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If a server has only IPv6 addresses without a domain name, how can I connect to the server from my web-browser?

Eonil
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3 Answers3

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According to RFC2732, literal IPv6 addresses should be put inside square brackets in URLs, e.g. like this:

http://[1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A]/index.html

If you also need to specify a port other then 80 to access the server it has to be placed after the closing bracket:

http://[1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A]:8888/index.html

Of course, you have to have end-to-end IPv6 connectivity to that host. E.g. if the server is not inside your own local network, you need to have IPv6 connectivity, either via your ISP (rare), or via some kind of IPv6 in IPv4 encapsulation (tunnel).

Tarulia
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haimg
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    this doesn't work in google chrome if you use link local addresses (with the %eth0 suffix). – anarcat Dec 08 '15 at 00:56
  • does this work for a domain? – King Friday Mar 17 '17 at 01:18
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    If your ISP does not support IPv6, an SSH tunnel can be used to access IPv6-only websites by connecting to the IPv4 address of a VPS that also supports IPv6: ssh -fND 1080 x.x.x.x. You can then connect to the proxy localhost:1080 in your web browser. – baptx Jun 14 '19 at 15:26
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    2001:470::76:0:0:0:2 ### if you want a working link – dotbit Aug 30 '19 at 05:49
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    This seemed to work for localhost, i.e. [::1]:3000, but not a different computer on the same network, on either Firefox or Chrome. I can connect to the other server in-browser with the IPv4 address, and I can ping the other device with ping6. Both servers have the same exact content, if that matters. – trysis Jul 18 '20 at 12:43
  • @anarcat your comment deserves more visibility! Indeed, with IPv6, local network interfaces will very likely have two addresses (or more...) and not just one (excepting aliases, of course). One is the 'link address', the other will be the 'global address'. Some things will never work with the 'link address'. IPv6 is... tricky. Also, I can confirm that Safari (14) behaves like Chrome: link addresses are not supported. Global ones seem to be ok. – Gwyneth Llewelyn Mar 14 '21 at 19:20
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Put the ipv6 address into your browser address bar like you would a dns name or an IPv4 address, except enclosed in square brackets:

http://[::1]

(example with localhost)

This is supported in Chrome, Firefox, IE and probably other browsers.

Note that you need to have IPv6 working on your OS, and every device in the path to the destination (including proxy servers if you use one).

Paul
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9

If required to test locally with IPv6, put the below AAAA Record in the address bar:

[::1]

This is equivalent to writing:

localhost

or to this IPv4 A (Host) Record:

127.0.0.1
Wouter
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AKS
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