IPv6 Operations, Routing, Security, Coexistence, Packet Analysis, and Troubleshooting
3-Day Instructor Led Hands On Lab Class
Available in either Web Based delivery or On-Site Delivery
Minimum 10 students – Maximum 16 students
Course Description
IPv6 is an operational part of today’s Internet and is increasingly encountered across service-provider, broadband, mobile, cloud, enterprise, and customer networks.
For network professionals, simply recognizing an IPv6 address is no longer enough.
Engineers and technicians need to understand how IPv6 hosts obtain addresses, discover routers and neighboring devices, communicate with DNS, select paths, exchange routing information, coexist with IPv4 systems, and respond when IPv6 connectivity does not operate as expected.
This intensive three-day hands-on course develops those practical skills.
Students learn IPv6 by configuring it, capturing it, analyzing it, and troubleshooting it. Instructor-led technical discussions are reinforced with Cisco-based network labs, protocol analysis, Wireshark packet captures, and structured troubleshooting exercises.
The three-day format allows students to move beyond IPv6 fundamentals into routing, security, IPv4/IPv6 coexistence, IPv6-only networking, translation, and detailed packet-level troubleshooting.
The objective is not simply to understand what IPv6 is. The objective is to be able to operate and troubleshoot an IPv6 network.
What Will You Learn?
Throughout the course, students answer practical questions including:
- How does IPv6 differ operationally from IPv4?
- How do IPv6 addressing and subnetting work?
- What are Global Unicast, Link-Local, Unique Local, Multicast, and Anycast addresses?
- How do hosts discover routers and neighboring systems?
- How do Router Advertisements control host configuration?
- How do SLAAC and DHCPv6 interact?
- Why is ICMPv6 critical to normal IPv6 operation?
- How does IPv6 Path MTU Discovery work?
- How does DNS support IPv6?
- How is IPv6 routed using OSPFv3, IS-IS, and MP-BGP?
- How do IPv4 and IPv6 coexist?
- How can IPv6-only devices communicate with IPv4 services?
- How do NAT64, DNS64, and 464XLAT work?
- What security issues are unique or particularly important in IPv6?
- How can Wireshark expose what is actually happening on an IPv6 network?
- How should an engineer systematically troubleshoot an IPv6 failure?
Course Objectives
Upon completion of this course, students will be able to:
- Explain the architecture and operation of IPv6.
- Compare important operational differences between IPv4 and IPv6.
- Read, write, compress, and interpret IPv6 addresses.
- Apply IPv6 prefixing and subnetting concepts.
- Identify and explain major IPv6 address types.
- Explain Link-Local addressing and its importance.
- Understand IPv6 multicast and solicited-node multicast operation.
- Analyze ICMPv6 messages and their role in normal network operation.
- Explain and troubleshoot IPv6 Neighbor Discovery.
- Analyze Router Solicitation and Router Advertisement messages.
- Explain Duplicate Address Detection and Neighbor Unreachability Detection.
- Configure and verify Stateless Address Autoconfiguration.
- Explain stateful and stateless DHCPv6 operation.
- Explain DHCPv6 relay operation.
- Analyze DNS A and AAAA record behavior in IPv4/IPv6 networks.
- Explain IPv6 Extension Headers and fragmentation behavior.
- Analyze IPv6 Path MTU Discovery.
- Configure and verify static IPv6 routing.
- Configure and troubleshoot OSPFv3.
- Explain IPv6 routing using IS-IS.
- Configure and analyze MP-BGP for IPv6.
- Understand IPv6 route redistribution concepts.
- Configure IPv6 access-control policies.
- Recognize common IPv6 first-hop security threats.
- Explain dual-stack and IPv6-only network operation.
- Explain NAT64, DNS64, and 464XLAT.
- Recognize legacy IPv6 transition mechanisms and understand their historical purpose.
- Capture and analyze IPv6 traffic using Wireshark.
- Apply a structured IPv6 troubleshooting methodology.
- Diagnose common IPv6 addressing, Neighbor Discovery, DNS, routing, MTU, and coexistence problems.
