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Chapter 17. Using NetworkManager to disable IPv6 for a specific connection

On a system that uses NetworkManager to manage network interfaces, you can disable the IPv6 protocol if the network only uses IPv4. If you disable IPv6, NetworkManager automatically sets the corresponding sysctl values in the Kernel.

Note

If disabling IPv6 using kernel tunables or kernel boot parameters, additional consideration must be given to system configuration. For more information, see the Red Hat Knowledgebase solution How do I disable or enable the IPv6 protocol in RHEL.

17.1. Disabling IPv6 on a connection using nmcli
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You can use the nmcli utility to disable the IPv6 protocol on the command line.

Prerequisites

  • The system uses NetworkManager to manage network interfaces.

Procedure

  1. Optional: Display the list of network connections: 

    # nmcli connection show
NAME    UUID                                  TYPE      DEVICE
Example 7a7e0151-9c18-4e6f-89ee-65bb2d64d365  ethernet  enp1s0
...
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  2. Set the ipv6.method parameter of the connection to disabled: 

    # nmcli connection modify Example ipv6.method "disabled"
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

  3. Restart the network connection: 

    # nmcli connection up Example
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

Verification

  1. Display the IP settings of the device: 

    # ip address show enp1s0
2: enp1s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc fq_codel state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 52:54:00:6b:74:be brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.0.2.1/24 brd 192.10.2.255 scope global noprefixroute enp1s0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    If no inet6 entry is displayed, IPv6 is disabled on the device.

  2. Verify that the /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/enp1s0/disable_ipv6 file now contains the value 1: 

    # cat /proc/sys/net/ipv6/conf/enp1s0/disable_ipv6
1
    Copy to Clipboard Toggle word wrap

    The value 1 means that IPv6 is disabled for the device.

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