An IPv6 anycast address is an address that is assigned to a set of interfaces that typically belong to different nodes. Anycast addresses are syntactically indistinguishable from unicast addresses, because anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space.
Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest feature information and caveats, see the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the Feature Information Table at the end of this document.
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An anycast address is an address that is assigned to a set of interfaces that typically belong to different nodes. A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to the closest interface (as defined by the routing protocols in use) identified by the anycast address. Anycast addresses are syntactically indistinguishable from unicast addresses, because anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space. Assigning a unicast address to more than one interface makes a unicast address an anycast address. Nodes to which the anycast address is assigned must be explicitly configured to recognize that the address is an anycast address.
Note
Anycast addresses can be used only by a device, not a host, and anycast addresses must not be used as the source address of an IPv6 packet.
The figure below shows the format of the subnet device anycast address; the address has a prefix concatenated by a series of zeros (the interface ID). The subnet device anycast address can be used to reach a device on the link that is identified by the prefix in the subnet device anycast address.
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The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.
Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to
www.cisco.com/go/cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.
Table 1 Feature Information for IPv6 Anycast Address
Feature Name
Releases
Feature Information
IPv6: Anycast Address
12.2(25)SEA
12.2(25)SG
12.2(33)SRA
12.2(33)SXH
12.3(4)T
15.0(2)SG
Cisco IOS XE Release 2.1
3.2.0SG
An anycast address is an address that is assigned to a set of interfaces that typically belong to different nodes. Anycast addresses are syntactically indistinguishable from unicast addresses, because anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space.
The following commands were introduced or modified:
ipv6 address anycast,
show ipv6 interface.