Audience
This course is intended for technical professionals who require a detailed, practical understanding of IPv6 operation.
Ideal participants include:
- Network Engineers
- Network Design Engineers
- Broadband and Service Provider Technicians
- Network Operations Center personnel
- Network Administrators
- Customer Support Engineers
- Network Management personnel
- Test and Systems Engineers
- Technical Support personnel
- Technical Sales Engineers
- Technical Marketing personnel
- Certification candidates
- Anyone responsible for deploying, supporting, or troubleshooting IPv6 networks
The course is especially valuable for personnel who already understand IPv4 networking and now need to develop equivalent operational skills with IPv6.
Course Prerequisites
Students should have a working understanding of basic IP networking.
Knowledge of the following is recommended:
- IPv4 addressing and subnetting
- Ethernet networking
- Basic routing concepts
- TCP/IP operation
- Basic router configuration
Previous IPv6 experience is helpful but is not required.
Students should have a laptop or computer capable of connecting to the provided lab environment and running the software required for the course exercises.
Course Materials
Students receive:
- Course Student Guide
- Access to the IPv6 lab environment
- Configuration exercises
- Troubleshooting exercises
- IPv6 packet captures
- Wireshark analysis exercises
- Reference material for continued study
Course Outline
Section 1: IPv6 in Today’s Networks
- Why IPv6 was developed
- IPv4 and IPv6 coexistence
- IPv6 deployment architectures
- Dual-stack networking
- IPv6-only networking
- IPv6 terminology
- Preparing the lab environment
Lab 1: Exploring IPv6 on a Host System
Students examine the IPv6 configuration of a host, identify Link-Local and other IPv6 addresses, inspect the routing table, and test basic IPv6 connectivity.
Section 2: IPv6 Protocol Architecture
- IPv4 versus IPv6
- IPv6 base-header format
- Version
- Traffic Class
- Flow Label
- Payload Length
- Next Header
- Hop Limit
- Source and destination addresses
- IPv6 Extension Headers
- IPv6 fragmentation
- Upper-layer protocol identification
- IPv6 packet forwarding
Packet Analysis Exercise: Examining the IPv6 Header with Wireshark
Students capture and analyze IPv6 packets and identify the major fields of the IPv6 header.
Section 3: IPv6 Addressing and Subnetting
- 128-bit IPv6 addressing
- Hexadecimal notation
- Address compression
- Prefix notation
- IPv6 subnetting
- Prefix allocation concepts
- Interface Identifiers
- Global Unicast addresses
- Link-Local addresses
- Unique Local addresses
- Loopback address
- Unspecified address
- Documentation and special-purpose addresses
- Address planning considerations
- Multiple IPv6 addresses on an interface
Lab 2: IPv6 Addressing and Subnetting
Students configure IPv6 addresses and prefixes and verify IPv6 connectivity.
Section 4: IPv6 Multicast and Anycast
- IPv6 multicast architecture
- Multicast address format
- Multicast scope
- IPv6-to-Ethernet multicast mapping
- Solicited-Node multicast
- All-Nodes multicast
- All-Routers multicast
- Multicast Listener Discovery
- IPv6 Anycast
Packet Analysis Exercise: IPv6 Multicast Operation
Section 5: ICMPv6 and Neighbor Discovery
ICMPv6 is fundamental to the operation of IPv6 and performs many functions that are handled differently in IPv4.
Topics include:
- ICMPv6 message structure
- Error messages
- Informational messages
- Neighbor Discovery Protocol
- Neighbor Solicitation
- Neighbor Advertisement
- Router Solicitation
- Router Advertisement
- Duplicate Address Detection
- Neighbor Unreachability Detection
- Default-router discovery
- Prefix discovery
- Address resolution
- Redirects
Lab 3: ICMPv6 and Neighbor Discovery
Students generate, capture, and analyze ICMPv6 Neighbor Discovery traffic.
Wireshark Exercise: NS, NA, RS, and RA Analysis
Students determine what each packet proves about host and router behavior.
