System Administration Guide: IP Services

ProcedureHow to Enable Persistent IPv6 Interfaces

This procedure explains how to enable IPv6 interfaces with autoconfigured IPv6 addresses that persist across subsequent reboots.


Note –

If the interface is on the same link as a router that currently advertises an IPv6 prefix, the interface obtains that site prefix as part of its autoconfigured addresses. For more information, refer to How to Configure an IPv6-Enabled Router.


  1. Log in to the IPv6 node as Primary Administrator or as superuser.

    The Primary Administrator role includes the Primary Administrator profile. To create the role and assign the role to a user, see Chapter 2, Working With the Solaris Management Console (Tasks), in System Administration Guide: Basic Administration.

  2. Create IPv6 addresses for interfaces that were added after installation.


    # touch /etc/hostname6.interface
    
  3. (Optional) Create an /etc/inet/ndpd.conf file that defines parameters for interface variables on the node.

    If you need to create temporary addresses for the host's interface, refer to Using Temporary Addresses for an Interface. For details about /etc/inet/ndpd.conf, refer to the ndpd.conf(4) man page and ndpd.conf Configuration File.

  4. Reboot the node.


    # reboot -- -r
    

    The reboot process sends router discovery packets. If a router responds with a site prefix, the node can configure any interface with a corresponding /etc/hostname6.interface file with a global IPv6 address. Otherwise, the IPv6-enabled interfaces are configured solely with link-local addresses. Rebooting also restarts in.ndpd and other network daemons in IPv6 mode.


Example 6–2 Making an IPv6 Interface Persist Across Reboots

This example shows how to make the IPv6 configuration for the qfe0 interface persist across reboots. In this example, a router on the local link advertises the site prefix and subnet ID 2001:db8:3c4d:15/64.

First, check the status of the system's interfaces.


# ifconfig -a
lo0: flags=1000849 <UP,LOOPBACK,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 8232 index 1
        inet 127.0.0.1 netmask ff000000 
qfe0: flags=1000863 <UP,BROADCAST,NOTRAILERS,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv4> mtu 1500 
           index 2
        inet 172.16.27.74 netmask ffffff00 broadcast 172.16.27.255
        ether 0:3:ba:13:14:e1 

# touch /etc/hostname6.qfe0
# reboot -- -r

Verify that the IPv6 address you configured is still applied to the qfe0 interface.


# ifconfig -a6
qfe0: flags=2000841 <UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,IPv6> mtu 1500 index 2
       ether 0:3:ba:13:14:e1 
       inet6 fe80::203:baff:fe13:14e1/10 
 qfe0:1: flags=2180841 <UP,RUNNING,MULTICAST,ADDRCONF,IPv6> mtu 1500 
          index 2
        inet6 2001:db8:3c4d:15:203:baff:fe13:14e1/64

The output of ifconfig -a6 shows two entries for qfe0. The standard qfe0 entry includes the MAC address and the link-local address. A second entry, qfe0:1, indicates that a pseudo-interface was created for the additional IPv6 address on the qfe0 interface. The new, global IPv6 address, 2001:db8:3c4d:15:203:baff:fe13:14e1/64, includes the site prefix and subnet ID advertised by the local router.


Next Steps