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RFC 2461

Neighbor Discovery for IP Version 6 (IPv6)

Pages: 93
Obsoletes:  1970
Obsoleted by:  4861
Updated by:  4311
Part 3 of 4 – Pages 37 to 70
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ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 37   prevText
6.  ROUTER AND PREFIX DISCOVERY

   This section describes router and host behavior related to the Router
   Discovery portion of Neighbor Discovery.  Router Discovery is used to
   locate neighboring routers as well as learn prefixes and
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 38
   configuration parameters related to address autoconfiguration.

   Prefix Discovery is the process through which hosts learn the ranges
   of IP addresses that reside on-link and can be reached directly
   without going through a router.  Routers send Router Advertisements
   that indicate whether the sender is willing to be a default router.
   Router Advertisements also contain Prefix Information options that
   list the set of prefixes that identify on-link IP addresses.

   Stateless Address Autoconfiguration must also obtain subnet prefixes
   as part of configuring addresses.  Although the prefixes used for
   address autoconfiguration are logically distinct from those used for
   on-link determination, autoconfiguration information is piggybacked
   on Router Discovery messages to reduce network traffic.  Indeed, the
   same prefixes can be advertised for on-link determination and address
   autoconfiguration by specifying the appropriate flags in the Prefix
   Information options.  See [ADDRCONF] for details on how
   autoconfiguration information is processed.

6.1.  Message Validation

6.1.1.  Validation of Router Solicitation Messages

   Hosts MUST silently discard any received Router Solicitation
   Messages.

   A router MUST silently discard any received Router Solicitation
   messages that do not satisfy all of the following validity checks:

      - The IP Hop Limit field has a value of 255, i.e., the packet
        could not possibly have been forwarded by a router.

      - If the message includes an IP Authentication Header, the message
        authenticates correctly.

      - ICMP Checksum is valid.

      - ICMP Code is 0.

      - ICMP length (derived from the IP length) is 8 or more octets.

      - All included options have a length that is greater than zero.

      - If the IP source address is the unspecified address, there is no
        source link-layer address option in the message.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 39
   The contents of the Reserved field, and of any unrecognized options,
   MUST be ignored.  Future, backward-compatible changes to the protocol
   may specify the contents of the Reserved field or add new options;
   backward-incompatible changes may use different Code values.

   The contents of any defined options that are not specified to be used
   with Router Solicitation messages MUST be ignored and the packet
   processed as normal.  The only defined option that may appear is the
   Source Link-Layer Address option.

   A solicitation that passes the validity checks is called a "valid
   solicitation".

6.1.2.  Validation of Router Advertisement Messages

   A node MUST silently discard any received Router Advertisement
   messages that do not satisfy all of the following validity checks:

      - IP Source Address is a link-local address.  Routers must use
        their link-local address as the source for Router Advertisement
        and Redirect messages so that hosts can uniquely identify
        routers.

      - The IP Hop Limit field has a value of 255, i.e., the packet
        could not possibly have been forwarded by a router.

      - If the message includes an IP Authentication Header, the message
        authenticates correctly.

      - ICMP Checksum is valid.

      - ICMP Code is 0.

      - ICMP length (derived from the IP length) is 16 or more octets.

      - All included options have a length that is greater than zero.

   The contents of the Reserved field, and of any unrecognized options,
   MUST be ignored.  Future, backward-compatible changes to the protocol
   may specify the contents of the Reserved field or add new options;
   backward-incompatible changes may use different Code values.

   The contents of any defined options that are not specified to be used
   with Router Advertisement messages MUST be ignored and the packet
   processed as normal.  The only defined options that may appear are
   the Source Link-Layer Address, Prefix Information and MTU options.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 40
   An advertisement that passes the validity checks is called a "valid
   advertisement".

6.2.  Router Specification

6.2.1.  Router Configuration Variables

   A router MUST allow for the following conceptual variables to be
   configured by system management.  The specific variable names are
   used for demonstration purposes only, and an implementation is not
   required to have them, so long as its external behavior is consistent
   with that described in this document.  Default values are specified
   to simplify configuration in common cases.

   The default values for some of the variables listed below may be
   overridden by specific documents that describe how IPv6 operates over
   different link layers.  This rule simplifies the configuration of
   Neighbor Discovery over link types with widely differing performance
   characteristics.

   For each multicast interface:

      AdvSendAdvertisements
                     A flag indicating whether or not the router sends
                     periodic Router Advertisements and responds to
                     Router Solicitations.

                     Default: FALSE

                     Note that AdvSendAdvertisements MUST be FALSE by
                     default so that a node will not accidentally start
                     acting as a router unless it is explicitly
                     configured by system management to send Router
                     Advertisements.

      MaxRtrAdvInterval
                     The maximum time allowed between sending
                     unsolicited multicast Router Advertisements from
                     the interface, in seconds.  MUST be no less than 4
                     seconds and no greater than 1800 seconds.

