IPv6-only instance plans in Lightsail
Public, reachable IPv4 addresses are in short supply due to their widespread usage and constantly increasing global demand. The last available block of new IP version 4 (IPv4) addresses was allocated in 2011. Since that time, everyone has been reusing a finite set of available addresses. IP version 6 (IPv6) is the next generation IP address standard. IPv6 supplements—and will eventually replace—IPv4 in an attempt to remedy the depletion of IP addresses.
What are IPv6-only instance plans
Lightsail instance plans bundle an operating system (OS) and application of your choice. They also include support for both IPv4 and IPv6 (dual-stack), or IPv6-only networking. A dual-stack plan assigns a public IPv4 and a public IPv6 address to your instance. With this plan, you can enable or disable IPv6 as needed. With an IPv6-only instance plan, your instance receives a public IPv6 address and doesn't support public IPv4 traffic. To learn which Lightsail platforms and blueprints support IPv6-only plans, see Choose an Amazon Lightsail instance image.
Create an IPv6-only instance if you don’t require a public IPv4 address. Before you create an IPv6-only instance, ensure that you can communicate over IPv6. For more information, see IPv6 reachability in Verify IPv6 reachability in Lightsail. To migrate an existing instance from dual-stack to IPv6-only, or from IPv6-only to dual-stack, see Create a Lightsail instance from a snapshot.
IPv6 considerations
Review the following considerations before creating an IPv6-only instance:
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Ensure that your network infrastructure and Internet Service Provider (ISP) are both IPv6-compatible. For more information, see Verify IPv6 reachability in Lightsail.
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Ensure that your application and users are able to communicate over IPv6. For more information, see Verify IPv6 reachability in Lightsail.
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Your instance will communicate publicly over IPv6 only. It will also receive a private IPv4 address for communicating with other resources in your Lightsail account. IPv6-only instances do not support incoming or outgoing public IPv4 traffic. For more information, see IP addresses in Amazon Lightsail.
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The Lightsail browser-based SSH and RDP clients only accept IPv4 traffic. Use a third-party client to SSH or RDP into your instance over IPv6. For more information, see Connect to your instances.
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IPv6-only instances can't be configured as the origin for a Lightsail content delivery network (CDN) distribution at this time.
Migrate to an IPv6-only instance
You can migrate an existing dual-stack instance to an IPv6-only plan. Before you begin, we recommend that you review the previous IPv6 considerations section.
To migrate, create a snapshot of your dual-stack instance, then create a new instance from the snapshot. Select the IPv6-only networking plan during the create instance workflow. For detailed information about this procedure, see Create a Lightsail instance from a snapshot.
To migrate from an IPv6-only instance plan to a dual-stack plan, select the Dual-stack plan instead.
