Does IPV6 matter when choosing a new switch for home network?

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Looking to upgrade my Fast Ethernet home network switch to a Gigabit Ethernet switch. Figured I should make sure that the new device supports IPV6, but in looking at the specs of a few switches, I could not find any references to IPV6. I found such info conspicuous when looking at the specs for routers and cable modems, and was surprised it wasn't the same for switches. Do switches just handle IPV6 transparently?

Darryl

Posted 2011-02-24T16:03:38.817

Reputation: 185

I found that my switch was not passing along the multicast traffic necessary for neighbour discovery protocol to work. A firmware upgrade fixed the issue, but it does show that you can't just assume a switch will work. – None – 2015-04-25T06:41:43.160

Answers

15

Switches are layer 2 devices, and neither know nor care about what's going on with IP (V4 or V6) and TCP at layers 3 and 4. They just move Ethernet packets around.

Mike Scott

Posted 2011-02-24T16:03:38.817

Reputation: 4 220

6Assuming a unmanaged switch of course. – None – 2011-02-24T16:11:34.307

Asked: 2011-02-24T16:03:38.817

Viewed: 3 508 times

Active: 2015-04-25T06:41:43.160