How do I route IPv6?
IPv6, as a new version of IPv4, routes using the same protocols and techniques. Although the addresses are longer, the protocols used in routing IPv6 are simply logical extensions of the protocols used in IPv4.
Before you can route IPv6 using dynamic protocols, though, you probably want to configure your routers to talk IPv6. In this demonstration, products from 3 vendors (Nortel Networks, 3Com, and Cisco) are shown with their IPv6 code. The Nortel and 3Com products have shipping, production, code, while the Cisco software is a preview of IPv6 based on the v12.0 code base.
Cisco Configuration and Monitoring
You can see our Cisco configuration by logging onto the router or by asking someone in the booth. If you want to see the system operate "live," use this workstation to telnet to "cisco.v6.ilabs.interop.net" and login with username "guest" and password "guest."
You can learn more about Cisco’s IPv6 technology by going to the web page http://www.cisco.com/warp/public/732/ipv6/
The IPv6-specific Cisco commands you might want to try include:
show ipv6 interface
(to see the Ethernet interfaces which are configured for IPv6)show ipv6 neighbor
(to see the IPv6 equivalent of the ARP cache)show ipv6 route
(to see the IPv6 routing table)show ipv6
routers (to see the neighbor routers on the LAN)show ipv6 traffic
(to see the IPv6 traffic statistics).3Com Configuration and Monitoring
You can see our 3Com configuration by logging onto the router or by asking someone in the booth. If you want to see the system operate, use this workstation to telnet to "3com.v6.ilabs.interop.net"and login with username "guest" and password "guest."
You can learn more about 3Com’s IPv6 technology by going to the web page
http://www.3com.com/nsc/ipv6.htmlThe 3Com commands which you might want to try include:
show —ipv6 netaddr
(to see the IPv6 addresses on the various interfaces)show —ipv6 addr
(to see the IPv6 equivalent of the ARP cache)show —ipv6 allroutes
(to see the IPv6 routing table)show —ipv6 tunnel
(to see our tunnel back to the 6BONE)show —ipv6 configuration
(to see the IPv6 configuration parameters)show —ipv6 ?
(to see other IPv6-specific commands)Nortel Configuration and Monitoring
You can see our Nortel configuration by logging onto the router or by asking someone in the booth. If you want to see the system operate, use this workstation to telnet to
"nortel.v6.ilabs.interop.net"and login with username "guest" and password "guest."Nortel Networks does not currently have any web pages which discuss their IPv6 technology. However, a good general overview of "The Case for IPv6" was written by Nortel engineers (and has been submitted to the IETF as an informational document) and is available as http://www.nortelnetworks.com/prd/isppp/collateral/ipv6.pdf.
The Nortel commands which you might want to try include:
show ip6 circ
(to see the interfaces configured for IPv6)show ip6 interface
(to the IPv6 interface configuration paramaters)show ip6 stats
(to see IPv6 traffic statistics)ip6 routes -l
(to show the IPv6 routing table)ip6 stats
(to see IPv6 interface statistics)
Dynamic Routing in IPv6
IPv6 dynamic routing protocols have been defined for RIP (routing information protocol), BGP (border gateway protocol), and OSPF (Open Shortest-Path-First).
OSPF
OSPF V6 (documented in RFC 2740) is very similar to OSPF v4. In fact, the RFC describing OSPF v6 is simply a list of changes to OSPF v4 which are needed to support IPv6. The fundamental mechanisms of OSPF (flooding, DR election, area support, SPF calculations, etc.) are unchanged in OSPF v6. The changes which have been added are either due to changes in protocol semantics between IPv4 and IPv6, or simply to handle the increased address size of IPv6.
RIPng
RIPng is a simple routing protocol based on RIP. RIPng was defined in RFC2080. To maintain the simplicity of RIP, the RIPng protocol is simply the minimum change to RIP (Routing Information Protocol) as specified in RFC 1058 and RFC 1723, necessary for operation over IPv6.
RIPng is, therefore, no more or less powerful than RIP was. However, it provides a simple way to bring up an IPv6 network without having to build a reliable or manageable routing protocol first. Our interoperability demo in the iLabs uses RIPng to distribute routing information.