Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6)
RFC 4861
Document | Type |
RFC - Draft Standard
(September 2007; Errata)
Obsoletes RFC 2461
|
|
---|---|---|---|
Authors | William Simpson , Thomas Narten , Erik Nordmark , Hesham Soliman | ||
Last updated | 2020-01-21 | ||
Stream | IETF | ||
Formats | plain text html pdf htmlized with errata bibtex | ||
Reviews | |||
Stream | WG state | (None) | |
Document shepherd | No shepherd assigned | ||
IESG | IESG state | RFC 4861 (Draft Standard) | |
Consensus Boilerplate | Unknown | ||
Telechat date | |||
Responsible AD | Jari Arkko | ||
Send notices to | hsoliman@qualcomm.com |
Network Working Group T. Narten Request for Comments: 4861 IBM Obsoletes: 2461 E. Nordmark Category: Standards Track Sun Microsystems W. Simpson Daydreamer H. Soliman Elevate Technologies September 2007 Neighbor Discovery for IP version 6 (IPv6) 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 Neighbor Discovery protocol for IP Version 6. IPv6 nodes on the same link use Neighbor Discovery to discover each other's presence, to determine each other's link-layer addresses, to find routers, and to maintain reachability information about the paths to active neighbors. Narten, et al. Standards Track [Page 1] RFC 4861 Neighbor Discovery in IPv6 September 2007 Table of Contents 1. Introduction ....................................................4 2. Terminology .....................................................4 2.1. General ....................................................4 2.2. Link Types .................................................8 2.3. Addresses ..................................................9 2.4. Requirements ..............................................10 3. Protocol Overview ..............................................10 3.1. Comparison with IPv4 ......................................14 3.2. Supported Link Types ......................................16 3.3. Securing Neighbor Discovery Messages ......................18 4. Message Formats ................................................18 4.1. Router Solicitation Message Format ........................18 4.2. Router Advertisement Message Format .......................19 4.3. Neighbor Solicitation Message Format ......................22 4.4. Neighbor Advertisement Message Format .....................23 4.5. Redirect Message Format ...................................26 4.6. Option Formats ............................................28 4.6.1. Source/Target Link-layer Address ...................28 4.6.2. Prefix Information .................................29 4.6.3. Redirected Header ..................................31 4.6.4. MTU ................................................32 5. Conceptual Model of a Host .....................................33 5.1. Conceptual Data Structures ................................33 5.2. Conceptual Sending Algorithm ..............................36 5.3. Garbage Collection and Timeout Requirements ...............37 6. Router and Prefix Discovery ....................................38 6.1. Message Validation ........................................39 6.1.1. Validation of Router Solicitation Messages .........39 6.1.2. Validation of Router Advertisement Messages ........39 6.2. Router Specification ......................................40 6.2.1. Router Configuration Variables .....................40 6.2.2. Becoming an Advertising Interface ..................45 6.2.3. Router Advertisement Message Content ...............45 6.2.4. Sending Unsolicited Router Advertisements ..........47 6.2.5. Ceasing To Be an Advertising Interface .............47 6.2.6. Processing Router Solicitations ....................48 6.2.7. Router Advertisement Consistency ...................50 6.2.8. Link-local Address Change ..........................50 6.3. Host Specification ........................................51 6.3.1. Host Configuration Variables .......................51 6.3.2. Host Variables .....................................51 6.3.3. Interface Initialization ...........................52 6.3.4. Processing Received Router Advertisements ..........53 6.3.5. Timing out Prefixes and Default Routers ............56 6.3.6. Default Router Selection ...........................56 6.3.7. Sending Router Solicitations .......................57 Narten, et al. Standards Track [Page 2]Show full document text