RFC 1887 (rfc1887) - Page 2 of 26

An Architecture for IPv6 Unicast Address Allocation

RFC 1887      IPv6 Unicast Address Allocation Architecture December 1995


   There are two aspects of interest when discussing IPv6 unicast
   address allocation within the Internet. The first is the set of
   administrative requirements for obtaining and allocating IPv6
   addresses; the second is the technical aspect of such assignments,
   having largely to do with routing, both within a routing domain
   (intra-domain routing) and between routing domains (inter-domain
   routing). This paper focuses on the technical issues.

   In the current Internet many routing domains (such as corporate and
   campus networks) attach to transit networks (such as regionals) in
   only one or a small number of carefully controlled access points.
   The former act as subscribers, while the latter act as providers.

   Addressing solutions which require substantial changes or constraints
   on the current topology are not considered.

   The architecture and recommendations in this paper are oriented
   primarily toward the large-scale division of IPv6 address allocation
   in the Internet.  Topics covered include:

      - Benefits of encoding some topological information in IPv6
        addresses to significantly reduce routing protocol overhead;

      - The anticipated need for additional levels of hierarchy in
        Internet addressing to support network growth;

      - The recommended mapping between Internet topological entities
        (i.e., service providers, and service subscribers) and IPv6
        addressing and routing components;

      - The recommended division of IPv6 address assignment among
        service providers (e.g., backbones, regionals), and service
        subscribers (e.g., sites);

      - Allocation of the IPv6 addresses by the Internet Registry;

      - Choice of the high-order portion of the IPv6 addresses in leaf
        routing domains that are connected to more than one service
        provider (e.g., backbone or a regional network).

   It is noted that there are other aspects of IPv6 address allocation,
   both technical and administrative, that are not covered in this
   paper.  Topics not covered or mentioned only superficially include:

      - A specific plan for address assignment;

      - Embedding address spaces from other network layer protocols
        (including IPv4) in the IPv6 address space and the addressing



Rekhter & Li                 Informational