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Cisco CCNP / BSCI Exam Tutorial: A Guide To Ipv6 Addressing |
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Learning IPv6 is paramount in your efforts to pass the BSCI
exam and go on to earn your CCNP, and it's going to help in
your real-world networking career as well. IPv6 can be confusing
at first, but it's like anything else in Cisco or networking
as a whole - learn one part at a time, master the fundamentals,
and you're on your way to success. In today's article we're
going to take a look at IPv6 address types.
In IPv4, a unicast address is simply an address used to represent
a single host, where multicast addresses represent a group
of hosts and broadcasts represent all hosts.
In IPv6, it's not quite that simple. There are actually different
types of unicast addresses, each with its own separate function.
This allows IPv6 to get data where it's supposed to go quicker
than IPv4 while conserving router resources.
IPv6 offers two kinds of local addresses, link-local and
site-local. Site-local addresses allow devices in the same
organization, or site, to exchange data. Site-local addresses
are IPv6's equivalent to IPv4's private address classes, since
hosts using them are able to communicate with each other throughout
the organization, but these addresses cannot be used to reach
Internet hosts.
Site-local and link-local addresses are actually derived
from a host's MAC address. Therefore, if HostA has HostB's
IPv6 address, HostA can determine HostB's MAC address from
that, making ARP unnecessary.
Link-local addresses have a smaller scope than site-local.
Link-local addresses are just that, local to a physical link.
These particular addresses are not used at all in forwarding
data. One use for these addresses is Neighbor Discovery, which
is IPv6's answer to ARP.
You can identify these and other IPv6 addresses by their
initial bits:
001 - Global address
(first 96 bits set to zero) - IPv4-compatible address
1111 1111 – Multicast
1111 1110 11 - Site local
1111 1110 10 - Link Local
As a future CCNP, you're more than familiar with the reserved
IPv4 address classes. You also know that they're not exactly
contiguous. The developers of IPv6 took a structured approach
to IPv6 reserved addresses - any address that begins with
"0000 0000" is an IPv6 reserved address. One of
these is the IPv6 loopback address, and this will give you
some practice with your zero compression!
IP v6 Loopback: 0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0000:0001
Using Leading Zero Compression Only: 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
Combining Leading Zero and Zero Compression: ::1
Zero compression looks pretty good now, doesn't it? You just
have to get used to it and keep the rules in mind. You can
use all the leading zero compression you want, but zero compression
("double-colon") can only be used once in a single
address.
IPv6 is here to stay, not only on your BSCI and CCNP exams,
but in the real world as well. Learning it now will not only
aid you in passing your Cisco exams, but in supporting IPv6
in the future.
About the Author:
Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage,
home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study
Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages.
For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass
The CCNA” and “How To Pass The CCNP”, visit
the website and download your free copies. You can also get
FREE CCNA and CCNP exam questions every day! Pass the CCNA
exam with The Bryant Advantage!
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