Internet Draft


INTERNET-DRAFT                              R. Hinden, Ipsilon Networks
June 12, 1997                                 S. Deering, Cisco Systems




                  IP Version 6 Addressing Architecture

                <draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt>




Status of this Memo

   This document is an Internet-Draft.  Internet-Drafts are working
   documents of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), its areas,
   and its working groups.  Note that other groups may also distribute
   working documents as Internet-Drafts.

   Internet-Drafts are draft documents valid for a maximum of six months
   and may be updated, replaced, or obsoleted by other documents at any
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   To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the
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   (Europe), ftp.isi.edu (US West Coast), or munnari.oz.au (Pacific
   Rim).

   This Internet Draft expires December 13, 1997.



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.









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Table of Contents

   1. Introduction.................................................3

   2. IPv6 Addressing..............................................3
      2.1 Addressing Model.........................................4
      2.2 Text Representation of Addresses.........................4
      2.3 Text Representation of Address Prefixes..................5
      2.4 Address Type Representation..............................6
      2.5 Unicast Addresses........................................8
        2.5.1 Interface Identifiers................................9
        2.5.2 The Unspecified Address.............................10
        2.5.3 The Loopback Address................................10
        2.5.4 IPv6 Addresses with Embedded IPv4 Addresses.........10
        2.5.5 NSAP Addresses......................................11
        2.5.6 IPX Addresses.......................................11
        2.5.7 Aggregatable Global Unicast Addresses...............11
        2.5.8 Local-use IPv6 Unicast Addresses....................12
      2.6 Anycast Addresses.......................................13
        2.6.1 Required Anycast Address............................14
      2.7 Multicast Addresses.....................................14
        2.7.1 Pre-Defined Multicast Addresses.....................16
        2.7.2 Assignment of New IPv6 Multicast Addresses..........17
      2.8 A Node's Required Addresses.............................18

   APPENDIX A: Creating EUI-64 based Interface Identifiers........20

   REFERENCES.....................................................23

   SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS........................................24

   AUTHOR'S ADDRESSES.............................................24

   CHANGES FROM RFC-1884..........................................25

















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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, Bob Fink, Peter Ford, Bob Gilligan, Dimitry Haskin,
   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.

   There are no broadcast addresses in IPv6, their function being
   superseded by multicast addresses.

   In this document, fields in addresses are given a specific name, 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.




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   In IPv6, all zeros and all ones are legal values for any field,
   unless specifically excluded.  Specifically, prefixes may contain
   zero-valued fields or end in zeros.


2.1 Addressing Model

   IPv6 Addresses of all types are assigned to interfaces, not nodes.
   Since each interface belongs to a single node, any of that node's
   interfaces' unicast addresses may be used as an identifier for the
   node.

   An IPv6 unicast address refers to a single interface.  A single
   interface may be assigned multiple IPv6 addresses of any type
   (unicast, anycast, and multicast).  There are two exceptions to this
   model.  These are:

   1) A single address may be assigned to multiple physical interfaces
      if the implementation treats the multiple physical interfaces as
      one interface when presenting it to the internet layer.  This is
      useful for load-sharing over multiple physical interfaces.

   2) Routers may have unnumbered interfaces (i.e., no IPv6 address
      assigned to the interface) on point-to-point links to eliminate
      the necessity to manually configure and advertise the addresses.
      Addresses are not needed for point-to-point interfaces on routers
      if those interfaces are not to be used as the origins or
      destinations of any IPv6 datagrams.

   Currently IPv6 continues the IPv4 model that a subnet is associated
   with one link.  Multiple subnets may be assigned to the same link.


2.2 Text Representation of Addresses

   There are three conventional forms for representing IPv6 addresses as
   text strings:

   1. The preferred form is x:x:x:x:x:x:x:x, where the 'x's are the
      hexadecimal values of the eight 16-bit pieces of the address.
      Examples:

         FEDC:BA98:7654:3210:FEDC:BA98:7654:3210

         1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A

      Note that it is not necessary to write the leading zeros in an
      individual field, but there must be at least one numeral in every



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      field (except for the case described in 2.).

   2. Due to the method of allocating certain styles of IPv6 addresses,
      it will be common for addresses to contain long strings of zero
      bits.  In order to make writing addresses containing zero bits
      easier a special syntax is available to compress the zeros.  The
      use of "::" indicates multiple groups of 16-bits of zeros.  The
      "::" can only appear once in an address.  The "::" can also be
      used to compress the leading and/or trailing zeros in an address.

