Prefixes in IPv6

The leftmost fields of the IPv6 address contain the prefix, which is used for routing IPv6 packets. IPv6 prefixes have the following format:

prefix/length in bits

Prefix length is stated in classless inter-domain routing (CIDR) notation. CIDR notation is a slash at the end of the address that is followed by the prefix length in bits. For information on CIDR format IP addresses, refer to Designing Your CIDR IPv4 Addressing Scheme.

The site prefix of an IPv6 address occupies up to 48 of the leftmost bits of the IPv6 address. For example, the site prefix of the IPv6 address 2001:db8:3c4d:0015:0000:0000:1a2f:1a2b/48 is contained in the leftmost 48 bits, 2001:db8:3c4d. You use the following representation, with zeros compressed, to represent this prefix:

2001:db8:3c4d::/48

The prefix 2001:db8::/32 is a special IPv6 prefix that is used specifically for documentation examples.

You can also specify a subnet prefix, which defines the internal topology of the network to a router. The example IPv6 address has the following subnet prefix.

2001:db8:3c4d:15::/64

The subnet prefix always contains 64 bits. These bits include 48 bits for the site prefix, in addition to 16 bits for the subnet ID.

The following prefixes have been reserved for special use:

2002::/16

Indicates that a 6to4 routing prefix follows.

fe80::/10

Indicates that a link-local address follows.

ff00::/8

Indicates that a multicast address follows.