| Check out these additional IPv6 Resources: |
|---|
| Our IPv6 overview course at Udemy |
| Our IPv6 Custom Profiles for Wireshark |
| Our IPv6 classes at the Online School |
Years ago, the networking industry talked about IPv6 as something that was coming.
That conversation is over. IPv6 is here.
IPv6 is deployed across service provider, mobile, broadband, cloud, enterprise, and content-provider networks throughout the world. Current APNIC measurements show IPv6 capability at roughly 43% globally and more than 60% in the United States.
At the same time, IPv4 has not disappeared—and probably will not for quite some time. That means today’s network professionals increasingly operate in a world containing IPv4, IPv6, dual-stack networks, transition technologies, and in some cases IPv6-only networks.
That makes IPv6 knowledge more important, not less.
The Challenge Has Changed
The question is no longer: “Will we eventually need IPv6?”
The better questions are:
- Can your engineers and technicians recognize IPv6 addressing and prefixes?
- Do they understand link-local and global addresses?
- Can they explain Router Advertisements and Neighbor Discovery?
- Do they understand SLAAC and DHCPv6?
- Can they troubleshoot ICMPv6?
- Can they configure and verify IPv6 routing?
- Can they recognize IPv6 problems in DNS?
- Can they capture and analyze IPv6 traffic with Wireshark?
- Do they understand dual-stack, NAT64/DNS64, and IPv6-only environments?
- Do they understand how IPv6 changes network security and troubleshooting?
Those are operational skills—not simply theoretical knowledge.
IPv4 Is No Longer an Unlimited Resource
ARIN exhausted its general free pool of IPv4 addresses in September 2015. Organizations needing additional IPv4 space may now depend upon transfers, waiting-list resources, address conservation, NAT, CGNAT, or other mechanisms.
IPv6 removes the fundamental address-space limitation by expanding addresses from 32 bits to 128 bits. But IPv6 is much more than “IPv4 with bigger addresses.” Its operation introduces important differences in addressing, autoconfiguration, Neighbor Discovery, multicast, fragmentation, routing, ICMP, and network management. IPv6 is formally defined as the successor to IPv4 in RFC 8200.
That is why simply enabling IPv6 on a router or checking an Enable IPv6 box is not enough.
The people operating the network need to understand what happens next.
Why Hands-On IPv6 Training Matters
You can read about IPv6 addressing. You can watch someone configure IPv6. You can memorize the format of an IPv6 header.
But real understanding develops when you build it, configure it, test it, break it, capture it, and troubleshoot it.
That has always been the philosophy behind CellStream’s IPv6 training.
Students work with actual network configurations and observe what happens on the wire. Rather than simply learning that Neighbor Discovery exists, they examine Neighbor Solicitation and Neighbor Advertisement messages. Rather than simply discussing Router Advertisements, they see how hosts use them. They configure IPv6 addressing and routing, test connectivity, capture packets, and troubleshoot failures.
The objective is not simply to know about IPv6.
The objective is to be able to work with IPv6.
IPv6 Troubleshooting Skills Are Becoming Essential
There is another important reason for hands-on knowledge: many network problems today can involve both IPv4 and IPv6.
A device may have both address families available. DNS may return both A and AAAA records. An application may prefer IPv6 when it is available. A problem that initially appears to be an application, Wi-Fi, or Internet problem may actually involve IPv6 addressing, routing, Neighbor Discovery, DNS, MTU, or security policy.
Without IPv6 knowledge, technicians may troubleshoot only half of the network.
Packet analysis is particularly valuable here. Wireshark allows technicians and engineers to observe the actual IPv6 conversations occurring between devices and distinguish what the packets prove from what we merely suspect.
CellStream provides several IPv6-focused Wireshark profiles to make this analysis easier, including profiles for general IPv6 analysis, TCP over IPv6, Router Advertisements, Neighbor Solicitations, and Neighbor Advertisements.
Build IPv6 Skills Now
CellStream offers several hands-on IPv6 training options ranging from our IPv6 in a Day course through 2-day and 3-day IPv6 Fundamentals courses, Ethernet and IPv6 training, Advanced IPv6, and Advanced IPv6 Security.
Our goal is simple: Build IPv6 knowledge into practical IPv6 skills.
Supporting IPv6 begins with understanding IPv6—but successful deployment and troubleshooting require actually knowing how IPv6 behaves on a real network.
In 2008, we said the time to learn IPv6 was now.
In 2026, the message is even stronger: IPv6 is no longer something network professionals should be preparing to encounter. They are already encountering it.
The question is whether they are prepared to support it.
CellStream has been supporting IPv6 for many years and with the 2 Day Hands On IPv6 standard course, or the 2 Day Ethernet and IPv6 course, or the more detailed 3 Day Hands on IPv6 course, you can begin to build the knowledge base within your technical staff. Hands on training is the best training as students not only understand, but they “do”. In the class, we take an IPv4 network and build an IPv6 network – from scratch, and then we learn how the various migration options can be used to support both IPv4 and IPv6 in the near future.
We also offer our Advanced IPv6 course that covers IPv6 over MPLS, and other subjects, and we have an Advanced IPv6 Security class as well.
Want to discuss this with us further? Click Contact Us for more information, or reach out to us via our Discord Server here.