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DS-Lite: a solution
By Michiel van der Vlist (2:280/5555)
Earlier this year, in May, Fidonews 34:20 I reported about my first
DS-Lite emulation experiment. Among other things I wrote this:
There was one thing that was a bit problematic though. When I am
on the move, I run a point system on my laptop to keep in touch
with Fdionet. This won't work when I am on an IPv4 only network
since I can not connect with my IPv6 Boss Node from there. Most
public WiFi networks on campings and hotels are still IPv4 only.
So are nearly all 3G/4G mobile operators in Europe I am afraid.
I also wrote that to my surprise I found that Teredo was still
operational and that it was just good enough at times for an IPv6
binkp connect. But just barely.
Now I found a better solution:
https://www.feste-ip.net/?ref=18105
Feste-IP offers several IPv6 related services like DDNS, VPN and HTTP
proxy, but the part that got my attention was the Universal
portmapper. All that is needed is that you create an account and fill
in the host name or IPv6 address and port number of the server that
is running on your DS-Lite connection. What you get in return is a
host name that points to a dynamic IPv4 address and a port number.
Well, they say it is a dynamic IPv4 address, but I have not seen it
change yet. Whatever, yur IPv6 server is now connectable from an
IPv4 only client via that host name or IPv4 address and port number.
My IPv6 binkd server is now available at de8.portmap64.net:24554
In my case the port number for the IPv4 side is the same as the one
for the IPv6 server, but that is because I seem to be the only one
that asked for port 24554. If I specify port 80 for the IPv6 target,
I am assigned port 45990 for the IPv4 side. This way they can use
the same IPv4 address for many users.
There is more than one way that leads to Rome. Some will argue that
this portmapping server has limitations and that running a fully
fledged VPN tunnel is "better". To each his own. I find this service
convenient if one needs just one or a few ports. No need to install
anything on either the server or the client. And it is cheap. Just
EUR 5/year per port and the first 50 days are free.
To test if this portmapper thing is useful for Fidonet I had the A
record of fido.vlist.eu point to the IPv4 address of the point mapper
service and had my binkp server answer on IPv6 only, thereby
effectively simulating a DS-Lite connection for binkp. If you have
connected to my Fidonet system between Friday Aug 11 20:00 UTC and
Sunday 13 Aug 20:00 UTC, you have connected to my IPv6 only binkd via
the feste-ip.net port mapper. My guess is that no one noticed.
There is just one drawback. I have no problem with it but some may
have. The web site of feste-ip.net is in German. Can't have it all.
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