                     Default: 600 seconds

      MinRtrAdvInterval
                     The minimum time allowed between sending
                     unsolicited multicast Router Advertisements from
                     the interface, in seconds.  MUST be no less than 3
                     seconds and no greater than .75 *
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 41
                     MaxRtrAdvInterval.

                     Default: 0.33 * MaxRtrAdvInterval

      AdvManagedFlag
                     The TRUE/FALSE value to be placed in the "Managed
                     address configuration" flag field in the Router
                     Advertisement.  See [ADDRCONF].

                     Default: FALSE

      AdvOtherConfigFlag
                     The TRUE/FALSE value to be placed in the "Other
                     stateful configuration" flag field in the Router
                     Advertisement.  See [ADDRCONF].

                     Default: FALSE

      AdvLinkMTU     The value to be placed in MTU options sent by the
                     router.  A value of zero indicates that no MTU
                     options are sent.

                     Default: 0

      AdvReachableTime
                     The value to be placed in the Reachable Time field
                     in the Router Advertisement messages sent by the
                     router.  The value zero means unspecified (by this
                     router).  MUST be no greater than 3,600,000
                     milliseconds (1 hour).

                     Default: 0

      AdvRetransTimer The value to be placed in the Retrans Timer field
                     in the Router Advertisement messages sent by the
                     router.  The value zero means unspecified (by this
                     router).

                     Default: 0

      AdvCurHopLimit
                     The default value to be placed in the Cur Hop Limit
                     field in the Router Advertisement messages sent by
                     the router.  The value should be set to that
                     current diameter of the Internet.  The value zero
                     means unspecified (by this router).
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 42
                     Default:  The value specified in the "Assigned
                     Numbers" RFC [ASSIGNED] that was in effect at the
                     time of implementation.

      AdvDefaultLifetime
                     The value to be placed in the Router Lifetime field
                     of Router Advertisements sent from the interface,
                     in seconds.  MUST be either zero or between
                     MaxRtrAdvInterval and 9000 seconds.  A value of
                     zero indicates that the router is not to be used as
                     a default router.

                     Default: 3 * MaxRtrAdvInterval

      AdvPrefixList
                     A list of prefixes to be placed in Prefix
                     Information options in Router Advertisement
                     messages sent from the interface.

                     Default: all prefixes that the router advertises
                     via routing protocols as being on-link for the
                     interface from which the advertisement is sent.
                     The link-local prefix SHOULD NOT be included in the
                     list of advertised prefixes.

                     Each prefix has an associated:

                        AdvValidLifetime
                             The value to be placed in the Valid
                             Lifetime in the Prefix Information
                             option, in seconds.  The designated value
                             of all 1's (0xffffffff) represents
                             infinity.  Implementations MUST allow
                             AdvValidLifetime to be specified in two
                             ways:

                               - a time that decrements in real time,
                                 that is, one that will result in a
                                 Lifetime of zero at the specified
                                 time in the future, or

                               - a fixed time that stays the same in
                                 consecutive advertisements.

                             Default: 2592000 seconds (30 days), fixed
                             (i.e., stays the same in consecutive
                             advertisements).
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 43
                        AdvOnLinkFlag
                             The value to be placed in the on-link
                             flag ("L-bit") field in the Prefix
                             Information option.

                             Default: TRUE

                   Automatic address configuration [ADDRCONF]
                   defines additional information associated with
                   each the prefixes:

                        AdvPreferredLifetime
                             The value to be placed in the Preferred
                             Lifetime in the Prefix Information
                             option, in seconds.  The designated value
                             of all 1's (0xffffffff) represents
                             infinity.  See [ADDRCONF] for details on
                             how this value is used.  Implementations
                             MUST allow AdvPreferredLifetime to be
                             specified in two ways:

                               - a time that decrements in real time,
                                 that is, one that will result in a
                                 Lifetime of zero at a specified time
                                 in the future, or

                               - a fixed time that stays the same in
                                 consecutive advertisements.

                             Default: 604800 seconds (7 days), fixed
                             (i.e., stays the same in consecutive
                             advertisements).

                        AdvAutonomousFlag
                             The value to be placed in the Autonomous
                             Flag field in the Prefix Information
                             option.  See [ADDRCONF].

                             Default: TRUE

   The above variables contain information that is placed in outgoing
   Router Advertisement messages.  Hosts use the received information to
   initialize a set of analogous variables that control their external
   behavior (see Section 6.3.2).  Some of these host variables (e.g.,
   CurHopLimit, RetransTimer, and ReachableTime) apply to all nodes
   including routers.  In practice, these variables may not actually be
   present on routers, since their contents can be derived from the
   variables described above.  However, external router behavior MUST be
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 44
   the same as host behavior with respect to these variables.  In
   particular, this includes the occasional randomization of the
   ReachableTime value as described in Section 6.3.2.

   Protocol constants are defined in Section 10.

6.2.2.  Becoming An Advertising Interface

   The term "advertising interface" refers to any functioning and
   enabled multicast interface that has at least one unicast IP address
   assigned to it and whose corresponding AdvSendAdvertisements flag is
   TRUE.  A router MUST NOT send Router Advertisements out any interface
   that is not an advertising interface.

