Significance of IPv6 Interface Identifiers
RFC 7136, “Significance of IPv6 Interface Identifiers”, is a Proposed Standard document published in February 2014 by B. Carpenter, S. Jiang. It updates RFC 4291. The canonical text is published by the RFC Editor.
Abstract
The IPv6 addressing architecture includes a unicast interface identifier that is used in the creation of many IPv6 addresses. Interface identifiers are formed by a variety of methods. This document clarifies that the bits in an interface identifier have no meaning and that the entire identifier should be treated as an opaque value. In particular, RFC 4291 defines a method by which the Universal and Group bits of an IEEE link-layer address are mapped into an IPv6 unicast interface identifier. This document clarifies that those two bits are significant only in the process of deriving interface identifiers from an IEEE link-layer address, and it updates RFC 4291 accordingly.
What “Proposed Standard” means
An entry-level standards-track specification: stable, peer-reviewed and a solid basis for implementation, though it may still evolve before becoming an Internet Standard.
The canonical text of RFC 7136 is hosted at rfc-editor.org. Available in TXT,HTML.
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