      For example the following addresses:

         1080:0:0:0:8:800:200C:417A  a unicast address
         FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:43         a multicast address
         0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1             the loopback address
         0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0             the unspecified addresses

      may be represented as:

         1080::8:800:200C:417A       a unicast address
         FF01::43                    a multicast address
         ::1                         the loopback address
         ::                          the unspecified addresses

   3. An alternative form that is sometimes more convenient when dealing
      with a mixed environment of IPv4 and IPv6 nodes is
      x:x:x:x:x:x:d.d.d.d, where the 'x's are the hexadecimal values of
      the six high-order 16-bit pieces of the address, and the 'd's are
      the decimal values of the four low-order 8-bit pieces of the
      address (standard IPv4 representation).  Examples:

         0:0:0:0:0:0:13.1.68.3

         0:0:0:0:0:FFFF:129.144.52.38

      or in compressed form:

         ::13.1.68.3

         ::FFFF:129.144.52.38


2.3 Text Representation of Address Prefixes

   The text representation of IPv6 address prefixes is similar to the
   way IPv4 addresses prefixes are written in CIDR notation.  An IPv6
   address prefix is represented by the notation:




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      ipv6-address/prefix-length

   where

      ipv6-address    is an IPv6 address in any of the notations listed
                      in section 2.2.

      prefix-length   is a decimal value specifying how many of the
                      leftmost contiguous bits of the address comprise
                      the prefix.

   For example, the following are legal representations of the 60-bit
   prefix 12AB00000000CD3 (hexadecimal):

      12AB:0000:0000:CD30:0000:0000:0000:0000/60
      12AB::CD30:0:0:0:0/60
      12AB:0:0:CD30::/60

   The following are NOT legal representations of the above prefix:

      12AB:0:0:CD3/60   may drop leading zeros, but not trailing zeros,
                        within any 16-bit chunk of the address

      12AB::CD30/60     address to left of "/" expands to
                        12AB:0000:0000:0000:0000:000:0000:CD30

      12AB::CD3/60      address to left of "/" expands to
                        12AB:0000:0000:0000:0000:000:0000:0CD3

   When writing both a node address and a prefix of that node address
   (e.g., the node's subnet prefix), the two can combined as follows:

      the node address      12AB:0:0:CD30:123:4567:89AB:CDEF
      and its subnet number 12AB:0:0:CD30::/60

      can be abbreviated as 12AB:0:0:CD30:123:4567:89AB:CDEF/60


2.4 Address Type Representation

   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).  The initial allocation of
   these prefixes is as follows:







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      Allocation                            Prefix         Fraction of
                                            (binary)       Address Space
      -----------------------------------   --------       -------------
      Reserved                              0000 0000      1/256
      Unassigned                            0000 0001      1/256

      Reserved for NSAP Allocation          0000 001       1/128
      Reserved for IPX Allocation           0000 010       1/128

      Unassigned                            0000 011       1/128
      Unassigned                            0000 1         1/32
      Unassigned                            0001           1/16

      Aggregatable Global Unicast Addresses 001            1/8
      Unassigned                            010            1/8
      Unassigned                            011            1/8
      Unassigned                            100            1/8
      Unassigned                            101            1/8
      Unassigned                            110            1/8

      Unassigned                            1110           1/16
      Unassigned                            1111 0         1/32
      Unassigned                            1111 10        1/64
      Unassigned                            1111 110       1/128
      Unassigned                            1111 1110 0    1/512

      Link-Local Unicast Addresses          1111 1110 10   1/1024
      Site-Local Unicast Addresses          1111 1110 11   1/1024

      Multicast Addresses                   1111 1111      1/256

   Notes:

      (1) The "unspecified address" (see section 2.5.2), the loopback
          address (see section 2.5.3), and the IPv6 Addresses with
          Embedded IPv4 Addresses (see section 2.5.4), are assigned out
          of the 0000 0000 format prefix space.

      (2) The format prefixes 001 and higher, except for Multicast
          Addresses (1111 1111), are all required to have to have 64-bit
          interface identifiers in EUI-64 format.  See section 2.5.1 for
          definitions.


   This allocation supports the direct allocation of aggregation
   addresses, local use addresses, and multicast addresses.  Space is
   reserved for NSAP addresses and IPX addresses.  The remainder of the
   address space is unassigned for future use.  This can be used for



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   expansion of existing use (e.g., additional aggregatable addresses,
   etc.) or new uses (e.g., separate locators and identifiers).  Fifteen
   percent of the address space is initially allocated.  The remaining
   85% is reserved for future use.

   Unicast addresses are distinguished from multicast addresses by the
   value of the high-order octet of the addresses: a value of FF
   (11111111) identifies an address as a multicast address; any other
   value identifies an address as a unicast address.  Anycast addresses
   are taken from the unicast address space, and are not syntactically
   distinguishable from unicast addresses.


2.5 Unicast Addresses

   The IPv6 unicast address is contiguous bit-wise maskable, similar to
   IPv4 addresses under Class-less Interdomain Routing [CIDR].

   There are several forms of unicast address assignment in IPv6,
   including the global aggregatable global unicast address, the NSAP
   address, the IPX hierarchical address, the site-local address, the
   link-local address, and the IPv4-capable host address.  Additional
   address types can be defined in the future.

   IPv6 nodes may have considerable or little knowledge of the internal
   structure of the IPv6 address, depending on the role the node plays
   (for instance, host versus router).  At a minimum, a node may
   consider that unicast addresses (including its own) have no internal
   structure:

   |                           128 bits                              |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                          node address                           |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------+


   A slightly sophisticated host (but still rather simple) may
   additionally be aware of subnet prefix(es) for the link(s) it is
   attached to, where different addresses may have different values for
   n:

   |                         n bits                 |   128-n bits   |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+
   |                   subnet prefix                | interface ID   |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+


   Still more sophisticated hosts may be aware of other hierarchical



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   boundaries in the unicast address.  Though a very simple router may
   have no knowledge of the internal structure of IPv6 unicast
   addresses, routers will more generally have knowledge of one or more
   of the hierarchical boundaries for the operation of routing
   protocols.  The known boundaries will differ from router to router,
   depending on what positions the router holds in the routing
   hierarchy.


2.5.1 Interface Identifiers

   Interface identifiers in IPv6 unicast addresses are used to identify
   interfaces on a link.  They are required to be unique on that link.
   They may also be unique over a broader scope.  In many cases an
   interface's identifier will be the same as that interface's link-
   layer address.  The same interface identifier may be used on multiple
   interfaces on a single node.  Note that the use of the same interface
   identifier on multiple interfaces of a single node does not affect
   the interface identifier's global uniqueness.

   In a number of the format prefixes (see section 2.4) Interface IDs
   are required to be 64 bits long and to be constructed in IEEE EUI-64
   format [EUI-64].  EUI-64 based Interface identifiers may have global
   scope when a global token is available (e.g., IEEE 48bit MAC) or may
   have local scope where a global token is not available (e.g., serial
   links, tunnel end-points, etc.).  It is required that the "u" bit
   (universal/local bit in IEEE EUI-64 terminology) be inverted when
   forming the interface identifier.  The "u" bit is set to one (1) to
   indicate global scope, and it is set to zero (0) to indicate local
   scope.  The first three octets in binary of an EUI-64 identifier are
   as follows:


          0       0 0       1 1       2
         |0       7 8       5 6       3|
         +----+----+----+----+----+----+
         |cccc|ccug|cccc|cccc|cccc|cccc|
         +----+----+----+----+----+----+


   written in Internet standard bit-order , where "u" is the
   universal/local bit, "g" is the individual/group bit, and "c" are the
   bits of the company_id.  Appendix A: "Creating EUI-64 based Interface
   Identifiers" provides examples on the creation of different EUI-64
   based interface identifiers.

   This use of the universal/local bit in the IEEE EUI-64 identifier is
   to allow development of future technology that can take advantage of



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   interface identifiers with global scope.

   The details of forming interface identifiers are defined in the
   appropriate "IPv6 over " specification such as "IPv6 over
   Ethernet" [ETHER], "IPv6 over FDDI" [FDDI], etc.


2.5.2 The Unspecified Address

   The address 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:0 is called the unspecified address.  It
   must never be assigned to any node.  It indicates the absence of an
   address.  One example of its use is in the Source Address field of
   any IPv6 datagrams sent by an initializing host before it has learned
   its own address.

   The unspecified address must not be used as the destination address
   of IPv6 datagrams or in IPv6 Routing Headers.


