RFC - 3056

Connection of IPv6 Domains via IPv4 Clouds

Original:	ftp://ftp.isi.edu/in-notes/rfc3056.txt
Authors:	B. Carpenter [], K. Moore []
Date:	February 2001
Category:	Proposed Standard

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Referred by:	26 RFC
Refers to:	13 RFC

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Status

This document specifies an Internet standards track protocol for the Internet community, and requests discussion and suggestions for improvements. Please refer to the current edition of the "Internet Official Protocol Standards" (STD 1) for the standardization state and status of this protocol. Distribution of this memo is unlimited.

Copyright Notice

Copyright (C) The Internet Society (2001). All Rights Reserved.

Abstract

This memo specifies an optional interim mechanism for IPv6 sites to communicate with each other over the IPv4 network without explicit tunnel setup, and for them to communicate with native IPv6 domains via relay routers. Effectively it treats the wide area IPv4 network as a unicast point-to-point link layer. The mechanism is intended as a start-up transition tool used during the period of co-existence of IPv4 and IPv6. It is not intended as a permanent solution.

The document defines a method for assigning an interim unique IPv6 address prefix to any site that currently has at least one globally unique IPv4 address, and specifies an encapsulation mechanism for transmitting IPv6 packets using such a prefix over the global IPv4 network.

The motivation for this method is to allow isolated IPv6 domains or hosts, attached to an IPv4 network which has no native IPv6 support, to communicate with other such IPv6 domains or hosts with minimal manual configuration, before they can obtain natuve IPv6 connectivity. It incidentally provides an interim globally unique IPv6 address prefix to any site with at least one globally unique IPv4 address, even if combined with an IPv4 Network Address Translator (NAT).

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