It is not mandatory to use IPv6 on an unmanaged server with root access. Handling IPv6 on an unmanaged server/website with SSL is not simple and depending a person’s skills as a sysadmin and manpower. IPv6 was released in December 1998 and written in hexadecimal format. An IP address is a complicated matter and frankly, an individual can not purchase a single IP address. End of the day, still it does not matter whether you are using only IPV4 or dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6). When it will matter, the search engines will force you to implement IPv6. As a webmaster with a limited budget, you should research the cons and risks of implementing IPv6 on your server.
If IPV6 is a Niche Thing Then Why We Publish Tutorials on IPv6?
We have demonstrated how to use dual stack (IPv4 and IPv6) with Apache HTTP server because many of our readers want such guides.
But, for a single webmaster, using a separate server with NGINX running as a reverse proxy to provide IPv6 access is safer.
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Will IPv6 Will Make My Server Fast and Secure?
No. IPv6 with SSL/TLs is slightly slower and also error-prone (because of a limited number of open-source tools). It is also slightly more vulnerable than IPv4. The slight slow factor will need more investment behind DNS.
If you are adding AAAA records against your server with SSL/TLS, HSTS etc then you must ensure that your website is not throwing errors at certain parts of the World. IPv6 spammy attacks are not easier to handle than IPv6 with the existing free-of-cost tools available for GNU/Linux.
Does These Means IPv6 is Bad?
No. IPv6 is complicated and presently it is difficult to manage by a single webmaster with the free-of-cost tools available for GNU/Linux. Most of the guides available on the internet for IPv4, most of the freelancers are more used with IPv4.
IPv6 is suitable for websites for development/showcase and corporate usage. We are not discouraging the usage, but as a webmaster, you should do proper homework before applying it to your production server.
