RFC1897

Network Working Group R. Hinden Request for Comments: 1897 Ipsilon Networks Category: Experimental J. Postel

                                                                 ISI
                                                        January 1996

                IPv6 Testing Address Allocation

Status of this Memo

This document specifies an Experimental protocol for the Internet community. This memo does not specify an Internet standard of any kind. Discussion and suggestions for improvement are requested. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Introduction

This document describes an allocation plan for IPv6 addresses to be used in testing IPv6 prototype software. These addresses are temporary and will be reclaimed in the future. Any IPv6 system using these addresses will have to renumber at some time in the future. These addresses will not to be routable in the Internet other than for IPv6 testing.

The addresses described in this document are consistent with the IPv6 Addressing Architecture [ARCH]. They may be assigned to nodes manually, with IPv6 Auto Address Allocation [AUTO], or with DHCP for IPv6 [DHCPv6].

Address Format

The address format for the IPv6 test address is consistent with the provider-based unicast address allocation [PRVD] which is as follows:

| 3 | 5 bits | 16 bits | 8 | 24 bits | 8 | 64 bits | +---+----------+----------+---+------------+---+----------------+ |010|RegistryID|ProviderID|RES|SubscriberID|RES|Intra-Subscriber| +---+----------+----------+---+------------+---+----------------+

The specific allocation of each field of the test address format is as follows:

| 3 | 5 bits | 16 bits | 8 | 24 bits | 8 | 16 bits|48 bits| +---+----------+----------+---+------------+---+--------+-------+ | | |Autonomous| | IPv4 | | Subnet | Intf. | |010| 11111 | System |RES| Network |RES| | | | | | Number | | Address | | Address| ID | +---+----------+----------+---+------------+---+--------+-------+

where:

010

    This is the Format Prefix used to identify provider-based
    unicast addresses.

11111

    This is a Registry ID reserved by the IANA.  The initial use of
    addresses in this Registry ID for IPv6 testing is temporary.
    All users of these addresses will be required to renumber at
    some time in the future.

Autonomous System Number

    This is the current autonomous system number assigned to the
    provider providing internet service to the an IPv6 testers
    organization.  For example for IPv6 testers receiving internet
    service from BBN Barrnet would use autonomous system number 189.
    This would be coded in the autonomous system field of the
    address as follows:

         0000 0000 1011 1101 (binary)

    The values for the autonomous system number of an organization's
    provider can be obtained from that provider, or can be looked up
    in the "whois" database maintained by the internic.net.

RES

    This field is reserved and must be set to zero.

IPv4 Network Address

    This is based on the current IPv4 routable address for the
    subscriber which the interface is connected.  It is formed by
    taking the high order 24 bits of the IPv4 address.  For example
    for an IPv4 address (in IPv4 syntax):

         IPv4 Address
         ------------
         39.11.22.1

    the value to put in this field of IPv6 address is:

         IPv4 Format             Hex
         ------------            ------
         39.11.22                270B16

    This technique for generating values for this field only works
    for subscribers which have IPv4 subscriber prefixes less than
    equal to 24 bits long.  There may be subscribers using IPv4
    addresses with longer subscriber prefixes, but this conflict is
    expected to be very rare.  Subscribers with subscriber prefixes
    larger than 24 bits should use the remaining bits in the IPv4
    prefix as the high order bits in the Subnet Address field.

RES

    This field is reserved and must be set to zero.

Subnet Address

    The Subnet ID identifies a specific physical link on which the
    interface is located.  There can be multiple subnets on the same
    physical link.  A specific subnet can not span multiple physical
    links.  The assignment of values for this field is left to an
    individual subscriber.  One possible algorithm to generate
    values for this field is to use the bits in the IPv4 address
    which identify the IPv4 subnet.

Interface ID

    This is the unique identifier of the interface on the link,
    usually the 48-bit IEEE 802 MAC address of the interface if
    available.

References

 [ARCH]  Hinden, R., and S. Deering, Editors, "IP Version 6
      Addressing Architecture", RFC 1884, Ipsilon Networks, Xerox
      PARC, December 1995.

 [AUTO]  Thomson, S., "IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration",
      Work in Progress.

 [DHCP6] Bound, J., "Host Configuration Protocol for IPv6", Work
      in Progress.

 [PROV]  Rekhter, Y., and P. Lothberg, "An IPv6 Provider-Based
      Unicast Address Format", Work in Progress.

Security Considerations

Security issues are not discussed in this memo.

Authors' Addresses

Robert M. Hinden Ipsilon Networks, Inc. 2191 E. Bayshore Road, Suite 100 Palo Alto, CA 94303 USA

Phone: +1 415 846 4604 Fax: +1 415 855 1414 EMail: [email protected]

Jon Postel Information Sciences Institute 4676 Admiralty Way Marina del Rey, CA 90292-6695 USA

Phone: +1 310 822 1511 Fax: +1 310 823 6714 EMail: [email protected]