Address Autoconfiguration and Neighbor Discovery

The IPv6 Neighbor Discovery (ND) protocol facilitates the autoconfiguration of IPv6 addresses. Autoconfiguration is the ability of an IPv6 host to automatically generate its own IPv6 address, which makes address administration easier and less time-consuming. For more information, see IPv6 Address Autoconfiguration.

The Neighbor Discovery protocol corresponds to a combination of these IPv4 protocols: Address Resolution Protocol (ARP), Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP), Router Discovery (RDISC), and ICMP Redirect. IPv6 routers use Neighbor Discovery to advertise the IPv6 site prefix. IPv6 hosts use Neighbor Discovery for various purposes, which include soliciting the prefix from an IPv6 router. For more information, see IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Protocol Overview.