CentOS is a popular Linux distribution that is widely used in a variety of server environments. It supports both IPv4 and IPv6 protocols, allowing you to configure your system to communicate over IPv6 networks.

In this blog post, we will walk through the steps to configure IPv6 on a CentOS system using the bash command line.

Checking IPv6 support

Before configuring IPv6, it is important to determine whether your CentOS system has IPv6 support enabled. To do this, open your terminal and run the following command:

$ cat /proc/net/if_inet6

If you see output similar to the following, it means IPv6 support is enabled:

00000000000000000000000000000001 01 80 10 80       lo

If you do not see any IPv6 addresses listed, you will need to enable IPv6 support before continuing with the configuration.

Configuring IPv6

To configure IPv6 on your CentOS system, follow these steps:

Step 1: Open the network configuration file

Open the network configuration file using a text editor. The default network configuration file is located at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 (replace eth0 with the name of your network interface if it’s different).

$ sudo vi /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0

Step 2: Add IPv6 information

Add the following lines to the file:

IPV6INIT=yes
IPV6ADDR=YOUR_IPV6_ADDRESS
IPV6_DEFAULTGW=YOUR_IPV6_GATEWAY

Replace YOUR_IPV6_ADDRESS with the IPv6 address assigned to your system, and YOUR_IPV6_GATEWAY with the IPv6 gateway address.

If you do not have an assigned IPv6 address or gateway address, check with your network administrator or Internet service provider.

Step 3: Save and exit the file

Save the changes and exit the text editor.

Step 4: Restart the network service

To apply the new IPv6 configuration, restart the network service with the following command:

$ sudo systemctl restart network

Step 5: Verify the IPv6 configuration

To verify that IPv6 is properly configured on your CentOS system, run the following command:

$ ip -6 address show eth0

This will display the IPv6 address, netmask, and other information for the eth0 network interface.

Conclusion

Configuring IPv6 on CentOS is a straightforward process that involves modifying the network configuration file and restarting the network service. By following the steps outlined in this blog post, you can enable and configure IPv6 connectivity on your CentOS system.

Remember to check with your network administrator or Internet service provider for the correct IPv6 address and gateway information.