be routed, as shown in Figure 1-b

The client and server are in different geographies, and they are connected by the Internet, as shown in Figure 1-c.

Figure 1. Three typical HTTP network applications

In these three different situations, IPV6 's network environment requirements are different. For Scenario 1, you can communicate via the IPV6 protocol only if the operating system that the client and server is running supports IPV6, and if you need to provide traffic to a Global address, you could support it by running a software IPv6 route on a machine on a local area network, so it's for IPv6 is relatively simple to develop and test. For Scenario 2, because of the routing between the client and the server that runs over the IP layer, all routers on the network path are required to support IPV6. This can be a big challenge because many Intranet environments do not provide a route to support IPV6. For Scenario 3, this requires the Internet to provide IPv6 support, and it is unlikely that the Internet will provide comprehensive IPV6 support in the short term.

Therefore, in the circumstances of Scenario 2 and scenario 3, network hardware support will be the biggest obstacle to developing and testing network applications that support IPV6, and in section 2.2, how to use an existing IPV4 network for IPV6 application development and testing, while ensuring that it works in a real IPv6 environment.