diff --git a/Makefile b/Makefile
index 0a0154c07c..e8a5902449 100644
--- a/Makefile
+++ b/Makefile
@@ -43,6 +43,8 @@ HELM_SCHEMA_VERSION = 0.18.1
 PREFIX ?= nginx-gateway-fabric## The name of the NGF image. For example, nginx-gateway-fabric
 NGINX_PREFIX ?= $(PREFIX)/nginx## The name of the nginx image. For example: nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx
 NGINX_PLUS_PREFIX ?= $(PREFIX)/nginx-plus## The name of the nginx plus image. For example: nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus
+NGINX_SERVICE_TYPE ?= NodePort## The type of the nginx service. Possible values: NodePort, LoadBalancer, ClusterIP
+PULL_POLICY ?= Never## The pull policy of the images. Possible values: Always, IfNotPresent, Never
 TAG ?= $(VERSION:v%=%)## The tag of the image. For example, 1.1.0
 TARGET ?= local## The target of the build. Possible values: local and container
 OUT_DIR ?= build/out## The folder where the binary will be stored
@@ -226,13 +228,13 @@ install-ngf-local-build-with-plus: check-for-plus-usage-endpoint build-images-wi
 
 .PHONY: helm-install-local
 helm-install-local: install-gateway-crds ## Helm install NGF on configured kind cluster with local images. To build, load, and install with helm run make install-ngf-local-build.
-	helm install nginx-gateway $(CHART_DIR) --set nginx.image.repository=$(NGINX_PREFIX) --create-namespace --wait --set nginxGateway.image.pullPolicy=Never --set nginx.service.type=NodePort --set nginxGateway.image.repository=$(PREFIX) --set nginxGateway.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.pullPolicy=Never --set nginxGateway.gwAPIExperimentalFeatures.enable=$(ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL) -n nginx-gateway $(HELM_PARAMETERS)
+	helm install nginx-gateway $(CHART_DIR) --set nginx.image.repository=$(NGINX_PREFIX) --create-namespace --wait --set nginxGateway.image.pullPolicy=$(PULL_POLICY) --set nginx.service.type=$(NGINX_SERVICE_TYPE) --set nginxGateway.image.repository=$(PREFIX) --set nginxGateway.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.pullPolicy=$(PULL_POLICY) --set nginxGateway.gwAPIExperimentalFeatures.enable=$(ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL) -n nginx-gateway $(HELM_PARAMETERS)
 
 .PHONY: helm-install-local-with-plus
 helm-install-local-with-plus: check-for-plus-usage-endpoint install-gateway-crds ## Helm install NGF with NGINX Plus on configured kind cluster with local images. To build, load, and install with helm run make install-ngf-local-build-with-plus.
 	kubectl create namespace nginx-gateway || true
 	kubectl -n nginx-gateway create secret generic nplus-license --from-file $(PLUS_LICENSE_FILE) || true
-	helm install nginx-gateway $(CHART_DIR) --set nginx.image.repository=$(NGINX_PLUS_PREFIX) --wait --set nginxGateway.image.pullPolicy=Never --set nginx.service.type=NodePort --set nginxGateway.image.repository=$(PREFIX) --set nginxGateway.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.pullPolicy=Never --set nginxGateway.gwAPIExperimentalFeatures.enable=$(ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL) -n nginx-gateway --set nginx.plus=true --set nginx.usage.endpoint=$(PLUS_USAGE_ENDPOINT) $(HELM_PARAMETERS)
+	helm install nginx-gateway $(CHART_DIR) --set nginx.image.repository=$(NGINX_PLUS_PREFIX) --wait --set nginxGateway.image.pullPolicy=$(PULL_POLICY) --set nginx.service.type=$(NGINX_SERVICE_TYPE) --set nginxGateway.image.repository=$(PREFIX) --set nginxGateway.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.tag=$(TAG) --set nginx.image.pullPolicy=$(PULL_POLICY) --set nginxGateway.gwAPIExperimentalFeatures.enable=$(ENABLE_EXPERIMENTAL) -n nginx-gateway --set nginx.plus=true --set nginx.usage.endpoint=$(PLUS_USAGE_ENDPOINT) $(HELM_PARAMETERS)
 
 .PHONY: check-for-plus-usage-endpoint
 check-for-plus-usage-endpoint: ## Checks that the PLUS_USAGE_ENDPOINT is set in the environment. This env var is required when deploying or testing with N+.
diff --git a/docs/developer/release-process.md b/docs/developer/release-process.md
index 7cd056c9a3..1a2d25a099 100644
--- a/docs/developer/release-process.md
+++ b/docs/developer/release-process.md
@@ -44,6 +44,7 @@ To create a new release, follow these steps:
 4. Once the release branch pipeline completes, run tests using the `release-X.X-rc` images that are pushed to Github (for example, `release-1.3-rc`).
