IPv6 Support

FRR fully supports IPv6 routing. As described so far, FRR supports RIPng, OSPFv3, and BGP-4+. You can give IPv6 addresses to an interface and configure static IPv6 routing information. FRR IPv6 also provides automatic address configuration via a feature called address auto configuration. To do it, the router must send router advertisement messages to the all nodes that exist on the network.

Previous versions of FRR could be built without IPv6 support. This is no longer possible.

Router Advertisement

show ipv6 nd ra-interfaces [vrf <VRFNAME|all>]

Show configured route advertisement interfaces. VRF subcommand only applicable for netns-based vrfs.

ipv6 nd suppress-ra

Don't send router advertisement messages. The no form of this command enables sending RA messages.

ipv6 nd prefix ipv6prefix [valid-lifetime] [preferred-lifetime] [off-link] [no-autoconfig] [router-address]

Configuring the IPv6 prefix to include in router advertisements. Several prefix specific optional parameters and flags may follow:

  • valid-lifetime: the length of time in seconds during what the prefix is valid for the purpose of on-link determination. Value infinite represents infinity (i.e. a value of all one bits (0xffffffff)). Range: (0-4294967295) Default: 2592000

  • preferred-lifetime: the length of time in seconds during what addresses generated from the prefix remain preferred. Value infinite represents infinity. Range: (0-4294967295) Default: 604800

  • off-link: indicates that advertisement makes no statement about on-link or off-link properties of the prefix. Default: not set, i.e. this prefix can be used for on-link determination.

  • no-autoconfig: indicates to hosts on the local link that the specified prefix cannot be used for IPv6 autoconfiguration.

    Default: not set, i.e. prefix can be used for autoconfiguration.

  • router-address: indicates to hosts on the local link that the specified prefix contains a complete IP address by setting R flag.

    Default: not set, i.e. hosts do not assume a complete IP address is placed.

ipv6 nd ra-interval [(1-1800)]

The maximum time allowed between sending unsolicited multicast router advertisements from the interface, in seconds. Default: 600

ipv6 nd ra-interval [msec (70-1800000)]

The maximum time allowed between sending unsolicited multicast router advertisements from the interface, in milliseconds. Default: 600000

ipv6 nd ra-fast-retrans

RFC4861 states that consecutive RA packets should be sent no more frequently than three seconds apart. FRR by default allows faster transmissions of RA packets in order to speed convergence and neighbor establishment, particularly for unnumbered peering. By turning off ipv6 nd ra-fast-retrans, the implementation is compliant with the RFC at the cost of slower convergence and neighbor establishment. Default: enabled

ipv6 nd ra-retrans-interval [(0-4294967295)]

The value to be placed in the retrans timer field of router advertisements sent from the interface, in msec. Indicates the interval between router advertisement retransmissions. Setting the value to zero indicates that the value is unspecified by this router. Must be between zero or 4294967295 msec. Default: 0

ipv6 nd ra-hop-limit [(0-255)]

The value to be placed in the hop count field of router advertisements sent from the interface, in hops. Indicates the maximum diameter of the network. Setting the value to zero indicates that the value is unspecified by this router. Must be between zero or 255 hops. Default: 64

ipv6 nd ra-lifetime [(0-9000)]

The value to be placed in the Router Lifetime field of router advertisements sent from the interface, in seconds. Indicates the usefulness of the router as a default router on this interface. Setting the value to zero indicates that the router should not be considered a default router on this interface. Must be either zero or between value specified with ipv6 nd ra-interval (or default) and 9000 seconds. Default: 1800

ipv6 nd reachable-time [(1-3600000)]

The value to be placed in the Reachable Time field in the Router Advertisement messages sent by the router, in milliseconds. The configured time enables the router to detect unavailable neighbors. The value zero means unspecified (by this router). Default: 0

ipv6 nd managed-config-flag

Set/unset flag in IPv6 router advertisements which indicates to hosts that they should use managed (stateful) protocol for addresses autoconfiguration in addition to any addresses autoconfigured using stateless address autoconfiguration. Default: not set

ipv6 nd other-config-flag

Set/unset flag in IPv6 router advertisements which indicates to hosts that they should use administered (stateful) protocol to obtain autoconfiguration information other than addresses. Default: not set

ipv6 nd home-agent-config-flag

Set/unset flag in IPv6 router advertisements which indicates to hosts that the router acts as a Home Agent and includes a Home Agent Option. Default: not set

ipv6 nd home-agent-preference [(0-65535)]

The value to be placed in Home Agent Option, when Home Agent config flag is set, which indicates to hosts Home Agent preference. The default value of 0 stands for the lowest preference possible. Default: 0

ipv6 nd home-agent-lifetime [(0-65520)]

The value to be placed in Home Agent Option, when Home Agent config flag is set, which indicates to hosts Home Agent Lifetime. The default value of 0 means to place the current Router Lifetime value.

Default: 0

ipv6 nd adv-interval-option

Include an Advertisement Interval option which indicates to hosts the maximum time, in milliseconds, between successive unsolicited Router Advertisements. Default: not set

ipv6 nd router-preference [(high|medium|low)]

Set default router preference in IPv6 router advertisements per RFC4191. Default: medium

ipv6 nd mtu [(1-65535)]

Include an MTU (type 5) option in each RA packet to assist the attached hosts in proper interface configuration. The announced value is not verified to be consistent with router interface MTU.

Default: don't advertise any MTU option.

ipv6 nd rdnss ipv6address [lifetime]

Recursive DNS server address to advertise using the RDNSS (type 25) option described in RFC8106. Can be specified more than once to advertise multiple addresses. Note that hosts may choose to limit the number of RDNSS addresses to track.

Optional parameter:

  • lifetime: the maximum time in seconds over which the specified address may be used for domain name resolution. Value infinite represents infinity (i.e. a value of all one bits (0xffffffff)). A value of 0 indicates that the address must no longer be used. Range: (0-4294967295) Default: 3 * ra-interval

Default: do not emit RDNSS option

ipv6 nd dnssl domain-name-suffix [lifetime]

Advertise DNS search list using the DNSSL (type 31) option described in RFC8106. Specify more than once to advertise multiple domain name suffixes. Host implementations may limit the number of honored search list entries.

Optional parameter:

  • lifetime: the maximum time in seconds over which the specified domain suffix may be used in the course of name resolution. Value infinite represents infinity (i.e. a value of all one bits (0xffffffff)). A value of 0 indicates that the name suffix must no longer be used. Range: (0-4294967295) Default: 3 * ra-interval

Default: do not emit DNSSL option

Router Advertisement Configuration Example

A small example:

interface eth0
 no ipv6 nd suppress-ra
 ipv6 nd prefix 2001:0DB8:5009::/64

See also

  • RFC 2462 (IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration)
  • RFC 4861 (Neighbor Discovery for IP Version 6 (IPv6))
  • RFC 6275 (Mobility Support in IPv6)
  • RFC 4191 (Default Router Preferences and More-Specific Routes)
  • RFC 8106 (IPv6 Router Advertisement Options for DNS Configuration)