IPv6 capabilities

An increased market demand for the enhanced Internet Protocol (IP) has lowered the worldwide supply of Internet Protocol version 4 (IPv4) addresses. The Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) expands the IP address space from 32 bits to 128 bits, providing an increased supply of IP addresses.

Sterling B2B Integrator is enabled for IPv6 support, providing a dual IPv4 and IPv6 stack, tunneling, proxying, and translation between the two IP address versions.

Sterling B2B Integrator interoperates with various related products, many of which do not yet support IPv6 addresses. Therefore, in Sterling B2B Integrator, a limited set of configurations use IPv6 addresses. The dual stack approach permits interoperability between Sterling B2B Integrator and a mixed set of IPv4 and IPv6 enabled services and adapters wherever feasible.

However, if you choose to implement an IPv6 installation, limitations exist in the Sterling B2B Integrator system requirements and the selected services and adapters. Consider the limitations before you attempt to install Sterling B2B Integrator with IPv6 addresses.

Important: You must install with a host name and not an IPv6 address. Otherwise the Lightweight JDBC adapter and Graphical Process Modeler (GPM) do not work.

IPv6 supported combinations

The following table lists the IPv6 configuration combinations supported by Sterling B2B Integrator

Table 1. IPv6 supported combinations
Database AIX® Windows Linux® (see note)
DB2® Yes No Yes
MSSQL No No Yes
Oracle No No Yes
Important: Red Hat Enterprise Linux for IBM® System z® only supports DB2.
Note: IBM Consulting Services can help you implement Sterling B2B Integrator in an IPv6-compliant environment by using transition technologies. Check the IPv6 compliance of any third-party tools (such as web servers, FTP clients, and MQ servers) that you use with Sterling B2B Integrator.

IPv6 supported combinations with limitations

The following Sterling B2B Integrator components provide IPv6 compliance with some limitations.

Attention: The status of each component will be updated as more of IBM's technology partners offer IPv6 compliance.
Table 2. IPv6 supported combinations with limitations
Component IPv6 compliance Limitations
HTTP Client/Server adapter Full -
HTTP GET/POST service Full -
HTTP Begin/End Session adapter Full -
FTP Client/Server adapter Full -
PGP Package/Unpackage service Full -
Command Line Adapter 2 Full -
WebSphere MQ Suite Full -
JMS adapter Partial The URI does not accept IPv6 addresses as characters ‘[ ]' are not allowed. However, it works with a host name.
SFTP Client/Server adapter Full -
SMTP/POP3/MIME Full -
FSA Full -
Lightweight JDBC adapter Partial Supports an IPv6 remote host only with a DB2 and AIX combination. However, if your Sterling B2B Integrator installation is under an IPv6 address, the Lightweight JDBC adapter can still be used with any other database currently supported by the adapter by using an IPv4 remote host.
Web services Full -
BEA Tuxedo adapter Full -
Zengin adapter Full -
ConnectDirect Full Supports IPv6 on C:D UNIX 4.0 and C:D Windows 4.4.00
E5 Full -
TIBCO adapter Full -
SNMP Full -
Transora adapter Full -
OFTP Full -
SAP Suite adapter Unsupported -
JGroups Partial Do not use IPV6 with JGroups on AIX