IPv6 Essentials

Required Addresses

The standard specifies that each host must assign the following addresses to identify itself:

• Its link-local address for each interface

• Any assigned unicast addresses

• The loopback address

• The all-nodes multicast address

• Solicited-node multicast address for each of its assigned unicast and anycast addresses

• Multicast addresses of all other groups to which the host belongs

A router needs to recognize all of the above plus the following:

• The subnet-router anycast address for the interfaces for which it is configured to act as a router on each link

• All anycast addresses with which the router has been configured

• The all-routers multicast address

• Multicast addresses of all other groups to which the router belongs

Now that we are familiar with the extended address space and the IPv6 address types, the next chapter introduces the advanced features of ICMPv6, which offer management functionality not known with ICMPv4.