Should I be using IPv6 on my router???

Talk about setting up your home network.
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woodchuck

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Should I be using IPv6 on my router???

#1

Post by woodchuck » Thu Jan 19, 2012 6:52 pm

So, I'm considering enabling IPv6 on my router primarily so I can disable UPNP (it causes my DDWRT router to overflow it's NVRAM and I'm sick of manually configuring port forwards on my router). As I understand it, IPv6 will expose every computer on my network to the internet, with only their own firewalls to protect themselves. Apparently with IPv6, my router will have no firewall. With a LAN of computers with DLNA, HomeGroup, and lots of other fairly open services, is it wise to make this choice???

Lots of articles on the web extol the benefits of IPv6, but if that means I no longer have a secure home network, how good can it really be???

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#2

Post by Venom51 » Thu Jan 19, 2012 8:52 pm

All though the deployment of IPV6 is imminent by the ISP's the need for you to do so at home is not urgent. You would need to contact your ISP to see if it's even available to you yet.

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#3

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Jan 20, 2012 12:11 am

UPNP causes your router to overflow its NVRAM??? What kind of router do you have, and how much UPNP stuff do you have going on simultaneously? I have a Linksys WRT-54GL running DD-WRT (not a very recent router, by any standard) and I've never had a problem with UPNP causing any problems whatsoever.

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#4

Post by Fleadh » Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:45 am

None of what the OP said makes any sense to me whatsoever and I'm a network engineer.

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woodchuck

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#5

Post by woodchuck » Fri Jan 20, 2012 3:41 pm

Fleadh wrote:None of what the OP said makes any sense to me whatsoever and I'm a network engineer.
That's exactly the problem. I can't find any clear information on the subject. Every article is written in techno-gibberish.

As for NVRAM, I use DDWRT on a WRT610N. The 610N is notorious for using most of it's NVRAM without doing anything special because of it's two radios. Add UPNP to that mix and you get whacky router behavior when the NVRAM gets used up.

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#6

Post by Scallica » Fri Jan 20, 2012 3:55 pm

I cannot think of any good reason to use IPv6 for your home network. If your router has issues when using uPNP, I would consider the following:

1. Contact the developers of DD-WRT and explain the issue you are having.
2. Revert back to the stock firmware.
3. Give Tomato Firmware a try...http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq
4. Buy a new router.
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barnabas1969

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#7

Post by barnabas1969 » Fri Jan 20, 2012 6:00 pm

Scallica wrote:I cannot think of any good reason to use IPv6 for your home network. If your router has issues when using uPNP, I would consider the following:

1. Contact the developers of DD-WRT and explain the issue you are having.
2. Revert back to the stock firmware.
3. Give Tomato Firmware a try...http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq
4. Buy a new router.
I'll add:

5. Try a smaller build of DD-WRT.

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#8

Post by Fleadh » Fri Jan 20, 2012 11:09 pm

Open source firmware issues make electronic baby Jesus cry.

Buy a decent router.

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#9

Post by Venom51 » Sat Jan 21, 2012 4:33 pm

Fleadh wrote:Open source firmware issues make electronic baby Jesus cry.

Buy a decent router.
+1

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woodchuck

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#10

Post by woodchuck » Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:10 pm

barnabas1969 wrote:
Scallica wrote:I cannot think of any good reason to use IPv6 for your home network. If your router has issues when using uPNP, I would consider the following:

1. Contact the developers of DD-WRT and explain the issue you are having.
2. Revert back to the stock firmware.
3. Give Tomato Firmware a try...http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq
4. Buy a new router.
I'll add:

5. Try a smaller build of DD-WRT.
Great idea!! I hadn't thought of that. There is a smaller build that works, and freed up a bunch of nvram.

Electronic baby Jesus can cry his heart out!!

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#11

Post by STC » Sat Jan 21, 2012 9:14 pm

DD-WRT rocks IMO :)

As long as you're careful and use the right image for the hardware you have, you should be absolutely fine. Don't necessarily go for the latest and greatest. Most images have issues but they are documented. Work around them.

I use DD in most installations, and either use the good old Linksys WRT (usually the Linux editions) or more recently Buffalo routers.
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#12

Post by barnabas1969 » Sun Jan 22, 2012 12:34 am

woodchuck wrote:
barnabas1969 wrote:
Scallica wrote:I cannot think of any good reason to use IPv6 for your home network. If your router has issues when using uPNP, I would consider the following:

1. Contact the developers of DD-WRT and explain the issue you are having.
2. Revert back to the stock firmware.
3. Give Tomato Firmware a try...http://www.polarcloud.com/tomatofaq
4. Buy a new router.
I'll add:

5. Try a smaller build of DD-WRT.
Great idea!! I hadn't thought of that. There is a smaller build that works, and freed up a bunch of nvram.

Electronic baby Jesus can cry his heart out!!
Glad I could help. That's why they make different builds of DD-WRT. Use the one that will not take more NVRAM than your hardware has in it. I second what STC said... DD-WRT rocks!

Edit: I couldn't help myself...

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A: A woodchuck would chuck all the wood that a woodchuck could if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

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#13

Post by woodchuck » Fri Feb 10, 2012 7:38 pm

Just found out that DDWRT's UPNP daemon has problems with it locking up and not responding. I have since bailed on DDWRT and gone to Tomato. Tons of free NVRAM now!

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