TABLE OF CONTENTS Stateless address autoconfiguration is performed only on multicast-capable networks. The network interface must also have the ability to transmit and receive multicast packets. A node must join both the all-nodes multicast group and the solicited-node multicast group of the tentative address before performing DAD on that address. The definition of tentative address is given in the next section.
Stateless address autoconfiguration mainly applies to hosts, but each router uses the same mechanism to generate and validate link-local addresses for all its interfaces.
A host begins stateless address autoconfiguration by first generating a link-local address for each of its interfaces. In the following discussions we will focus on the case where a host has a single network interface though the discussions apply to multi-homed hosts. For multihomed hosts, stateless address autoconfiguration is performed independently on each interface for each address. A host then probes the routers that are present to gather additional information for further configuration of non-link-local addresses, and the configuration of other nonaddress-related operating parameters. A host may send a Router Solicitation message before configuring any address. In that case the source address of the Router Solicitation is the unspecified address.
Combining the prefix fe80::/10 with the interface identifier forms a link-local address as illustrated in Figure 5-22. In the majority of cases the interface identifier is 64 bits long.
Similarly, hosts can generate additional non-link-local addresses from advertised prefixes when a router is present. See...
