Dell EMC SmartFabric OS10 User Guide Release 10.5.0

Stateless autoconfiguration sets an interface in Host mode, and allows the interface connected to an IPv6 network to autoconfigure IPv6 addresses and communicate with other IPv6 devices on local links. A DHCP server is not required for automatic IPv6 interface configuration. IPv6 devices on a local link send router advertisement (RA) messages in response to solicitation messages received at startup.

Perform stateless autoconfiguration of IPv6 addresses using:

Prefix advertisement

Routers use router advertisement messages to advertise the network prefix. Hosts append their interface-identifier MAC address to generate a valid IPv6 address.

Duplicate address detection

An IPv6 host node checks whether that address is used anywhere on the network using this mechanism before configuring its IPv6 address.

Prefix renumbering

Transparent renumbering of hosts in the network when an organization changes its service provider.

IPv6 provides the flexibility to add prefixes on RAs in response to a router solicitation (RS). By default, RA response messages are sent when an RS message is received. The system manipulation of IPv6 stateless autoconfiguration supports the router side only. Neighbor Discovery (ND) messages advertise so the neighbor can use the information to auto-configure its address. Received ND messages are not used to create an IPv6 address.

The router redirect functionality in the NDP is similar to IPv4 router redirect messages. NDP uses ICMPv6 redirect messages (Type 137) to inform nodes that a better router exists on the link.