IPv6 Interfaces

The Internet Protocol version 6 (IPv6) is a network-layer protocol used for packet-switched internet communications.IPv6 was created to replace IPv4, the most widely used Internet protocol. Because the address size increases from 32-bit to 128-bit, IPv6 allows for greater flexibility in assigning IP addresses. IPv6 addresses are composed of eight groups of four hexadecimal digits, such as FE80:0000:0000:0000:0000:9C00:876A:130B.

To communicate with other IPv6 nodes over an IPv4-only network, IPv6 nodes require an intermediary mapping mechanism. This mechanism, known as a tunnel, allows IPv6-only hosts to access IPv4 services and isolated IPv6 hosts and networks to connect to an IPv6 node via the IPv4 infrastructure.

An IPv6 interface can be configured on a port, LAG, VLAN, loopback interface or tunnel. To define an IPv6 interface, follow these steps:

Note

Tunnel interfaces are created in the IPv6 Tunnels

To define an IPv6 interface, follow these steps:

Procedure

Step 1

Click IPv6 Configuration > IPv6 Interfaces.

Step 2

Enter the parameters.

  • IPv6 Link Local Default Zone—Select Enable to enable defining a default zone. This is an interface to be used to egress a link-local packet arriving without a specified interface or with its default zone 0.

  • IPv6 Link Local Default Zone Interface—Select an interface to be used as a default zone. This can be a previously defined tunnel or other interface.

Step 3

Click Apply to configure the default zone. The IPV6 Interface Table is displayed along with the following fields:

  • Tunnel Type—N/A, Manual, 6-4 and ISATAP.

Step 4

Click Add to add a new interface on which interface IPv6 is enabled.

Step 5

Enter the fields:

  • IPv6 Interface—Select a specific port, LAG, loopback interface or VLAN for the IPv6 address.

Step 6

To configure the interface as a DHCPv6 client, meaning to enable the interface to receive information from the DHCPv6 server, such as: SNTP configuration and DNS information, enter the DHCPv6 Client fields:

  • DHCPv6 Client—Select Enable to enable DHCPv6 Client (stateless and stateful) on the interface.

  • Rapid Commit—Select Enable to enable the use of the two-message exchange for address allocation and other configuration. If it’s enabled, the client includes the rapid-commit option in a solicit message.

  • Minimum Information Refresh Time—This value is used to put a floor on the refresh time value. If the server sends a refresh time option that is less than this value, this value is used instead. Select Infinite or User Defined to set a value.

  • Information Refresh Time—This value indicates how often the device refreshes information received from the DHCPv6 server. If this option isn’t received from the server, the value entered here is used. Select Infinite or User Defined to set a value.

Step 7

To configure additional IPv6 parameters, enter the following fields:

  • IPv6 Address Auto Configuration—Select Enable to enable automatic address configuration from router advertisements sent by neighbors.

  • Number of DAD Attempts—Enter the number of consecutive neighbor solicitation messages that are sent while Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) is performed on the interface’s Unicast IPv6 addresses. DAD verifies the uniqueness of a new Unicast IPv6 address before it’s assigned. New addresses remain in a tentative state during DAD verification. Entering 0 in this field disables duplicate address detection processing on the specified interface. Entering 1 in this field indicates a single transmission without follow-up transmissions.

  • Send ICMPv6 Messages—Enable generating unreachable destination messages.

  • MLD Version—Select the IPv6 MLD version.

  • IPv6 Redirects—Select Enable to enable sending ICMP IPv6 redirect messages. These messages inform other devices not to send traffic to the device, but rather to another device.

Step 8

Click Apply to enable IPv6 processing on the selected interface. Regular IPv6 interfaces have the following addresses automatically configured:

  • Link local address using EUI-64 format interface ID based on a device's MAC address

  • All node link local Multicast addresses (FF02::1)

  • Solicited-Node Multicast address (format FF02::1:FFXX:X)

Step 9

Click IPv6 Address Table to manually assign IPv6 addresses to the interface, if required.

Step 10

To add a tunnel, select an interface in the IPv6 Tunnel Table and click IPv6 Tunnel.

Step 11

Click Apply to save the settings.

Step 12

Press Restart to initiate refresh of the stateless information received from the DHCPv6 server.