Queries on IPv6

[Felipe Alfaro Solana]

On 10/17/06, Senthil Nathan <choks_1979 at yahoo.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
>  I have following queries on IPv6 config in Ubuntu
>
>  * How to configure IPv6 Address on an interface

That's a good question :-)

IPv6 is always auto-configured by using Stateless configuration... You
don't have to assign an IPv6 address to your interface. It
autoconfigures dynamically by generating an IPv6 address from your
card MAC address. This kind of addresses are called link-local IPv6
addresses and are only valid within your LAN segment (you won't be
able to reach other devices outside your local LAN segment).

Additionally, you can use Stateful configuration, like:
- DHCP, our well know friend.
- Router Advertising Protocol. Very similarly to stateless
configuration, part of your IPv6 address is configured using the
ethernet card MAC address, and a network preffix is preppended. The
network preffix is obtained by asking local routers, using ICMPv6.
- Manual configuration of additional IPv6 addresses.

With IPv6, a single interface can have:

1 link-local address
0 or more site-local or global addresses

You can have several IPv6 addresses for the same interface, plus an
IPv4 address (or several using pseudo/virtual interfaces), since IPv4
and IPv6 are generally orthogonal to each other.

Probably, you should want to read about IPv6 and IPv6 addresses
(link-local, site-local which is deprecated, global, anycast and
multicast). It will make things easier.