[jmillikin]

  > Can I get more than one IPv6 address?
  >
  > A single IPv6 address can be assigned to your Linode for free.

I hope this is a misunderstanding -- if not, it's actually a huge step backwards. The current solution for IPv6 in linode (HE tunnel to static IPv4 address) gives each node a full /64. It could be argued that this is a bit excessive, but it seems fairly typical, and lets you do useful things like serve multiple SSL sites from a single host without bothering with SNI.

[marshray]

This will soon be the biggest barrier to support of IPv6: the cash they make from leasing and selling their allocated IPv4 address space.

[oasisbob]

I think we should give Linode the benefit of the doubt on this for now.

Depending on how their instances are isolated from each other, it may be difficult to handle prefix delegation all the way down through the individual hosts into the guests.

Even Google had some hacks when they first started bringing up IPv6 support. For example, GMail would display class E addresses instead of the v6 addresses when you viewed last account activity. It was a temporary hack to shoe-horn v6 addresses into their management system.

[bdonlan]

As I understand it, they don't yet have any automation for setting up /64 prefix routes yet, so every /64 deployed has to be manually added to the router configs. Anyway, you're free to set up your own routing rules using that /64 to forward subnets of it on to different linodes.

[evilduck]

Can someone dumb down this explanation for me? Why this is a step backwards? I realize there is an absurd amount of IPv6 address space, but my Linode account only gets one IPv4 address for free, why is this different?

[syncsynchalt]

It's actually more work to give you one address (a /128) than to assign you a /64.

Everything in ipv6 assumes a /64 is the basic unit of allocation. For example, the stateless autoconfiguration system that replaces much of DHCP assumes it has a /64 to work with.

Linode probably has 4 billion /64s to play with (with options on trillions more if they should need it), why not give out one per customer?

[swajr]

The owner of Linode (caker) has clarified on IRC stating that the /128 will be provided to each node, however they will also provide a /64 per datacenter, per account upon request for a nominal fee. The /64 will be routed to your /128 so that you can control how the addresses in your /64 are handed out. The fee has not been disclosed, yet.

[Macha]

So in short it isn't a misunderstanding and they want to charge you per item for something that, for all intents and purposes, is like a single drop of water in an ocean.

[lsc]

Be aware that IPv4 is also still /extremely cheap/ - way less than $1/ip/year if you have any volume at all.

When people charge you for IP addresses, the money is for the effort required to deal with justifying them to your rir, setting them up, routing, and maybe to cover abuse (my experience has been that the amount of abuse work i have to put in to a customer correlates somewhat to the number of IP addresses they have) And yeah, probably a good chunk of profit.

The price of an IP, right now, has almost nothing to do with it's scarcity.

[tptacek]

They want to charge you for the drop, the space in their RIB to store the drop, the maintenance effort required to keep the RIB entry configured correctly, and the ongoing support costs of people who do things with their Linode boxes that require more than one IPv6 address.

[syncsynchalt]

The cost of maintaining a /64 is the same as maintaining a /128, and might even be less.

/64 is the basic unit of allocation in IPv6 and all of the tools and allocation protocols assume it.

[tptacek]

The cost isn't the same if /128s select for high-maintenance customers.

[wtallis]

A drop of water compared to the volume of Earth's oceans is about one part in 2^84, so your analogy is a bit of an exaggeration, as there are only 2^64 /64s to be handed out. Still, there are plenty of allotment sizes larger than /128 that are still not scarce enough to bother charging for unless you have some other leverage (lock-in or a unique advantage on some related product).

[bdonlan]

They want to charge you for the static route you've added to their (finite) router memory, and the administrative overhead for adding it when they don't have the process automated yet.

[schof]

I'm actually puzzled by all the Linode-bashing here. I'm not personally a Linode customer (or associated with them in any way) but this seems like a good thing.

To my knowledge (and I may have missed something) Linode is one of the first VPS providers to do IPV6. So I thought this was awesome.

If lots of other VPS providers start doing IPV6, and don't charge for a /64, or charge less than Linode does, Linode will have to change their fees or lose customers. But until that happens, why bash Linode for an as-yet unspecified charge?

[antihero]

Is there a guide somewhere to get HE working with Linode?

[runningdogx]

Just follow the HE tunnel setup instructions like you would for any non-linode host or border router.

[k33l0r]

The Linode Library has some instructions: http://library.linode.com/networking/ipv6-tunnels

[mct]

No only does HE give you a full /64, but they'll also route you an entire /48 if you click the "allocate" button on the tunnel properties page.