IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration
RFC 1971
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(August 1996; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 2462
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Authors | Thomas Narten , Susan Thomson | ||
Last updated | 2013-03-02 | ||
Stream | Internent Engineering Task Force (IETF) | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized (tools) htmlized bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 1971 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group S. Thomson Request for Comments: 1971 Bellcore Category: Standards Track T. Narten IBM August 1996 IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration Status of this Memo This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited. Abstract This document specifies the steps a host takes in deciding how to autoconfigure its interfaces in IP version 6. The autoconfiguration process includes creating a link-local address and verifying its uniqueness on a link, determining what information should be autoconfigured (addresses, other information, or both), and in the case of addresses, whether they should be obtained through the stateless mechanism, the stateful mechanism, or both. This document defines the process for generating a link-local address, the process for generating site-local and global addresses via stateless address autoconfiguration, and the Duplicate Address Detection procedure. The details of autoconfiguration using the stateful protocol are specified elsewhere. Table of Contents 1. INTRODUCTION............................................. 2 2. TERMINOLOGY.............................................. 4 2.1. Requirements........................................ 7 3. DESIGN GOALS............................................. 8 4. PROTOCOL OVERVIEW........................................ 9 4.1. Site Renumbering.................................... 11 5. PROTOCOL SPECIFICATION................................... 11 5.1. Node Configuration Variables........................ 12 5.2. Autoconfiguration-Related Variables................. 12 5.3. Creation of Link-Local Addresses.................... 13 5.4. Duplicate Address Detection......................... 13 5.4.1. Message Validation............................. 15 5.4.2. Sending Neighbor Solicitation Messages......... 15 5.4.3. Receiving Neighbor Solicitation Messages....... 15 Thomson & Narten Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 1971 IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration August 1996 5.4.4. Receiving Neighbor Advertisement Messages...... 16 5.4.5. When Duplicate Address Detection Fails......... 16 5.5. Creation of Global and Site-Local Addresses......... 17 5.5.1. Soliciting Router Advertisements............... 17 5.5.2. Absence of Router Advertisements............... 17 5.5.3. Router Advertisement Processing................ 17 5.5.4. Address Lifetime Expiry........................ 19 5.6. Configuration Consistency........................... 19 SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS...................................... 19 REFERENCES................................................... 20 AUTHORS' ADDRESSES........................................... 21 APPENDIX: LOOPBACK SUPPRESSION & DUPLICATE ADDRESS DETECTION. 22 1. INTRODUCTION This document specifies the steps a host takes in deciding how to autoconfigure its interfaces in IP version 6. The autoconfiguration process includes creating a link-local address and verifying its uniqueness on a link, determining what information should be autoconfigured (addresses, other information, or both), and in the case of addresses, whether they should be obtained through the stateless mechanism, the stateful mechanism, or both. This document defines the process for generating a link-local address, the process for generating site-local and global addresses via stateless address autoconfiguration, and the Duplicate Address Detection procedure. The details of autoconfiguration using the stateful protocol are specified elsewhere. IPv6 defines both a stateful and stateless address autoconfiguration mechanism. Stateless autoconfiguration requires no manual configuration of hosts, minimal (if any) configuration of routers, and no additional servers. The stateless mechanism allows a host to generate its own addresses using a combination of locally available information and information advertised by routers. Routers advertise prefixes that identify the subnet(s) associated with a link, while hosts generate an "interface token" that uniquely identifies an interface on a subnet. An address is formed by combining the two. InShow full document text