The TS4500, TS3500, TS3400, TS3310, TS3200, and TS3100 tape libraries; the TS2900 tape autoloader; and the TS1120 Model C06 Controller support IPv4 and IPv6 transportation. This appendix provides information about the IPv6 concept and address format compared with IPv4 and provides an IPv6 supported list of tape library products. It also includes an example of a configuration of IPv4 and IPv6 on the TS3100 tape library.

This appendix includes the following sections:

Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer for packet-switched Internetworks. It is designated as the successor to IPv4 (the current version of the Internet Protocol) for general use on the Internet.

By the early 1990s, it was clear that the change to a classless network that was introduced a decade earlier was not enough to prevent IPv4 address exhaustion and that more changes to IPv4 were needed. By the beginning of 1992, several proposed systems were being circulated. By the end of 1992, the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) announced a call for white papers (RFC 1650) and the creation of IP, the Next Generation (IPng Area) of working groups.

IPng was adopted by the IETF on July 25, 1994 with the formation of several IP Next Generation (IPng) working groups. By 1996, a series of RFCs were released that defined IPv6, starting with RFC 2460.

The primary change from IPv4 to IPv6 is the length of network addresses. IPv6 addresses are 128-bits long (as defined by RFC 4291). IPv4 addresses are 32-bits long. The IPv4 address space contains roughly 4,000,000,000 addresses, but IPv6 has enough room for 340 undecillion unique addresses.

An IPv4 address features the following format: x . x . x . x, where x is called an octet and must be a decimal value 0 - 255. Octets are separated by periods. An IPv4 address must contain three periods and four octets, as shown in the following examples:

An IPv6 address can have the following formats:

An IPv6 (normal) address features the following format: y : y : y : y : y : y : y : y, where y is called a segment and can be any hexadecimal value between 0 and FFFF. The segments are separated by colons, not periods. An IPv6 normal address must have eight segments. However, a short-form notation can be used by the Tape Library Specialist web interface for segments that are zero or those segments that have leading zeros. The short-form notation cannot be used from the operator panel.

The following IPv6 (normal) addresses are valid examples:

An IPv6 (dual) address combines an IPv6 and an IPv4 address and features the following format: y : y : y : y : y : y : x . x . x . x. The IPv6 portion of the address (which is indicated with y) always is at the beginning, followed by the IPv4 portion (which is indicated with x).

The following IPv6 (dual) address values are featured:

The following IPv6 (dual) addresses are valid examples:

All IP addresses are divided into portions. One part identifies the network (the network number), and the other part identifies the specific machine or host within the network (the host number). Subnet masks (IPv4) and prefixes (IPv6) identify the range of IP addresses that make up a subnet or a group of IP addresses on the same network. For example, a subnet can be used to identify all the machines in a building, department, geographic location, or on the same local area network (LAN).

Dividing the network of an organization into subnets allows it to be connected to the Internet with a single shared network address. Subnet masks and prefixes are used when a host is attempting to communicate with another system. If the system is on the same network or subnet, it attempts to find that address on the local link. If the system is on a different network, the packet is sent to a gateway, which then routes the packet to the correct IP address, which is called Classless-InterDomain Routing (CIDR).

In IPv4, the subnet mask 255.255.255.0 is 24 bits and consists of four, 8-bit octets. The address 10.10.10.0, with subnet mask 255.255.255.0, means that the subnet is the range of IP addresses 10.10.10.0–10.10.10.255.

The prefix-length in IPv6 is the equivalent of the subnet mask in IPv4. However, instead of expressed in four octets as it is in IPv4, it is expressed as the integer 1–128. For example: 2001:db8:abcd:0012::0/64 specifies a subnet with the range of IP addresses 2001:db8:abcd:0012:0000:0000:0000:0000–2001:db8:abcd:0012:ffff:ffff:ffff:ffff. The portion in italics is called the network portion of the IP address, or the prefix. The portion that is not in italics is called the host portion of the IP address because it identifies an individual host on the network.

To support this functionality, changes were made to the following components:

The Ethernet driver was modified to support an IPv4 or IPv6 link layer configuration.

The IP stack configuration can be IPv4 or IPv6, which includes IP addresses, subnet masks, and gateway addresses.

The operator panel allows the Ethernet connection to be configured as IPv4 or IPv6.

Call Home determines the IP version used and presents the correct IP address and parameters to the IP Stack.

The key proxy determines the IP version that is used and presents the correct IP address and parameters to the IP Stack.

NVRAM stores the IPv4 and IPv6 IP and gateway addresses and the network masks for both. Functions were provided to set and get the parameters.

The VPD cache contains the IPv4 and IPv6 IP and gateway addresses and the network masks for both. Functions were provided to set and get the parameters.

The pages that contain IP addresses now provide provisions for IPv4 and IPv6 formats. For example, the page that contains the IP address for the External Key Manager provides IPv4 and IPv6 formats.

Most of the mechanisms of IPv6 transition were developed to connect IPv4 networks with IPv6 networks and base their operations in entities. These entities are at an intermediate point of the network to perform a type of processing, such as tunnels or translation of protocols.

The following IBM tape library products can support IPv6:

This section provides an example of TS3100 network configuration for Dual Stacked IPv4 and IPv6. The web UI hosts a dedicated, protected Internet site that shows a graphical representation of a library. First, you establish a connection to the library. Then, you open any HTML browser and enter the IP address of the library. To configure the web UI, you must set the IP address. The library supports IPv4, IPv6, or Dual Stack IPv4 + IPv6 transportation.

For IPv6, you enter your library static IP address or router-assigned IP address in the format http://[0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0]. To determine your router-assigned IP address, click Monitor → Library → Network on the operator control panel. For the IPv6 router that is assigned addresses to be displayed on the operator control panel, configure Network to IPv6 only and set Stateless Autoconfig to ON. Figure A-1 shows the Network Configuration panel view from the web UI.

For more information about IPv6, see the following resources: