Peplink pushed Firmware 8.6 RC4 to the open beta, and this is not a minor point release. Two changes in it matter enough that I would start testing now rather than waiting for GA.
IPv6, finally treated as first-class
8.6 brings real IPv6 support across a wide range of cellular and Ethernet WAN interfaces. If you run dual-stack environments — or you are staring down a carrier that is quietly deprecating IPv4 on its 5G core — this is the build that lets you stop working around it. Native IPv6 handling on the WAN means fewer tunnels-to-fix-tunnels and a cleaner path as the networks underneath you keep moving.
A new Router API
The bigger story for anyone running fleets: 8.6 ships a revised Router API. If you manage more than a handful of devices, the difference between “log into each box” and “the network configures itself” is the difference between a hobby and an operation. A real API is how connectivity becomes automatable — provisioning, health, and policy driven from your own systems instead of a pane of glass.
There is also Multi-APN support for 5G cellular devices and the usual list of fixes, but IPv6 and the API are the headline.
The documents
My take
It is a release candidate, so it belongs in a lab and a representative staging deployment before it touches anything a customer depends on. But if IPv6 or automation is on your roadmap, RC4 is a concrete build to evaluate — and the earlier you get reps on a release candidate, the fewer surprises you hit at GA. For the kind of distributed, always-on operations I build for, both of these features move connectivity in exactly the right direction: more resilient, more automatable, less hand-holding.
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