[6bone] ifconfig and EUI-64

[Robert Elz]

    Date:        Wed, 12 Jun 2002 19:11:29 +0200
    From:        Francis Dupont <Francis.Dupont@enst-bretagne.fr>
    Message-ID:  <200206121711.g5CHBTT07971@givry.rennes.enst-bretagne.fr>

  | => this option is not documented but gives a way to disable the
  | automatic (i.e. out of control) generation of a link-local address
  | when an interface comes up.

Thanks for the explanation, that's what I guessed when you mentioned it.

  | => this is a matter of wording: my idea is the IID doesn't exist by itself.

That's something with which I disagree then, as I believe it does,
though certainly it is a minor point.

  | And I assume that to have a link-local address is equivalent to have IPv6
  | enabled on the interface.

Yes I would treat those two as being essentially the same, no IPv6 operating
interface should ever be without a LL address.

  | => but there is no need to have several too...

No, it isn't required (except perhaps for a node acting as a proxy for
another node - wouldn't a VRRP router need to take over the LL address
of the router it is pretending to be, and wouldn't a HA need to at least
act as if it owns the addresses of mobile nodes?)

But there's a difference between not being required (if it never is) and
not being useful.   I see no reason to forbid multiple LL addresses for
a node.
  
  | => this is the point we disagree: I want only one link-local for the
  | interface and the (unique) IID is taken from the link-local.

Yes, that's where we disagree.

  | I don't believe the result will be very different but this is not exactly
  | the same thing.

Not very different, we both want the same functionality, I just want a
little more generality than you do.

Also, if I decide that fe80::1 is the one and only LL addr for an
interface, that doesn't mean that I want 3ffe:abcd::1 to necessarily
be the global address assigned - in many cases I'd still like that one
to be EUI-64 based.

So, I really would prefer to separate the issues of assigning a LL
address, and setting the IID that should be used to auto-configure
addresses.

  | As I've said our disagreement is only about details...

Almost, but not quite.

  | PS: for an obscure reason KAME /etc/rc.network6 script supports full
  | addresses and prefixes but in the wrong order...

I use KAME as incorporated into NetBSD, which has no such script,
(IPv6 stuff is handled along with IPv4 stuff in /etc/rc.d/network)
so I'm afraid I can't quite follow that reference.

kre