Quick Reference Guide
PowerConnect B-Series TI24X Configuration Guide 59
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Chapter
5
Configuring IPv6 Connectivity
IPv6 addressing overview
NOTE
This chapter does not describe IPv6 routing protocols, which are covered in separate chapters
throughout this guide.
IPv6 was designed to replace IPv4, the Internet protocol that is most commonly used currently
throughout the world. IPv6 increases the number of network address bits from 32 (IPv4) to 128
bits, which provides more than enough unique IP addresses to support all of the network devices
on the planet into the future. IPv6 is expected to quickly become the network standard.
An IPv6 address is composed of 8 fields of 16-bit hexadecimal values separated by colons (:).
Figure 1 shows the IPv6 address format.
FIGURE 1 IPv6 address format
As shown in Figure 1, HHHH is a 16-bit hexadecimal value, while H is a 4-bit hexadecimal value.
The following is an example of an IPv6 address.
2001:0000:0000:0200:002D:D0FF:FE48:4672
Note that this IPv6 address includes hexadecimal fields of zeros. To make the address less
cumbersome, you can do the following:
• Omit the leading zeros; for example, 2001:0:0:200:2D:D0FF:FE48:4672.
• Compress the successive groups of zeros at the beginning, middle, or end of an IPv6 address
to two colons (::) once per address; for example, 2001::200:2D:D0FF:FE48:4672.
When specifying an IPv6 address in a command syntax, keep the following in mind:
• You can use the two colons (::) only once in the address to represent the longest successive
hexadecimal fields of zeros
• The hexadecimal letters in IPv6 addresses are not case-sensitive
As shown in Figure 1, the IPv6 network prefix is composed of the left-most bits of the address. As
with an IPv4 address, you can specify the IPv6 prefix using the prefix / prefix-length format, where
the following applies.
The prefix parameter is specified as 16-bit hexadecimal values separated by a colon.
Network Prefix
Interface ID
HHHH = Hex Value 0000 – FFFF
128 Bits
HHHH
HHHH HHHH HHHH HHHH HHHH HHHH HHHH