    1. Kick off the [longevity tests](https://github.com/nginx/nginx-gateway-fabric/blob/main/tests/README.md#longevity-testing) for both OSS and Plus. You'll need to create two clusters and VMs for this. Before running, update your `vars.env` file with the proper image tag and prefixes. NGF and nginx images will be available from `ghcr.io`, and nginx plus will be available in GCP (`us-docker.pkg.dev/<GCP_PROJECT_ID>/nginx-gateway-fabric/nginx-plus`). These tests need to run for 4 days before releasing. The results should be committed to the main branch and then cherry-picked to the release branch.
    2. Kick off the [NFR workflow](https://github.com/nginx/nginx-gateway-fabric/actions/workflows/nfr.yml) in the browser. For `image_tag`, use `release-X.X-rc`, and for `version`, use the upcoming `X.Y.Z` NGF version. Run the workflow on the new release branch. This will run all of the NFR tests which are automated and open a PR with the results files when it is complete. Review this PR and make any necessary changes before merging. Once merged, be sure to cherry-pick the commit to the main branch as well (the original PR targets the release branch).
+   3. Run the IPv6 tests using the `make ipv6-tests` target. This must be run from within the `tests` directory. An example of running this script for release 2.1.0 would look like this: `make ipv6-test TAG=release-2.1-rc`
 5. Run the [Release PR](https://github.com/nginx/nginx-gateway-fabric/actions/workflows/release-pr.yml) workflow to update the repo files for the release. Then there are a few manual steps to complete:
    1. Update the [README](/README.md) to include information about the release.
    2. Update the [changelog](/CHANGELOG.md). There is going to be a new blank section generated by the automation that needs to be adjusted accordingly.
diff --git a/tests/Makefile b/tests/Makefile
index dcea49c341..ec0fe2edb5 100644
--- a/tests/Makefile
+++ b/tests/Makefile
@@ -118,6 +118,11 @@ start-longevity-test: nfr-test ## Start the longevity test to run for 4 days in
 stop-longevity-test: export STOP_LONGEVITY=true
 stop-longevity-test: nfr-test ## Stop the longevity test and collects results
 
+.PHONY: ipv6-tests
+ipv6-tests: GOARCH=amd64
+ipv6-tests: ## Example usage: make ipv6-tests TAG=release-X.Y-rc
+	./ipv6/run-ipv6-test.sh $(TAG)
+
 
 .PHONY: .vm-nfr-test
 .vm-nfr-test: ## Runs the NFR tests on the GCP VM (called by `nfr-test`)
diff --git a/tests/ipv6/config/kind-ipv6-only.yaml b/tests/ipv6/config/kind-ipv6-only.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..ab17d5f307
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ipv6/config/kind-ipv6-only.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,8 @@
+kind: Cluster
+apiVersion: kind.x-k8s.io/v1alpha4
+networking:
+  ipFamily: ipv6 # Explicitly set the cluster to use IPv6
+  apiServerAddress: "::1"
+  disableDefaultCNI: false # Use Kind's default CNI
+nodes:
+- role: control-plane
diff --git a/tests/ipv6/manifests/gateway.yaml b/tests/ipv6/manifests/gateway.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..e6507f613b
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ipv6/manifests/gateway.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,11 @@
+apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
+kind: Gateway
+metadata:
+  name: gateway
+spec:
+  gatewayClassName: nginx
+  listeners:
+  - name: http
+    port: 80
+    protocol: HTTP
+    hostname: "*.example.com"
diff --git a/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-app.yaml b/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-app.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..6593fabdb2
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-app.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,62 @@
