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8.11: IPv6 Subnets

  • Page ID
    11170
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    In the IPv4 world, network managers sometimes struggle to divide up a limited address space into a pool of appropriately sized subnets. In IPv6, this is much simpler: all subnets are of size /64, following the guidelines set out in 8.3 Network Prefixes.

    There is one common exception: RFC 6164 [https://tools.ietf.org/html/rfc6164.html] permits the use of 127-bit prefixes at each end of a point-to-point link. The 128th bit is then 0 at one end and 1 at the other.

    A site receiving from its provider an address prefix of size /56 can assign up to 256 /64 subnets. As with IPv4, the reasons for IPv6 subnetting are to join incompatible LANs, to press intervening routers into service as inter-subnet firewalls, or otherwise to separate traffic.

    The diagram below shows a site with an external prefix of 2001::/62, two routers R1 and R2 with interfaces numbered as shown, and three internal LANS corresponding to three subnets 2001:0:0:1::/64, 2001:0:0:2::/64 and 2001:0:0:3::/64. The subnet 2001:0:0:0::/64 (2001::/64) is used to connect to the provider.

    subnet1.svg

    Interface 0 of R1 would be assigned an address from the /64 block 2001:0:0:0/64, perhaps 2001::2.

    R1 will announce over its interface 1 – via router advertisements – that it has a route to ::/0, that is, it has the default route. It will also advertise via interface 1 the on-link prefix 2001:0:0:1::/64.

    R2 will announce via interface 1 its routes to 2001:0:0:2::/64 and 2001:0:0:3::/64. It will also announce the default route on interfaces 2 and 3. On interface 2 it will advertise the on-link prefix 2001:0:0:2::/64, and on interface 3 the prefix 2001:0:0:3::/64. It could also, as a backup, advertise prefix 2001:0:0:1::/64 on its interface 1. On each subnet, only the subnet’s on-link prefix is advertised.

  • 8.10.1 Subnets and /64

    Fixing the IPv6 division of prefix and host (interface) lengths at 64 bits for each is a compromise. While it does reduce the maximum number of subnets from 2128 to 264, in practice this is not a realistic concern, as 264 is still an enormous number.

    By leaving 64 bits for host identifiers, this 64/64 split leaves enough room for the privacy mechanisms of 8.7.2.1 SLAAC privacy and 8.7.3 DHCPv6 to provide reasonable protection.

    Much of the recent motivation for considering divisions other than 64/64 is grounded in concerns about ISP address-allocation policies. By declaring that users should each receive a /64 allocation, one hope is that users will in fact get enough for several subnets. Even a residential customer with only, say, two hosts and a router needs more than a single /64 address block, because the link from ISP to customer needs to be on its own subnet (it could use a 127-bit prefix, as above, but many customers would in fact have a need for multiple /64 subnets). By requiring /64 for a subnet, the hope is that users will all be allocated, for example, prefixes of at least /60 (16 subnets) or even /56 (256 subnets).

    Even if that hope does not pan out, the 64/64 rule means that every user should at least get a /64 allocation.

    On the other hand, if users are given only /64 blocks, and they want to use subnets, then they have to break the 64/64 rule locally. Perhaps they can create four subnets each with a prefix of length 66 bits, and each with only 62 bits for the host identifier. Wanting to do that in a standard way would dictate more flexibility in the prefix/host division.

    But if the prefix/host division becomes completely arbitrary, there is nothing to stop ISPs from handing out prefixes with lengths of /80 (leaving 48 host bits) or even /120.

    The general hope is that ISPs will not be so stingy with prefix lengths. But with IPv6 adoption still relatively modest, how this will all work out is not yet clear. In the IPv4 world, users use NAT (7.7 Network Address Translation) to create as many subnets as they desire. In the IPv6 world, NAT is generally considered to be a bad idea.

    Finally, in theory it is possible to squeeze a site with two subnets onto a single /64 by converting the site’s main router to a switch; all the customer’s hosts now connect on an equal footing to the ISP. But this means making it much harder to use the router as a firewall, as described in 8.8 Globally Exposed Addresses. For most users, this is too risky.


  • This page titled 8.11: IPv6 Subnets is shared under a CC BY-NC-ND license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Peter Lars Dordal.

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