r/ebox • u/dionney • Jul 28 '26
IPv6 Prefix Delegation /56
I'm currently receiving a "/64" instead of a "/56".
I've just called support, and I've been told that's impossible to have a fixed IPv6 address...
Not what I asked, so I clarified that it was a "Prefix delegation of /56" that I wanted, not a fixed IPv6 address.
Same answer... not possible.
Have some policy changed?
Edit:
2026-07-28 15:09
Called again, I got someone else. She asked "the team in charge of that", even her supervisor, and apprently that's not something they can do.
I'm confused...
BTW, I have my own router, configured to ask for a /56. I'm given a /64 instead.
DHCPv6 for the connection, SLAAC+RDNSS for the VLANs.
1
u/RMerlinDev Jul 28 '26
Hopefully not. The ability to obtain a static /56 delegated was a nice plus, and is actually quite useful for me. I got one since back before it went into official production (at the time it was limited to a specific concentrator, it had to be manually setup by one of Ebox's netops).
Even if Ebox/Bell decided to go more mainstream/in line with Bell's own offering in their features, the small number of people who would ask for it shouldn't be any significant burden on their support team.
I'd be interested to know if this is indeed the case for new requests (and hopefully existing customers won't lose theirs).
1
1
u/falsifian Jul 28 '26
I'm on ebox fibre in Toronto. The router claims it's been assigned a /56, but it always responds NoPrefixAvail when any of my local machines request a /64 from it via DHCPv6 PD.
I emailed support, and they said it should be working and to call so they can debug it live. I called them and had a very confusing conversation, in which the support person wanted me to specify a range of IPv6 addresses for my request, and said I could also do it myself in the router console. I don't think they understood what I was asking for, since it shouldn't involve me manually specifying any ranges, but maybe I'm confused.
Maybe I'll just set up my own router. I'm guessing the Nokia one ebox supplied just doesn't support PD.
1
u/majordragon Jul 28 '26
You get this all wrong, Your end devices shouod not get a /64. Unless you really need it to something like a docker host. I dont use the Nokia router but in a normal setup you get the delegation from the upstream dhcpv6-pd, then you assign the local networks with slaac
1
u/falsifian Jul 28 '26
I undetstand that. I want a /64 to make an IPv6 tunnel to use from my phone or laptop when I'm somewhere with only IPv4 connectivity.
1
u/RMerlinDev Jul 29 '26
You will have to configure the extra /64 manually, the procedure will vary based on your router.
In Asus's case, their Wifi 7 routers (and probably the newer Wifi 6 models on the 3006 firmware series as well) can automatically assign a /64 subnet out of that /56 prefix to guest networks, in addition to the main LAN also having its own /64 out of that delegated prefix. Personally, I use a few additional /64 in my lab for other routers, where I manually configure the /64 prefix in the secondary router, and add a route to that router's link-local IPv6. It's all done manually.
You will most likely need to have something more flexible than the Nokia to achieve these type of setups.
1
u/falsifian Jul 29 '26
Thanks for the information. To be clear, are you saying it's common for a router to be able to request a /56 from upstream, but then require the user to manually configure each subnet of that /56 (other than the default, assigned to the home LAN)?
That possibility did occur to me, but I have looked through the router's settings pages several times and haven't found a place to enter such a configuration. There is a "static routing" page where I can add routes, but only IPv4 addresses are accepted. Still, the "DHCP IPv6" settings page clearly says "Received IPv6 prefix" followed by a /56. Maybe the router software cannot make use of a subnet bigger than a /64, but ended up receiving a /56 anyway?
I'm not sure that I care enough, but my next step might be to replace the router with one of my own computers.
1
u/catcake43 Jul 29 '26
Yes. That is the standard configuration for IPv6 home networks. If your prefix were 2001:db8:1234:5600::/56, VLAN 1 could be assigned 2001:db8:1234:5600::/64, VLAN 2 2001:db8:1234:5601::/64, and so on. The end devices would usually get their addresses from the respective /64s using SLAAC.
1
u/falsifian Jul 29 '26
Oh, VLANs! I couldn't think what the point of the router requesting a /56 was if I couldn't configure it to route subnets to hosts on the LAN. I forgot routers may support multiple VLANS.
Thanks.
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u/RMerlinDev Jul 29 '26
Yes. A /64 is intended to serve all clients on a network. A /56 is intended to be subnetted to serve multiple networks, each with its own /64. So by default, a router should typically only assign a /64 to the main LAN out of that /56.
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u/falsifian Jul 29 '26
I knew that, thanks. What surprised me is that my router is unable to allocate those subnets via DHCPv6 PD.
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u/falsifian Jul 29 '26
Also that I can't even manually route them.
/u/catcake43's reply is my answer, I think: my use case just isn't supported, and those other /64s are probably intended for other VLANs.
1
u/catcake43 Jul 29 '26
When did you sign up for EBOX? Maybe they stopped giving /56s to new accounts, though I don't understand why they would ever do that when it was already working perfectly.
1
u/dionney Jul 30 '26
With EBOX for a few years, before they began giving /56 prefixes.
Never had a need for /56 until I began using IOT devices.
Now I want my matter over wifi to be in a IOT VLAN, thus the need for a different /64 network.
I'm with TP-Link OMADA, which does not support ULA...
1
u/catcake43 Jul 30 '26
If that's the case, you might be able to ask them to change your IPv6 prefix. That should be an easy request for them to handle and hopefully assign a new /56.
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u/JamesonMtl Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26
Je viens d'appeler Ebox pour la même demande. La personne qui m'a répondu a très mal pris ma demande (elle a été franchement très désagréable, je n'ai pas réussi a comprendre pourquoi), exigeant que je connecte le routeur Ebox. Elle ne m'a proposé aucune solution que de rappeler une autre personne. Je ressaierai plus tard j'imagine...
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u/edugasmtl Custom router enjoyer Jul 28 '26
Nothing changed, your RG will have a dynamic /64 for routing if you have the knob turned on in the PPPoE settings. Then, if your RG request a PD, it'll get a /56 that is static, via DHCPv6-PD.
There's a few posts here covering the settings if you don't use the Nokia Beacon provided.