ipv6 configuration: static IP# provided, but no place to put it

[BenAArmstrong]

I have an ipv6 configuration problem. We have an OpenVMS/Itanium 8.4 system at a large university site configured statically for ipv4. We need to configure it for ipv6 as well, and I've been trying to follow this documentation to do it:

http://h71000.www7.hp.com/doc/83final/6524/6524pro_005.html#config_host

If I answer the defaults to all questions and reboot, the system only has localhost and link-local addresses assigned. There is no global address automatically assigned.

We have been provided by the site technical support with ipv6 details similar to the following (details changed in the interest of privacy) the first being the global address allocated for this host and the second being the router for the network:

     IPv6 address -    2345:6:7890:4::152
     IPv6 router -    2345:6:7890:4::1

However, the procedure as documented above has no place to enter this information. What other information do we need from the site to complete the configuration of this host, or else which questions need to be answered to fill this information in when I execute sys$manager:tcpip$ip6_setup.com, or is this approach entirely  wrong?

Also, if you can point to any other resources for configuring ipv6 on OpenVMS or offer general tips or advice, I'd appreciate that. In my search for help, I found only a rabbit's warren of leads mostly applying to other platforms, some of which *might* be useful on OpenVMS, but it's hard to tell.

Thanks,
Ben

[MarkFromAUS]

Go to here:

http://www.subnetonline.com/pages/subnet-calculators/ipv4-to-ipv6-converter.php

Enter your IP number for the machine. It will return the IPv6 which should correspond to the one given to you by "site technical support".

That's why it wants your IPv4 address (topic #4).

[BenAArmstrong · Accepted solution]

I got this sorted out with some help from HP support. The setup tool doesn't address the static IP# use case, and in fact, has a bug wrt. static routes setup as well (generates a broken default route).

The doc was just a bit too subtle for me about this, but in the intro right above the section I cited above, it says:

"You can make other changes to your IPv6 configuration later. Chapter 4 of the HP TCP/IP Services for OpenVMS Guide to IPv6 describes how to make further changes."

Well, in fact, that guide hasn't been updated since OpenVMS V7.3-2, so if you do follow that guide, you'll have to be aware of changes in syntax since then (e.g. ifconfig -dev "WE0", not -"I" "WE0").

So the basic procedure, once I put all the pieces together, is:

1. run the setup tool & set up any static routes you need
2. edit the generated sys$system:tcpip$inet6_config.dat file to add ifconfig commands to set up ip6prefix & assign a static IP#
3. while editing this file, also fix the broken default route created in step 1 (when it calls add_route for the default route, they forgot to add a placeholder for the 2nd argument; the result is the gateway IP# is output as the argument to "-dev" instead of the device)

Here's an example edited section of the .dat file from one of our test systems that worked for us:

$     ifconfig "WE0" ipv6 up
$     ifconfig "WE0" inet6 ip6prefix FDCB:1B4F:2895::/48
$     ifconfig we0 inet6 FDCB:1B4F:2895::21
$     !
$     ! create static and manual routes
$     !
$     define /user sys$output nl:
$     define /user sys$error nl:
$     route add -inet6 FDCB:1B4F:2895::/48 FDCB:1B4F:2895::  -dev "WE0"
$     define /user sys$output nl:
$     define /user sys$error nl:
$     route add -inet6 default   -dev "WE0" "FDCB:1B4F:2895::1"

[BenAArmstrong]

That would be well and good if technical support were using 6to4 addressing. But they aren't. Nice try, though, MarkFromAUS.