# How To Configure IPv6 on Windows Server 2019

### Introduction

In this guide, you will configure IPv6 support on your TeraSwitch VPS. This will allow it to communicate across the internet using the latest standards.

## Prerequisites

Before you begin this guide you'll need the following:

- One Windows VPS running Windows Server 2019

## Step 1 — Locating the Address

To start, you need to locate the IPv6 address that was automatically assigned to your server. Login to your TeraSwitch portal at [https://my.teraswitch.com/clientarea.php](https://my.teraswitch.com/clientarea.php).

From the top menu bar, navigate to **Services** > **My Services**, and then choose the VPS you would like to configure.

Next, scroll down to **Interfaces** and look for **Fixed IP Address**. You will see at least two addresses. The longer one is your **IPv6 address** for this specific server.

For example, the IPv6 address for your server might look similar to this: `2607:fdc0:2:0:f816:3eff:febb:61ee`

## Step 2 — Calculating the Gateway

Windows will also need to know the location of the **default gateway** in order to sucessfully send traffic outside the network. At TeraSwitch, this will always be the address ending in `...0000:0000:0000:0001`.

In IPv6, we can compress all of those zeroes, and rewrite the ending like this: `::1`

So for example:
| <!-- --> | <!-- --> |
| ----------- | -------------- |
| If your **IPv6 address** is: | `2607:fdc0:2:0:f816:3eff:febb:61ee` |
| Your **default gateway** is: | `2607:fdc0:2:0::1` |

## Step 3 — Applying the Configuration

In this step you will insert the address and gateway into Window's configuration.

To do this, connect to your server, and then open the **TCP/IPv6 Properties** dialog:
1. Click **Start**
2. Click **Settings** (the gear icon)
3. Click **Network & Internet**
4. Under **Change your network settings**, click **Change adapter options**
5. Double-click on your primary ethernet adapter (for example, **Ethernet 2**)
6. Click **Properties**
7. Double-click **Internet Protocol Version 6 (TCP/IPv6)**

In this dialog box, enter the following information:
| Field | Value |
| ----------- | -------------- |
| **Use the following IPv6 addresses:** | *Selected* |
| IPv6 address | *Your IPv6 address from step 1* |
| Subnet prefix length | `64` |
| Default gateway | *Your default gateway from step 2* |
| **Use the following DNS server addresses:** | *Selected* |
| Preferred DNS server: | `2607:4700:4700::1111` |
| Alternate DNS server: | `2606:4700:4700::1001` |

> Note: you may choose any DNS servers you like. The examples here are provided by [Cloudflare](https://1.1.1.1/dns/), who are located in our datacenter.

For example, your configuration might look like this:

Once you're done, click **OK**, and **OK**. After a couple of seconds, the status window will update, and you will see IPv6 connectivity.


## Step 5 — Testing Connectivity

You can test IPv6 connectivity several ways.

### Visit [https://test-ipv6.com](https://test-ipv6.com) in Firefox or Chrome
*Note that you would need to install a modern browser like Firefox or Chrome. This test will not show an accurate result in Internet Explorer 11, which is Windows Server 2019's default browser.*


### Ping an IPv6 server
In PowerShell, run:

ping 2606:4700:4700::1111

Output:

Pinging 2606:4700:4700::1111 with 32 bytes of data:
Reply from 2606:4700:4700::1111: time<1ms
Reply from 2606:4700:4700::1111: time<1ms
Reply from 2606:4700:4700::1111: time<1ms

### Show the Routing Table
We can verify that all IPv6 traffic (`::/0`) will be routed to the default gateway from step 2.

In PowerShell, run:

Get-NetRoute

Output:

...
3		::/0	2607:fdc0:2::1					256	5	ActiveStore

## Conclusion

In this article you enabled IPv6 support for your VPS, future-proofing it for next generation applications.

Next, consider double checking that any firewall rules you may have are also configured for IPv6.