QA/Networking

Main

Testing IPv6 support and dualstack networking can be very tricky. The purpose of this document is to provide a live resource on testing situations arising from existance and usage of two network layer protocols.

How to prepare test environment:

• /Test environment

How to test different types of packages:

• /Network configuration
• /Name resolution
• /Client software
• /Server software

Known issues:

• Bugzilla tickets

Packages

Packages that are expected to play well with IPv6

Following packages play more or less well with IPv6. You can still expect minor issues including delays when configuration of one of the protocols doesn't work as expected. Those packages are still to be tested.

Network configuration:

• dhcp – Dynamic host configuration protocol software
• iproute – Advanced IP routing and network device configuration tools
• NetworkManager – Network connection manager and user applications
• dnssec-trigger – NetworkManager plugin to update/reconfigure DNSSEC resolving

Server software:

• bind – The Berkeley Internet Name Domain (BIND) DNS (Domain Name System) server
• dnsmasq – A lightweight DHCP/caching DNS server
• httpd – Apache HTTP Server
• openssh – An open source implementation of SSH protocol versions 1 and 2

Other:

• curl – A utility for getting files from remote servers (FTP, HTTP, and others)
• cyrus-imapd – A high-performance mail server with IMAP, POP3, NNTP and SIEVE support
• c-ares – A library that performs asynchronous DNS operations
• firefox – Mozilla Firefox Web browser
• libssh2 – A library implementing the SSH2 protocol
• iptables – Tools for managing Linux kernel packet filtering capabilities

Packages with broken or incomplete IPv6 support

Core system:

• avahi – Local network service discovery
  • IPv6 turned off by default
  • nss-mdns doesn't do IPv6LL due to glibc limitations
• glibc – The GNU libc libraries
  • limited and buggy getaddrinfo()
  • upstream getaddrinfo issues

Core tools:

• iputils – Network monitoring tools including ping
  • ping (unreleased upstream now supports dual-stack operation)
  • tracepath
  • ...
• quota – File system quota management
  • rpc.rquotad and other program should be ported from glibc's Sun RPC to tirpc's RPC
    • User:Pavlix: Why and how is it related to IPv6?
• fping: lack of IPv6 support
• nslookup: bad default behavior

Development:

• subversion - A Modern Concurrent Version Control System
  • no fallback to IPv4 when IPv6 default route fails

Packages that are intended for IPv4-only operation

Following packages do not need any IPv6 testing as they contain IPv4 specific tools.

• arptables
• arpwatch

Notable packages to be tested for IPv6 support

Following packages weren't categorized yet but are considered important enough to be checked for IPv6 support. Please extend the list with other high visibility packages.

Core system:

• abrt – Automatic bug detection and reporting tool
• anaconda – Graphical system installer
• apr – Apache Portable Runtime library
• busybox – Statically linked binary providing simplified versions of system commands
• docker – Automates deployment of containerized applications
  • IPv6 in /etc/resolv.conf
  • IPv6 on bridged networks
• dracut – Initramfs generator using udev
• firewalld – A firewall daemon with D-BUS interface providing a dynamic firewall
• glib2/glib-networking – Networking support for GLib
• grub2 – Bootloader with support for Linux, Multiboot and more
• systemd – A System and Service Manager
• yum – RPM package installer/updater/manager

Services:

• bird – routing daemon
• cups – Common Unix Printing System
• dovecot – Secure imap and pop3 server
• openswan/libreswan/strongswan – IPSEC implementation with IKEv1 and IKEv2 keying protocols
• postfix – Postfix Mail Transport Agent
• quagga – Routing daemon
• sendmail – A widely used Mail Transport Agent (MTA)

Development:

• bzr – Friendly distributed version control system
• cvs – Concurrent Versions System
• gdb – A GNU source-level debugger for C, C++, Fortran and other languages
• mercurial – Mercurial – a distributed SCM

Other:

• apr-util – Apache Portable Runtime Utility library
  • various networking tools including ping
• gvfs – Backends for the gio framework in GLib
• ipxe – A network boot loader
• iptstate – A top-like display of IP Tables state table entries
• ldns – Low–level DNS(SEC) library with API
• lftp – A sophisticated file transfer program
• libevent
• libvirt – Library providing a simple virtualization API
• net-tools – Basic networking tools
• nmap – Network exploration tool and security scanner
• nss-myhostname – glibc plugin for local system host name resolution
• nss – Network Security Services
• postgresql – PostgreSQL client programs
• rsync – A program for synchronizing files over a network
• squid – The Squid proxy caching serverb
• sssd – System Security Services Daemon
• syslinux – Simple kernel loader which boots from a FAT filesystem
• tcpdump – A network traffic monitoring tool
• telnet – The client program for the Telnet remote login protocol
• traceroute – Traces the route taken by packets over an IPv4/IPv6 network
• vinagre – VNC client for GNOME
• vino – A remote desktop system for GNOME
• virt-manager – Virtual Machine Manager
• virt-viewer – Virtual Machine Viewer
• wireshark – Network traffic analyzer