Amazon Elastic Container Registry (ECR) has just added IPv6 support for both its API and Docker/OCI endpoints—available now for ECR and ECR Public users! This is a big step forward for developers and teams aiming to modernize their networking stack and remove IPv4 limitations.
🔍 What’s New?
With this release, Amazon ECR introduces dual-stack endpoints that support both IPv4 and IPv6. This means:
- You can pull container images over IPv6 using the AWS SDK or Docker/OCI CLI.
- The new endpoints automatically resolve to an IPv4 or IPv6 address based on your client/network configuration.
- It supports IPv6 compliance and simplifies transitions away from NAT-based networking.
💡 Why It Matters
If you're working with containerized infrastructure at scale, IP address management can be a pain point. IPv6 offers:
- Virtually unlimited IP addresses
- Improved routing and network efficiency
- Easier scaling across large container fleets
- Better compatibility with modern cloud-native tools and environments
This change removes a significant barrier for teams looking to fully transition to IPv6-only environments.
✅ Getting Started
To use IPv6 with ECR:
- Update your endpoint URL to use the new dual-stack hostname provided by ECR.
- Ensure your VPC/network is IPv6-enabled.
- Use the Docker or OCI CLI, or AWS SDK, as usual—no changes needed in the command syntax.
