How-To: Disable IPV6 to speed up Internet.

[SlowJet]

Hello all,

During today's Dapper development updates one of the packaes wanted to replace the /etc/modporbe.d/aliases file. Yes or No?
Normally I would say No to keep my confuguration but it mentioned "to keep the developers additions". So I say, Yes replace it.

I knew this was the file that would trun IPV6 back on and so I had to change it again after re-boot.
Well, I guess I forgot how to do that (format wise) but after entering several forms I thot the net had sped up some but it was still stalling and slugish at the end of a web page load, as if it had to wait for a done signal.

I thoht I would re-boot and see if there was a difference. Sure enough the network is responding a top speed now.

So here are the changes I put in with the orginal comment out.
But the re-boot is required.

alias net-pf-10 ipv6 off
alias net-pf-10 off
alias ipv6 off
#alias net-pf-10 ipv6

IPV6 slows down the IPV4 environment if the router out the door does not understand IPV6 and for most people IPV6 is not needed.

So, add the 3 lines, comment the orginal, save and re-boot.

Firefox and Thunderbird will respond 3 to 4 times faster.


SJ

[i3dmaster]

wow... that sounds terrific. I will give it a try. Thanks!!

[GoA]

Do I put those three lines at the end of the file or at the network protocols space? Please be more specific with these. You have to make sure all the noobs understand these instructions.

[kashms]

Originally Posted by SlowJet During today's Dapper development updates one of the packaes wanted to replace the /etc/modporbe.d/aliases file. Yes or No?

I think that's the /etc/modprobe.d/aliases file.

[SlowJet]

Sorry about the sloppy post.

cd /etc/modprobe.d
darwinhwebb@Celcila-24:/etc/modprobe.d$ dir
aliases alsa-base blacklist isapnp
aliases~ arch bluez nvidia-kernel-nkc
aliases.dpkg-old arch-aliases ibm_acpi.modprobe toshiba_acpi.modprobe
darwinhwebb@Celcila-24:/etc/modprobe.d$ cat aliases
# These are the standard aliases for devices and kernel drivers.
# This file does not need to be modified.
#
# Please file a bug against module-init-tools if a package needs a entry
# in this file.

# network protocols ################################################## ########
alias net-pf-1 unix
alias net-pf-2 ipv4
alias net-pf-3 ax25
alias net-pf-4 ipx
alias net-pf-5 appletalk
alias net-pf-6 netrom
alias net-pf-7 bridge
alias net-pf-8 atm
alias net-pf-9 x25
# 1, 2, 3 new lines
alias net-pf-10 ipv6 off
alias net-pf-10 off
alias ivp6 off
#alias net-pf-10 ivp6 =========the original line
alias net-pf-11 rose
alias net-pf-12 decnet
# 13 NETBEUI
alias net-pf-15 af_key
alias net-pf-16 af_netlink
alias net-pf-17 af_packet

[mhael]

There's an easy way: instead of changing aliases file, create fie named bad_list in /etc/modprobe.d containing this line:

alias net-pf-10 off

Now reboot and voila, no IPv6 on your system!

This method will work even if /etc/modprobe.d/aliases get replaced at some update.

[sailor420]

Originally Posted by mhael There's an easy way: instead of changing aliases file, create fie named bad_list in /etc/modprobe.d containing this line: alias net-pf-10 off Now reboot and voila, no IPv6 on your system! This method will work even if /etc/modprobe.d/aliases get replaced at some update.

If we do this, do we have to do any of the steps above? I'm a bit confused...

Also, how would we check to see if IPv6 is enabled or disabled?

[Yagisan]

From the ubuntu-devel mailing list (culled from a variety of posts)

Originally Posted by ubuntu-devel list Having IPv6 be the cause of 'slow' connection is actually a common misconception, reinforced in that disabling some IPv6 features may help mitigate the problem, in most cases it is the result of bad network configuration. IPv6 itself does not in any way slow down your connection, problems will arise however if you have a route out to the IPv6 internet but it is not operational, as the browser will try to connect and it will take a while to time-out, note this would also happen with a bad IPv4 internet connection. Another cause in the past has been bugs in programs (e.g. mozilla) that do the wrong thing internally, most of the major problems here have been fixed. As above, these issues would *only* happen if the website you are trying to connect to has an IPv6 address associated. Another cause can be having an IPv6 name-server configured in resolv.conf or similar, in which case the problem would arise if you were trying to connect to *any* address. Most people do not have a problem with having IPv6 enabled, it simply is un-used when not in use. If you are having problems, it is likely due to some kind of misconfiguration, you would need to diagnose that. In particular, the commands 'ip -6 route' may help, it will indicate if you have any routes to the broader IPv6 world (look for '2000::/3' and 'default' routes). THis may be caused by an incorrect router on your network, or by using tunneling software (such as tspc from freenet6.net), or a number of other reasons. In simpler terms: with a default Ubuntu install, if you're not using IPv6, you shouldn't even know it's there. If you're experiencing negative side effects, they're likely the result of a broken application or incorrect configuration. Firefox, for instance, is a known culprit. One thing you can try is, with IPv6 enabled, to launch a terminal, and type 'host www.google.com'. If the command succeeds quickly, listing Google's IPs, then you're not having general network connectivity trouble, and you can start filing bug reports against whichever specific applications are being slow.

My suggestion to all those with "slow" internet. Try the last paragraph especially, then start filling bug reports.

[mhael]

Originally Posted by sailor420 If we do this, do we have to do any of the steps above? I'm a bit confused... Also, how would we check to see if IPv6 is enabled or disabled?

No, all you need is to create /etc/modprobe.d/bad_list with specified line and reboot.

To check IPv6 state open terminal and execute:

ip a | grep inet6

If this command shows some lines - IPv6 is enabled. If output is empty - IPv6 disabled.

[Josef K.]

sorry for the silly question (but man page isn't so clear to me)
why there's ipv6 if you should disable?