When the traffic traverse from one network to another, the network layer device, e.g., router needs to know about the destination network. It does not matter for the router how it gets the information about that destination, but it should be in the routing table of that router.

We can provide the information about the route to the router, either statically or dynamically. The routing process is almost similar in the IPv4 and IPv6. The routing protocols in IPv6 like RIPng (RIP New Generation), OSPFv3, EIGRP for IPv6, IS-IS for IPv6, MP-BGP4 (Multiprotocol BGP-4) have been redefined with the advance features of the IPv6.

In the small network, we can configure the routes statically on every router. But in the big network or networks, we use dynamic routing protocols which provide the information about the route to the router dynamically. You may want to know--How Does Route Selection Work in Cisco Routers?

The prime objective of the static or dynamic routing is to inform the router about the route or the network which are not connected or directly connected to that router.

Here we will discuss about static route in IPv6.

Enable IPv6 on the Router

When we apply IPv6 address on the interface of a router, that router becomes the member of the FF02::1 (All-IPv6 devices) and this router will be a IPv6 device only and will not be capable of forwarding the ICMPv6 Router Advertisement messages and routing protocols packets.




After applying the command 'IPv6 unicast-routing' on the router, that router will become the member of FF02::2 (All-IPv6 routers). Now this router will be a IPv6-Router having the routing capabilities.

When a router receives a request to transfer the traffic for particular destination network which might be connected or not connected with that router, the router will check its routing table against the destination network.

If that destination network is connected to it, the router will forward the traffic on the interface which is indicating the destination network.

Otherwise if the destination network is not connected to that router, it will check its routing table for the destination network. When it finds that destination network is there in its routing table, it will then find who is the next router pointing that network. Then the router will forward that packet to the next router, and the next router will repeat the same process until they reach to the destination.

An example


A company, e.g., LuminisIndia.com having five routers and IPv6 addresses are configured on all the routers. All the routers used in the company should be able to communicate with each other. For achieving this objective, we are supposed to use only the static routing, no dynamic routing.

We will design the network of LuminisIndia.com in the GNS3. You can also use Packetracer or other network simulation software for this lab.




The basic configuration difference between the static routing and dynamic routing is that in static routing we need to configure static route for all the destination routes or networks which are not directly connected to that router. But in dynamic routing we need to advertise only the routes or networks, which are directly connected.

For better understanding the concept of IPv6 static routing, we will noted down all the routes which are not directly connected to that specific router.

In this exercise we will get the clear idea of how many IPv6 static routes we need to configure on the specific router and it will also help us in troubleshooting.

From R1 perspective in the current topology, there are four networks which are not directly connected to R1 router. These networks are:

2001:23::/64
2001:34::/64
2001:35::/64
2001:36::/64

On R1 we need to configure four IPv6 static routes, which are not directly connected to R1 router.

R2’s routes which is not directly connected:

2001:34::/64
2001:35::/64
2001:36::/64

On R2, we need to configure three IPv6 static routes.

In the same manner we need to find out which routes are not directly connected to R3, R4, R5, and R6.

R3’s routes which is not directly connected:

2001:12::/64

R4’s routes which are not directly connected:

2001:12::/64
2001:23::/64
2001:35::/64
2001:36::/64
R5’s routes which are not directly connected:

2001:12::/64
2001:23::/64
2001:34::/64
2001:36::/64
R6’s routes which are not directly connected:

2001:12::/64
2001:23::/64
2001:34::/64
2001:35::/64
Now we have a clear understanding of which IPv6 static routes need to be configured on the particular router.

IPv6 Address Configuration

Assign the IPv6 address on the specified interface of the router R1 and make the 'up', with the commands are given below.



Follow the same procedure for all the routers to assign IPv6 addresses to them and make them ‘up’.
We can verify the assigned IPv6 address on R1.



You may use the same command to verify the assigned IPv6 address on each router.

Use 'IPv6 unicast-routing’ command for dynamic routing and ICMPv6 Neighbor Discovery on router R1.



You must make a point to configure this command on each router.

You also can observe that after applying the command 'IPv6 unicast-routing' on the router, that R1 will become the member of FF02::2 (All-IPv6 routers).



Configure IPv6 addresses and unicast routing on the router R2.



We can check the status of the interfaces with the command ‘show ipv6 interface brief ‘



Enable IPv6 routing on router R2.



Configure the IPv6 addresses and routing on the rest of the routers.









After the configuration of the IPv6 addresses and routing on each router, they are now ready for the configuration of the static routing.

IPv6 Static Route Configuration

On R1 four routes are not directly connected, we have to configure four IPv6 static routes on R1:



On R2 three routes are not directly connected to it, we have to configure three IPv6 static routes on R2:

Read The Full Article Here:

Learn How to Configure Static Route in IPv6
http://luminisindia.com/it-networking-blog/164-learn-how-to-configure-static-route-in-ipv6

(Click the link given above)

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