Section 6: IPv6 Automatic Address Configuration
- Stateless Address Autoconfiguration
- Router Advertisements
- Prefix Information Options
- RA flags
- SLAAC
- Address lifetimes
- Default-router selection
- DHCPv6
- Stateful DHCPv6
- Stateless DHCPv6
- DHCPv6 Relay
- DNS configuration
Lab 4: SLAAC and Router Advertisements
Lab 5: DHCPv6 and DHCPv6 Relay
Students compare different IPv6 host-configuration methods and observe the resulting packet exchanges.
Section 7: DNS and IPv6
- DNS operation with IPv6
- A records
- AAAA records
- IPv4 and IPv6 name resolution
- DNS behavior in dual-stack environments
- DNS troubleshooting
- DNS64 introduction
- Packet analysis of IPv6 DNS queries and responses
Packet Analysis Exercise: DNS in an IPv4/IPv6 Network
Section 8: IPv6 MTU and Path MTU Discovery
IPv6 handles fragmentation differently from IPv4, making correct Path MTU Discovery especially important.
Topics include:
- IPv6 minimum MTU concepts
- Router fragmentation differences
- Fragment Extension Header
- ICMPv6 Packet Too Big
- Path MTU Discovery
- MTU-related application symptoms
- Effects of incorrectly filtering ICMPv6
Lab 6: IPv6 Path MTU Discovery
Students create and analyze an IPv6 MTU scenario and identify the packets necessary to diagnose the problem.
IPv6 Routing
Section 9: IPv6 Routing Fundamentals
- IPv6 forwarding
- Connected routes
- Static routes
- Default routes
- Reading the IPv6 routing table
- Next-hop addresses
- Role of Link-Local addresses in routing
- Route verification
Lab 7: Building a Routed IPv6 Network
Section 10: OSPFv3
- OSPF concepts in IPv6 networks
- OSPFv3 operation
- Router IDs
- Neighbors and adjacencies
- Link-State Advertisements
- Areas
- Route calculation
- OSPFv3 verification
- OSPFv3 troubleshooting
Lab 8: Configuring and Troubleshooting OSPFv3
Students construct an OSPFv3 network, verify adjacencies and routes, and troubleshoot configuration problems.
Section 11: Service-Provider IPv6 Routing
- IS-IS support for IPv6
- Multi-topology considerations
- BGP and IPv6
- Multiprotocol BGP
- IPv6 address-family concepts
- IPv6 prefix advertisement
- BGP next-hop behavior
- Route verification
- Route redistribution considerations
Lab 9: MP-BGP for IPv6
Students establish MP-BGP sessions, advertise IPv6 prefixes, verify routing information, and analyze routing behavior.
IPv6 Security
Section 12: Securing IPv6 Networks
IPv6 does not eliminate network security concerns. In several areas, it changes what network professionals must monitor and protect.
Topics include:
- IPv6 security architecture
- IPv6 Access Control Lists
- ICMPv6 filtering considerations
- Router Advertisement threats
- Rogue Router Advertisements
- Rogue DHCPv6 services
- Neighbor Discovery attacks
- First-hop security concepts
- Extension Header considerations
- Address scanning considerations
- Multiple IPv6 addresses and security monitoring
- IPv6 and IPsec
- Dual-stack security
- Control-plane protection
- Logging and operational visibility
Lab 10: IPv6 Access Control
Students configure IPv6 filtering policies and verify permitted and denied traffic.
Security Analysis Exercise: Identifying Suspicious IPv6 Control Traffic
IPv4 and IPv6 Coexistence
Section 13: Dual-Stack Networking
- Why IPv4 and IPv6 will coexist
- Dual-stack architecture
- Address-family selection
- DNS considerations
- Routing considerations
- Application behavior
- Troubleshooting IPv4 versus IPv6 problems
Lab 11: IPv4 and IPv6 Dual-Stack Networking
Students configure and test a dual-stack environment and determine which protocol is being used for different communications.
