IPv6 is the next-generation Internet Protocol. It is being increasingly implemented and used as the Internet grows. As the name suggests, IPv6 is a next-generation version of the protocol that most devices and networks use to communicate and transfer data.
Routers can be configured to use IPv6 by default, but most are set to use IPv4 by default. This is because most networks are still using IPv4 and it would cause some confusion if routers automatically attempted to use IPv6 instead.
Knowing how to configure a router to use IPv6 is a useful skill. You may need to do this if your ISP starts providing you with access via an IPv6 connection instead of an IPv4 connection. You will need to know how to switch your router settings from one protocol to the other!
This article will discuss one specific command that can be configured on a router when setting up an IPv6 connection. That command is the ipv6 unicast-routing command.
Disables IPv6 unicast routing
A few Cisco commands can disable IPv6 unicast routing on a router. One of these commands is the ipv6 unicast-routing command. When you enter this command on a Cisco router, it will disable IPv6 routing.
This command is typically used when you have configured IPv6 connectivity and need to disable it for a short period of time. By entering the ipv6 unicast-routing command, you can easily re-enable connectivity.
Another command that can be used to disable IPv6 routing is the no ipv6 enable interface configuration command. This disables all IPv6 functionality on the router, including ICMP v6 and neighbor discovery protocols.
Remember, when using these commands to disable IPv6 functionality, you must re-enable it before connectivity is restored.
Releases all IPv6 addresses and routes
When you enter the ipv6 unicast-routing command on a router, the device releases any IPv6 addresses and routes it has. It then re-establishes its IPv6 addresses and routes after you re-enter the ipv6 unicast-routing command.
This feature was added to prevent configuration errors from causing a persistent routing loop. If you enter the command incorrectly, the device will reset and release all of its IPv6 configuration, preventing a routing loop.
You can confirm this by entering the show ipv6 interface brief command on the device. If all of the interfaces are down, then the device released its IPv6 configuration.{%endif}
The only way to re-establish its IPv6 configuration is to re-enter the ipv6 unicast-routing command.
Updates the IPv6 address of connected interfaces
Another command that can be configured on a router is the ipv6 unicast-routing command. When this command is configured, the router will begin to update the IPv6 address of connected interfaces.
This command is similar to the ip routing command for IPv4. Routing must be enabled for the IP protocol in order for other commands to take effect.
Like the ipv6 address ethernet 0/0 command, this one can be entered as either a global configuration command or a interface configuration command. The difference being the interface parameter being added to the end of the command.
When entered as a global configuration command, this disables IPv6 routing until an interface configuration is entered that includes the ipv6 unicast-routing parameter.
The same goes for entering this as an interface configuration parameter, it only enables it on that specific interface.
Configure the interface for IPv6
After you configure the router to use IPv6, you need to configure one or more interfaces on the router to use IPv6. You do this by using the ipv6 interface configuration command.
This command has several parameters that require configuration, such as a unicast or multicast routing protocol (ipv6 unicast-routing or ipv6 icp-transition), an IPv6 network prefix (a network address and subnet mask), and an IPv6 default gateway (the router’s address used to send packets to an IPv6 network).
You can also set other parameters, such as whether the interface is layer 2 (the data-link layer of the OSI model) enabled or not, whether it uses stateful or stateless IP verification, and an internal source IP address.
These are all settings that are important for getting the interface operating correctly.
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