OpenDNS Is Offering an IPv6 Sandbox for Configuration Testing

The web is preparing for the necessary migration to the IPv6 protocol, which greatly expands the number of network addresses available to computers and devices connected to the internet.

Progress has been slow, but a number of companies and organizations are working on pushing for faster adoption.

Now, OpenDNS is offering an IPv6 sandbox service, enabling anyone to test their IPv6 connectivity while taking one element out of the equation, the domain name server.

"The move to IPv6 is on everyone’s mind so a sandbox for IPv6-ready DNS is a service every network admin in the world can and will use," OpenDNS CEO David Ulevitch said.

"For network admins without IPv6 experience, they can quickly set up an IPv6 tunnel and start experimenting with the OpenDNS IPv6 DNS service," he explained.

"The testbed is a service for the Internet at large, helping the global migration from IPv4 to IPv6. Needless to say, we’re more than proud to be the first recursive DNS service in the world to offer IPv6-ready DNS," he added.

If you want to use the IPv6 sandbox offered by OpenDNS, all you have to do is configure your operating system or router to point to these two IPv6 DNS addresses 2620:0:ccc::2 and 2620:0:ccd::2, bypassing your regular provider. You can get more details over at OpenDNS' IPv6 page.

The move is part of a larger effort, initiated by the Internet Society and a number of large internet companies dubbed World IPv6 Day, scheduled for June 8.

Since the plans were announced, more companies have joined in and will offer support for complete IPv6 connections, by default, for their services and websites.

IPv6 and IPv4 configurations can live side by side and most people should be able to connect to any site offering both. But a small number of routers and network configurations have trouble with websites supporting both protocols.

World IPv6 Day aims to test exactly how large this problem is and to provide encouragement to ISPs, companies and users to fix their configurations until then, or at least spur them into action if they encounter issues on that day.