+apiVersion: apps/v1
+kind: Deployment
+metadata:
+  name: test-app-ipv6
+  namespace: default
+spec:
+  replicas: 1
+  selector:
+    matchLabels:
+      app: test-app-ipv6
+  template:
+    metadata:
+      labels:
+        app: test-app-ipv6
+    spec:
+      containers:
+      - name: nginx
+        image: nginxdemos/nginx-hello:plain-text
+        ports:
+        - containerPort: 80
+        resources:
+          limits:
+            cpu: "100m"
+            memory: "128Mi"
+          requests:
+            cpu: "50m"
+            memory: "64Mi"
+---
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Service
+metadata:
+  name: test-app-ipv6-service
+  namespace: default
+spec:
+  selector:
+    app: test-app-ipv6
+  ports:
+  - port: 80
+    targetPort: 80
+  ipFamilies: [IPv6]
+  ipFamilyPolicy: SingleStack
+---
+apiVersion: gateway.networking.k8s.io/v1
+kind: HTTPRoute
+metadata:
+  name: test-route-ipv6
+  namespace: default
+spec:
+  parentRefs:
+  - name: gateway
+    sectionName: http
+    namespace: default
+  hostnames:
+  - "ipv6-test.example.com"
+  rules:
+  - matches:
+    - path:
+        type: PathPrefix
+        value: /
+    backendRefs:
+    - name: test-app-ipv6-service
+      port: 80
diff --git a/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-client.yaml b/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-client.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 0000000000..fffecbf840
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-client.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,33 @@
+apiVersion: v1
+kind: Pod
+metadata:
+  name: ipv6-test-client
+  namespace: default
+  labels:
+    app: ipv6-test-client
+spec:
+  restartPolicy: Never
+  containers:
+  - name: test-client
+    image: curlimages/curl:8.16.0
+    imagePullPolicy: IfNotPresent
+    command: ["sleep", "3600"]  # Keep pod alive for exec commands
+    resources:
+      limits:
+        cpu: "100m"
+        memory: "128Mi"
+      requests:
+        cpu: "50m"
+        memory: "64Mi"
+    securityContext:
+      allowPrivilegeEscalation: false
+      runAsNonRoot: true
+      runAsUser: 65534
+      capabilities:
+        drop:
+        - ALL
+  dnsConfig:
+    options:
+    - name: single-request-reopen
+    - name: ndots
+      value: "2"
diff --git a/tests/ipv6/run-ipv6-test.sh b/tests/ipv6/run-ipv6-test.sh
new file mode 100755
index 0000000000..b558f528a0
--- /dev/null
+++ b/tests/ipv6/run-ipv6-test.sh
@@ -0,0 +1,104 @@
+#!/usr/bin/env bash
+
+set -e # Exit immediately if a command exits with a non-zero status
+
+SCRIPT_DIR=$(cd -- "$(dirname -- "${BASH_SOURCE[0]}")" &>/dev/null && pwd)
+REPO_DIR=$(dirname $(dirname "$SCRIPT_DIR"))
+
+TAG=$1
+
+if [[ -z $TAG ]]; then
+    echo "Usage: $0 <TAG> [RELEASE_NAME] [NAMESPACE] [CLUSTER_NAME]"
+    echo "Error: TAG is a required parameter. Example usage: $(make ipv6-test TAG=release-X.Y-rc)"
+    exit 1
+fi
+
+RELEASE_NAME=${2:-nginx-gateway}
+NAMESPACE=${3:-nginx-gateway}
+CLUSTER_NAME=${4:-ipv6-only-${TAG}}
+RELEASE_REPO=ghcr.io/nginx/nginx-gateway-fabric
+
+cleanup() {
+    echo "Cleaning up resources..."
+    kind delete cluster --name ${CLUSTER_NAME} || true
+}
+
+trap cleanup EXIT
+
+kind create cluster --name ${CLUSTER_NAME} --config ipv6/config/kind-ipv6-only.yaml
+
+echo "== Installing NGINX Gateway Fabric..."
+echo "== Using NGF from ${RELEASE_REPO}:${TAG}..."
+echo "== Using NGINX from ${RELEASE_REPO}/nginx:${TAG}..."
+
+HELM_PARAMETERS="--set nginx.config.ipFamily=ipv6"
+make helm-install-local HELM_PARAMETERS="${HELM_PARAMETERS}" \
+    PREFIX="${RELEASE_REPO}" \
+    TAG="${TAG}" \
+    SELF_DIR="${REPO_DIR}/" \
+    NGINX_SERVICE_TYPE="ClusterIP" \
+    PULL_POLICY="Always"
+
+echo "== Deploying Gateway..."
