A Tunnel Broker is a service which provides a network tunnel. These tunnels can provide encapsulated connectivity over existing infrastructure to a new infrastructure.

There are a variety of Tunnel Brokers, though most commonly the term is used to refer to an IPv6 Tunnel Broker, as defined in RFC3053 These commonly provide IPv6 tunnels to endusers/endsites using either manual, scripted or automatic configuration.

In general Tunnel Brokers offer so called 'protocol 41' or proto-41 tunnels. These are tunnels where IPv6 is tunneled directly inside IPv4 by having in the IPv4 packet the protocol field set to '41' (IPv6). proto-41 tunnels don't always work happily together with NAT's, one way around this is to configure the actual endpoint of the tunnel to be the DMZ on the NAT-box. Another method is to either use AYIYA or Hexago's 6udp4 protocol, both of which are sending IPv6 inside UDP which is able to cross mosts NAT setups and even firewalls.

For users with dynamic IPv4 endpoints, eg dialup or DHCP users, using Heartbeat, which is a small protocol next to the proto-41 tunnel, can help to make sure that the tunnel nicely moves along when the IPv4 address of the users machine changes. AYIYA also has this property.

Automatic configuration is usually done using the Tunnel Setup Protocol (TSP), or using TIC (Tunnel Information Control protocol). A single client capable of this is AICCU (Automatic IPv6 Connectivity Client Utility) __NOTOC__

Organisations providing IPv6 Tunnels

There are a number of IPv6 Tunnel Brokers. A long up-to-date list containing various information like country and tool support can be found at the Tunnel Brokers List

= Global

=

• SixXS (United States, Europe: Belgium, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Slovenia, Sweden, United Kingdom)

* RIR /64 tunnel + /48 subnet allocation from ISP with reverse DNS delegation * Direct Signup without a handle * NIC handle (eg RIPE,ARIN,APNIC,LACNIC,AFRINIC) can be used * How to's: //www.sixxs.net/faq/account/?faq=10steps IPv6 in 10 Steps //www.sixxs.net/faq/account/?faq=ripehandle NIC Handle guide * Help: //www.sixxs.net/faq/ FAQ * Contact: //www.sixxs.net/contact/ Contact Page * Tunnel configuration: TIC (using AICCU), TSP, website or manual * Special Tunneling protocols: heartbeat, AYIYA - for users with NAT and/or dynamic IPv4 endpoints * IRC connections allowed (//www.sixxs.net/faq/misc/?faq=irc policy) * Language: English

= Asia Pacific

=

• SingNet (Singapore)

* tunneling disabled ? * Language: English

• AARNet (Australia)

* Tunnel configuration: TSP * Special Tunneling protocols: 6udp4 (TSP) * Language English

• IIJ (Japan)

* Language: English + Japanese

• MYtbs (Malaysia)

* Language: English

= Northern US / Canada

=

• Hexago/Freenet6 (Canada)

* /48 RIR subnet allocation with reverse DNS * Tunnel configuration: TSP * Special Tunneling protocols: 6udp4 (TSP) * Language: English

• Hurricane Electric (California, US)

* /64 RIR subnet allocation with reverse DNS * Tunnel configuration: website or manual * IRC connections disabled * Language: English * Direct Problems Contact: Mike Leber]

• Ameri.ca (USA)

* /64 RIR subnet allocation with reverse DNS * Tunnel configuration: website * Language: English

• Earthlink (USA)

* Language: English

= Europe

=

• Dolphins/AS8758 (Switzerland)

* Tunnel configuration: website or manual * IRC connections disabled, 2001:08e0:abcd::/64 subnet allocation * Language: English

• ECS Southampton (United Kingdom)

* login cannot be created (only intended for UK students) * Tunnel configuration: TSP, website or manual * Language: English

• BT Exact (United Kingdom)

* Tunnel configuration: website * IRC connections allowed, /64 subnet allocation, reverse DNS * Language: English

• NGNet (Italy)

* Tunnel configuration: website * only available to Italian residents * Language: Italian

• Coredumps (Italy)

* Tunnel configuration: website * IRC connections allowed, /128 subnet allocation, reverse DNS * Only available to Italian users * Language: Italian

• Wanadoo (France)

* Only for customers of Wanadoo * Language; French

• Consulintel (Spain)

* Language: English

• Nerim (France)

* Only for customers of Nerim * Language: French

• SSC (Norway)

* /124 subnet * preset reverse DNS (.ssc.net host) * Language: Norwegian

• Unix-server (Germany)

* Language: German

• XS26 (Belgium, Czech republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia)

* /48 out of RIPE 2a01:b0::/32 subnet allocation with reverse DNS * Signup * Contact: xs26@xs26.net * Tunnel configuration: website or manual * IRC connections allowed * Language: English

= Obsolete tunnel brokers (tunneling failed at one point)

=

• CHT-TL IPv6 Tunnel Broker Service (Taiwan)

* website disabled * Language: English

• Academia Sinica computing centre (Taiwan)

* Language: English

• Certnet Nokia (China)

* Language: Chinese

= 6to4

= 6to4 relays are not listed as these should be using 192.88.99.1. If one still wants to manually configure a 6to4 host, thus not using the above endpoint, then see Nick Sayers Public 6to4 Relay Routers list

= Teredo

= A list of Teredo servers and relays can be found at the Tunnel Brokers List.

Tunneling protocols