IPv6 Specific Features

Apart from adding support for IPv6 addresses, PIMv6 adds the following functionality to existing PIM implementation:

Secondary address list - This is a new option which will be added to the V6 Hello messages sent. The list includes all addresses assigned to an interface, including the link local addresses. The receiving router must process these addresses and must associate the same with the neighbor that sent the message.
Tunnel interface - This is similar to a VLAN interface. APIs are now added to get callbacks from VLAN manager client for IP address configuration for a tunnel, etc.

Secondary address list

The Address List Option, in a Hello message, advertises all the secondary addresses associated with the source interface of the router originating the message. These addresses are associated with the neighbor, and are used to compute the neighbor‘s primary address. The function NBR uses information gathered through PIM Hello messages to map the IP address A of a directly connected PIM neighbor on interface I to the primary IP address of the same router. The primary IP address of a neighbor is the address that it uses as the source of its PIM Hello messages.

Tunnel interfaces

Two PIMv6 domains can be connected through an IPv4 network. In this case, PIMv6 routers across the domains communicate over the IPv4 network by tunneling the IPv6 packets inside IPv4 headers. To enable such communication, PIMv6 provides support for Tunnel interfaces.

The following tunnel types are supported:

6-in-4
6-to-4

Configuration details

PIMv6 is incorporated into all CLI commands that currently support the PIM implementation. New keywords are added to support IPv6, and show command output is modified to display IPv6 related information. For specific configuration details, refer to the Switch Engine v33.1.1 Command Reference Guide .