Hacker News Reader

Comment by wongarsu | Hacker News Reader

Sure, but IPv4 just works. IPv6 mostly works, but isn't universally supported, is the less tested configuration, and "disable IPv6" seems to still be one of the best solutions for mysterious network problems. It just doesn't make sense to use anything other than IPv4 as long as you get a free IPv4 address with every server.

Which is why I'm very happy over this move by Hetzner. More monetary incentive to move away from IPv4 is exactly what we need to break the cycle of "nobody uses IPv6, so nothing supports it, so nobody uses it"

View on HN

> and "disable IPv6" seems to still be one of the best solutions for mysterious network problems

It's not really a solution to the problem, it's usually just ignoring the problem and hiding the symptoms.

I'm surprised Hetzner is the first to do this, it's an obvious move with the sharp rise of IPv4 addresses. Most companies don't need IPv4 anyway, because their infrastructure usually ends up at a caching proxy or CDN regardless. Your backend API servers will usually also be talked to by other servers, which usually also run from a place with widespread IPv6 addresses.

I can see a (bleak) future where consumers are all om CG-NAT and everything but the frontend is running IPv6 as a cost cutting measure.

Most of the world works by hiding symptoms until something forces the issue. Often it never happens, so we’re all good (as it were). Sometimes it doesn’t, then everyone starts pointing fingers.

Many people are pretty adept at making sure the fingers don’t point at them.

> It's not really a solution to the problem, it's usually just ignoring the problem and hiding the symptoms.

sounds like business as usual

They are not the first. cheaper IPv6-only plans have been a thing with other providers for a while.

>It just doesn't make sense to use anything other than IPv4 as long as you get a free IPv4 address with every server.

But you don't any more, and prices are increasing fast: https://docs.hetzner.com/general/others/ipv4-pricing/

Reply on news.ycombinator.com