How to configure IPv6 virtual machines on Proxmox and ESXi on Elastic Metal

When you install your server with a virtualization solution like VMware vSphere Hypervisor (ESXi) or Proxmox, you can create multiple virtual machines on the physical server and configure them to use flexible IPv6 addresses.

Below are some examples for the configuration of the network interfaces on different distributions inside a virtual machine:

Ubuntu

Since the release of version 18.04 (Bionic Beaver) Ubuntu has switched to Netplan for the configuration of network interfaces. For older releases of the distribution, refer to the configuration for Debian.

1. Log into your virtual machine and open the network configuration file /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml in a text editor of your choice, for example nano:

   sudo nano /etc/netplan/01-netcfg.yaml 
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2. Create a network configuation as follows. Remember to replace FLEXIBLE_IPv6 with your failover IP address:

   # This is the network config written by 'subiquity'
   network:
   ethernets:
       ens18:
       addresses:
       - FLEXIBLE_IPv6/64
       nameservers:
           addresses: [ "2001:bc8:408:400::6" ]
           search: []
   version: 2
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3. Save the file and exit the text editor.
4. Apply the new configuration:

   sudo netplan apply
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Debian

1. Log into the virtual machine and edit the file /etc/network/interfaces/ with a text editor of your choice, for example, nano:

   nano /etc/network/interfaces
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2. Configure the network interface as follows. Remember to replace fail.over.ip.address with your failover IP address:

   auto ens18
       iface ens18 inet6 static
       address FLEXIBLE_IPv6
       netmask 64
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3. Save the file and exit the text editor.

4. Set the DNS server information by editing the file /etc/resolv.conf:

   nano /etc/resolv.conf
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5. Set the DNS resolver by adding the following lines to the file. Then save it and exit the text editor:

   nameserver 2001:bc8:408:400::6
   nameserver 2001:bc8:408:400::7
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   Note:

   These DNS resolvers are operated by Scaleway. You can also set your preferred alternative DNS resolvers in the file.

6. Activate the network on your virtual machine by running the following code:

   ifup ens18
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CentOS

1. Log into the virtual machine and edit the file /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 with a text editor of your choice, for example, nano:

   nano /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0
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2. Configure the network interface as follows. Remember to replace fail.over.ip.address with your failover IP address and virtual:mac:address with the virtual MAC of the VM:

   DEVICE=ens18
   BOOTPROTO=none
   ONBOOT=yes
   USERCTL=no
   IPV6INIT=yes
   PEERDNS=yes
   TYPE=Ethernet
   NETMASK=64
   IPADDR=FLEXIBLE_IPv6
   DNS1=2001:bc8:408:400::6
   DNS2=2001:bc8:408:400::7
   ARP=yes
   HWADDR=virtual:mac:address
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3. Save the file and close the text editor.
4. Run the following command to bring the network interface up:

   ifup eth0
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