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Symptom:

How can one test IPv6 connectivity to the IPv6 Internet?

Problem:

There is an IPv6 address visible locally, but how can the connectivity to the IPv6 Internet be tested?

Solution

Test using a browser:

There are multiple websites on the Internet that can be used to test IPv6 connectivity:

Test using "ping":

Unix:

ping6 ipv6.google.com
PING6(56=40+8+8 bytes) 2001:db8:100:603e:e554:e63:3494 --> 2a00:1450:8003::69
16 bytes from 2a00:1450:8003::69, icmp_seq=0 hlim=55 time=40.915 ms
16 bytes from 2a00:1450:8003::69, icmp_seq=1 hlim=55 time=41.042 ms
16 bytes from 2a00:1450:8003::69, icmp_seq=2 hlim=55 time=41.695 ms
^C
--- ipv6.l.google.com ping6 statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 packets received, 0.0% packet loss
round-trip min/avg/max/std-dev = 40.915/41.217/41.695/0.342 ms


Windows:

C:\Users\example>ping ipv6.google.com

Pinging ipv6.l.google.com [2a00:1450:8003::93] with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 2a00:1450:8003::93: time=41ms
Reply from 2a00:1450:8003::93: time=39ms
Reply from 2a00:1450:8003::93: time=40ms
Reply from 2a00:1450:8003::93: time=42ms

Ping statistics for 2a00:1450:8003::93:
    Packets: Sent = 4, Received = 4, Lost = 0 (0% loss),
Approximate round trip times in milli-seconds:
    Minimum = 39ms, Maximum = 42ms, Average = 40ms

Test using traceroute

Unix:

 # traceroute6 ipv6.google.com
traceroute6 to ipv6.l.google.com (2a00:1450:8003::69) from 2001:db8:100:603e:e554:e63:3494, 64 hops max, 12 byte packets
 1  ipv6.myhome.example.org  2.013 ms  0.489 ms  0.410 ms
 2  gw-392.dus-01.de.provider.net  19.032 ms  17.793 ms  18.984 ms
 3  provider.gateway.example.com  18.508 ms  18.031 ms  17.888 ms
 4  2001:7f8:8::3b41:0:1  29.801 ms  29.206 ms  28.997 ms
 5  2001:4860::1:0:5bd  34.599 ms  29.544 ms
    2001:4860::1:0:60d  31.888 ms
 6  2001:4860::1:0:fbc  37.660 ms  41.811 ms
    2001:4860::1:0:fdd  37.062 ms
 7  2001:4860::1:0:2a  42.040 ms  40.688 ms  40.882 ms
 8  2001:4860::2:0:66f  117.120 ms
    2001:4860::2:0:66e  115.167 ms  40.701 ms
 9  2001:4860:0:1::2d  42.047 ms  43.176 ms  51.058 ms
10  2a00:1450:8003::69  42.156 ms  41.779 ms  41.387 ms

Windows:

C:\Users\example>tracert ipv6.google.com

Tracing route to ipv6.l.google.com [2a00:1450:8003::93]
over a maximum of 30 hops:

  1     1 ms     1 ms    <1 ms  ipv6.myhome.example.org [2001:db8:100::1]
  2    18 ms    18 ms    17 ms  gw-392.dus-01.de.provider.net [2001:db8:200:187::1]
  3    22 ms    17 ms    16 ms  provider.gateway.example.com [2001:db8:200::1]
  4    27 ms    26 ms    30 ms  2001:7f8:8::3b41:0:1
  5    34 ms    30 ms    31 ms  2001:4860::1:0:60d
  6    33 ms    33 ms    35 ms  2001:4860::1:0:fdd
  7    42 ms    41 ms    39 ms  2001:4860::1:0:12
  8    40 ms    40 ms    40 ms  2001:4860::2:0:66f
  9    41 ms    50 ms    50 ms  2001:4860:0:1::2d
 10    45 ms    40 ms    40 ms  2a00:1450:8003::93

Trace complete.

And the famous IPv6 dancing turtle: kame.net