IPv6 RA vs DHCPv6 - The chosen one?

Tue Jan 3 23:19:08 UTC 2012

On Dec 24, 2011, at 4:36 PM, Masataka Ohta wrote:

> Joel jaeggli wrote:
> 
>>> First of all, ND use is optional and, if ND is used, RA
>>> must be used.
>>> 
>>> It means that, if RA is not used, ND can't be used.
>> 
>> Finding and maintaining the l2 address for a device on a subnet where RA
>> is not used is a pretty common activity so I'm not sure how your would
>> conclude that. 2461/4861/5942 certainly don't preclude that.
> 
> RFC6434 has contradictory statements:
> 
>   Neighbor Discovery SHOULD be supported.
> 
> and
> 
>   Hosts MUST support IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration as
>   defined in [RFC4862].
> 

These do not conflict.

> and a reasonable interpretation is SLAAC MUST be supported if
> ND is supported.
> 

The implementation of IPv6 in a host MUST support SLAAC. That does not mean
that the host must use that support in any particular environment.

Owen