Open Radar

 
30-Jan-2009 04:13 PM Derek Morr:
Summary:

Mac OS X does not provide a way for an IPv6-only client to obtain IPv6 addresses of recursive DNS servers. This will prevent an IPv6-only machine from working automaticallly when it joins a network.

Steps to Reproduce:

In System Preferences, go to Networking, select the appropriate interface and disable IPv4. Attach the Mac to an IPv6-only network.

Expected Results:

Mac OS X should attempt to obtain the IPv6 addresses of recursive DNS servers, either using DHCPv6 (if the Router Advertisement's M or O flags are set), or by using the RDNSS option in the RA (RFC 5006) if present.

Actual Results:

Mac OS X does not process the RA's RDNSS option and does not contain a DHCPv6 client. It will not obtain IPv6 addresses for recursive DNS servers. Users will have to manually configure DNS servers in the Network System Preferences pane. This is a sub-optimal user experience.

Regression:

N/A

Notes:

Of the two options (RFC 5006 and DHCPv6), we would prefer to see DHCPv6 supported. DHCPv6 has many uses beyond assigned DNS servers (it will likely be required for IPv6 netboot support, enterprise IPv6 address management, etc). Further, RFC 5006 is still in the experiemental stage, and very little equipment supports it.

03-Feb-2009 03:34 PM Derek Morr:
I wanted to give an update on the need for a DHCPv6 client on Mac OS X.

I'm at the Internet2 Joint Techs meeting this week, and this bug has caused significant trouble for Mac users. The wireless network at the conference supports IPv6 and is using DHCPv6. The Vista machines worked out-of-the-box, but the Macs required significant hand-holding to get working.

In this case, the wireless network used DHCPv6 (in stateful mode) to assigned addresses. This had to be done because we are testing an experimental IPv6-to-IPv4 gateway product which is not compatible with stateless autoconfiguration.