Network Load Balancer now supports IPv6

Posted on: Nov 13, 2020

Network Load Balancer (NLB) now supports Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6). With this launch, you can now configure NLB to operate in dual-stack mode, accepting both IPv4 and IPv6 client connections.

IPv6 adoption has been consistently increasing over the last few years. Today, a substantial number of all internet-connected networks advertise IPv6 connectivity, as depletion of IPv4 addresses forces a growing number of networks around the globe to adopt IPv6. With this new capability, you can now support IPv6 client connections without modifying your application. Your Network Load Balancer seamlessly converts IPv6 traffic to IPv4 before routing it to back-end targets.

To get started, enable IPv6 for your VPC and assign an IPv6 IP address range to your subnet. Then create a Network Load Balancer with the “dualstack” IP address type. Your NLB automatically receives IPv6 addresses. Alternatively, you can choose to specify your NLB IPv6 addresses out of the subnet IP address range. The load balancer’s IPv6 addresses are registered in a new AAAA DNS record created for your NLB.

IPv6 for Network Load Balancers is supported for Internet-facing NLBs and can be used in AWS CloudFormation templates. To learn more about NLB IPv6 support, visit the Network Load Balancer documentation page.