   An interface may become an advertising interface at times other than
   system startup.  For example:

      - changing the AdvSendAdvertisements flag on an enabled interface
        from FALSE to TRUE, or

      - administratively enabling the interface, if it had been
        administratively disabled, and its AdvSendAdvertisements flag is
        TRUE, or

      - enabling IP forwarding capability (i.e., changing the system
        from being a host to being a router), when the interface's
        AdvSendAdvertisements flag is TRUE.

   A router MUST join the all-routers multicast address on an
   advertising interface.  Routers respond to Router Solicitations sent
   to the all-routers address and verify the consistency of Router
   Advertisements sent by neighboring routers.

6.2.3.  Router Advertisement Message Content

   A router sends periodic as well as solicited Router Advertisements
   out its advertising interfaces.  Outgoing Router Advertisements are
   filled with the following values consistent with the message format
   given in Section 4.2:

      - In the Router Lifetime field: the interface's configured
        AdvDefaultLifetime.

      - In the M and O flags: the interface's configured AdvManagedFlag
        and AdvOtherConfigFlag, respectively.  See [ADDRCONF].

      - In the Cur Hop Limit field: the interface's configured
        CurHopLimit.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 45
      - In the Reachable Time field: the interface's configured
        AdvReachableTime.

      - In the Retrans Timer field: the interface's configured
        AdvRetransTimer.

      - In the options:

           o Source Link-Layer Address option: link-layer address of the
             sending interface.  This option MAY be omitted to
             facilitate in-bound load balancing over replicated
             interfaces.

           o MTU option: the interface's configured AdvLinkMTU value if
             the value is non-zero.  If AdvLinkMTU is zero the MTU
             option is not sent.

           o Prefix Information options: one Prefix Information option
             for each prefix listed in AdvPrefixList with the option
             fields set from the information in the AdvPrefixList entry
             as follows:

                - In the "on-link" flag: the entry's AdvOnLinkFlag.

                - In the Valid Lifetime field: the entry's
                  AdvValidLifetime.

                - In the "Autonomous address configuration" flag: the
                  entry's AdvAutonomousFlag.

                - In the Preferred Lifetime field: the entry's
                  AdvPreferredLifetime.

   A router might want to send Router Advertisements without advertising
   itself as a default router.  For instance, a router might advertise
   prefixes for address autoconfiguration while not wishing to forward
   packets.  Such a router sets the Router Lifetime field in outgoing
   advertisements to zero.

   A router MAY choose not to include some or all options when sending
   unsolicited Router Advertisements.  For example, if prefix lifetimes
   are much longer than AdvDefaultLifetime, including them every few
   advertisements may be sufficient.  However, when responding to a
   Router Solicitation or while sending the first few initial
   unsolicited advertisements, a router SHOULD include all options so
   that all information (e.g., prefixes) is propagated quickly during
   system initialization.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 46
   If including all options causes the size of an advertisement to
   exceed the link MTU, multiple advertisements can be sent, each
   containing a subset of the options.

6.2.4.  Sending Unsolicited Router Advertisements

   A host MUST NOT send Router Advertisement messages at any time.

   Unsolicited Router Advertisements are not strictly periodic: the
   interval between subsequent transmissions is randomized to reduce the
   probability of synchronization with the advertisements from other
   routers on the same link [SYNC].  Each advertising interface has its
   own timer.  Whenever a multicast advertisement is sent from an
   interface, the timer is reset to a uniformly-distributed random value
   between the interface's configured MinRtrAdvInterval and
   MaxRtrAdvInterval; expiration of the timer causes the next
   advertisement to be sent and a new random value to be chosen.

   For the first few advertisements (up to
   MAX_INITIAL_RTR_ADVERTISEMENTS) sent from an interface when it
   becomes an advertising interface, if the randomly chosen interval is
   greater than MAX_INITIAL_RTR_ADVERT_INTERVAL, the timer SHOULD be set
   to MAX_INITIAL_RTR_ADVERT_INTERVAL instead.  Using a smaller interval
   for the initial advertisements increases the likelihood of a router
   being discovered quickly when it first becomes available, in the
   presence of possible packet loss.

   The information contained in Router Advertisements may change through
   actions of system management.  For instance, the lifetime of
   advertised prefixes may change, new prefixes could be added, a router
   could cease to be a router (i.e., switch from being a router to being
   a host), etc.  In such cases, the router MAY transmit up to
   MAX_INITIAL_RTR_ADVERTISEMENTS unsolicited advertisements, using the
   same rules as when an interface becomes an advertising interface.

6.2.5.  Ceasing To Be An Advertising Interface

   An interface may cease to be an advertising interface, through
   actions of system management such as:

      - changing the AdvSendAdvertisements flag of an enabled interface
        from TRUE to FALSE, or

      - administratively disabling the interface, or

      - shutting down the system.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 47
   In such cases the router SHOULD transmit one or more (but not more
   than MAX_FINAL_RTR_ADVERTISEMENTS) final multicast Router
   Advertisements on the interface with a Router Lifetime field of zero.
   In the case of a router becoming a host, the system SHOULD also
   depart from the all-routers IP multicast group on all interfaces on
   which the router supports IP multicast (whether or not they had been
   advertising interfaces).  In addition, the host MUST insure that
   subsequent Neighbor Advertisement messages sent from the interface
   have the Router flag set to zero.

