RFC 6085

Address Mapping of IPv6 Multicast Packets on Ethernet

📅 published January 2011, from ietf

RFC 6085: Address Mapping of IPv6 Multicast Packets on Ethernet 🎀

okay bestie, this is RFC 6085 and the vibe is mapping, lol 🗺️ Quick facts first so we're on the same page:

  • Number and title: RFC 6085, "Address Mapping of IPv6 Multicast Packets on Ethernet" 💖
  • Authors: S. Gundavelli, M. Townsley, O. Troan, and W. Dec, all from Cisco 🫶
  • Category: Standards Track, which means this is an official Internet standard 👑
  • Date: January 2011 🌸
  • Updates: RFC 2464 ✨

Abstract 🦋

when you send an IPv6 packet to a multicast destination address, that address gets mapped to an Ethernet link-layer multicast address. this doc clarifies that, in some circumstances, that same mapping can land on an Ethernet link-layer unicast address instead 💅

Status of This Memo 🧚

this is an Internet Standards Track document 🔥

it's a product of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), so it represents the consensus of the IETF community. it got public review and was approved for publication by the Internet Engineering Steering Group (IESG). if you want more info on Internet Standards, check Section 2 of RFC 5741 📚

for the current status, any errata, and how to give feedback, go to http://www.rfc-editor.org/info/rfc6085 🌈

Copyright (c) 2011 IETF Trust and the persons identified as the document authors. All rights reserved. 🎀

this doc is subject to BCP 78 and the IETF Trust's Legal Provisions Relating to IETF Documents (http://trustee.ietf.org/license-info) as they were in effect on the date of publication. please read these carefully, bestie, because they explain your rights and restrictions for this document 🙈 Code Components pulled out of this doc must include Simplified BSD License text, as described in Section 4.e of the Trust Legal Provisions, and they come with no warranty, as described in the Simplified BSD License ⭐

1. Introduction ✨

"Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet Networks" ([RFC2464], Section 7) explains how an IPv6 packet with a multicast destination address gets mapped into an Ethernet link-layer address. this doc extends that mapping so an IPv6 packet with a multicast destination address can also map explicitly into an Ethernet link-layer unicast address, but only when it's clear that just one address is relevant 🦋

this mapping does not replace the mapping in [RFC2464], Section 7. figuring out the unicast Ethernet link-layer address and building the outgoing IPv6 packet are out of scope for this document 🫧

2. Conventions 💖

the key words "MUST", "MUST NOT", "REQUIRED", "SHALL", "SHALL NOT", "SHOULD", "SHOULD NOT", "RECOMMENDED", "MAY", and "OPTIONAL" in this document are to be interpreted as described in RFC 2119 [RFC2119] 🎀

3. Receiving IPv6 Multicast Packets 🌸

okay so here's the key rule 👑 an IPv6 node that receives an IPv6 packet with a multicast destination address and an Ethernet link-layer unicast address MUST NOT drop the packet just because this form of address mapping was used 🙅‍♀️✨

4. Security Considerations 💀

This document does not introduce any new security vulnerabilities. Nothing new is opened up here, so no new security holes come from this mapping. 🔐

5. Acknowledgements 🫶

the authors want to thank Bernard Aboba, Fred Baker, Wes Beebee, Ron Bonica, Olaf Bonness, Jean-Michel Combes, Ralph Droms, Alain Durand, Suresh Krishnan, Eric Levy-Abegnoli, Phil Roberts, Behcet Sarikaya, Hemant Singh, Mark Smith, Dave Thaler, Pascal Thubert, Stig Venaas, and Eric Voit for their contributions and discussions on this topic 💕

6. Normative References 📚

[RFC2119]   Bradner, S., "Key words for use in RFCs to Indicate
            Requirement Levels", BCP 14, RFC 2119, March 1997.

[RFC2464]   Crawford, M., "Transmission of IPv6 Packets over Ethernet
            Networks", RFC 2464, December 1998.

Authors' Addresses 🧚‍♀️

Sri Gundavelli, Cisco, EMail: sgundave@cisco.com

Sri Gundavelli
Cisco
170 West Tasman Drive
San Jose, CA  95134
USA

EMail: sgundave@cisco.com
Mark Townsley
Cisco
L'Atlantis, 11, Rue Camille Desmoulins
ISSY LES MOULINEAUX, ILE DE FRANCE  92782
France

EMail: townsley@cisco.com
Ole Troan
Cisco
Oslo,
Norway

EMail: ot@cisco.com
Wojciech Dec
Cisco
Haarlerbergweg 13-19
Amsterdam, Noord-Holland  1101 CH
Netherlands

EMail: wdec@cisco.com
📦 where this page comes from