Red Hat / CentOS Add IPv6 Network Alias (multiple IPv6 IP to Same NIC)

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To add an IPv6 network alias to a Red Hat or CentOS server, allowing multiple IPv6 addresses to be assigned to the same NIC (Network Interface Card), you can use the ip command. Here are the steps:

  1. Determine the name of the network interface to which you want to add the IPv6 address. You can use the ip addr command to list all network interfaces:
    ip addr

    This will display a list of all network interfaces on the system. Identify the interface to which you want to add an IPv6 address, and note its name (such as “eth0” or “ens33”). (www.sanjaytaxpro.com)

  2. Add the IPv6 address to the interface using the ip addr add command, specifying the IPv6 address and the interface name:
    sudo ip addr add <IPv6_ADDRESS>/<PREFIX_LENGTH> dev <INTERFACE_NAME>

    For example, to add an IPv6 address of 2001:db8::2 with a prefix length of 64 to the eth0 interface, you would run the following command:

    sudo ip addr add 2001:db8::2/64 dev eth0
  3. Verify that the IPv6 address has been added to the interface by using the ip addr show command:
    ip addr show <INTERFACE_NAME>

    For example, to show the IPv6 addresses associated with the eth0 interface, you would run the following command:

    ip addr show eth0

    This will display a list of all IP addresses assigned to the interface, including the newly added IPv6 address.

  4. (Optional) Make the IPv6 address persistent across reboots by adding it to the appropriate network configuration file. For example, to make the IPv6 address persistent on the eth0 interface, you would add the following line to the /etc/sysconfig/network-scripts/ifcfg-eth0 file:
    IPADDR2=2001:db8::2

    This will cause the IPv6 address to be added to the eth0 interface automatically at boot time.

That’s it! You can repeat the above steps to add additional IPv6 addresses to the same network interface, by simply changing the IPv6 address and prefix length as appropriate.

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