2.5.3 The Loopback Address

   The unicast address 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 is called the loopback address.
   It may be used by a node to send an IPv6 datagram to itself.  It may
   never be assigned to any interface.

   The loopback address must not be used as the source address in IPv6
   datagrams that are sent outside of a single node.  An IPv6 datagram
   with a destination address of loopback must never be sent outside of
   a single node and must never be forwarded by an IPv6 router.


2.5.4 IPv6 Addresses with Embedded IPv4 Addresses

   The IPv6 transition mechanisms include a technique for hosts and
   routers to dynamically tunnel IPv6 packets over IPv4 routing
   infrastructure.  IPv6 nodes that utilize this technique are assigned
   special IPv6 unicast addresses that carry an IPv4 address in the low-
   order 32-bits.  This type of address is termed an "IPv4-compatible
   IPv6 address" and has the format:


   |                80 bits               | 16 |      32 bits        |
   +--------------------------------------+--------------------------+
   |0000..............................0000|0000|    IPv4 address     |
   +--------------------------------------+----+---------------------+


   A second type of IPv6 address which holds an embedded IPv4 address is



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   also defined.  This address is used to represent the addresses of
   IPv4-only nodes (those that *do not* support IPv6) as IPv6 addresses.
   This type of address is termed an "IPv4-mapped IPv6 address" and has
   the format:


   |                80 bits               | 16 |      32 bits        |
   +--------------------------------------+--------------------------+
   |0000..............................0000|FFFF|    IPv4 address     |
   +--------------------------------------+----+---------------------+



2.5.5 NSAP Addresses

   This mapping of NSAP address into IPv6 addresses is defined in
   [NSAP].  This document recommends that network implementors who have
   planned or deployed an OSI NSAP addressing plan, and who wish to
   deploy or transition to IPv6, should redesign a native IPv6
   addressing plan to meet their needs.  However, it also defines a set
   of mechanisms for the support of OSI NSAP addressing in an IPv6
   network.  These mechanisms are the ones that must be used if such
   support is required.  This document also defines a mapping of IPv6
   addresses within the OSI address format, should this be required.


2.5.6 IPX Addresses

   This mapping of IPX address into IPv6 addresses is as follows:


   |   7   |                   121 bits                              |
   +-------+---------------------------------------------------------+
   |0000010|                 to be defined                           |
   +-------+---------------------------------------------------------+

   The draft definition, motivation, and usage are under study.


2.5.7 Aggregatable Global Unicast Addresses

   The global aggregatable global unicast address is defined in [AGGR].
   This address format is designed to support both the current provider
   based aggregation and a new type of aggregation called exchanges.
   The combination will allow efficient routing aggregation for both
   sites which connect directly to providers and who connect to
   exchanges.  Sites will have the choice to connect to either type of
   aggregation point.



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   The IPv6 aggregatable global unicast address format is as follows:

   +---+-----+-----------+--------+--------------------------------+
   |001| TLA |   NLA*    |  SLA*  |         Interface ID           |
   +---+-----+-----------+--------+--------------------------------+

   Where

      001          Format Prefix (3 bit) for Aggregatable Global
                   Unicast Addresses
      TLA          Top Level Aggregator
      NLA*         Next Level Aggregator(s)
      SLA*         Site-Local Aggregator(s)
      INTERFACE ID Interface Identifier

   The contents, field sizes, and assignment rules are defined in
   [AGGR].


2.5.8 Local-Use IPv6 Unicast Addresses

   There are two types of local-use unicast addresses defined.  These
   are Link-Local and Site-Local.  The Link-Local is for use on a single
   link and the Site-Local is for use in a single site.  Link-Local
   addresses have the following format:

   |   10     |
   |  bits    |        54 bits          |          64 bits           |
   +----------+-------------------------+----------------------------+
   |1111111010|           0             |       interface ID         |
   +----------+-------------------------+----------------------------+

   Link-Local addresses are designed to be used for addressing on a
   single link for purposes such as auto-address configuration, neighbor
   discovery, or when no routers are present.

   Routers MUST not forward any packets with link-local source or
   destination addresses to other links.

   Site-Local addresses have the following format:

   |   10     |
   |  bits    |   38 bits   |  16 bits  |         64 bits            |
   +----------+-------------+-----------+----------------------------+
   |1111111011|    0        | subnet ID |       interface ID         |
   +----------+-------------+-----------+----------------------------+





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   Site-Local addresses are designed to be used for addressing inside of
   a site without the need for a global prefix.