Section 14: IPv6-Only Networks and IPv4 Service Access
Modern IPv6 deployments increasingly require engineers to understand how IPv6-only networks can continue to reach IPv4 services.
Topics include:
- IPv6-only architecture
- Translation versus tunneling
- Stateful NAT64
- DNS64
- Synthesized IPv6 addresses
- IPv6-to-IPv4 packet translation
- 464XLAT architecture
- CLAT and PLAT concepts
- Operational considerations
- Packet-analysis implications
Lab 12 / Demonstration: IPv6-to-IPv4 Translation
Students observe how an IPv6-only client can communicate with an IPv4 service and analyze the DNS and packet behavior involved.
Section 15: Legacy IPv6 Transition Mechanisms
Network professionals may still encounter older IPv6 transition technologies in documentation, equipment, configurations, or packet captures.
Students learn to recognize and understand the historical purpose of:
- Manually configured IPv6-over-IPv4 tunnels
- 6to4
- 6to4 Relay operation
- Teredo
- ISATAP
- Tunnel-related troubleshooting concerns
The emphasis is on recognition and migration, rather than deploying these technologies in new networks.
IPv6 Troubleshooting and Packet Analysis
Section 16: Developing an IPv6 Troubleshooting Methodology
Students develop a structured approach to troubleshooting IPv6 rather than relying on trial-and-error configuration changes.
The troubleshooting process examines:
- Physical and Layer 2 connectivity
- IPv6 interface status
- Link-Local addressing
- Global addressing
- Router Advertisements
- Neighbor Discovery
- SLAAC or DHCPv6
- DNS
- Routing
- Path MTU
- Security policies
- IPv4/IPv6 coexistence
- Application behavior
Students learn to separate:
- Observed facts
- Packet evidence
- Configuration evidence
- Assumptions
- Possible causes
- Proven root cause
Section 17: IPv6 Troubleshooting with Wireshark
- Capturing IPv6 traffic
- Useful IPv6 Wireshark display filters
- ICMPv6 analysis
- Neighbor Discovery analysis
- Router Advertisement analysis
- DHCPv6 analysis
- DNS analysis
- TCP over IPv6
- Path MTU problems
- Routing symptoms
- Dual-stack troubleshooting
- Recognizing unexpected IPv6 traffic
Lab 13: IPv6 Packet-Level Troubleshooting
Students use packet captures to diagnose IPv6 network problems.
Section 18: IPv6 Troubleshooting Capstone
The course concludes with an integrated troubleshooting exercise.
Students are presented with an IPv6 network containing multiple faults. Using configuration information, operating-system tools, router commands, and Wireshark packet captures, students must systematically determine what is working, what is failing, and why.
Possible problems include:
- Incorrect IPv6 prefixes
- Missing or incorrect Router Advertisements
- Neighbor Discovery failures
- DHCPv6 problems
- DNS or AAAA record problems
- Routing failures
- OSPFv3 adjacency problems
- Access-control problems
- MTU problems
- Dual-stack behavior
- IPv6-to-IPv4 connectivity problems
The goal is not simply to fix the network.
The goal is to prove the cause of the problem before changing the network.
Course Outcome
At the completion of this three-day course, students should be able to move beyond simply recognizing and configuring IPv6.
They should be able to:
Configure it. Verify it. Capture it. Analyze it. Secure it. Troubleshoot it.
That is the difference between knowing about IPv6 and being prepared to support IPv6 in an operational network.
Related Training
Students who need additional IP networking fundamentals may benefit from completing a TCP/IP Fundamentals or IP Addressing and Routing course before attending.
Students seeking deeper skills can continue into advanced IPv6 routing, IPv6 security, and packet-analysis training.
Course Availability:
Contact us for schedule dates and times.
View the course calendar and browse for our schedule.
Course Description, Content, Outline, and Instructional Design are Copyright ©CellStream, Inc.
Course Availability:
Contact us for schedule dates and times.
View the course calendar and browse for our schedule.
Course Description, Content, Outline, and Instructional Design are Copyright ©CellStream, Inc.