Override IPv6 Neighbor Settings

About this task

wIPv6 neighbor discovery uses ICMP messages and solicited multicast addresses to find the link layer address of a neighbor on the same local network, verify the neighbor‘s reachability and track neighboring devices.

Upon receiving a neighbor solicitation message, the destination replies with neighbor advertisement (NA). The source address in the NA is the IPv6 address of the device sending the NA message. The destination address in the neighbor advertisement message is the IPv6 address of the device sending the neighbor solicitation. The data portion of the NA includes the link layer address of the node sending the neighbor advertisement.

Neighbor solicitation messages also verify the availability of a neighbor once its the link layer address is identified. When a node wants to verify the reachability of a neighbor, the destination address in a neighbor solicitation message is the unicast address of the neighbor.

A neighbor is interpreted as reachable when an acknowledgment is returned indicating packets have been received and processed. If packets are reaching the device, they‘re also reaching the next hop neighbor, providing a confirmation the next hop is reachable.

To set an IPv6 neighbor discovery configuration:

Procedure

  1. Go to Configuration → Devices.
    The Device Configuration screen displays.
  2. Select a target device from the device browser in the lower, left-hand side of the UI.
    The selected device's configuration screen displays.
  3. Expand Profile Overrides → Network → IPv6 Neighbor.
    Click to expand in new window
    IPv6 Neighbor screen
  4. Set an IPv6 Neighbor Entry Timeout in either Seconds (15 - 86,400), Minutes (1 - 1,440), Hours (1 - 24) or Days (1). The default setting is 1 hour.
  5. Select + Add Row, in the IPv6 Neighbor Discovery table to define the following:
    IPv6 Address Provide a static IPv6 IP address for neighbor discovery. IPv6 hosts can configure themselves automatically when connected to an IPv6 network using the Neighbor Discovery Protocol via Internet Control Message Protocol version 6 (ICMPv6) router discovery messages. When first connected to a network, a host sends a link-local router solicitation multicast request for its configuration parameters; routers respond to such a request with a router advertisement packet that contains Internet Layer configuration parameters. IPv6 addresses are composed of eight groups of four hexadecimal digits separated by colons.
    MAC Address Enter the hardware encoded MAC addresses of up to 256 IPv6 neighbor devices. A neighbor is interpreted as reachable when an acknowledgment is returned indicating packets have been received and processed. If packets are reaching the device, they‘re also reaching the next hop neighbor, providing a confirmation the next hop is reachable.
    Switch VLAN Interface Use the spinner control to set the virtual interface (from 1 - 4094) used for neighbor advertisements and solicitation messages.
    Device Type Specify the device type for this neighbor solicitation is for. Options include Host, Router and DHCP Server. The default setting is Host.
    Note

    Note

    A maximum of 256 neighbor entries can be defined.
  6. Click OK to save the changes.
    Click Reset to revert to the last saved configuration.
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