   Routers MUST not forward any packets with site-local source or
   destination addresses outside of the site.

2.6 Anycast Addresses

   An IPv6 anycast address is an address that is assigned to more than
   one interface (typically belonging to different nodes), with the
   property that a packet sent to an anycast address is routed to the
   "nearest" interface having that address, according to the routing
   protocols' measure of distance.

   Anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space, using
   any of the defined unicast address formats.  Thus, anycast addresses
   are syntactically indistinguishable from unicast addresses.  When a
   unicast address is assigned to more than one interface, thus turning
   it into an anycast address, the nodes to which the address is
   assigned must be explicitly configured to know that it is an anycast
   address.

   For any assigned anycast address, there is a longest address prefix P
   that identifies the topological region in which all interfaces
   belonging to that anycast address reside.  Within the region
   identified by P, each member of the anycast set must be advertised as
   a separate entry in the routing system (commonly referred to as a
   "host route"); outside the region identified by P, the anycast
   address may be aggregated into the routing advertisement for prefix
   P.

   Note that in, the worst case, the prefix P of an anycast set may be
   the null prefix, i.e., the members of the set may have no topological
   locality.  In that case, the anycast address must be advertised as a
   separate routing entry throughout the entire internet, which presents
   a severe scaling limit on how many such "global" anycast sets may be
   supported.  Therefore, it is expected that support for global anycast
   sets may be unavailable or very restricted.

   One expected use of anycast addresses is to identify the set of
   routers belonging to an organization providing internet service.
   Such addresses could be used as intermediate addresses in an IPv6
   Routing header, to cause a packet to be delivered via a particular
   aggregation or sequence of aggregations.  Some other possible uses
   are to identify the set of routers attached to a particular subnet,
   or the set of routers providing entry into a particular routing
   domain.




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   There is little experience with widespread, arbitrary use of internet
   anycast addresses, and some known complications and hazards when
   using them in their full generality [ANYCST].  Until more experience
   has been gained and solutions agreed upon for those problems, the
   following restrictions are imposed on IPv6 anycast addresses:

      o An anycast address MUST NOT be used as the source address of an
        IPv6 packet.

      o An anycast address MUST NOT be assigned to an IPv6 host, that
        is, it may be assigned to an IPv6 router only.


2.6.1 Required Anycast Address

   The Subnet-Router anycast address is predefined.  Its format is as
   follows:


   |                         n bits                 |   128-n bits   |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+
   |                   subnet prefix                | 00000000000000 |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+


   The "subnet prefix" in an anycast address is the prefix which
   identifies a specific link.  This anycast address is syntactically
   the same as a unicast address for an interface on the link with the
   interface identifier set to zero.

   Packets sent to the Subnet-Router anycast address will be delivered
   to one router on the subnet.  All routers are required to support the
   Subnet-Router anycast addresses for the subnets which they have
   interfaces.

   The subnet-router anycast address is intended to be used for
   applications where a node needs to communicate with one of a set of
   routers on a remote subnet.  For example when a mobile host needs to
   communicate with one of the mobile agents on its "home" subnet.


2.7 Multicast Addresses

   An IPv6 multicast address is an identifier for a group of nodes.  A
   node may belong to any number of multicast groups.  Multicast
   addresses have the following format:





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   |   8    |  4 |  4 |                  112 bits                   |
   +------ -+----+----+---------------------------------------------+
   |11111111|flgs|scop|                  group ID                   |
   +--------+----+----+---------------------------------------------+

        11111111 at the start of the address identifies the address as
        being a multicast address.

                                      +-+-+-+-+
        flgs is a set of 4 flags:     |0|0|0|T|
                                      +-+-+-+-+

             The high-order 3 flags are reserved, and must be
             initialized to 0.

             T = 0 indicates a permanently-assigned ("well-known")
             multicast address, assigned by the global internet
             numbering authority.

             T = 1 indicates a non-permanently-assigned ("transient")
             multicast address.

        scop is a 4-bit multicast scope value used to limit the scope of
        the multicast group.  The values are:

             0  reserved
             1  node-local scope
             2  link-local scope
             3  (unassigned)
             4  (unassigned)
             5  site-local scope
             6  (unassigned)
             7  (unassigned)
             8  organization-local scope
             9  (unassigned)
             A  (unassigned)
             B  (unassigned)
             C  (unassigned)
             D  (unassigned)
             E  global scope
             F  reserved

        group ID identifies the multicast group, either permanent or
        transient, within the given scope.

