How to enable ipv6 support in nginx & Apache?

IPV6 VS IPV4

What is IPV6?

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer protocol that enables data communications over a packet-switched network.
IPv6 – Wikipedia

Network World

Why IPV6?

The main reason for IPV6 is that IPV4 run-out of IP addresses – approx 4.3 Billion combinations ran-out. Thus, IPv4 addresses couldn’t meet the demand for Internet-connected devices. To overcome this problem we needed alternative which should be more secure, Scalable, and Connectable. IPV6 – The primary function of IPv6 is to allow for more unique TCP/IP address identifiers to be created.

It also enhanced Network with:-

1. SECURITY
2. SCALABILITY
3. CONNECTIVITY
4. More Efficient Routing
5. Simplified Network Configuration
6. Support For New Services

There is no big difference in performance as Explained by Sucuri  –

IPv4 vs IPv6 Performance Comparison

How to Check IPV6?

IPv6 test – IPv6/4 connectivity and speed test

Using Terminal

MacBookAir:~$ ip -6 addr show
or
MacBookAir:~$ ifconfig | grep inet6

Update DNS AAAA Record
Add IPV6 in DNS as a AAAA record.

How to Enable the IPV6 in Apache Webserver?

vim /etc/httpd/conf.d/yourfile.conf




listen [fe80::901d:9749:f8bd:617d]:80

Check Apache configured right

httpd -t

After checking restart the web-server

systemctl restart httpd

How to Enable the IPV6 in Nginx Webserver?

vim /etc/nginx/conf.d/yourfile.conf

Dynamic Use

server {
listen 80;
listen [::]:80 default_server;
root /var/www/html;

For Specific IPV6 Address

server {
listen 80;
listen [fe80::901d:9749:f8bd:617d]:80 default_server;
root /var/www/html;

Check Nginx Web-server Configured Right

nginx -t

Now restart the Web-Server

systemctl restart nginx




netstat -anlp |grep 80

First Option –

If you are using CDN services such as Cloudflare – The Web Performance & Security Company | Cloudflare, KeyCDN – Content delivery made easy, Security, Cloud Delivery, Performance | Akamai
Then it is very simple as this type of CDN service provides manages IPV6 and provides us to option for Activation. And let you enable IPv6 from their edge network.