When we think of an IP addresses, it is the familiar xxx.xxx.xxx addresses. These are IPv4 addresses and are now in short supply. The scarcity is driving up the prices of IPv4 addresses. To remedy this, IPv6 was introduced in 1995. These new addresses will never run out. In fact my dedicated server came with a free subnet of IPv6s — that’s 18.4 quintillion free IPs! This is in contrast to the $3 per IPv4 that they charge me! I can only afford 5 old-school IPs Wait a second, did you know that my free IPv6 subnet has 2.3 billion IPs per man, woman, and child alive today? Gosh, I wish I had that many customers. This figure just shows, in dramatic terms, how scarce IPv4s are now compared to the newer IPv6s. IPv4s are exhausted.
Some websites are already IPv6 only, while some residential ISPs do not yet support IPv6. Customer using an IPv4 only ISP can not directly reach an IPv6-only website.
Thankfully, there is a quick and free solution. Cloudflare offers the free Warp app. It’s really an underrated app. Not only does it add IPV6 to your devices, but it also has a built-in VPN to make your communication more private. Last but not least, it does what it is advertised to do… encrypts your DNS queries for extra privacy. This app should cost $5 a month but is absolutely free for basic functionality. They have a version of WARP for every OS out there, including mobile versions.
Maybe it’s not a secret that Cloudflare is one of my favorite tech companies. I will warn you; if you owe them a dollar, they will cut off all your services. It happened to me since I was using the Google login. I use Google login but never use Gmail; therefore, I didn’t get an invoice. My Gmail literally has 10 thousand spammy emails. I don’t even bother deleting them. I just let them accumulate.
For developers, you can use a Cloudflare tunnel via IPV6 to connect to your server (orange cloud magic). Your customers can connect to Cloudflare with IPv4 or v6, as always, and reach your IPv6-only website. Google informs me that outbound traffic from your IPv6-only server can use a NAT64 gateway, if available, or by using Cloudflare WARP. I didn’t know Warp could be installed on a server. So all outbound IPV6 traffic can go to any IPv4 or IPv6 device through WARP. I will check into that instead of purchasing any additional IPv4s. Who knew?
I would love to hear about other ways to move away from IPv4s. WARP may be one way, and it’s better than creating a reverse proxy on your server with only one outbound IPv4, which I’ve done before. I like to keep things simple. Routing 8 VM’s through one reverse proxy is networking gymnastics. Paying $3 per month for an IPv4 is — well it’s market value, what can I say except get ready to move to IPv6 only asap. Do it before $3/mo turns into $25/mo. If the adoption of IPv6 stays very slow, the price of an IPv4 may very well skyrocket.
Furthermore, for the nerds out there, every DNS IPv4 entry needs a corresponding AAA (IPv6) entry, yes, even your MX record. Request that IPv6 subnet be installed on your server and get ready for the future!