How to enable ipv6 processing

This guide explains how to enable IPv6 support in VoIPmonitor, covering both new installations and existing IPv4-formatted databases.

Quick Start for New Installations

For a fresh VoIPmonitor installation, simply enable IPv6 before starting the service for the first time:

ipv6 = yes

Add this to your /etc/voipmonitor.conf file. The database will be created with IPv6 columns from the beginning.

Enabling IPv6 on Existing Installations

If you have an existing VoIPmonitor installation that was set up with only IPv4 addresses, enabling IPv6 requires a database schema migration. The correct order is critical: first prepare the database schema, then configure the sensors.

Step 1: Run Migration Script on Database/GUI Server

The migration script ipv6_alter.sql must be run only on the database/GUI server to add the necessary IPv6 columns to your database tables. This step prepares the database schema before sensors start writing IPv6 data.

Warning: Backup your database before running any schema migration!

Location: Typically found in the scripts directory of your VoIPmonitor installation, such as /usr/share/voipmonitor/scripts/ or /var/www/html/scripts/.

# On the database/GUI server only:
mysql -u root -p voipmonitor < /path/to/scripts/ipv6_alter.sql

Step 2: Enable IPv6 in Configuration on Each Sensor

After the database schema is prepared, configure each sensor to write IPv6 data.

Edit /etc/voipmonitor.conf on each sensor:

ipv6 = yes

Step 3: Restart the Service on Each Sensor

systemctl restart voipmonitor

Verification

After the service restarts, VoIPmonitor will begin logging IPv6 addresses for calls involving IPv6 endpoints. You can verify this by checking the CDR view for calls with IPv6 addresses.

Important Considerations for Existing Databases

Performance and Time

The migration process can be very time-consuming for large databases with millions of CDRs
The ipv6_alter.sql script adds columns to multiple tables, which requires copying existing data
During migration, the database may experience performance degradation

Impact on Historical Data

Converting existing IPv4 entries cannot retroactively convert them to IPv6 format
Historical statistics and reports may display inaccuracies after the migration, as pre-migration data will have NULL values in IPv6 columns
Some aggregations or filters may behave unexpectedly with the mixed IPv4/IPv6 data

Recommended Approach: Fresh Database

For most production environments, we recommend starting with a fresh database instead of migrating:

Export or back up any data you need to preserve (raw PCAPs, reports, etc.)
Use the GUI's Tools → Backup & Restore → Configuration TABLES feature to save your GUI settings, alerts, user permissions, and other configuration
Flush or drop the old VoIPmonitor database
Recreate it from scratch with ipv6 = yes enabled
Restore your GUI configuration tables from the backup

This approach avoids migration time, eliminates potential data inconsistencies, and ensures clean IPv6 operation going forward.

Preserving GUI Settings

When resetting the database, you can preserve your GUI configuration:

Access the VoIPmonitor GUI web interface
Navigate to Tools → Backup & Restore
Select Backup configuration TABLES
Save the backup file to a safe location
Create the new database with ipv6 = yes enabled
Use Restore configuration TABLES to reapply your settings

This restores:

User accounts and permissions
Alert rules and email notifications
Dashboard configurations
GUI settings and preferences
Custom capture rules

Note: This does not restore CDR data or PCAP files—those must be backed up separately if needed.

AI Summary for RAG

Summary: This guide covers enabling IPv6 support in VoIPmonitor. For new installations, set ipv6 = yes in voipmonitor.conf before first start. For existing systems with IPv4-only databases, the correct order is: (1) Run ipv6_alter.sql migration script on the database/GUI server only, (2) Enable ipv6 = yes on each sensor, (3) Restart the service. The migration is time-consuming for large databases and may cause historical statistics inaccuracies. The recommended approach for production environments is to flush the old database, start fresh with IPv6 enabled, and use "Tools → Backup & Restore → Configuration TABLES" to preserve GUI settings.

Keywords: ipv6, ipv6 enable, migration, database migration, ipv6_alter.sql, database server, gui server, sensor configuration, historical data, configuration backup, gui settings

Key Questions:

How do I enable IPv6 on a new VoIPmonitor installation?
What is the correct order to run ipv6_alter.sql and configure ipv6 = yes?
Do I need to run ipv6_alter.sql on all sensors or just the database server?
How do I enable IPv6 on an existing IPv4-only VoIPmonitor installation?
What is the ipv6_alter.sql migration script?
Why might migration be problematic for existing databases?