Posted On: Nov 23, 2021
Starting today, Amazon Virtual Private Cloud (VPC) allows you to create IPv6-only subnets in your dual-stack VPCs and launch EC2 instances built on Nitro System in these subnets. The launch of IPv6-only subnets allows customers to scale their deployments on AWS by not requiring any IPv4 addressing in the subnet. With a /64 IPv6 CIDR assignment to the subnet, it accommodates approximately 18 quintillion IP addresses for applications.
Customers will be able to create an IPv6-only subnet in an existing dual-stack VPC using AWS Console or EC2 APIs. EC2 instances launched in an IPv6-only subnet and specifically the ENIs attached to them will no longer require private IPv4 addresses to be allocated and assigned. Instead, every ENI created and attached to an instance launched in an IPv6-only subnet will be assigned an IPv6 address from the subnet’s configured IPv6 CIDR range. These instances in the IPv6-only subnet are also able to call the on-instance services over IPv6 link local addresses.
IPv6-only subnets and EC2 instances are available in all AWS commercial and AWS GovCloud (US) regions at no additional charge. To get started with IPv6-only subnets and instances, use the AWS Console or API. For more information on this enhancement, please read about IPv6-only subnets in our documentation and the blog post.
Updated 01/07/2022: The IPv6-only subnets and EC2 instances feature is not available in the AWS Region in Jakarta that was launched on Dec,13 2021.