Adding IPv6 DNS resolution to Amahi 7

[jaybea]

That is good timing, as I am finally about to install Amahi 7.

I guess one of the problems with IPv6 for Amahi is the internal DNS settings, as moving to IPv6 for these is rather more complicated, and potentially breaks the DNS management that is one of the strengths of the HDA. Each app setup process will need to support IPv6 in order for DNS to work effectively, as will the network config settings & Static IP page. I don't yet fully understand how DNS is setup for apps on the HDA - I need a diagram to describe how it is set up and operates!

I am not a Linux networking expert by any means, but I am keen to get IPv6 working natively on my network, as I have an unused allocation of IPv6 addresses from my ISP, although I will still need to run a dual stack, at least internally, as I have older equipment on the network which does not support IPv6 and probably never will.

[bigfoot65]

Best advice I can offer is to read what others have posted in the forums and might be some guidance in the wiki. There is no diagram available that I know of at this time.

I can tell you that Amahi DNS uses OpenDNS by default. All apps use virtual host files for access. I have not spent any energy on IPv6 and probably won't until it's necessary for my network.

[jaybea]

I've thought through the bits of the Amahi DNS that would need to be changed in order to make it compatible with IPv6. Does this list look about right, or are there other things that would also need to be changed?

• External DNS, which could be accomplished by changing to OpenDNS IPv6 resolvers, as Patrick has suggested
• HDA address: the setup of the HDA would need the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the server to use in scripts
• HDA apps - It looks like BIND is already set up to support IPv6, but the script for virtual hosts (apps) would need to be changed to add a IPv6 section, although this uses the same data as the IPv4 setup, apart from the address
• HDA local DNS settings - I have not worked out how the HDA sets up DNS for local addresses (converting networkdevice.myhda to 192.1.1.23, for example) and this would need to be updated, but since most people would need dual stack networks anyway, this might not be a pressing issue.
• Setting up the HDA for external access through VPN (openVPN and IPsec) and updating dynamic DNS.

All of the UI elements for each of these would also need to be changed to accommodate IPv6 addresses, although I guess that the allocation of IPv6 addresses across the local network could be automated by including the IPv4 address in the local part of the IPv6 address (e.g ::ffff:192.0.2.128).

Perhaps this is a Summer of Code project?

[bigfoot65]

Quite honestly, networking is not my strong area so can't really say if this list is good or not.

[PatrickDickey]

I've thought through the bits of the Amahi DNS that would need to be changed in order to make it compatible with IPv6. Does this list look about right, or are there other things that would also need to be changed?

• External DNS, which could be accomplished by changing to OpenDNS IPv6 resolvers, as Patrick has suggested
• HDA address: the setup of the HDA would need the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses of the server to use in scripts
• HDA apps - It looks like BIND is already set up to support IPv6, but the script for virtual hosts (apps) would need to be changed to add a IPv6 section, although this uses the same data as the IPv4 setup, apart from the address
• HDA local DNS settings - I have not worked out how the HDA sets up DNS for local addresses (converting networkdevice.myhda to 192.1.1.23, for example) and this would need to be updated, but since most people would need dual stack networks anyway, this might not be a pressing issue.
• Setting up the HDA for external access through VPN (openVPN and IPsec) and updating dynamic DNS.

All of the UI elements for each of these would also need to be changed to accommodate IPv6 addresses, although I guess that the allocation of IPv6 addresses across the local network could be automated by including the IPv4 address in the local part of the IPv6 address (e.g ::ffff:192.0.2.128).

Perhaps this is a Summer of Code project?

Here is a link to my original request https://bugs.amahi.org/issues/1122 and if you look near the bottom, cpg gives a brief (but not complete) list of things that would need to happen.

I can tell you in my personal experience, that I have my IPv6 addresses allocated from Tunnelbroker.net. My router (a Cisco 2514) handles the updating between my current IPv4 address and Tunnelbroker. While all of my computers on the local network have both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. My cell phone and kindle fire only have IPv4 addresses. However, I'm unable to ping via IPv6, using their hostname, to my other devices (because DNSMASQ doesn't have zones for them).

I think it will depend on how you get your IPv6 addresses. You could probably have DNSMASQ assign them (assuming your ISP or provider will allow for that). In my case, Tunnelbroker handles the DHCPv6 for me. Next weekend, I may look into seeing if I can have it handled on the LAN, and then look into whether DNSMASQ will handle it (which I believe it will). If DNSMASQ handles it, then in theory, it should create the zones needed to ping between devices on the LAN. Plus it will allow the devices to receive IPv6 addresses via VPN.

A quick look shows that my resolutions (through amahi-dns.conf) are going through the IPv6 DNS addresses. And that the dnsmasq.conf file does have extensive options for IPv6 in it. They're all commented out, but they're there. So it's a matter of figuring out what settings to turn on, and what information to give them.

In short (as per your list):

1. The external DNS Settings could be used regardless of whether IPv4 or 6 is installed on the network (as my cell phone and kindle access the Internet via IPv4, and are able to receive address resolutions from my server).
2. Your ISP/provider can supply the IPv6 address for the HDA (or it should be essentially a static IP address, as it's not like IPv4) ***something I'll look into next weekend.
3. HDAv7 doesn't use BIND per se, as it's using DNSMASQ. Aside from that, is there one template for the script that creates the virtual hosts (apps), is it a script on the hda itself, or is this something that each individual developer would have to do on their own? (Bigfoot65 or cpg could probably answer this question)
4. DNSMASQ handles all of this, IIRC. It hands out the dhcp addresses to the dynamic hosts, and then adds them to it's zone maps. I'd imagine the same thing happens for static addresses also (when you set them up via the web page). But again, I think every time a device boots on the lan, it will receive the same IPv6 address anyhow. **again something I'll check into next weekend.
5. The external stuff (assuming you mean being able to connect via IPv6 using your yourhda.com address) would be something that cpg and bigfoot65 (or someone on the development team) would have to do. That part may be the trickiest thing right now, as our updater would have to give them the public IPv6 address for the network/server, and they would have to include it in the AAAA records (or in their zone files) for each subdomain. I would say for now, keep the external side of things IPv4 only (unless it turns out to be a trivial thing to implement). As ISP's stop allocating IPv4 addresses, we'll have to work it in then.

In cpg's responses to me, he explained what would have to be done to include IPv6 addresses in the "Custom DNS" entries. Essentially it was to remove the validation check for the IP Address. But, we could also add something like an "OR" and validate it as an IPv6 address too.

Hope this helps to give you some ideas on this. I'll be more than happy to help test anything you get set up, in as much as I can.

Have a great day.
Patrick.