NetworkManager supports the IPv6 protocol and it is turned on by default. It connects to networks with SLAAC and DHCPv6 and keeps the connection running. Many bugs have been fixed recently, so it's possible that it doesn't work well in your distribution. Reasonably good support will be delivered with NetworkManager 9.6 and Linux 3.5.
Due to the existence of IPv6 link-local addresses, routing configuration and address configuration are orthogonal.
Please remember that IPv6 is different.
For details about possible IPv6 scenarios, see Networking/Addressing#Dynamic_IPv6_configuration.
IPv6 Privacy Extensions
NetworkManager supports privacy extensions through the 'ip6-privacy' key.
An example of a minimally configured keyfile (placed in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections) is below. Values for the connection section may be obtained using the nmcli connection command.
[connection] id= uuid= type= [ipv6] method=auto ip6-privacy=2
Or edit a gui created config file at /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-* and add
IPV6_PRIVACY=rfc3041
Debugging
You can run NetworkManager on foreground with various debugging settings:
/path/to/NetworkManager --no-daemon \
--log-level=debug --log-domains=DEVICE,IP6,DHCP6 2>~/nm.debug
Be careful not to run multiple instances of NetworkManager. Check with ps -ef if you experience weird behavior.
Long-term goals
- Don't tear down interfaces, keep link-local networking always on
- Get kernel problems fixed, then simplify ipv6 handling in NM
Recently fixed
Git
Gnome Bug 676317 - IPv6 DHCPv6 configuration fails: nm_system_replace_default_ip6_route returns -7
Gnome Bug 676322 - IPv6 DNSSL does not get into /etc/resolv.conf
Fedora Bug 824121 - IPv6: Kernel doesn't propagate DNSSL to userspace (e.g. NetworkManager)
IETF IPv6 Mailing List – question on RDNSS, RFC 6106 part 5.1