How common is IPV6?

I'm not getting any hits in my log

[Andrew3000]

I recently started over a dozen websites and am getting only IPV4 addresses in my log.

Should I be getting some IPV6, like 1 in 100, or 1 in 500 should be IPV6?

Most my traffic is international bots at the moment.

[JorgeV]

Hello,

- Not all ISP offer IPv6,
- ISP which are supporting IPv6, often provide it as an option which needs to be activated, most of people will not bother turning on IPv6
- To limit compatibility issues, most ISP use IPv6 internally, but then cast it to an IPv4 to access sites.

So, you'll rarely see IPv6 direct hits.

Most my traffic is international bots at the moment.

Bots run from servers, hosted in Data Center, and servers are provided with at least one IPv4 addresse. Some hosts provide IPv6, but who will bother configuring a server to use IPv6 instead of IPv4 ?

[robzilla]

Note that, on your end, your web server and firewall need to be configured to accept traffic over IPv6, and you need to have an AAAA record in your DNS pointing to your public IPv6 address.

[JorgeV]

+1 with @robzilla

[NickMNS]

So, you'll rarely see IPv6 direct hits.

In my particular case I see IPv6 address quite a bit. Typically from mobile users.

[lucy24]

I only find IPv6 in logs for those sites that have their own IPv6 address. Very rarely I find IPv6 on an IPv4 site, but they're all robots, presumably engaging in some kind of fakery that I've never bothered to investigate more closely.

[Andrew3000]

Sorry I should have made it clear my server is IPV4. It's the traffic in my log that I'm not seeing any IPV6 (from web visitors).

Thanks for your replies.

Quote:

"In my particular case I see IPv6 address quite a bit. Typically from mobile users."

Ah thanks... I will have to wait until I get search engine traffic and referral links to get my 1st IPV6.

[tangor]

I only find IPv6 in logs for those sites that have their own IPv6 address.

Interesting ... I mean your report ... I have IPv6 entries showing up in logs for an elderly IPv4, no https/certificate site, and has been for the last few years. At least I think things like:

xxxx:xxxx:xxxx::xxx

are IPv6?

[tangor]

Neglected to say "how common".

Not very. I get one or two a month. The rest are the old ordinary

xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx

[robzilla]

Sorry I should have made it clear my server is IPV4. It's the traffic in my log that I'm not seeing any IPV6 (from web visitors).

I will have to wait until I get search engine traffic and referral links to get my 1st IPV6.

If your server does not offer IPv6, visitors are not going to be able to connect through IPv6, and will fall back to IPv4 instead, so you'll never see IPv6 traffic in your log. IPv4 cannot connect to IPv6, and vice versa.

[brotherhood of LAN]

>How common

According to Google, around 1/3rd of users have adopted IPv6
[google.com...]

Doesn't seem like IPv4 will go away for another decade

[lucy24]

I will have to wait until I get search engine traffic and referral links to get my 1st IPV6.

Why? IPv6 addresses are free at my host (IPv4 you have to pay for) and I have no reason to think that's atypical. It would be pretty nervy to charge for IPv6, considering there are something like 10^38 of them, assuming I hit the right buttons on my calculator.

[robzilla]

Very nervy indeed, but I think he meant his first hit from an IPv6 address ;-)

Sometimes you can even get a discount if you don't require an IPv4 address. Not ideal for web servers, of course.

[Andrew3000]

Yep, that's what I meant Robzilla... I want to get my 1st hit from a IPv6 web visitor/bot in my log file but I have now found out my websites don't work with IPv6...

I found an online tool (I have no affiliation) that checks if a site is accessible from an IPv6 address: [gf.dev...]

The tool suggests all my websites, DuckDuckGo, and many more websites are not accessible to visitors with an IPv6 address while websites like Bing and Wikipedia do work.

It's starting to make sense now... Robzilla said:

"Note that, on your end, your web server and firewall need to be configured to accept traffic over IPv6, and you need to have an AAAA record in your DNS pointing to your public IPv6 address."

On my end, my shared hosting has an AAAA record going to 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 (null address) so therefore my site, and presumably most people* in this thread, have websites not accessible to the new IPv6 addresses.

* with shared hosting, a home office apache2 server, etc.

I'm now realising if web visitors sign up for an internet plan with only an IPv6 they will only be able to access 1/3rd of the internet because every web server needs 2 IP addresses (IPv4 and IPv6) but most(?) only have IPv4.

[lucy24]

If a site can't be reached directly by IPv6, the visitor will be routed via an IPv4 address. I don’t know the mechanics, but I see it in logs: visits to main site (no IPv6 address) all show up in logs with IPv4 addresses, but if they request piwik files--which live on a site that does have an IPv6 address--I'll see the selfsame visitor coming through as IPv6.

Predictably, some European search engines such as Seznam will use IPv6 if they can, but if a site is limited to IPv4 they'll use that. Facebook has both IPv4 and IPv6; they've cleverly set it up so the string :face: always occurs somewhere in their address. The things you can do with 10^38 possibilities!

[tangor]

If your server does not offer IPv6, visitors are not going to be able to connect through IPv6, and will fall back to IPv4 instead, so you'll never see IPv6 traffic in your log. IPv4 cannot connect to IPv6, and vice versa.

The question was HOW COMMON ... (my site is IPv6 capable and has been for some time). I only GET one or two A MONTH (and they happen to be the same addresses) so, to me, that ain't that common.

YMMV, I just answered the OP's question. ------

[robzilla]

The question was HOW COMMON

Answered by brotherhood of LAN above with a link to Google's IPv6 adoption statistics. How common? Roughly 33% worldwide, with some countries lagging behind (close to zero, e.g. Ukraine and Indonesia) and others way ahead (India at 56%, USA 47%).

Sometimes you need to answer the question behind the question. If the statistics show the share of IPv6 traffic should be much higher than what you're seeing, it's possible something's wrong with your configuration (in OP's case, IPv6 not being available on the server).

my shared hosting has an AAAA record going to 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 (null address)

I'd probably get rid of that unhelpful AAAA record, as it could slow down the DNS lookup.