System and method for translating network addresses

A computer-implemented method for determining a coding scheme used for synthetic IPv6 addresses comprising:

• generating DNS queries for a plurality of remote hosts known to have IPv4 addresses but not IPv6 addresses;
• receiving IPv6 addresses corresponding to the plurality of DNS queries;
• analyzing each IPv6 address in light of its corresponding known IPv4 address;
• and
• based on the analysis, determining a coding scheme used to encode a network address translation (NAT) 64 address within the IPv6 addresses, the NAT64 address identifying a NAT64 server usable for performing network address translation when communicating with each of the remote hosts.

A computer-implemented system for generating an Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) IPv6 address from an Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) IPv4 address literal, the system comprising a memory for storing program code and a processor for processing the program code to perform the operations of:

• constructing a host name for a domain name query at a first host by combining the IPv4 address literal with a domain name of a first domain name server, the first domain name server configured to interpret the host name containing the IPv4 address literal to generate an A record including the IPv4 address;
• wherein the A record is usable to generate a synthetic IPv6 address, the synthetic IPv6 address including a first portion identifying a network address translation (NAT) 64 server and a second portion identifying an IPv4 host associated with the IPv4 address literal;
• and
• receiving the synthetic IPv6 address at the first host, the synthetic IPv6 address usable by the first host to connect to the IPv4 host through the NAT64 server.

A computer-implemented system for determining a coding scheme used for synthetic IPv6 addresses, the system comprising a memory for storing program code and a processor for processing the program code to perform the operations of:

• generating DNS queries for a plurality of remote hosts known to have IPv4 addresses but not IPv6 addresses;
• receiving IPv6 addresses corresponding to the plurality of DNS queries;
• analyzing each IPv6 address in light of its corresponding known IPv4 address;
• and
• based on the analysis, determining a coding scheme used to encode a network address translation (NAT) 64 address within the IPv6 addresses, the NAT64 address identifying a NAT64 server usable for performing network address translation when communicating with each of the remote hosts.

A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

• constructing a host name for a domain name query at a first host by combining the IPv4 address literal with a domain name of a first domain name server, the first domain name server configured to interpret the host name containing the IPv4 address literal to generate an A record including the IPv4 address;
• wherein the A record is usable to generate a synthetic IPv6 address, the synthetic IPv6 address including a first portion identifying a network address translation (NAT) 64 server and a second portion identifying an IPv4 host associated with the IPv4 address literal;
• and
• receiving the synthetic IPv6 address at the first host, the synthetic IPv6 address usable by the first host to connect to the IPv4 host through the NAT64 server.

A machine-readable medium having program code stored thereon which, when executed by a machine, causes the machine to perform the operations of:

• generating DNS queries for a plurality of remote hosts known to have IPv4 addresses but not IPv6 addresses;
• receiving IPv6 addresses corresponding to the plurality of DNS queries;
• analyzing each IPv6 address in light of its corresponding known IPv4 address;
• and
• based on the analysis, determining a coding scheme used to encode a network address translation (NAT) 64 address within the IPv6 addresses, the NAT64 address identifying a NAT64 server usable for performing network address translation when communicating with each of the remote hosts.