   The "meaning" of a permanently-assigned multicast address is
   independent of the scope value.  For example, if the "NTP servers
   group" is assigned a permanent multicast address with a group ID of



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   43 (hex), then:

        FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:43 means all NTP servers on the same node as
        the sender.

        FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:43 means all NTP servers on the same link as
        the sender.

        FF05:0:0:0:0:0:0:43 means all NTP servers at the same site as
        the sender.

        FF0E:0:0:0:0:0:0:43 means all NTP servers in the internet.


   Non-permanently-assigned multicast addresses are meaningful only
   within a given scope.  For example, a group identified by the non-
   permanent, site-local multicast address FF15:0:0:0:0:0:0:43 at one
   site bears no relationship to a group using the same address at a
   different site, nor to a non-permanent group using the same group ID
   with different scope, nor to a permanent group with the same group
   ID.

   Multicast addresses must not be used as source addresses in IPv6
   datagrams or appear in any routing header.


2.7.1 Pre-Defined Multicast Addresses

   The following well-known multicast addresses are pre-defined:

      Reserved Multicast Addresses:   FF00:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF03:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF04:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF05:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF06:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF07:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF08:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF09:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0A:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0B:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0C:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0D:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0E:0:0:0:0:0:0:0
                                      FF0F:0:0:0:0:0:0:0

   The above multicast addresses are reserved and shall never be



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   assigned to any multicast group.

      All Nodes Addresses:    FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
                              FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:1

   The above multicast addresses identify the group of all IPv6 nodes,
   within scope 1 (node-local) or 2 (link-local).

      All Routers Addresses:   FF01:0:0:0:0:0:0:2
                               FF02:0:0:0:0:0:0:2
                               FF05:0:0:0:0:0:0:2

   The above multicast addresses identify the group of all IPv6 routers,
   within scope 1 (node-local), 2 (link-local), or 5 (site-local).

      Solicited-Node Address:  FF02:0:0:0:0:1:FFXX:XXXX

   The above multicast address is computed as a function of a node's
   unicast and anycast addresses.  The solicited-node multicast address
   is formed by taking the low-order 24 bits of the address (unicast or
   anycast) and appending those bits to the prefix
   FF02:0:0:0:0:1:FF00::/104 resulting in a multicast address in the
   range

         FF02:0:0:0:0:1:FF00:0000

   to

         FF02:0:0:0:0:1:FFFF:FFFF

   For example, the solicited node multicast address corresponding to
   the IPv6 address 4037::01:800:200E:8C6C is FF02::1:FF0E:8C6C.  IPv6
   addresses that differ only in the high-order bits, e.g. due to
   multiple high-order prefixes associated with different aggregations,
   will map to the same solicited-node address thereby reducing the
   number of multicast addresses a node must join.

   A node is required to compute and support a Solicited-Node multicast
   addresses for every unicast and anycast address it is assigned.


2.7.2 Assignment of New IPv6 Multicast Addresses

   The current approach [RFC1972] to map IPv6 multicast addresses into
   IEEE 802 MAC addresses takes the low order 32 bits of the IPv6
   multicast address and uses it to create a MAC address.  Groups ID's
   less than or equal to 32 bits will generate unique MAC addresses.
   Due to this new IPv6 multicast addresses should be assigned so that



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   the group identifier is always in the low order 32 bits as shown in
   the following:


    |   8    |  4 |  4 |          80 bits          |     32 bits     |
    +------ -+----+----+---------------------------+-----------------+
    |11111111|flgs|scop|   reserved must be zero   |    group ID     |
    +--------+----+----+---------------------------+-----------------+


   While this limits the number of permanent IPv6 multicast groups to
   2^32 this is unlikely to be a limitation in the future.  If it
   becomes necessary to exceed this limit in the future multicast will
   still work but the processing will be sightly slower.

   Additional IPv6 multicast addresses are defined and registered by the
   IANA [MASGN].


