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 time. It is inappropriate to use Internet- Drafts as reference material or to cite them other than as ``work in progress.'' To learn the current status of any Internet-Draft, please check the ``1id-abstracts.txt'' listing contained in the Internet- Drafts Shadow Directories on ds.internic.net (US East Coast), nic.nordu.net (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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 1] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 2] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 3] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 4] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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: draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 5] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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: draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 6] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 7] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 8] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 9] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 10] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 11] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 | +----------+-------------+-----------+----------------------------+ draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 12] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 13] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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: draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 14] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 | 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 15] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 16] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 17] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 18] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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). draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 19] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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| +----------------+----------------+----------------+ draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 20] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 21] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 22] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 23] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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 draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 24] INTERNET-DRAFT IPv6 Addressing Architecture June 1997 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. draft-ietf-ipngwg-addr-arch-v2-01.txt [Page 25]