IPv6 Support¶

MafiaNet supports IPv6 networking alongside IPv4. This guide covers enabling, configuring, and using IPv6 connections.

Enabling IPv6¶

IPv6 must be enabled at compile time:

// In RakNetDefinesOverrides.h
#define RAKNET_SUPPORT_IPV6 1

Then rebuild the library.

Basic Usage¶

Dual-stack server (IPv4 + IPv6):

MafiaNet::RakPeerInterface* peer = MafiaNet::RakPeerInterface::GetInstance();

// Create socket descriptors for both protocols
MafiaNet::SocketDescriptor sockets[2];

// IPv4 socket
sockets[0].port = 60000;
sockets[0].socketFamily = AF_INET;

// IPv6 socket
sockets[1].port = 60000;
sockets[1].socketFamily = AF_INET6;

// Start with both sockets
peer->Startup(100, sockets, 2);
peer->SetMaximumIncomingConnections(100);

IPv6-only server:

MafiaNet::SocketDescriptor sd;
sd.port = 60000;
sd.socketFamily = AF_INET6;

peer->Startup(100, &sd, 1);

Connecting to IPv6 address:

// Connect using IPv6 address
peer->Connect("2001:db8::1", 60000, nullptr, 0);

// Connect using hostname (resolves to IPv4 or IPv6)
peer->Connect("game.example.com", 60000, nullptr, 0);

Checking address type:

MafiaNet::SystemAddress addr = packet->systemAddress;

if (addr.IsIPv6()) {
    char ip[INET6_ADDRSTRLEN];
    addr.ToString(false, ip);
    printf("IPv6 client: %s\n", ip);
} else {
    printf("IPv4 client: %s\n", addr.ToString(false));
}

Key Considerations¶

Dual-stack: Most modern systems support dual-stack networking
Firewall: Ensure IPv6 ports are open in firewall rules
NAT: IPv6 typically doesn’t require NAT (but may use NAT64)
DNS: Use hostnames when possible for automatic protocol selection

Address Formats¶

Valid IPv6 address formats:

Full: 2001:0db8:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
Compressed: 2001:db8::1
IPv4-mapped: ::ffff:192.168.1.1
Link-local: fe80::1%eth0

Configuration Options¶

// Socket descriptor options
SocketDescriptor sd;
sd.socketFamily = AF_INET6;      // IPv6 only
sd.socketFamily = AF_INET;       // IPv4 only
sd.socketFamily = AF_UNSPEC;     // System default

// Bind to specific interface
strcpy(sd.hostAddress, "2001:db8::1");