IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture
RFC 2373
Document | Type |
RFC - Proposed Standard
(July 1998; Errata)
Obsoleted by RFC 3513
Obsoletes RFC 1884
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Author | Bob Hinden | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 2373 (Proposed Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | (None) | ||
Send notices to | (None) |
Network Working Group R. Hinden Request for Comments: 2373 Nokia Obsoletes: 1884 S. Deering Category: Standards Track Cisco Systems July 1998 IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture 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. Copyright Notice Copyright (C) The Internet Society (1998). All Rights Reserved. Abstract This specification defines the addressing architecture of the IP Version 6 protocol [IPV6]. The document includes the IPv6 addressing model, text representations of IPv6 addresses, definition of IPv6 unicast addresses, anycast addresses, and multicast addresses, and an IPv6 node's required addresses. Table of Contents 1. Introduction.................................................2 2. IPv6 Addressing..............................................2 2.1 Addressing Model.........................................3 2.2 Text Representation of Addresses.........................3 2.3 Text Representation of Address Prefixes..................5 2.4 Address Type Representation..............................6 2.5 Unicast Addresses........................................7 2.5.1 Interface Identifiers................................8 2.5.2 The Unspecified Address..............................9 2.5.3 The Loopback Address.................................9 2.5.4 IPv6 Addresses with Embedded IPv4 Addresses.........10 2.5.5 NSAP Addresses......................................10 2.5.6 IPX Addresses.......................................10 2.5.7 Aggregatable Global Unicast Addresses...............11 2.5.8 Local-use IPv6 Unicast Addresses....................11 2.6 Anycast Addresses.......................................12 2.6.1 Required Anycast Address............................13 2.7 Multicast Addresses.....................................14 Hinden & Deering Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 2373 IPv6 Addressing Architecture July 1998 2.7.1 Pre-Defined Multicast Addresses.....................15 2.7.2 Assignment of New IPv6 Multicast Addresses..........17 2.8 A Node's Required Addresses.............................17 3. Security Considerations.....................................18 APPENDIX A: Creating EUI-64 based Interface Identifiers........19 APPENDIX B: ABNF Description of Text Representations...........22 APPENDIX C: CHANGES FROM RFC-1884..............................23 REFERENCES.....................................................24 AUTHORS' ADDRESSES.............................................25 FULL COPYRIGHT STATEMENT.......................................26 1.0 INTRODUCTION This specification defines the addressing architecture of the IP Version 6 protocol. It includes a detailed description of the currently defined address formats for IPv6 [IPV6]. The authors would like to acknowledge the contributions of Paul Francis, Scott Bradner, Jim Bound, Brian Carpenter, Matt Crawford, Deborah Estrin, Roger Fajman, Bob Fink, Peter Ford, Bob Gilligan, Dimitry Haskin, Tom Harsch, Christian Huitema, Tony Li, Greg Minshall, Thomas Narten, Erik Nordmark, Yakov Rekhter, Bill Simpson, and Sue Thomson. The key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in [RFC 2119]. 2.0 IPv6 ADDRESSING IPv6 addresses are 128-bit identifiers for interfaces and sets of interfaces. There are three types of addresses: Unicast: An identifier for a single interface. A packet sent to a unicast address is delivered to the interface identified by that address. Anycast: An identifier for a set of interfaces (typically belonging to different nodes). A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to one of the interfaces identified by that address (the "nearest" one, according to the routing protocols' measure of distance). Multicast: An identifier for a set of interfaces (typically belonging to different nodes). A packet sent to a multicast address is delivered to all interfaces identified by that address. Hinden & Deering Standards Track [Page 2]Show full document text