Environment
SUSE Linux Enterprise Desktop 10
SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10
Novell Open Enterprise Server 2 (OES 2) Linux
Situation
During installation of SUSE Linux Enterprise (SLE) IPv6 was
disabled during the network configuration step. After
completing the installation IPv6 address information still showed
up in the output of the `ip addr` command. An example is
shown below prefixed by 'inet6':
user@mybox0:~> ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 brd 127.255.255.255 scope host lo
inet 127.0.0.2/8 brd 127.255.255.255 scope host secondary lo
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,PROMISC,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
link/ether 00:22:19:0a:95:5f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet6 fe80::222:19ff:fe0a:955f/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: br0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/ether 00:22:19:0a:95:5f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 151.155.131.254/22 brd 151.155.131.255 scope global br0
inet6 fe80::222:19ff:fe0a:955f/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
user@mybox0:~> ip addr
1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 16436 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
inet 127.0.0.1/8 brd 127.255.255.255 scope host lo
inet 127.0.0.2/8 brd 127.255.255.255 scope host secondary lo
inet6 ::1/128 scope host
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: eth0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,PROMISC,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP qlen 1000
link/ether 00:22:19:0a:95:5f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet6 fe80::222:19ff:fe0a:955f/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
3: br0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN
link/ether 00:22:19:0a:95:5f brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
inet 151.155.131.254/22 brd 151.155.131.255 scope global br0
inet6 fe80::222:19ff:fe0a:955f/64 scope link
valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
Resolution
Whenever IPv6 is disabled the server must be rebooted for the
change to be completed. YaST will be configured to no longer
use IPv6 once the system is rebooted but, until then, the
configuration and the actual implementation are out of sync.
The reason that IPv6 was enabled even though it was disabled during installation is that the installation automatically configures a system to use IPv6. Unless there is a reboot between when that is disabled and when the administrator checks the system, the system will still have the IPv6 kernel modules loaded from the installation. Any reboot from this time on will result in IPv6 being properly disabled.
The reason that IPv6 was enabled even though it was disabled during installation is that the installation automatically configures a system to use IPv6. Unless there is a reboot between when that is disabled and when the administrator checks the system, the system will still have the IPv6 kernel modules loaded from the installation. Any reboot from this time on will result in IPv6 being properly disabled.
Additional Information
OpenSUSE 11.x and SUSE Linux Enterprise 11 have a new prompt in
YaST when enabling or disabling IPv6 which has the following
text:
Warning: To apply this change a reboot is needed.
Because IPv6 is enabled via a kernel module it is not possible to disable IPv6 without unloading modules which, once IPv6 is enabled, are in use. The way to get these kernel modules to no longer be in use is to unload the kernel (by rebooting the server).
Warning: To apply this change a reboot is needed.
Because IPv6 is enabled via a kernel module it is not possible to disable IPv6 without unloading modules which, once IPv6 is enabled, are in use. The way to get these kernel modules to no longer be in use is to unload the kernel (by rebooting the server).