An IPv6 Provider-Based Unicast Address Format
RFC 2073
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(January 1997; No errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 2374
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Authors | Jon Postel , Peter Lothberg , Bob Hinden , Steve Deering , Yakov Rekhter | ||
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 2073 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group Y. Rekhter Request for Comments: 2073 cisco Category: Standards Track P. Lothberg STUPI.AB R. Hinden Ipsilon Networks S. Deering Xerox PARC J. Postel ISI Editors January 1997 An IPv6 Provider-Based Unicast Address Format 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. 1.0 Introduction This document defines an IPv6 provider-based unicast address format for use in the Internet. The address format defined in this document is consistent with the "IPv6 Addressing Architecture" [ARCH] and the "An Architecture for IPv6 Unicast Address Allocation" [ALLOC], and is intended to facilitate scalable Internet routing. The unicast address format defined in this document doesn't preclude the use of other unicast address formats. 2.0 Overview of the IPv6 Address IPv6 addresses are 128-bit identifiers for interfaces and sets of interfaces. There are three types of addresses: Unicast, Anycast, and Multicast. This document defines a specific type of Unicast address. In this document, fields in addresses are given specific names, for example "subscriber". When this name is used with the term "ID" (for "identifier") after the name (e.g., "subscriber ID"), it refers to the contents of the named field. When it is used with the term "prefix" (e.g., "subscriber prefix") it refers to all of the address up to and including this field. Rekhter, et. al. Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2073 IPv6 Provider-Based Unicast Address Format January 1997 The specific type of an IPv6 address is indicated by the leading bits in the address. The variable-length field comprising these leading bits is called the Format Prefix (FP). This document defines an address format for the 010 (binary) Format Prefix for Provider-Based Unicast addresses. The same address format could be used for other Format Prefixes, as long as these Format Prefixes also identify IPv6 unicast addresses. Only the "010" Format Prefix is defined here. 3.0 IPv6 Provider-Based Unicast Address Format This document defines an address format for the IPv6 provider-based unicast address assignment. It is expected that this address format will be widely used for IPv6 nodes connected to the Internet. The address format defined in this document conforms to the "Architecture for IPv6 Unicast Address Allocation" [ALLOC]. Specifically, the format is designed to support aggregation of network layer reachability information at multiple levels of routing hierarchy. For addresses of the format described in this document the address administration is organized into a three level hierarchy -- registry, provider, and subscriber. The address format defined here allows flexible address allocation at each level of the address administration hierarchy in such a way as to support a wide spectrum of demands for address allocation. This document assumes that the Internet routing system doesn't make any assumptions about the specific structure and semantics of an IPv6 address, except for the structure and semantics of the Format Prefix part of the address, and the use of the "longest prefix match" algorithm (on arbitrary bit boundaries) for making a forwarding decision. The address format defined in this document is intended to facilitate scalable Internet-wide routing that does not impose any constraints on connectivity among the providers, as well as among the providers and subscribers. Rekhter, et. al. Standards Track [Page 2] RFC 2073 IPv6 Provider-Based Unicast Address Format January 1997 3.1 Provider-Based Unicast Address Structure For the purpose of address allocation, the address format defined in this document consists of the following parts: Format Prefix, Registry ID, Provider ID, Subscriber ID, and an Intra-SubscriberShow full document text