Support IPV6 on XO
OLPC (One Laptop Per Child) is a major challenge, that involves not only a big investment in infrastructure, but also in the deployment of finding a good solution to connectivity. The aim of OLPC is that all the children are able to get access to the Internet.
The XO has two ways to solve the connectivity, through wireless meshed networks and ad-hoc. To handle this, the XO have a physical interface (two antennas) and two logical interfaces:
- eth0 – ad-hoc network
- msh0 – meshed network
Due to the limitations of the current protocol (IPv4), is the need to implement IPv6 in the XO.
Implementation
Three of the main possible implementations of IPv6 in the XO are described below:
1. Manual Allocation
All the hosts should be awarded an IP within the same network. To do this, the command is:
ip -6 addr add <IP Global>/<prefix> dev <interface>
To run this command on the XO, the user must have root permissions.
2. Automatic Allocation
To achieve this, a DHCPv6 server must be configured (in any host) and each node of the network must be configured for the DHCPv6 client. The DHCPv6 server must be configured with the range of IPs that will be available in the pool of address and prefix of the network. On the client, the server that it will “listen” must be configured as well as the network interface that it will use to connect to the DHCPv6 server.
To perform this configuration, both the client and the server, the user must have root permissions.
3. Local IP Allocation
Two or more XO connected together, set up an ad-hoc network, which is automatically configured. The IP that is assigned in each node is known as: local link.
Validation
To validate these implementations, this command must be executed:
ping6 –I <interface> <ipDestiny>
A broadcast ping can be done to test the network:
ping6 –I <interface> ff02::1
See also
References
Javier Cajal Espinos: "Aportes del protocolo IPv6 a los desafíos de las redes educativas inalámbricas" - Proyecto de fin de carrera Universidad Politécnica de Madrid (Setiembre de 2008)