   Note that system management may disable a router's IP forwarding
   capability (i.e., changing the system from being a router to being a
   host), a step that does not necessarily imply that the router's
   interfaces stop being advertising interfaces.  In such cases,
   subsequent Router Advertisements MUST set the Router Lifetime field
   to zero.

6.2.6.  Processing Router Solicitations

   A host MUST silently discard any received Router Solicitation
   messages.

   In addition to sending periodic, unsolicited advertisements, a router
   sends advertisements in response to valid solicitations received on
   an advertising interface.  A router MAY choose to unicast the
   response directly to the soliciting host's address (if the
   solicitation's source address is not the unspecified address), but
   the usual case is to multicast the response to the all-nodes group.
   In the latter case, the interface's interval timer is reset to a new
   random value, as if an unsolicited advertisement had just been sent
   (see Section 6.2.4).

   In all cases, Router Advertisements sent in response to a Router
   Solicitation MUST be delayed by a random time between 0 and
   MAX_RA_DELAY_TIME seconds. (If a single advertisement is sent in
   response to multiple solicitations, the delay is relative to the
   first solicitation.)  In addition, consecutive Router Advertisements
   sent to the all-nodes multicast address MUST be rate limited to no
   more than one advertisement every MIN_DELAY_BETWEEN_RAS seconds.

   A router might process Router Solicitations as follows:

    - Upon receipt of a Router Solicitation, compute a random delay
      within the range 0 through MAX_RA_DELAY_TIME.  If the computed
      value corresponds to a time later than the time the next multicast
      Router Advertisement is scheduled to be sent, ignore the random
      delay and send the advertisement at the already-scheduled time.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 48
    - If the router sent a multicast Router Advertisement (solicited or
      unsolicited) within the last MIN_DELAY_BETWEEN_RAS seconds,
      schedule the advertisement to be sent at a time corresponding to
      MIN_DELAY_BETWEEN_RAS plus the random value after the previous
      advertisement was sent.  This ensures that the multicast Router
      Advertisements are rate limited.

    - Otherwise, schedule the sending of a Router Advertisement at the
      time given by the random value.

   Note that a router is permitted to send multicast Router
   Advertisements more frequently than indicated by the
   MinRtrAdvInterval configuration variable so long as the more frequent
   advertisements are responses to Router Solicitations.  In all cases,
   however, unsolicited multicast advertisements MUST NOT be sent more
   frequently than indicated by MinRtrAdvInterval.

   Router Solicitations in which the Source Address is the unspecified
   address MUST NOT update the router's Neighbor Cache; solicitations
   with a proper source address update the Neighbor Cache as follows. If
   the router already has a Neighbor Cache entry for the solicitation's
   sender, the solicitation contains a Source Link-Layer Address option,
   and the received link-layer address differs from that already in the
   cache, the link-layer address SHOULD be updated in the appropriate
   Neighbor Cache entry, and its reachability state MUST also be set to
   STALE.  If there is no existing Neighbor Cache entry for the
   solicitation's sender, the router creates one, installs the link-
   layer address and sets its reachability state to STALE as specified
   in Section 7.3.3.  Whether or not a Source Link-Layer Address option
   is provided, if a Neighbor Cache entry for the solicitation's sender
   exists (or is created) the entry's IsRouter flag MUST be set to
   FALSE.

6.2.7.  Router Advertisement Consistency

   Routers SHOULD inspect valid Router Advertisements sent by other
   routers and verify that the routers are advertising consistent
   information on a link.  Detected inconsistencies indicate that one or
   more routers might be misconfigured and SHOULD be logged to system or
   network management.  The minimum set of information to check
   includes:

    - Cur Hop Limit values (except for the unspecified value of zero).

    - Values of the M or O flags.

    - Reachable Time values (except for the unspecified value of zero).
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 49
    - Retrans Timer values (except for the unspecified value of zero).

    - Values in the MTU options.

    - Preferred and Valid Lifetimes for the same prefix.  If
      AdvPreferredLifetime and/or AdvValidLifetime decrement in real
      time as specified in section 6.2.7 then the comparison of the
      lifetimes can not compare the content of the fields in the Router
      Advertisement but must instead compare the time at which the
      prefix will become deprecated and invalidated, respectively.  Due
      to link propagation delays and potentially poorly synchronized
      clocks between the routers such comparison SHOULD allow some time
      skew.

   Note that it is not an error for different routers to advertise
   different sets of prefixes.  Also, some routers might leave some
   fields as unspecified, i.e., with the value zero, while other routers
   specify values.  The logging of errors SHOULD be restricted to
   conflicting information that causes hosts to switch from one value to
   another with each received advertisement.

