Will I be able to register my own IPv6 address as an individual?

I know that at this moment, for all practical terms it is almost impossible to register a small portion of IPv4 addresses as an individual or even a small scale corporation.

My question is if the same thing applies to IPv6 addresses. Let say that I have 8 hosts at my house. Am I able to register 8 IPv6 Internet valid addresses? So for example if tomorrow I decide to change the ISP I will able to keep the IPs and tell a new ISP to route them.

Solution 1:

You can't register your own address, and there is no need to do so. The address are distributed by sub-dividing an existing allocation. This process is documented in RFC6177 IPv6 Address Assignment to End Sites and related documents. Your provider should provide at least a /64 network block. The RFCs encourage them to provide a range of networks such as a /48 network block.

You should be able to get the DNS reverse pointer registry delegated to you. This is much simpler under IPv6 than it is for a small allocation in IPv4, which divides the allocation on /24 boundaries.

If you change ISPs, your IPv6 allocation will change to one from your new ISP. However, having multiple addresses active at the same time is much simpler. If you use the privacy extension your devices will periodically change their IP address. For servers you may be able to have both ISPs connected during any DNS transition period. There are also tunneling techniques that can be used.

There is a radvd (router advertisement daemon) mechanism which allows devices to auto-configure their routeable IPv6 address within a /64 address block. (Devices will have multiple addresses with different scopes.) If you do not have a firewall protecting them, the addresses configured using radvd are accessible from the Internet. There is also a DHCPv6 protocol that can be used for configuration beyond the capabilities of radvd.

Hurricane Electric provide a self-study IPv6 Certification course online. They provide my IPv6 access via an IPv6 over IPv4 tunnel. If I change my connection point, my IPv6 addresses will change.

EDIT: The person who wrote the "Why dynamic IPv6 subnet allocations are evil" does not seem to understand networking very well.

• Internet mail servers do not have long term connections, but do require a static IP address to be properly configured. They do create and receive connection over a long period of time, but the connections only last for seconds.
• I would be really upset if any appliance had a long term connection anywhere outside my home network. I would consider such a connection a design failure. Local management should be possible over link local addresses with auto-discovery.
• The device connections listed can be done with a dynamic address, and communication would normally be completed within a second.
• As normally implemented DHCP addresses once allocated, are essentially static. With some providers it is difficult to change your address without their assistance. However, some providers do force periodic IP address changes.
• I would expect the ISPs to provide relatively static allocations, possibly pre-configured in their devices. Even, if they are dynamically allocated, I would expect them to be stable unless you disconnect for a long period of time (a day or more.) This will be more likely if they assign larger blocks as is suggested.
• NAT is difficult under IPv6, so a working firewall is much more important. I would expect the ISPs would implement a default deny policy in their devices. This would mirror the existing default deny provided by the current NAT devices.