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Addresses for hosts and routers

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Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Addresses for hosts and routers

An IPv4 host with a single network adapter typically has a single IPv4 address assigned to that adapter. An IPv6 host, however, usually has multiple IPv6 addresses, even with a single interface.

An IPv6 host is assigned the following unicast addresses:

  • A link-local address for each interface

  • Unicast addresses for each interface (which could be a site-local address and one or multiple global addresses)

  • The loopback address (::1) for the loopback interface

Typical IPv6 hosts are logically multihomed because they have at least two addresses with which they can receive packets. Each host has a link-local address for local link traffic and a routable site-local or global address.

Additionally, each host is listening for traffic on the following multicast addresses:

  • The node-local scope all-nodes address (FF01::1)

  • The link-local scope all-nodes address (FF02::1)

  • The solicited-node address for each unicast address on each interface

  • The multicast addresses of joined groups on each interface

An IPv6 router is assigned the following unicast addresses:

  • A link-local address for each interface

  • Unicast addresses for each interface (which might be a site-local address and one or multiple aggregatable global unicast addresses)

  • The loopback address (::1) for the loopback interface

An IPv6 router is assigned the following anycast addresses:

  • A subnet-router anycast address for each subnet

  • Additional anycast addresses (optional)

Additionally, each router is listening for traffic on the following multicast addresses:

  • The node-local scope all-nodes address (FF01::1)

  • The node-local scope all-routers address (FF01::2)

  • The link-local scope all-nodes address (FF02::1)

  • The link-local scope all-routers address (FF02::2)

  • The site-local scope all-routers address (FF05::2)

  • The solicited-node address for each unicast address on each interface

  • The addresses of joined groups on each interface