   Any other action on reception of Router Advertisement messages by a
   router is beyond the scope of this document.

6.2.8.  Link-local Address Change

   The link-local address on a router SHOULD change rarely, if ever.
   Nodes receiving Neighbor Discovery messages use the source address to
   identify the sender.  If multiple packets from the same router
   contain different source addresses, nodes will assume they come from
   different routers, leading to undesirable behavior.  For example, a
   node will ignore Redirect messages that are believed to have been
   sent by a router other than the current first-hop router.  Thus the
   source address used in Router Advertisements sent by a particular
   router must be identical to the target address in a Redirect message
   when redirecting to that router.

   Using the link-local address to uniquely identify routers on the link
   has the benefit that the address a router is known by should not
   change when a site renumbers.

   If a router changes the link-local address for one of its interfaces,
   it SHOULD inform hosts of this change.  The router SHOULD multicast a
   few Router Advertisements from the old link-local address with the
   Router Lifetime field set to zero and also multicast a few Router
   Advertisements from the new link-local address.  The overall effect
   should be the same as if one interface ceases being an advertising
   interface, and a different one starts being an advertising interface.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 50
6.3.  Host Specification

6.3.1.  Host Configuration Variables

   None.

6.3.2.  Host Variables

   A host maintains certain Neighbor Discovery related variables in
   addition to the data structures defined in Section 5.1.  The specific
   variable names are used for demonstration purposes only, and an
   implementation is not required to have them, so long as its external
   behavior is consistent with that described in this document.

   These variables have default values that are overridden by
   information received in Router Advertisement messages.  The default
   values are used when there is no router on the link or when all
   received Router Advertisements have left a particular value
   unspecified.

   The default values in this specification may be overridden by
   specific documents that describe how IP operates over different link
   layers.  This rule allows Neighbor Discovery to operate over links
   with widely varying performance characteristics.

   For each interface:

        LinkMTU        The MTU of the link.
                       Default: The valued defined in the specific
                       document that describes how IPv6 operates over
                       the particular link layer (e.g., [IPv6-ETHER]).

        CurHopLimit    The default hop limit to be used when sending
                       (unicast) IP packets.

                       Default: The value specified in the "Assigned
                       Numbers" RFC [ASSIGNED] that was in effect at the
                       time of implementation.

        BaseReachableTime
                       A base value used for computing the random
                       ReachableTime value.

                       Default: REACHABLE_TIME milliseconds.

        ReachableTime  The time a neighbor is considered reachable after
                       receiving a reachability confirmation.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 51
                       This value should be a uniformly-distributed
                       random value between MIN_RANDOM_FACTOR and
                       MAX_RANDOM_FACTOR times BaseReachableTime
                       milliseconds.  A new random value should be
                       calculated when BaseReachableTime changes (due to
                       Router Advertisements) or at least every few
                       hours even if no Router Advertisements are
                       received.

        RetransTimer   The time between retransmissions of Neighbor
                       Solicitation messages to a neighbor when
                       resolving the address or when probing the
                       reachability of a neighbor.

                       Default: RETRANS_TIMER milliseconds

6.3.3.  Interface Initialization

   The host joins the all-nodes multicast address on all multicast-
   capable interfaces.

6.3.4.  Processing Received Router Advertisements

   When multiple routers are present, the information advertised
   collectively by all routers may be a superset of the information
   contained in a single Router Advertisement.  Moreover, information
   may also be obtained through other dynamic means, such as stateful
   autoconfiguration.  Hosts accept the union of all received
   information; the receipt of a Router Advertisement MUST NOT
   invalidate all information received in a previous advertisement or
   from another source.  However, when received information for a
   specific parameter (e.g., Link MTU) or option (e.g., Lifetime on a
   specific Prefix) differs from information received earlier, and the
   parameter/option can only have one value, the most recently-received
   information is considered authoritative.

   Some Router Advertisement fields (e.g., Cur Hop Limit, Reachable Time
   and Retrans Timer) may contain a value denoting unspecified.  In such
   cases, the parameter should be ignored and the host should continue
   using whatever value it is already using.  In particular, a host MUST
   NOT interpret the unspecified value as meaning change back to the
   default value that was in use before the first Router Advertisement
   was received.  This rule prevents hosts from continually changing an
   internal variable when one router advertises a specific value, but
   other routers advertise the unspecified value.

   On receipt of a valid Router Advertisement, a host extracts the
   source address of the packet and does the following:
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 52
      - If the address is not already present in the host's Default
        Router List, and the advertisement's Router Lifetime is non-
        zero, create a new entry in the list, and initialize its
        invalidation timer value from the advertisement's Router
        Lifetime field.

      - If the address is already present in the host's Default Router
        List as a result of a previously-received advertisement, reset
        its invalidation timer to the Router Lifetime value in the
        newly-received advertisement.

      - If the address is already present in the host's Default Router
        List and the received Router Lifetime value is zero, immediately
        time-out the entry as specified in Section 6.3.5.

