diff --git modules/system/system.install modules/system/system.install
index 83a3bb1..0523172 100644
--- modules/system/system.install
+++ modules/system/system.install
@@ -551,7 +551,7 @@ function system_schema() {
       'ip' => array(
         'description' => 'IP address',
         'type' => 'varchar',
-        'length' => 32,
+        'length' => 40,
         'not null' => TRUE,
         'default' => '',
       ),
@@ -2606,6 +2606,13 @@ function system_update_7050() {
 }
 
 /**
+ * make the IP field IPv6 compatible
+ */
+function system_update_7051() {
+  db_change_field('blocked_ips', 'ip', 'ip', array('description' => 'IP address', 'type' => 'varchar', 'length' => 40, 'not null' => TRUE, 'default' => ''));
+}
+
+/**
  * @} End of "defgroup updates-6.x-to-7.x"
  * The next series of updates should start at 8000.
  */