IdeaWell

Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

IPv6 just turned 30 and still hasn't taken over the world

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. IPv6 Success in Mobile/Cloud but Enterprise Lag

IPv6 dominates traffic in mobile, cloud, and some broadband (e.g., "at least 75% of the Internet traffic is IPv6" - runjake), with high adoption stats (e.g., US ~50%, India 71% per Google - iknowstuff). Enterprises rarely use it: "not once has anyone ever specified an IPv6 address of anything" (einpoklum).

2. IPv4 Private Range Exhaustion in Large Networks

Enterprises face overlaps in 10.0.0.0/8 during mergers/VPNs: "one poorly made decision and oops you're out of 10/8 addresses" (arccy); "Except during a merger/acquisition and both companies have 10.0.0.0/24" (throw0101a). IPv6 avoids this: "if both you and companies you have site to site vpn with have IPv6 there is no IP conflict" (PunchyHamster).

3. Adoption Barriers: ISP Reluctance and Config Complexity

ISPs often withhold IPv6 or provide dynamic prefixes: "We regret to inform you that, at this time, we do not offer IPv6 support" (WarOnPrivacy quotes). Dynamic prefixes frustrate servers; dual-stack causes slowdowns/failovers: "IPv6 is seen as optional, additional configuration and is NEVER the default" (mrjay42). Lack of knowledge persists: "virtually nobody knows IPv6" (runjake).

🚀 Project Ideas

IPv6 Multi-Cloud Conflict Resolver

Summary

  • A diagnostic and automation tool for enterprises managing overlapping RFC1918 (10.0.0.0/8) address spaces across VPCs, mergers, or VPNs.
  • It provides a "migration-less" connectivity layer by automating 464XLAT or IPv6-only internal routing, specifically solving the "overlapping subnets" nightmare described by engineers in the thread.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Network Engineers & DevOps at mid-to-large enterprises (M&A active)
Core Feature Map conflicting IPv4 subnets to unique IPv6 ULA prefixes for seamless inter-company routing
Tech Stack Go (for high-speed networking), eBPF, CoreDNS, Terraform
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: B2B SaaS (per-node or per-VPC managed license)

Notes

  • "One poorly made decision and oops you're out of 10/8 addresses... the troubleshooting calls for VPN routing vs internal LAN routing are fun endeavors." (pixl97)
  • HN users highlighted that mergers often result in "both companies having 10.0.0.0/24 in their OSPF topology" (throw0101a). This tool automates the "spooky technical work" (malwrar) required to bridge these worlds.

Static6: The "Fixed-Prefix" Tunnel Service

Summary

  • A lightweight tunneling service that provides a static IPv6 /48 or /56 prefix to residential users whose ISPs only provide dynamic or "janky" IPv6.
  • It allows self-hosters to treat their home servers as globally reachable without the "nightmare" of dealing with rotating prefixes or DDNS.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Self-hosters, Hobbyists, and "Homelab" enthusiasts
Core Feature WireGuard-based tunnel that delivers a static, provider-independent IPv6 block to a home router
Tech Stack WireGuard, Netbird/Tailscale (underlay), Anycast VIPs
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Subscription ($5–$10/month)

Notes

  • Users complained: "My ISP refuses to give you a static IPv6 prefix unless you're a business customer... this results in me not bothering." (przmk)
  • It bypasses the "support hell" of cable providers and avoids the latency issues and privacy-invading features of Cloudflare Tunnels by providing raw, routable IP space.

NAT64-as-a-Service for IPv6-Only Infrastructure

Summary

  • A managed gateway service for startups and developers who want to build "IPv6-only" internally (to save on AWS/Cloud provider IPv4 costs) but still need to reach the legacy IPv4 internet.
  • It offers a highly available, managed DNS64/NAT64 exit point so droplets or containers don't need a $4/mo public IPv4 address to perform apt-get update or talk to GitHub.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Cloud Architects and Bootstrapped Startups
Core Feature Managed NAT64/DNS64 gateway with clear egress logs and "BYO-IP" support
Tech Stack Tayga (NAT64), Jool, Rust-based monitoring agents
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: Usage-based (GB processed) or per-Gateway month

Notes

  • "AWS charges for ipv4 addresses but ipv6 addresses are free." (apatheticonion)
  • This solves the specific frustration that "GitHub still doesn't support ipv6" (blibble), allowing modern v6-only infrastructure to function while the "legacy world" catches up. It eliminates the need for users to build their own "inefficient tunnel systems" (immibis).

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