   To limit the storage needed for the Default Router List, a host MAY
   choose not to store all of the router addresses discovered via
   advertisements.  However, a host MUST retain at least two router
   addresses and SHOULD retain more.  Default router selections are made
   whenever communication to a destination appears to be failing.  Thus,
   the more routers on the list, the more likely an alternative working
   router can be found quickly (e.g., without having to wait for the
   next advertisement to arrive).

   If the received Cur Hop Limit value is non-zero the host SHOULD set
   its CurHopLimit variable to the received value.

   If the received Reachable Time value is non-zero the host SHOULD set
   its BaseReachableTime variable to the received value.  If the new
   value differs from the previous value, the host SHOULD recompute a
   new random ReachableTime value.  ReachableTime is computed as a
   uniformly-distributed random value between MIN_RANDOM_FACTOR and
   MAX_RANDOM_FACTOR times the BaseReachableTime.  Using a random
   component eliminates the possibility Neighbor Unreachability
   Detection messages synchronize with each other.

   In most cases, the advertised Reachable Time value will be the same
   in consecutive Router Advertisements and a host's BaseReachableTime
   rarely changes.  In such cases, an implementation SHOULD insure that
   a new random value gets recomputed at least once every few hours.

   The RetransTimer variable SHOULD be copied from the Retrans Timer
   field, if the received value is non-zero.

   After extracting information from the fixed part of the Router
   Advertisement message, the advertisement is scanned for valid
   options.  If the advertisement contains a Source Link-Layer Address
   option the link-layer address SHOULD be recorded in the Neighbor
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 53
   Cache entry for the router (creating an entry if necessary) and the
   IsRouter flag in the Neighbor Cache entry MUST be set to TRUE.  If no
   Source Link-Layer Address is included, but a corresponding Neighbor
   Cache entry exists, its IsRouter flag MUST be set to TRUE.  The
   IsRouter flag is used by Neighbor Unreachability Detection to
   determine when a router changes to being a host (i.e., no longer
   capable of forwarding packets).  If a Neighbor Cache entry is created
   for the router its reachability state MUST be set to STALE as
   specified in Section 7.3.3.  If a cache entry already exists and is
   updated with a different link-layer address the reachability state
   MUST also be set to STALE.

   If the MTU option is present, hosts SHOULD copy the option's value
   into LinkMTU so long as the value is greater than or equal to the
   minimum link MTU [IPv6] and does not exceed the default LinkMTU value
   specified in the link type specific document (e.g., [IPv6-ETHER]).

   Prefix Information options that have the "on-link" (L) flag set
   indicate a prefix identifying a range of addresses that should be
   considered on-link.  Note, however, that a Prefix Information option
   with the on-link flag set to zero conveys no information concerning
   on-link determination and MUST NOT be interpreted to mean that
   addresses covered by the prefix are off-link.  The only way to cancel
   a previous on-link indication is to advertise that prefix with the
   L-bit set and the Lifetime set to zero.  The default behavior (see
   Section 5.2) when sending a packet to an address for which no
   information is known about the on-link status of the address is to
   forward the packet to a default router; the reception of a Prefix
   Information option with the "on-link " (L) flag set to zero does not
   change this behavior.  The reasons for an address being treated as
   on-link is specified in the definition of "on-link" in Section 2.1.
   Prefixes with the on-link flag set to zero would normally have the
   autonomous flag set and be used by [ADDRCONF].

   For each Prefix Information option with the on-link flag set, a host
   does the following:

      - If the prefix is the link-local prefix, silently ignore the
        Prefix Information option.

      - If the prefix is not already present in the Prefix List, and the
        Prefix Information option's Valid Lifetime field is non-zero,
        create a new entry for the prefix and initialize its
        invalidation timer to the Valid Lifetime value in the Prefix
        Information option.

      - If the prefix is already present in the host's Prefix List as
        the result of a previously-received advertisement, reset its
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 54
        invalidation timer to the Valid Lifetime value in the Prefix
        Information option.  If the new Lifetime value is zero, time-out
        the prefix immediately (see Section 6.3.5).

      - If the Prefix Information option's Valid Lifetime field is zero,
        and the prefix is not present in the host's Prefix List,
        silently ignore the option.

   Stateless address autoconfiguration [ADDRCONF] may in some
   circumstances increase the Valid Lifetime of a prefix or ignore it
   completely in order to prevent a particular denial of service attack.
   However, since the effect of the same denial of service targeted at
   the on-link prefix list is not catastrophic (hosts would send packets
   to a default router and receive a redirect rather than sending
   packets directly to a neighbor) the Neighbor Discovery protocol does
   not impose such a check on the prefix lifetime values.

      Note: Implementations can choose to process the on-link aspects of
      the prefixes separately from the address autoconfiguration aspects
      of the prefixes by, e.g., passing a copy of each valid Router
      Advertisement message to both an "on-link" and an "addrconf"
      function.  Each function can then operate independently on the
      prefixes that have the appropriate flag set.

