New Google IPv6 addresses for Europe

Previously Google advertised addresses from 2001:4860:a005::/48. Since today they have switched to 2a00:1450:8001::/48 (IE-GOOGLE-20091005 aka Google Ireland Limited)

www.google.com. www.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::67 2a00:1450:8001::68 2a00:1450:8001::69 2a00:1450:8001::6a 2a00:1450:8001::93 2a00:1450:8001::63

mail.google.com. googlemail.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::13 2a00:1450:8001::53 2a00:1450:8001::11 2a00:1450:8001::12

code.google.com. code.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::64 2a00:1450:8001::65 2a00:1450:8001::66 2a00:1450:8001::71 2a00:1450:8001::8a 2a00:1450:8001::8b

images.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::93 2a00:1450:8001::63 2a00:1450:8001::67 2a00:1450:8001::68 2a00:1450:8001::69 2a00:1450:8001::6a

docs.google.com. writely.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::8a 2a00:1450:8001::8b 2a00:1450:8001::64 2a00:1450:8001::65 2a00:1450:8001::66 2a00:1450:8001::71

news.google.com. news.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::63 2a00:1450:8001::67 2a00:1450:8001::68 2a00:1450:8001::69 2a00:1450:8001::6a 2a00:1450:8001::93

blogsearch.google.com. www2.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::69 2a00:1450:8001::6a 2a00:1450:8001::93 2a00:1450:8001::63 2a00:1450:8001::67 2a00:1450:8001::68

wave.google.com. www4.l.google.com. 2a00:1450:8001::85 2a00:1450:8001::76

For the full list, I maintain a spreadsheet.

Google over IPv6

Google has several websites that are available over IPv6. Unfortunately, unless your ISP's DNS server is on the Google whitelist you are restricted to IPv4 (except for ipv6.google.com), even if you have IPv6 connectivity from a tunnel provider such as SixXS or Hurricane Electric.

There are two ways around this:-

1. Change your DNS server to one that is white-listed by Google. Both SixXS [1] and Hurricane Electric [2] provide servers for their users.

2. Manually add the addresses to your hosts file (/etc/hosts or %WINDIR%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts). I maintain a list of the addresses at [3].

[1] http://ipv6gate.sixxs.net/tools/dnscache/
[2] 2001:470:20::2
[3] http://go.chaz6.com/8Aj or https://spreadsheets.google.com/a/chaz6.com/ccc?key=0AlcGce6kDLZIcHh4cl9hNU81dTA0dXFQSXdNWEFRRUE&hl=en

IPv6 Reverse DNS on chaz6.com

I have 2 IPv6 (AYIYA) tunnels from SixXS to my network, both of which are provided by the Nordic ISP Phonera. The tunnels terminate at 2 different PoPs - Copenhagen, Denmark and Oslo, Sweden. This provides some redundancy and has been useful in the past when one of the PoPs has had a problem.

In order to provide reverse DNS resolution for the tunnel subnets, I need to provide the address of my DNS servers. Given that I have 2 DNS servers, 2 tunnels and 2 DNS suffixes (in two different TLDs for resiliency) that gives a total possibility of 8 domains:-

ns-v6-1.dk-aal.dk-cph-01.chaz6.com.
ns-v6-1.dk-aal.dk-cph-01.chaz6.v6ns.org.
ns-v6-1.dk-aal.no-osl-01.chaz6.com.
ns-v6-1.dk-aal.no-osl-01.chaz6.v6ns.org.
ns-v6-2.dk-aal.dk-cph-01.chaz6.com.
ns-v6-2.dk-aal.dk-cph-01.chaz6.v6ns.org.
ns-v6-2.dk-aal.no-osl-01.chaz6.com.
ns-v6-2.dk-aal.no-osl-01.chaz6.v6ns.org.

I make use of v6ns.org because the domain is reachable with an IPv6-only resolver, unlike my own domain which is hosted with Gandi as they do not yet support IPv6 glue - even with an out-of-bailiwick server.

However, the zones are currently not reachable by an IPv6-only resolver, because Phonera's DNS servers are only reachable over IPv4 (which serve 8.d.6.1.1.0.0.2.ip6.arpa.). In addition to my IPv6-only name servers, I make use of the free DNS services provided by GratisDNS.dk. Unfortunately, they do not currently support secondary zones with IPv6 masters, so I have to maintain two copies of the zone files - one on my local servers, and one on GratisDNS.

Update: I no longer use v6ns.org because the domain appears to have expired and I have not been able to get in touch with the operator.