3com 4210 PWR 9-Port 3CR17341-91-ME User Manual

Product codes
3CR17341-91-ME
Page of 567
IPv6 Overview
527
Leading zeros in each group can be removed. For example, the 
above-mentioned address can be represented in shorter format as 
2001:0:130F:0:0:9C0:876A:130B.
If an IPv6 address contains two or more consecutive groups of zeros, they can 
be replaced by the double-colon :: option. For example, the above-mentioned 
address can be represented in the shortest format as 
2001:0:130F::9C0:876A:130B.
CAUTION: The double-colon :: can be used only once in an IPv6 address. 
Otherwise, the device is unable to determine how many zeros the double-colon 
represents when converting it to zeros to restore the IPv6 address to a 128-bit 
address.
An IPv6 address consists of two parts: address prefix and interface ID. The address 
prefix and the interface ID are respectively equivalent to the network ID and the 
host ID in an IPv4 address.
An IPv6 address prefix is written in IPv6-address/prefix-length notation, where 
IPv6-address is an IPv6 address in any of the notations and prefix-length is a 
decimal number indicating how many bits from the left of an IPv6 address are the 
address prefix.
IPv6 address classification
IPv6 addresses mainly fall into three types: unicast address, multicast address and 
anycast address.
Unicast address: An identifier for a single interface, similar to an IPv4 unicast 
address .A packet sent to a unicast address is delivered to the interface 
identified by that address.
Multicast address: An identifier for a set of interfaces (typically belonging to 
different nodes), similar to an IPv4 multicast address. A packet sent to a 
multicast address is delivered to all interfaces identified by that address.
Anycast address: An identifier for a set of interfaces (typically belonging to 
different nodes).A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to one of the 
interfaces identified by that address (the nearest one, according to the routing 
protocols’ measure of distance).
There are no broadcast addresses in IPv6. Their function is superseded by multicast 
addresses.
The type of an IPv6 address is designated by the format prefix. Table 383 lists the 
mapping between major address types and format prefixes.
Table 383   Mapping between address types and format prefixes
Type
Format prefix (binary) 
IPv6 prefix ID 
Unicast 
address 
Unassigned address 
00...0 (128 bits) 
::/128 
Loopback address 
00...1 (128 bits) 
::1/128 
Link-local address 
1111111010 
FE80::/10 
Site-local address 
1111111011 
FEC0::/10 
Global unicast address  other forms 
Multicast address
11111111 
FF00::/8