CCENT Study Guide
Chapter 14
Internet Protocol Version 6
(IPv6)
Chapter 14 Objectives
• The CCENT Topics Covered in this chapter include:
• 1.11 Identify the appropriate IPv6 addressing scheme
• to satisfy addressing requirements in a LAN/WAN
• environment.
• 1.12 Configure, verify, and troubleshoot IPv6 addressing.
• 1.13 Configure and verify IPv6 Stateless Address Auto
• Configuration.
• 1.14 Compare and contrast IPv6 address types.
• 1.14.a Global unicast
• 1.14.b Unique local
• 1.14.c Link local
• 1.14.d Multicast
• 1.14.e Modified EUI 64
• 1.14.f Autoconfiguration
• 1.14.g Anycast
• 3.6 Configure, verify, and troubleshoot IPv4 and IPv6
• static routing.
• 3.6.a Default route
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Why Do We Need IPv6?
Well, the short answer is because we need to communicate and our
current system isn’t really cutting it anymore. It’s kind of like the
Pony Express trying to compete with airmail!
Consider how much time and effort we’ve been investing for years
while we scratch our heads to resourcefully come up with slick new
ways to conserve bandwidth and IP addresses. Sure, variable length
subnet masks (VLSMs) are wonderful and cool, but they’re really
just another invention to help us cope while we desperately struggle
to overcome the worsening address drought.
IPv4 has only about 4.3 billion addresses available—in theory—
and we know that we don’t even get to use most of those! Sure, the
use of Classless Inter-Domain Routing (CIDR) and Network
Address Translation (NAT) has helped to extend the inevitable
dearth of addresses, but we will still run out of them, and it’s going
to happen within a few years.
China is barely online, and we know there’s a huge population of
people and corporations there that surely want to be.
Figure 14.1: IPv6 address
example
48-bits 16-bits
2001:0db8:3c4d:0012:0000:0000:1234:56ab
Global prefix Subnet Interface ID
64 bits 64 bits
As you can clearly see, the address is definitely much larger. But what
else is different? Well, first, notice that it has eight groups of numbers
instead of four, and also that those groups are separated by colons
instead of periods. And hey, wait a second… there are letters in that
address! Yep, the address is expressed in hexadecimal just like a MAC
address is, so you could say this address has eight 16-bit hexadecimal
colon-delimited blocks.
Address Types
Unicast Unique local addresses (FC00::/7)
Packets addressed to a unicast address are delivered to Unique local addresses were designed to
a single interface. For load balancing, multiple replace site-local addresses, so they
interfaces across several devices can use the same basically do almost exactly what IPv4
address, but we’ll call that an anycast address. private addresses do: allow
Global unicast addresses (2000::/3) communication throughout a site while
being routable to multiple local networks.
These are your typical publicly routable addresses and
they’re the same as in IPv4. Global addresses start at Multicast (FF00::/8)
2000::/3. Figure 14.2 shows how a unicast address Again, same as in IPv4, packets
breaks down. The ISP can provide you with a addressed to a multicast address are
minimum /48 network ID, which in turn provides you delivered to all interfaces tuned into the
with 16-bits to create a unique 64-bit router interface multicast address. Sometimes people call
address. The last 64-bits are the unique host ID. them “one-to-many” addresses. It’s really
easy to spot a multicast address in IPv6
Link-local addresses (FE80::/10) because they always start with FF.
These are like the Automatic Private IP Address
Anycast
(APIPA) addresses that Microsoft uses to
automatically provide addresses in IPv4 in that they’re These are referred to as one-to-nearest
not meant to be routed. In IPv6 they start with addresses.
FE80::/10.
Figure 14.2: IPv6 global
unicast addresses
/23 /32 /48 /64
Interface ID
Registry
ISP Prefix
Company
Subnet
Manual Address Assignment
In order to enable IPv6 on a router, you have to use the ipv6 unicast-
routing global configuration command:
Corp(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
By default, IPv6 traffic forwarding is disabled, so using this command enables it.
