IPv6 Struggles

After years of periodic attempts, I finally got IPv6 working on my local network last night. Despite both ISPs I’ve used over the past decade supporting it, none of my networking equipment was compatible. For some time now, I’ve been using custom firewalls, both running OPNsense. Although the software claimed to support IPv6, I couldn’t get it to work despite countless hours spent combing through the forums and subreddit. Recently, I upgraded to a firewall with a few faster ethernet ports, significantly improving file transfer speeds between my computer and my file server. When I migrated I made some improvements I’ve wanted to make to how everything is organized. One item remained. Dammit, I wanted to get IPv6 working.

IPv6 was designed to replace IPv4, promising to solve all its problems and fulfill every network engineer’s wet dream. However, in my opinion, that’s its greatest flaw. Most people who need to use and interact with it aren’t network engineers. I sure as shit am not. I’m just a guy who likes to tinker with electronics, got fed up with subpar overpriced routers, and decided to build his own. Yet, IPv6 is incredibly complicated, completely incompatible with IPv4, and ultimately more trouble than it’s worth for the average end user for his home network. Despite all this and because the router software is theoretically capable of supporting IPv6, it became my goal to make it work.

When I say I wanted to get IPv6 working I don’t mean I wanted to convert my LAN to it. I simply wanted to be connected via IPv6.

OPNsense’s documentation is hot garbage. It’s quite extensive. It contains information on almost everything in the software. So, you’d be willing to bet money it’d be usable.