IPv6 Home Networking Architecture Principles
RFC 7368
Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) T. Chown, Ed.
Request for Comments: 7368 University of Southampton
Category: Informational J. Arkko
ISSN: 2070-1721 Ericsson
A. Brandt
Sigma Designs
O. Troan
Cisco Systems, Inc.
J. Weil
Time Warner Cable
October 2014
IPv6 Home Networking Architecture Principles
Abstract
This text describes evolving networking technology within residential
home networks with increasing numbers of devices and a trend towards
increased internal routing. The goal of this document is to define a
general architecture for IPv6-based home networking, describing the
associated principles, considerations, and requirements. The text
briefly highlights specific implications of the introduction of IPv6
for home networking, discusses the elements of the architecture, and
suggests how standard IPv6 mechanisms and addressing can be employed
in home networking. The architecture describes the need for specific
protocol extensions for certain additional functionality. It is
assumed that the IPv6 home network is not actively managed and runs
as an IPv6-only or dual-stack network. There are no recommendations
in this text for the IPv4 part of the network.
Status of This Memo
This document is not an Internet Standards Track specification; it is
published for informational purposes.
This document is a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force
(IETF). It represents the consensus of the IETF community. It has
received public review and has been approved for publication by the
Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). Not all documents
approved by the IESG are a candidate for any level of Internet
Standard; see Section 2 of RFC 5741.
Information about the current status of this document, any errata,
and how to provide feedback on it may be obtained at
http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc7368.
Chown, et al. Informational [Page 1]
RFC 7368 IPv6 Home Networking October 2014
Copyright Notice
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document authors. All rights reserved.
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
1.1. Terminology and Abbreviations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
2. Effects of IPv6 on Home Networking . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
2.1. Multiple Subnets and Routers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
2.2. Global Addressability and Elimination of NAT . . . . . . 8
2.3. Multi-Addressing of Devices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
2.4. Unique Local Addresses (ULAs) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
2.5. Avoiding Manual Configuration of IP Addresses . . . . . . 10
2.6. IPv6-Only Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3. Homenet Architecture Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
3.1. General Principles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.1. Reuse Existing Protocols . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
3.1.2. Minimise Changes to Hosts and Routers . . . . . . . . 13
3.2. Homenet Topology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.1. Supporting Arbitrary Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . 13
3.2.2. Network Topology Models . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14
3.2.3. Dual-Stack Topologies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18
3.2.4. Multihoming . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
3.2.5. Mobility Support . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20
3.3. A Self-Organising Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.1. Differentiating Neighbouring Homenets . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.2. Largest Practical Subnets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21
3.3.3. Handling Varying Link Technologies . . . . . . . . . 22
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