+kubectl apply -f ipv6/manifests/gateway.yaml
+
+kubectl wait --for=condition=accepted --timeout=300s gateway/gateway
+POD_NAME=$(kubectl get pods -l app.kubernetes.io/instance=${RELEASE_NAME} -o jsonpath='{.items[0].metadata.name}')
+kubectl wait --for=condition=ready --timeout=300s pod/${POD_NAME}
+
+echo "== Deploying IPv6 test application"
+kubectl apply -f ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-app.yaml
+
+echo "== Waiting for test applications to be ready..."
+kubectl wait --for=condition=available --timeout=300s deployment/test-app-ipv6
+
+echo "== Getting NGF service IPv6 address from gateway status"
+NGF_IPV6=$(kubectl get gateway -o jsonpath='{.items[0].status.addresses[0].value}')
+echo "NGF IPv6 Address: $NGF_IPV6"
+
+echo "=== Running IPv6-Only Tests ==="
+
+echo "== Starting IPv6 test client"
+kubectl apply -f ipv6/manifests/ipv6-test-client.yaml
+kubectl wait --for=condition=ready --timeout=300s pod/ipv6-test-client
+
+echo "== Test 1: Basic IPv6 connectivity =="
+kubectl exec ipv6-test-client -- curl --version
+kubectl exec ipv6-test-client -- nslookup gateway-nginx.default.svc.cluster.local || echo "Test 1: Basic IPv6 connectivity failed"
+test1_status=$?
+
+if [[ $test1_status -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "✅ Test 1: Basic IPv6 connectivity succeeded"
+fi
+
+echo "== Test 2: NGF Service IPv6 connectivity =="
+kubectl exec ipv6-test-client -- curl -6 --connect-timeout 30 --max-time 60 -v \
+    -H "Host: ipv6-test.example.com" \
+    "http://[${NGF_IPV6}]:80/" || echo "Test 2: NGF Service IPv6 connectivity failed"
+test2_status=$?
+
+if [[ $test2_status -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "✅ Test 2: NGF Service IPv6 connectivity succeeded"
+fi
+
+echo "== Test 3: Service DNS IPv6 connectivity =="
+kubectl exec ipv6-test-client -- curl -6 --connect-timeout 30 --max-time 60 -v \
+    -H "Host: ipv6-test.example.com" \
+    "http://gateway-nginx.default.svc.cluster.local:80/" || echo "Test 3: Service DNS IPv6 connectivity failed"
+test3_status=$?
+
+if [[ $test3_status -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo "✅ Test 3: Service DNS IPv6 connectivity succeeded"
+fi
+
+echo "=== Displaying IPv6-Only Configuration ==="
+echo "NGF Pod IPv6 addresses:"
+kubectl get pods -n nginx-gateway -o wide || true
+echo "NGF Service configuration:"
+kubectl get service ${HELM_RELEASE_NAME}-nginx-gateway-fabric -n nginx-gateway -o yaml || true
+
+if [[ $test1_status -eq 0 && $test2_status -eq 0 && $test3_status -eq 0 ]]; then
+    echo -e "✅ All tests passed!"
+else
+    echo -e "❌ One or more tests failed. Check the output above to help debug any issues."
+fi
diff --git a/tests/suite/manifests/snippets-filter/invalid-duplicate-sf.yaml b/tests/suite/manifests/snippets-filter/invalid-duplicate-sf.yaml
index ba7e5b6c55..137771ed4e 100644
--- a/tests/suite/manifests/snippets-filter/invalid-duplicate-sf.yaml
+++ b/tests/suite/manifests/snippets-filter/invalid-duplicate-sf.yaml
@@ -19,21 +19,21 @@ metadata:
   name: tea
 spec:
   parentRefs:
-  - name: gateway
-    sectionName: http
+    - name: gateway
+      sectionName: http
   hostnames:
-  - "cafe.example.com"
+    - "cafe.example.com"
   rules:
-  - matches:
-    - path:
-        type: Exact
-        value: /tea
-    filters:
-      - type: ExtensionRef
-        extensionRef:
-          group: gateway.nginx.org
-          kind: SnippetsFilter
-          name: duplicate-directive
-    backendRefs:
-    - name: tea
-      port: 80
+    - matches:
+        - path:
+            type: Exact
+            value: /tea
+      filters:
+        - type: ExtensionRef
+          extensionRef:
+            group: gateway.nginx.org
+            kind: SnippetsFilter
+            name: duplicate-directive
+      backendRefs:
+        - name: tea
+          port: 80