Defining IPv6 operating modes

Since IPv6 is gaining momentum, and is generally operating alongside other protocols, it has become important to define the operating modes that may exist in any IPv6 environment. This allows for consistent communication and understanding of a fundamental part of operating a production network. Most of this hard work has been done by the IETF, and 99% of those definitions as can be referenced by engineers and architects when creating designs, proposals, and documentation, can be found in one really well crafted RFC.

Cloudflare tunnel for IPv6 only connectivity

Cloudflare offers a powerful tunneling service that allows for a host on a private network to expose a service but retain protection using cloudflares’ powerful CDN tools. At the time of this post that service is a legacy IP first service, but with one minor tweak it can operate with IPv6-only hosts. Meaning one can provision an IPv6-only host, but provide a dual stacked service. If that sounds powerful, that’s because it is.

DNS over HTTPS and DNS over TLS Bind9 and Unbound Configuration examples

This contains the syntax for running a DNS over HTTPS and a DNS over DOT for Bind9 and Unbound. It does not contain the processes for installing the software or obtaining the SSL certificate. That information can be found elsewhere. These were tested on Ubuntu 22.04 running the latest versions of bind9 available in the repo, but for Unbound the DoH only works with a compiled build (1.22) since the Ubuntu repo version is very, very, very old.

Mikrotik Winbox linux .desktop file

A minor annoyance, but the linux version of Mikrotik winbox, while possibly the best network interface GUI around, has some quirks. If you want the icons to look correct, do the following (via Jerald Worthington) This file assumes that the .zip from MikroTik is extracted to /opt/WinBox If putting in another location, edit the Exec= and Icon= to match the correct locations Place the WinBox.desktop file in /usr/share/applications Create a symlink in /usr/local/bin to point to /opt/WinBox/WinBox (or wherever you extract the file to) Then whenever you launch from the Application launcher it’ll show the proper icon in the dock.