IPv6 in dynamic routing

IPv6 in dynamic routing

Unless otherwise stated, routing protocols apply to IPv4 addressing. This is the standard address format used. However, IPv6 is becoming more popular and new versions of the dynamic routing protocols have been introduced.

As with most advanced routing features on your FortiGate unit, IPv6 settings for dynamic routing protocols must be enabled before they will be visible in the GUI. To enable IPv6 configuration in the GUI, enable it in Syste> Feature Select. Alternatively, you can directly configure IPv6 for RIP, BGP, or OSPF protocols using CLI commands.

 

Dual stack routing

Dual stack routing implements dual IP layers in hosts and routers, supporting both IPv6 and IPv4. A dual stack architecture supports both IPv4 and IPv6 traffic and routes the appropriate traffic as required to any device on the network. Administrators can update network components and applications to IPv6 on their own schedule, and even maintain some IPv4 support indefinitely if that is necessary. Devices that are on this type of network, and connect to the Internet, can query Internet DNS servers for both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses. If the Internet site supports IPv6, the device can easily connect using the IPv6 address. If the Internet site does not support IPv6, then the device can connect using the IPv4 addresses.

In FortiOS, dual stack architecture it is not comprised merely of basic addressing functions that operate in both versions of IP. The other features of the appliance, such as UTM and routing, can also use both IP stacks.

If an organization with a mixed network uses an Internet service provider that does not support IPv6, they can use an IPv6 tunnel broker to connect to IPv6 addresses that are on the Internet. FortiOS supports IPv6 tunnelling over IPv4 networks to tunnel brokers. The tunnel broker extracts the IPv6 packets from the tunnel and routes them to their destinations.

 

IPv6 tunnelling

IPv6 Tunnelling is the act of tunnelling IPv6 packets from an IPv6 network through an IPv4 network to another IPv6 network. Unlike NAT, once the packet reaches its final destination, the true originating address of the sender will still be readable. The IPv6 packets are encapsulated within packets with IPv4 headers, which carry their IPv6 payload through the IPv4 network.

The key to IPv6 tunnelling is the ability of the two devices to be dual stack compatible in order to work with both IPv4 and IPv6 at the same time. In the process, the entry node of the tunnel portion of the path will create an encapsulating IPv4 header and transmit the encapsulated packet. The exit node at the end of the tunnel receives the encapsulated packet, removes the IPv4 header, updates the IPv6 header, and processes the packet.

There are two types of tunnels in IPv6:

Automatic tunnels: Automatic tunnels are configured by using IPv4 address information embedded in an IPv6 address – the IPv6 address of the destination host includes information about which IPv4 address the packet should be tunnelled to.

Configured tunnels: Configured tunnels must be configured manually. These tunnels are used when using IPv6 addresses that do not have any embedded IPv4 information. The IPv6 and IPv4 addresses of the endpoints of the tunnel must be specified.

Tunnel configuration

There are a few ways in which the tunnelling can be performed depending on which segment of the path between the endpoints of the session the encapsulation takes place.

Host to Host: Dual Stack capable hosts that are interconnected by an IPv4 infrastructure can tunnel IPv6 packets between themselves. In this case, the tunnel spans the entire path taken by the IPv6 packets.

Network Device to Host: Dual Stack capable network devices can tunnel IPv6 packets to their final destination IPv6 or IPv4 host. This tunnel spans only the last segment of the path taken by the IPv6 packets.

The node that does the encapsulation needs to maintain soft state information about each tunnel in order to process the IPv6 packets.

Use the following command to tunnel IPv6 traffic over an IPv4 network. The IPv6 interface is configured under config system interface. The command to do the reverse is config system ipv6-tunnel. These commands are not available in Transparent mode.

config system sit-tunnel edit <tunnel name>

set destination <tunnel _address>

set interface <name>

set ip6 <address_ipv6>

set source <address_ipv4>

end

 

Variable Description Default
 

edit <tunnel_name>

 

Enter a name for the IPv6 tunnel.

 

No default.

 

destination <tunnel_

address>

 

The destination IPv4 address for this tunnel.

 

0.0.0.0

 

interface <name>

 

The interface used to send and receive traffic for this tunnel.

 

No default.

 

ip6 <address_ipv6>

 

The IPv6 address for this tunnel.

 

No default.

 

source <address_ipv4>

 

The source IPv4 address for this tun- nel.

 

0.0.0.0

 

Tunnelling IPv6 through IPsec VPN

A variation on tunnelling IPv6 through IPv4 is to use an IPsec VPN tunnel between two FortiGate devices. FortiOS supports IPv6 over IPsec. In this sort of scenario, two networks using IPv6 behind FortiGate units are separated by the Internet, which uses IPv4. An IPsec VPN tunnel is created between the FortiGate units and a tunnel is created over the IPv4-based Internet, but the traffic in the tunnel is IPv6. This has the additional advantage of securing the traffic.

For configuration information, see IPv6 IPsec VPN on page 1866.

 

SIP over IPv6

FortiOS supports Sessions Initiate Protocol (SIP) over IPv6. The SIP application-level gateway (ALG) can process SIP messages that use IPv6 addresses in the headers, bodies, and in the transport stack. The SIP ALG cannot modify the IPv6 addresses in the SIP headers so FortiGate units cannot perform SIP or RTP NAT over IPv6 and also cannot translate between IPv6 and IPv4 addresses.

In the scenario shown below, a SIP phone connects to the Internet through a FortiGate unit operating. The phone and the SIP and RTP servers all have IPv6 addresses.

The FortiGate unit has IPv6 security policies that accept SIP sessions. The SIP ALG understands IPv6 addresses and can forward IPv6 sessions to their destinations. Using SIP application control features the SIP ALG can also apply rate limiting and other settings to SIP sessions.

To enable SIP support for IPv6 add an IPv6 security policy that accepts SIP packets and includes a VoIP profile.


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This entry was posted in FortiOS 5.4 Handbook and tagged on by .

About Mike

Michael Pruett, CISSP has a wide range of cyber-security and network engineering expertise. The plethora of vendors that resell hardware but have zero engineering knowledge resulting in the wrong hardware or configuration being deployed is a major pet peeve of Michael's. This site was started in an effort to spread information while providing the option of quality consulting services at a much lower price than Fortinet Professional Services. Owns PacketLlama.Com (Fortinet Hardware Sales) and Office Of The CISO, LLC (Cybersecurity consulting firm).

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