Disclosure up front: I run IPYE, a company that leases IP space. Most of this article is practical how-to; IPYE appears where a free /48, LOA, or ROA helps you try the work, with a short call to action at the end.

Every VPS comes with provider-assigned (PA) IPv6, usually a /64 and sometimes a /56. It costs nothing extra and needs no BGP. For many workloads it is the right choice. But PA addresses belong to the provider, and they stay behind when you leave. This article looks at when it makes sense to switch from PA addresses to announcing your own prefix, such as a free IPv6 /48 from IPYE. Examples use PA 2001:db8:aaaa:1::/64 and your own 2001:db8:100::/48.

When PA is fine

Stay on PA addresses if most of these are true:

  • You have one server, or a few, at one provider.
  • Clients reach you by DNS name, not by address.
  • Nobody allowlists your addresses in their firewall.
  • You can rebuild at another provider in an afternoon and update DNS.

In that situation, your own prefix adds a BGP session to maintain and little benefit.

Signs that PA has started to hurt

  • Partners allowlist your addresses. Each change means emails and waiting.
  • Addresses are baked into configs you do not control: client VPN profiles, IoT devices, SPF records at customers.
  • You run services across providers and want them in one consistent range.
  • You have moved providers before and the renumbering was painful.
  • You need more than one /64 and the provider will not give you a larger block.

Each of these costs a little every time an address changes. Owning the addresses turns that recurring cost into a one-time setup.

What you take on

Announcing your own prefix requires:

  • an ASN, or a provider that announces the prefix for you
  • a VPS or server with BGP support
  • an LOA, a ROA and an IRR object
  • monitoring for visibility and hijacks

With the free /48, setup is instant, the LOA comes from the IPYE portal, and the ROA and route objects are created automatically. The ASN and the BGP-capable host remain your part.

Run both side by side

You do not have to switch in one step. A Linux host can hold PA and own addresses at the same time:

ip -6 addr add 2001:db8:aaaa:1::10/64 dev eth0 # PA, from the provider ip -6 addr add 2001:db8:100::10/128 dev lo # own prefix

Keep SSH and management on the PA address, so a BGP problem never locks you out. Move public services to the own prefix one at a time by adding AAAA records for the new address, then removing the old ones.

Source address selection

With two global addresses, Linux picks the source for outbound connections using RFC 6724 rules, which usually means the address on the outgoing interface. Partners who allowlist your new addresses will see the PA source unless you set it explicitly:

ip -6 route replace default via fe80::1 dev eth0 src 2001:db8:100::10

Applications can also bind to a source address directly. Test with curl -6 https://ifconfig.co from the host, which shows the address the outside world sees.

A worked flip

  1. Bring up BGP and announce the /48 with no services on it.
  2. Confirm visibility in public route collectors and run an external ping to 2001:db8:100::10.
  3. Add AAAA records for the new address alongside the PA ones.
  4. Ask partners to add the new address to their allowlists.
  5. Switch the outbound source.
  6. After a quiet period, remove the PA AAAA records.

Keep the PA addresses configured as a fallback for some weeks. If the BGP session has trouble, you can put the PA AAAA records back.

Moving later

Once services live in your own range, changing provider becomes a BGP change rather than a renumbering project, and ASN and region changes in the IPYE dashboard apply automatically.

Do this next

List every place your current PA addresses appear. If that list is long, claim a free /48 from IPYE and run both side by side. Questions: ipye@turnel.com.

About IPYE

IPYE (https://ipye.com) leases IPv4, IPv6 and ASN space with instant setup. Your first IPv6 /48 is free for the first year, a real allocation you can announce on your own ASN, with a LOA from the portal and the ROA created automatically. ASN and region changes apply automatically. IPv4 /24 to /22 leases include LOA, ROA and per-/24 rDNS; WHOIS is editable on IPv6 /44 and larger. Locations: Los Angeles, New York, Ashburn, Salt Lake City, London, Amsterdam, Frankfurt. Claim your free /48: https://my.ipye.com/products/ipv6-rental. Questions: ipye@turnel.com.

Disclosure: I run IPYE