2.8 A Node's Required Addresses

   A host is required to recognize the following addresses as
   identifying itself:

      o Its Link-Local Address for each interface
      o Assigned Unicast Addresses
      o Loopback Address
      o All-Nodes Multicast Address
      o Solicited-Node Multicast Address for each of its assigned
        unicast and anycast addresses
      o Multicast Addresses of all other groups which the host belongs.

   A router is required to recognize the following addresses as
   identifying itself:

      o Its Link-Local Address for each interface
      o Assigned Unicast Addresses
      o Loopback Address
      o The Subnet-Router anycast addresses for the links it has
        interfaces.
      o All other Anycast addresses with which the router has been
        configured.
      o All-Nodes Multicast Address
      o All-Router Multicast Address
      o Solicited-Node Multicast Address for each of its assigned
        unicast and anycast addresses
      o Multicast Addresses of all other groups which the router
        belongs.



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   The only address prefixes which should be predefined in an
   implementation are the:

      o Unspecified Address
      o Loopback Address
      o Multicast Prefix (FF)
      o Local-Use Prefixes (Link-Local and Site-Local)
      o Pre-Defined Multicast Addresses
      o IPv4-Compatible Prefixes

   Implementations should assume all other addresses are unicast unless
   specifically configured (e.g., anycast addresses).







































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APPENDIX A : Creating EUI-64 based Interface Identifiers
--------------------------------------------------------

   Depending on the characteristics of a specific link or node there are
   a number of approaches to create EUI-64 based interface identifiers.
   This appendix describes some of these approaches.


Links or Nodes with EUI-64 Identifiers

   The only transformation from an EUI-64 identifier is to invert the
   "u" (universal/local) bit.  For example, a globally unique EUI-64
   identifier of the form:

   |0              1|1              3|3              4|4              6|
   |0              5|6              1|2              7|8              3|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |cccccc0gcccccccc|ccccccccvvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   where "c" are the bits of the assigned company_id, "0" is the value
   of the universal/local bit to indicate global scope, "g" is
   individual/group bit, and "v" are the bits of the vendor supplied
   identifier.  The IPv6 interface identifier would be of the form:

   |0              1|1              3|3              4|4              6|
   |0              5|6              1|2              7|8              3|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |cccccc1gcccccccc|ccccccccvvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   The only change is inverting the value of the universal/local bit.


Links or Nodes with IEEE 802 48 bit MAC's

   [EUI64] defines a method to create a EUI-64 identifier from an IEEE
   48bit MAC identifier.  This is to insert two octets, with hexadecimal
   values of 0xFF and 0xFE, in the middle of the 48 bit MAC (between the
   company_id and vendor supplied id).  For example the 48 bit MAC with
   global scope:

   |0              1|1              3|3              4|
   |0              5|6              1|2              7|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |cccccc0gcccccccc|ccccccccvvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+




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   where "c" are the bits of the assigned company_id, "0" is the value
   of the universal/local bit to indicate global scope, "g" is
   individual/group bit, and "v" are the bits of the vendor supplied
   identifier.  The interface identifier would be of the form:

   |0              1|1              3|3              4|4              6|
   |0              5|6              1|2              7|8              3|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |cccccc1gcccccccc|cccccccc11111111|11111110vvvvvvvv|vvvvvvvvvvvvvvvv|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   When IEEE 802 48bit MAC addresses are available (on an interface or a
   node), an implementation should use them to create interface
   identifiers due to their availability and uniqueness properties.


Links with Non-Global Identifiers

   There are a number of types of links that, while multi-access, do not
   have globally unique link identifiers.  Examples include LocalTalk
   and Arcnet.  The method to create an EUI-64 based identifier is to
   take the link identifier (e.g., the LocalTalk 8 bit node identifier)
   and zero fill it to the left.  For example a LocalTalk 8 bit node
   identifier of hexadecimal value 0x4F results in the following
   interface identifier:

   |0              1|1              3|3              4|4              6|
   |0              5|6              1|2              7|8              3|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
   |0000000000000000|0000000000000000|0000000000000000|0000000001001111|
   +----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+

   Note that this results in the universal/local bit set to "0" to
   indicate local scope.


Links without Identifiers

   There are a number of links that do not have any type of built in
   identifier.  The most common of these are serial links and configured
   tunnels.  Interface identifiers must be chosen that are unique for
   the link.

   When no built in identifier is available on a link the preferred
   approach is to use a global interface identifier from another
   interface or one which is assigned to the node itself.  To use this
   approach no other interface connecting the same node to the same link
   may use the same identifier.



