Matter-over-thread: Which containers need ipv6?

Configuration Matter/Thread
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1

Goal:
I have a containerized HA installation and I would like to add a thread container (works, so far, I think) and a matter container. All on their own hosts.

matter-host--->HomeAssistant-host<---otbr-host.

OTBR:
I have added a open thread border router (otbr) host to my network and added that to my home assistant. It connects to my SLZB-MR1 successfully as far as I can see.

Matter:
Now I want to add a matter host and I’ve read that this one needs some ipv6 settings, which is fine, but I am wondering what hosts (of the three in this setup) need ipv6 addresses?
Do only the otbr-host and the matter-host need ipv6 support and send the data via ipv4 to HomeAssistant or does HomeAssistant also need an ipv6 address?

2

Yes, it can work this way.

The matter-server container needs IPv6 to talk to Matter devices. The OTBR container needs IPv6 to advertise routes. The HA container can get away with communicating with both over IPv4, generally using web protocols, so IPv6 works too.

If you have all these containers on a single docker server, you’re most likely running them all in “host” networking (per the docs) so that they can participate in mdns (required for Matter, also used by Thread) so whatever networking on the docker server is passed through to the containers. If you’re one of the brave few using macvlan networking, you have more control to differentiate them but it requires more setup config.

3

Macvlan works fine

Both matter and ha need macvlan ipv4/6 addresses.

Provisioning device should be able to access same network

I have a “matter” vlan and both containers have unique macvlan IPs on their “matter” vlan. My matter bulbs connect to this vlan over WiFi. When adding devices I must change my phone to this WiFi network to add the matter devices.

My containers are connected directly over docker network using hostname. I don’t think matter server requires network for any reason so pretty sure both docker and macvlan networks have WAN access blocked.

HA has seperate dedicated WAN connection

4

I have three separate docker containers on three separate hosts (one docker container per host).

Are the requirements the same in that scenario?

6

Yes, the app requirements do not change based on different networking environments. HA container does not require IPv6 for anything, but matter-server and OTBR do.

Yes absolutely — I didn’t mean to imply it doesn’t, only that it is less common, both because it takes more expertise to setup and because the docs for HA, OTBR, and matter-server containers all suggest host networking.

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