Enabling IPv6 on Oracle Database Enterprise Edition (Doc ID 783570.1)

Last updated on FEBRUARY 28, 2020

Applies to:

Oracle Database - Enterprise Edition - Version 11.2.0.0 to 11.2.0.0 [Release 11.2]
Oracle Database - Standard Edition - Version 11.2.0.1 to 11.2.0.2.0 [Release 11.2]
Oracle Net Services - Version 11.2.0.0 to 11.2.0.0 [Release 11.2]
Information in this document applies to any platform.
Oracle Server Enterprise Edition - Version: 11.2.0.0 to 11.2.0.0

Purpose

Introduction

IPv6 is designed with migration in mind. It is possible to run an Operating System with both IPv4 and IPv6 running at the same time. It is possible to configure the Oracle Database and Listener to use both IPv4 and IPv6, but this note covers how to setup the Oracle 11g Release 2 (11.2.0.0) software to use only IPv6 on a Linux system that has both IPv4 and IPv6 configured. The 11.2 release is the only one that supports the IPv6 protocol.

Scope

Background

IPv6 has many address types that have been allocated to a system by default. In this note to assign a “made up” Global Unicast Address (GUA) for the host (see RFC 3849). In later notes other IPv6 addresses, like Teredo, Link Local, and others will be covered.

IPv6 is designed with maintenance of the address space in mind. IPv6 was designed to be self-configuring and have its GUA allocated by an external system running Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP). In this note we will be using a “hard coded” IPv6 address. In normal conditions manually setting the IPv6 address should not be necessary, even for a host running a service like a Database.

The Global Unicast Address is allocated by one of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority’s (IANA) Regional Internet Registries (RIR). The examples used here use the addresses lised in RFC 3849 (IPv6 Address Prefix Reserved for Documentation). To get an official IPv6 address, your Company would have to contact ARIN directly or you go through one of the Internet Service Providers that have been allocated addresses.

In this note, it is assumed that any host name to IPv6 address resolution will be done using the local host file. Refer to the Linux HOWTO’s on configuring the system to use an IPv6 compatible DNS server.

The current release of the Oracle Database has many features that work with IPv6, but some do not. Please see any README file for further information as to which Oracle features work with IPv6 at the time of the release of the version of interest.