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IPv6 Addressing
The primary motivation for creating
IPv6 was to rectify the addressing
problems in IPv4. More addresses were
required, but more than this, the IPv6 designers desired a way of interpreting,
assigning and using them that was more consonant with modern internetworking.
Based on this, it's no surprise that many of the changes in IPv6 are
associated with IP addressing. The IPv6 addressing scheme is similar
in general concept to IPv4 addressing, but has been completely overhauled
to create an addressing system capable of supporting continued Internet
expansion and new applications for the foreseeable future.
This section describes the concepts
and methods associated with addressing under IPv6. I begin with a look
at some addressing generalities in version 6, including the addressing
model, address types size and address space. I discuss the unique and
sometimes confusing representations and notations used for IPv6 addresses
and prefixes. Then I look at how addresses are arranged and allocated
into types, beginning with an overall look at address space composition
and then the global unicast address format. I describe the new methods
used for mapping IP addresses to underlying physical network addresses.
I then describe special IPv6 addressing issues, including reserved and
private addresses, IPv4 address embedding, anycast and multicast addresses,
and autoconfiguration and renumbering of addresses.
Addressing under IPv6 is outlined
in the main IPv6 RFC, RFC 2460 (Internet Protocol, Version 6 (IPv6)
Specification). However, most of the details of IPv6 addressing
are contained in two other standards: RFC 3513 (Internet Protocol
Version 6 (IPv6) Addressing Architecture) and RFC 3587 (IPv6
Global Unicast Address Format). These replaced the 1998 standards
RFC 2373 (IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture) and RFC
2374 (An IPv6 Aggregatable Global Unicast Address Format).
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Version 3.0 - Version Date: September 20, 2005
© Copyright 2001-2005 Charles M. Kozierok. All Rights Reserved.
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Background Information: As with the other IPv6 sections in this Guide, our look at addressing is based somewhat on a contrast to how addressing is done in IPv4. I strongly recommend a thorough understanding of