6.3.5.  Timing out Prefixes and Default Routers

   Whenever the invalidation timer expires for a Prefix List entry, that
   entry is discarded.  No existing Destination Cache entries need be
   updated, however.  Should a reachability problem arise with an
   existing Neighbor Cache entry, Neighbor Unreachability Detection will
   perform any needed recovery.

   Whenever the Lifetime of an entry in the Default Router List expires,
   that entry is discarded.  When removing a router from the Default
   Router list, the node MUST update the Destination Cache in such a way
   that all entries using the router perform next-hop determination
   again rather than continue sending traffic to the (deleted) router.

6.3.6.  Default Router Selection

   The algorithm for selecting a router depends in part on whether or
   not a router is known to be reachable.  The exact details of how a
   node keeps track of a neighbor's reachability state are covered in
   Section 7.3.  The algorithm for selecting a default router is invoked
   during next-hop determination when no Destination Cache entry exists
   for an off-link destination or when communication through an existing
   router appears to be failing.  Under normal conditions, a router
   would be selected the first time traffic is sent to a destination,
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 55
   with subsequent traffic for that destination using the same router as
   indicated in the Destination Cache modulo any changes to the
   Destination Cache caused by Redirect messages.

   The policy for selecting routers from the Default Router List is as
   follows:

     1) Routers that are reachable or probably reachable (i.e., in any
        state other than INCOMPLETE) SHOULD be preferred over routers
        whose reachability is unknown or suspect (i.e., in the
        INCOMPLETE state, or for which no Neighbor Cache entry exists).
        An implementation may choose to always return the same router or
        cycle through the router list in a round-robin fashion as long
        as it always returns a reachable or a probably reachable router
        when one is available.

     2) When no routers on the list are known to be reachable or
        probably reachable, routers SHOULD be selected in a round-robin
        fashion, so that subsequent requests for a default router do not
        return the same router until all other routers have been
        selected.

        Cycling through the router list in this case ensures that all
        available routers are actively probed by the Neighbor
        Unreachability Detection algorithm.  A request for a default
        router is made in conjunction with the sending of a packet to a
        router, and the selected router will be probed for reachability
        as a side effect.

     3) If the Default Router List is empty, assume that all
        destinations are on-link as specified in Section 5.2.

6.3.7.  Sending Router Solicitations

   When an interface becomes enabled, a host may be unwilling to wait
   for the next unsolicited Router Advertisement to locate default
   routers or learn prefixes.  To obtain Router Advertisements quickly,
   a host SHOULD transmit up to MAX_RTR_SOLICITATIONS Router
   Solicitation messages each separated by at least
   RTR_SOLICITATION_INTERVAL seconds.  Router Solicitations may be sent
   after any of the following events:

      - The interface is initialized at system startup time.

      - The interface is reinitialized after a temporary interface
        failure or after being temporarily disabled by system
        management.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 56
      - The system changes from being a router to being a host, by
        having its IP forwarding capability turned off by system
        management.

      - The host attaches to a link for the first time.

      - The host re-attaches to a link after being detached for some
        time.

   A host sends Router Solicitations to the All-Routers multicast
   address.  The IP source address is set to either one of the
   interface's unicast addresses or the unspecified address.  The Source
   Link-Layer Address option SHOULD be set to the host's link-layer
   address, if the IP source address is not the unspecified address.

   Before a host sends an initial solicitation, it SHOULD delay the
   transmission for a random amount of time between 0 and
   MAX_RTR_SOLICITATION_DELAY.  This serves to alleviate congestion when
   many hosts start up on a link at the same time, such as might happen
   after recovery from a power failure.  If a host has already performed
   a random delay since the interface became (re)enabled (e.g., as part
   of Duplicate Address Detection [ADDRCONF]) there is no need to delay
   again before sending the first Router Solicitation message.

   Once the host sends a Router Solicitation, and receives a valid
   Router Advertisement with a non-zero Router Lifetime, the host MUST
   desist from sending additional solicitations on that interface, until
   the next time one of the above events occurs.  Moreover, a host
   SHOULD send at least one solicitation in the case where an
   advertisement is received prior to having sent a solicitation.
   Unsolicited Router Advertisements may be incomplete (see Section
   6.2.3); solicited advertisements are expected to contain complete
   information.

   If a host sends MAX_RTR_SOLICITATIONS solicitations, and receives no
   Router Advertisements after having waited MAX_RTR_SOLICITATION_DELAY
   seconds after sending the last solicitation, the host concludes that
   there are no routers on the link for the purpose of [ADDRCONF].
   However, the host continues to receive and process Router
   Advertisements messages in the event that routers appear on the link.

7.  ADDRESS RESOLUTION AND NEIGHBOR UNREACHABILITY DETECTION

   This section describes the functions related to Neighbor Solicitation
   and Neighbor Advertisement messages and includes descriptions of
   address resolution and the Neighbor Unreachability Detection
   algorithm.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 57
   Neighbor Solicitation and Advertisement messages are also used for
   Duplicate Address Detection as specified by [ADDRCONF].  In
   particular, Duplicate Address Detection sends Neighbor Solicitation
   messages with an unspecified source address targeting its own
   "tentative" address.  Such messages trigger nodes already using the
   address to respond with a multicast Neighbor Advertisement indicating
   that the address is in use.

