By Archimedes Gaviola
On the 27th of December 2005, IPv6 traffic passed along the provincial office of Department of Science and Technology [DOST] Siquijor. The office have availed an Internet connection through DSL by a local Internet service provider in the province, which is of course an IPv4 connection. The current IPv4 Internet is being used to overlay IPv6 Internet for transition.
Where to Get IPv6 Connection?
Freenet6 of Hexago Corporation in
IPv6-ready Operating System
FreeBSD is a well-known open source operating system with best TCP/IP stack both IPv4 and IPv6. Since this is an open source, then this is free for use and download. This is a Unix-based operating system that is suitable for building IPv4 and IPv6 network servers such as gateways and routers for flexibility and robust network performance. This is one of the chosen operating system from KAME project where IPv6 implementation was coded. This operating system is installed on a Pentium-based PC with 64-megabytes of RAM, with 2 network interfaces and a 4-gigabyte hard disk drive. Hardware are not that expensive as you might expect, as long as this OS can detect all the components of your computer including software drivers, then its going to be a straightforward installation. Other open source stuff used is PF (Packet Filter) – a built-in software in FreeBSD used for firewall that greatly supports IPv4 and IPv6 including network address translation (NAT) for IPv4. PF is used to screen IPv4 and IPv6 packets for protection.
IPv6-ready Web Sites to Visit
After a successful TSPC deployment, the FreeBSD IPv6 gateway server is ready to take your journey in the IPv6 world. In the office, IPv6-ready sites are now reachable through web browsing. IPv6-ready sites such as Kame.net (www.kame.net) – a legendary site with a dancing turtle (known as kame in Japanese) every time you visit the site through IPv6 which is located in
IPv6 and the Future
Internet Protocol version 6 or IPv6 is known as the “Next Generation Internet” with a 128-bit address length as compared to IPv4 with 32-bit address length which is almost in shortage phase. Days are coming wherein every object and devices will be connected over the Internet like home equipments and appliances such as microwave oven, refrigerator, washing machine, television, cellular phones, wrist watches, pants, jeans, shoes, slippers, T-shirt and any object on every home. This protocol is also extending widely for automobiles, industrial machines, buildings, houses, roads and bridges. IPv6 will be the key element on this ubiquitous communication. Emerging technology like this for information and communication will bring awareness that we have taken our step to the new trend of technology. The IPv6 setup in the DOST-PSTC Siquijor office is just a crude deployment but still considered as one of the early adopters of IPv6 in the country located in the island province. Moreover, this is just the beginning of IPv6 technology in the province.