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   If there is no global interface identifier available for use on the
   link the implementation needs to create a local scope interface
   identifier.  The only requirement is that it be unique on the link.
   There are many possible approaches to select an link-unique interface
   identifier.  They include:

      Manual Configuration
      Generated Random Number
      Node Serial Number (or other node specific token)

   The selection of the appropriate algorithm is link and implementation
   dependent.  The details on forming interface identifiers are defined
   in the appropriate "IPv6 over " specification.  It is strongly
   recommended that a collision detection algorithm be implemented as
   part of any automatic algorithm.




































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REFERENCES

   [AGGR]    Hinden, R., Deering, S., O'Dell, M., "An Aggregatable
             Global Unicast Address Format", internet draft, , May 1997.

   [ALLOC]   Rekhter, Y., Li, T., "An Architecture for IPv6 Unicast
             Address Allocation", RFC1887, December 1995.

   [ANYCST]  C. Partridge, T. Mendez, and W. Milliken, "Host Anycasting
             Service", RFC1546, November 1993.

   [CIDR]    Fuller, V., Li, T., Yu, J., Varadhan, K., "Classless Inter-
             Domain Routing (CIDR): An Address Assignment and
             Aggregation Strategy", RFC1519, September 1993.

   [ETHER]   M. Crawford, "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet
             Networks", Internet Draft, , March 1997.

   [EUI64]   IEEE, "Guidelines for 64-bit Global Identifier (EUI-64)
             Registration Authority",
             http://standards.ieee.org/db/oui/tutorials/EUI64.html,
             March 1997.

   [FDDI]    M. Crawford, "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over FDDI
             Networks", Internet Draft, , March 1997.

   [IPV6]    S. Deering, R. Hinden, Editors, "Internet Protocol, Version
             6 (IPv6) Specification", RFC1883, December 1995.

   [MASGN]   R. Hinden, "IPv6 Multicast Address Assignments", Internet
             Draft, <draft-ietf-ipngwg-multicast-assgn-02.txt>, May
             1997.

   [MULT]    S. Deering, "Host Extensions for IP multicasting", RFC
             1112.

   [NSAP]    J. Bound, B. Carpenter, D. Harrington, J. Houldsworth, A.
             Lloyd, "OSI NSAPs and IPv6", RFC1888, August 1996.

   [RFC2119] S. Bradner, "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
             Requirement Levels", RFC2119, BCP14, March 1997.







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SECURITY CONSIDERATIONS

   Documents of this type do not directly impact the security of the
   Internet infrastructure or its applications.


AUTHOR'S ADDRESSES

   Robert M. Hinden                     Stephen E. Deering
   Ipsilon Networks, Inc.               Cisco Systems, Inc.
   232 Java Drive                       170 West Tasman Drive
   Sunnyvale, CA 94089                  San Jose, CA 95134-1706
   USA                                  USA

   phone: +1 408 990-2004               phone: +1 408 527-8213
   fax:   +1 408 743-5677               fax:   +1 408 527-8254
   email: hinden@ipsilon.com            email: deering@cisco.com


































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CHANGES FROM RFC-1884

   This draft has the following changes from RFC-1884.  Number indicates
   which version of internet draft the change was made.

    1) Added notation for defining IPv6 prefixes.
    1) Changed solicited node multicast definition to use a longer
       prefix.
    1) Added site scope all routers multicast address.
    1) Defined Aggregatable Global Unicast Addresses to use "001" Format
       Prefix.
    1) Changed "010" (Provider-Based Unicast) and "100" (Reserved for
       Geographic) Format Prefixes to Unassigned.
    1) Added section on Interface ID definition for unicast addresses.
       Requires use of EUI-64 in range of format prefixes and rules for
       setting global/local scope bit in EUI-64.
    1) Updated NSAP text to reflect working in RFC1888.
    1) Removed protocol specific IPv6 multicast addresses (e.g., DHCP)
       and referenced the IANA definitions.
    1) Removed section "Unicast Address Example".  Had become OBE.
    1) Added new and updated references.
    1) Minor text clarifications and improvements.
    2) Added text to allow interface identifier to be used on more than
       one interface on same node.
    2) Added rules for defining new multicast addresses.
    2) Added appendix describing procedures for creating EUI-64 based
       interface ID's.
    2) Minor text clarifications and improvements.























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