main Google search page www.google.com on IPv6 too [UPDATE: Selected ISPs only]

UPDATE: Google is indeed on IPv6, but only via ISPs participating in "Google over IPv6". The post below was on a KPN Hotspot, which is connected to Xs4all, which is such a participator.
Pity. Normal users with non-IPv6 ISPs have to wait. :-(


Wow, even the mainstream Google page is on IPv6, too! So not only ipv6.google.com, but also www.google.com and www.google.nl

See below

sander@quirinius:~$ ping6 -c4 www.google.nl
PING www.google.nl(2a00:1450:8001::6a) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::6a: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=163 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::6a: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=76.0 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::6a: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=74.3 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::6a: icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=79.2 ms

--- www.google.nl ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3006ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 74.303/98.374/163.924/37.887 ms
sander@quirinius:~$

Gmail is on IPv6! [UPDATE: Only selected ISPs]

UPDATE: Gmail is indeed on IPv6, but only via ISPs participating in "Google over IPv6". The post below was on a KPN Hotspot, which is connected to Xs4all, which is such a participator.
Pity. Normal users with non-IPv6 ISPs have to wait. :-(

Wow, Gmail is on IPv6! See the output below, and the screendump with IPv6 addres in right lower corner.

Compliments to Google! Google seems to be the only company that *does* IPv6 instead of only *talks* IPv6.



sander@quirinius:~$ host mail.google.com
mail.google.com is an alias for googlemail.l.google.com.
googlemail.l.google.com has address 74.125.77.83
googlemail.l.google.com has address 74.125.77.18
googlemail.l.google.com has address 74.125.77.19
googlemail.l.google.com has IPv6 address 2a00:1450:8005::53
googlemail.l.google.com has IPv6 address 2a00:1450:8005::11
googlemail.l.google.com has IPv6 address 2a00:1450:8005::12
googlemail.l.google.com has IPv6 address 2a00:1450:8005::13
sander@quirinius:~$

sander@quirinius:~$ ping6 -c4 mail.google.com
PING mail.google.com(2a00:1450:8001::11) 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::11: icmp_seq=1 ttl=53 time=162 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::11: icmp_seq=2 ttl=53 time=80.2 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::11: icmp_seq=3 ttl=53 time=88.8 ms
64 bytes from 2a00:1450:8001::11: icmp_seq=4 ttl=53 time=75.4 ms

--- mail.google.com ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3007ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 75.440/101.726/162.418/35.367 ms
sander@quirinius:~$

DIY: Google IPv6 Trusted Tester program

Google has a "IPv6 Trusted Tester program". It means selected IPv6 users can get IPv6 access to Google services. To get selected, Google must trust your ISP and your ISP's IPv6. See here (IPv6) or here (IPv4). Xs4all is a trusted ISP. See here (Dutch!).

What if your ISP is not "trusted" by Google, but your IPv6 is working perfectly, for example via Sixxs or Teredo/Miredo?

No problem: fill out this in your /etc/hosts file:

2001:4860:0:1001::53 googlemail.l.google.com
2001:4860:0:1001::53 mail.google.com

2001:4860:0:1001::68 www.google.com
2001:4860:0:1001::68 www.l.google.com
2001:4860:0:1001::68 www.google.nl

(That last line with .nl is needed for me because www.google.com redirects to www.google.nl.)

Then restart your browser. Go to mail.google.com and it will be over IPv6. You can proof that with tcpdump/wireshark, or get a good feeling with the firefox plugin ShowIP

See included screendump: right bottom corner shows a green IPv6 address.