How do I disable or enable the IPv6 protocol in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?

Solution Verified - Updated -

Issue

  • How do I disable or enable the IPv6 protocol in Red Hat Enterprise Linux?
  • When I attempt to disable IPv6 in RHEL 5, IPv4 does not connect. I had to re-enable IPv6 via console commands to connect the server to the network.

  • Why do I see errors when changing IPv6 kernel parameters?

    # sysctl -p
error: "net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_redirects" is an unknown key
error: "net.ipv6.conf.default.accept_ra" is an unknown key
error: "net.ipv6.conf.all.disable_ipv6" is an unknown key
error: "net.ipv6.conf.default.disable_ipv6" is an unknown key

  • How do I automate IPv6 configuration to comply with security polices (like Center for Internet Security - CIS) with Security Content Automation Protocol (SCAP)?

    • Ensure IPv6 is disabled through kernel boot parameter
    • Disable IPv6 Addressing on All IPv6 Interfaces
    • Disable IPv6 Addressing on IPv6 Interfaces by Default
    • Disable IPv6 Networking Support Automatic Loading

Environment

  • Red Hat Enterprise Linux (all versions)
  • IPv6 networking

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