If you’ve been eager to improve your social media automation efforts or boost your SEO rankings, you’ve likely heard about IPv6 proxies. So what are they, and how do they work? We’ll explain the tech magic behind these proxies and help you understand why you need them in this quick but detailed guide.
What Are IPv6 Proxies and Why They Matter?
IPv6 proxies are online servers used to translate internet protocols. More specifically, these proxies translate IPv4 to IPv6, ensuring traffic flows smoothly and is adequately processed by all the parties involved. These servers mediate the communication between organizations, carriers, and IPSs that use different IP addresses.
Their name comes from the Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6), the ‘descendant’ of the IPv4. The transition from one address type to another was necessary because of the scarcity of IPv4 addresses. With technology advancing and people using multiple devices to stay online, it’s no wonder we need more IPs!
Compared to their 32-bit predecessors, the number of 128-bit IPv6 addresses is remarkably greater. Although IPs under the IPv4 standard are still used, we’ll run out of them eventually! IPv6 proxies ensure that users with IPv4 and IPv6 addresses can exchange information and help ease the inevitable transition to IPv6.
How Do IPv6 Proxies Work?
Now that we’ve covered what IPv6 proxies do, let’s take a look at how they work by explaining their configuration. While the label of IPv4 addresses comes in formats like 127.0.0.1, that of IPv6 addresses looks like 2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334. As you can see, IPv6 addresses are four times longer than IPv4 ones!
The significantly greater number of IPv6 addresses is closely tied to their length. Furthermore, their configuration makes the translation of IPv4 addresses into IPv6 ones possible with the help of IPv6 proxies. These servers share certain commonalities with the IPv6 gateways. However, contrary to proxies, gateways don’t usually filter potentially malicious traffic or prevent cyber-attacks!
Why Do You Need an IPv6 Proxy?
IPv6 proxies are essential for mobile carriers, network engineers, data scrapers, tech and SEO companies, and data centers. These proxies are the social media optimization and SEO strategy development boosters that can make any business flourish! From visiting websites to working on different projects, IPv6 proxies have your back on every step of your tech task journey!
Of course, IPv6 addresses come with many benefits themselves. With these addresses, greater speeds, improved encryption, better security, worldwide reachability, and more conversions are guaranteed! However, if you’d like to significantly cut down on costs, the best thing to do is buy an IPv6 proxy from a trustworthy provider.
Activating Your IPv6 Proxy on Windows and Mac
To enable an IPv6 proxy on a Windows device, follow the next few steps:
- Go to the Notification Area on the device.
- Right-click on the Network icon.
- Choose the Open Network & Internet settings option.
- Click on Proxy on the left side of the window.
- From here, you can use a setup script with all the necessary info you got from your proxy service provider.
- You can also manually configure your proxy and enter the necessary information yourself in the Manual proxy setup section.
To activate an IPv6 proxy on a Mac, do the following:
- Go to the Apple menu.
- Click on System Preferences.
- Choose Network.
- Click on Wi-Fi or Ethernet.
- Press on Advanced.
- Click on TCP/IP.
- Click on Manually from the pop-up menu, and enter your IPv6 address, router address, and prefix length information.
IPv6 Tunneling
Tunneling is another way of enabling IPv6 on your device. By using this method to connect to an IPv6 proxy, your company can utilize IPv6 addresses on its IPv4 hosts and routers. In other words, this technology makes it possible for businesses to make great use of their preinstalled routers for IPv6 traffic.
Pick Your Proxies Carefully!
Whether it’s for web scraping, automation, ad verification, or any other purpose, the source of the proxy servers you’re using is crucial. Never rely on free proxies. While saving some money might seem like a great idea, free proxies can compromise your sensitive data and cost a lot more in the long run.
IPRoyal is one of the best proxy providers out there, with over 2,003,349 IP addresses in every corner of the world. From web scraping and SEO research to sneaker copping and circumventing geo-restrictions, IPRoyal has a solution you can rely on 24/7!