You can now use the interface configuration command ipv6 address
<ipv6prefix>/<prefix-length> [eui-64]
Here’s an example:
Corp(config-if)#ipv6 address 2001:db8:3c4d:1:0260:d6FF.FE73:1987/64
or you can use the eui-64 option. Remember, the EUI-64 (extended unique
identifier) format allows the device to use its MAC address and pad it to make the
interface ID. Check it out:
Corp(config-if)#ipv6 address 2001:db8:3c4d:1::/64 eui-64
Figure 14.4: EUI-64 interface
ID assignment
Autoconfiguration is an especially useful solution because it allows
devices on a network to address themselves with a link-local unicast
address as well as with a global unicast address.
64 bit Interface ID
OUI Unique address
FF FE
000000X0
Insert 16-bits
The 7th bit (U/L)
10= Universally unique
00= Locally unique
Let’s say I have a device with a MAC address that looks like this:
0060:d673:1987. After it’s been padded, it would look like this:
0260:d6FF:FE73:1987.
So where did that 2 in the beginning of the address come from?
Figure 14.5: Two steps to IPv6
autoconfiguration
Step 2: Router sends
RA message
FF02::1
ICMP type 134
Step 1: Host Host receives the RA and included
sends prefix, allowing it to auto-configure
RS message its interface.
FF02::2
ICMP type 133
Figure 14.6: IPv6
autoconfiguration example
In this figure, the Branch router needs to be configured, but I
just don’t feel like typing in an IPv6 address on the interface
connecting to the Corp router. I also don’t feel like typing in any
routing commands, but I need more than a link-local address on
that interface. So basically, I want to have the Branch router work
with IPv6 on the internetwork with the least amount of effort.
Branch(config-if)#ipv6 address autoconfig default
Internet
Gi0/0 Gi0/1
Branch Corp
IPv6 Address
Default Route
Using the command ipv6 address autoconfig, the
interface will listen for RAs and then, via the EUI-64 format, it
will assign itself a global address
Figure 14.7: IPv6 header
4 Bytes
Version Class Flow Label
Payload Length Next Header Hop Limit
Source Address
40 Bytes
16 Bytes, 128 bits
Destination Address
16 Bytes, 128 bits
When IPv6 designers devised the header, they created fewer, streamlined
fields that would also result in a faster routed protocol at the same time.
Figure 14.8: ICMPv6
Next Header = 58 IPv6 Header
ICMPv6 packet
ICMPv6 Type ICMPv6 Code Checksum
ICMPv6 Data
Figure 14.8 shows how ICMPv6 has evolved to
become part of the IPv6 packet itself.
Figure 14.9: Router
solicitation (RS) and router
advertisement (RA)
FF02::2 All routers respond! (RS)
Internet
Branch Corp
FF02::1 Use me! (RA)
Corp2
IPv6 hosts send a router solicitation (RS) onto their data link asking
for all routers to respond, and they use the multicast address FF02::2
to achieve this. Routers on the same link respond with a unicast to the
requesting host, or with a router advertisement (RA) using FF02::1.
Figure 14.12: IPv6 static and
default routing
2001:DB8:43:91::1 2001:DB8:43:91::2
2001:1234:4321:1::/64 Internet
Gi0/0 Gi0/1
Branch Corp
Default Route Static Route
ipv6 route 2001:1234:0:1::/64 2001:db8:43:91::1
ipv6 route ::/0 gi0/0
First, I created a static route on the Corp router to the remote network
2001:1234:4321:1::/64 using the next hop address. I could’ve just as easily used the
Corp router’s exit interface. Next, I just set up a default route for the Branch router
with ::/0 and the Branch exit interface of Gi0/0.
Written Labs and Review
Questions
– Read through the Exam Essentials section
together in class.
– Open your books and go through all the
written labs and the review questions.
– Review the answers in class.
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