Книга: Windows Server 2012 R2 Storage, Security, & Networking Pocket Consultant

Using dynamic IPv6 addressing and configuration

Using dynamic IPv6 addressing and configuration

Both IPv4 and IPv6 are enabled by default when networking hardware is detected during installation. As discussed in Chapter 7, “Managing TCP/IP networking,” IPv4 is the primary version of IP used on most networks, and IPv6 is the next generation version of IP. IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses. In a standard configuration, the first 64 bits represent the network ID, and the last 64 bits represent the network interface on the client computer.

You can use DHCP to configure IPv6 addressing in two key ways:

? DHCPv6 stateful mode In DHCPv6 stateful mode, a client acquires its IPv6 address in addition to its network configuration parameters through DHCPv6.

? DHCPv6 stateless mode In DHCPv6 stateless mode, a client uses autoconfiguration to acquire its IP address and acquires its network configuration parameters through DHCPv6.

A computer that uses dynamic IPv6 addressing, configuration, or both mechanisms is called a DHCPv6 client . As with DHCPv4, the components of the DHCPv6 infrastructure consist of DHCPv6 clients that request configuration, DHCPv6 servers that provide configuration, and DHCPv6 relay agents that convey messages between clients and servers when clients are on subnets that do not have a DHCPv6 server.

Unlike in DHCPv4, you must also configure your IPv6 routers to support DHCPv6. A DHCPv6 client performs autoconfiguration based on the following flags in the Router Advertisement message sent by a neighboring router:

? Managed Address Configuration flag, which is also known as the M flag . When set to 1, this flag instructs the client to use a configuration protocol to obtain stateful addresses.

? Other Stateful Configuration flag, which is also known as the O flag . When set to 1, this flag instructs the client to use a configuration protocol to obtain other configuration settings.

Windows includes a DHCPv6 client. The DHCPv6 client attempts DHCPv6-based configuration depending on the values of the M and O flags in the Router Advertisement messages it receives. If there is more than one advertising router for a given subnet, the additional router or routers should be configured to advertise the same stateless address prefixes and the same values for the M and O flags. All current Windows desktop and server operating systems include IPv6 clients and, therefore, accept the values of the M and O flags in router advertisements they receive.

You can configure an IPv6 router to set the M flag to 1 in router advertisements by entering the following command at an elevated command prompt, where InterfaceName is the actual name of the interface:

netsh interface ipv6 set interface InterfaceName managedaddress=enabled

Similarly, you can set the O flag to 1 in router advertisements by entering the following command at an elevated command prompt:

netsh interface ipv6 set interface InterfaceName otherstateful=enabled

If the interface name contains spaces, enclose the related value in quotation marks, as shown in the following example:

netsh interface ipv6 set interface "Wired Ethernet Connection 2" managedaddress=enabled

Keep the following in mind when you are working with the M and O flags:

? If the M and O flags are both set to 0, the network is considered not to have DHCPv6 infrastructure. Clients use router advertisements for non-link-local addresses and manual configuration to configure other settings.

? If the M and O flags are both set to 1, DHCPv6 is used for both IP addressing and other configuration settings. This combination is known as DHCPv6 stateful mode, in which DHCPv6 assigns stateful addresses to IPv6 clients.

? If the M flag is set to 0 and the O flag is set to 1, DHCPv6 is used only to assign other configuration settings. Neighboring routers are configured to advertise non-link-local address prefixes from which IPv6 clients derive stateless addresses. This combination is known as DHCPv6 stateless mode.

? If the M flag is set to 1 and the O flag is set to 0, DHCPv6 is used for IP address configuration but not for other settings. Because IPv6 clients typically need to be configured with other settings, such as the IPv6 addresses of DNS servers, this combination typically is not used.

Windows obtains dynamic IPv6 addresses by using a process similar to dynamic IPv4 addresses. Typically, IPv6 autoconfiguration for DHCPv6 clients in stateful mode works like this:

1. The client computer selects a link-local unicast IPv6 address. Before using the IPv6 address, the client performs an ARP test to make sure that no other client is using this IPv6 address.

2. If the IPv6 address is in use, the client repeats step 1. Keep in mind that when a client is disconnected from the network, the ARP test always succeeds. As a result, the client uses the first IPv6 address it selects.

3. If the IPv6 address is available, the client configures the NIC with this address. The client then attempts to contact a DHCP server, sending out a broadcast every five minutes to the network. When the client successfully contacts a server, the client obtains a lease and reconfigures the network interface.

This is not how IPv6 autoconfiguration works for DHCPv6 clients in stateless mode. In stateless mode, DHCPv6 clients configure both link-local addresses and additional non-link-local addresses by exchanging Router Solicitation and Router Advertisement messages with neighboring routers.

Like DHCPv4, DHCPv6 uses User Datagram Protocol (UDP) messages. DHCPv6 clients listen for DHCP messages on UDP port 546. DHCPv6 servers and relay agents listen for DHCPv6 messages on UDP port 547. The structure for DHCPv6 messages is much simpler than for DHCPv4, which had its origins in Bootstrap Protocol (BOOTP) to support diskless workstations.

DHCPv6 messages start with a 1-byte Msg-Type field that indicates the type of DHCPv6 message. This is followed by a 3-byte Transaction-ID field determined by a client and used to group together the messages of a DHCPv6 message exchange. Following the Transaction-ID field, DHCPv6 options are used to indicate client and server identification, addresses, and other configuration settings.

Three fields are associated with each DHCPv6 option. A 2-byte Option-Code field indicates a specific option. A 2-byte Option-Len field indicates the length of the Option-Data field in bytes. The Option-Data field contains the data for the option.

Messages exchanged between relay agents and servers use a different message structure to transfer additional information. A 1-byte Hop-Count field indicates the number of relay agents that have received the message. A receiving relay agent can discard the message if the message exceeds a configured maximum hop count. A 15-byte Link-Address field contains a non-link-local address that is assigned to an interface connected to the subnet on which the client is located. Based on the LinkAddress field, the server can determine the correct address scope from which to assign an address. A 15-byte Peer-Address field contains the IPv6 address of the client that originally sent the message or the previous relay agent that relayed the message. Following the Peer-Address field are DHCPv6 options. A key option is the Relay Message option. This option provides an encapsulation of the messages being exchanged between the client and the server.

IPv6 does not have broadcast addresses. The use of the limited broadcast address for some DHCPv4 messages has been replaced with the use of the All_DHCP_Relay_Agents_and_Servers address of FF02::1:2 for DHCPv6. A DHCPv6 client attempting to discover the location of the DHCPv6 server on the network sends a Solicit message from its link-local address to FF02::1:2. If there is a DHCPv6 server on the client’s subnet, it receives the Solicit message and sends an appropriate reply. If the client and server are on different subnets, a DHCPv6 relay agent on the client’s subnet that receives the Solicit message forwards it to a DHCPv6 server.

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