7.1.  Message Validation

7.1.1.  Validation of Neighbor Solicitations

   A node MUST silently discard any received Neighbor Solicitation
   messages that do not satisfy all of the following validity checks:

      - The IP Hop Limit field has a value of 255, i.e., the packet
        could not possibly have been forwarded by a router.

      - If the message includes an IP Authentication Header, the message
        authenticates correctly.

      - ICMP Checksum is valid.

      - ICMP Code is 0.

      - ICMP length (derived from the IP length) is 24 or more octets.

      - Target Address is not a multicast address.

      - All included options have a length that is greater than zero.

      - If the IP source address is the unspecified address, the IP
        destination address is a solicited-node multicast address.

      - If the IP source address is the unspecified address, there is no
        source link-layer address option in the message.

   The contents of the Reserved field, and of any unrecognized options,
   MUST be ignored.  Future, backward-compatible changes to the protocol
   may specify the contents of the Reserved field or add new options;
   backward-incompatible changes may use different Code values.

   The contents of any defined options that are not specified to be used
   with Neighbor Solicitation messages MUST be ignored and the packet
   processed as normal.  The only defined option that may appear is the
   Source Link-Layer Address option.
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   A Neighbor Solicitation that passes the validity checks is called a
   "valid solicitation".

7.1.2.  Validation of Neighbor Advertisements

   A node MUST silently discard any received Neighbor Advertisement
   messages that do not satisfy all of the following validity checks:

      - The IP Hop Limit field has a value of 255, i.e., the packet
        could not possibly have been forwarded by a router.

      - If the message includes an IP Authentication Header, the message
        authenticates correctly.

      - ICMP Checksum is valid.

      - ICMP Code is 0.

      - ICMP length (derived from the IP length) is 24 or more octets.

      - Target Address is not a multicast address.

      - If the IP Destination Address is a multicast address the
        Solicited flag is zero.

      - All included options have a length that is greater than zero.

   The contents of the Reserved field, and of any unrecognized options,
   MUST be ignored.  Future, backward-compatible changes to the protocol
   may specify the contents of the Reserved field or add new options;
   backward-incompatible changes may use different Code values.

   The contents of any defined options that are not specified to be used
   with Neighbor Advertisement messages MUST be ignored and the packet
   processed as normal.  The only defined option that may appear is the
   Target Link-Layer Address option.

   A Neighbor Advertisements that passes the validity checks is called a
   "valid advertisement".

7.2.  Address Resolution

   Address resolution is the process through which a node determines the
   link-layer address of a neighbor given only its IP address.  Address
   resolution is performed only on addresses that are determined to be
   on-link and for which the sender does not know the corresponding
   link-layer address.  Address resolution is never performed on
   multicast addresses.
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7.2.1.  Interface Initialization

   When a multicast-capable interface becomes enabled the node MUST join
   the all-nodes multicast address on that interface, as well as the
   solicited-node multicast address corresponding to each of the IP
   addresses assigned to the interface.

   The set of addresses assigned to an interface may change over time.
   New addresses might be added and old addresses might be removed
   [ADDRCONF].  In such cases the node MUST join and leave the
   solicited-node multicast address corresponding to the new and old
   addresses, respectively.  Note that multiple unicast addresses may
   map into the same solicited-node multicast address; a node MUST NOT
   leave the solicited-node multicast group until all assigned addresses
   corresponding to that multicast address have been removed.

7.2.2.  Sending Neighbor Solicitations

   When a node has a unicast packet to send to a neighbor, but does not
   know the neighbor's link-layer address, it performs address
   resolution.  For multicast-capable interfaces this entails creating a
   Neighbor Cache entry in the INCOMPLETE state and transmitting a
   Neighbor Solicitation message targeted at the neighbor.  The
   solicitation is sent to the solicited-node multicast address
   corresponding to the target address.

   If the source address of the packet prompting the solicitation is the
   same as one of the addresses assigned to the outgoing interface, that
   address SHOULD be placed in the IP Source Address of the outgoing
   solicitation.  Otherwise, any one of the addresses assigned to the
   interface should be used.  Using the prompting packet's source
   address when possible insures that the recipient of the Neighbor
   Solicitation installs in its Neighbor Cache the IP address that is
   highly likely to be used in subsequent return traffic belonging to
   the prompting packet's "connection".

   If the solicitation is being sent to a solicited-node multicast
   address, the sender MUST include its link-layer address (if it has
   one) as a Source Link-Layer Address option.  Otherwise, the sender
   SHOULD include its link-layer address (if it has one) as a Source
   Link-Layer Address option.  Including the source link-layer address
   in a multicast solicitation is required to give the target an address
   to which it can send the Neighbor Advertisement.  On unicast
   solicitations, an implementation MAY omit the Source Link-Layer
   Address option. The assumption here is that if the sender has a
   peer's link-layer address in its cache, there is a high probability
   that the peer will also have an entry in its cache for the sender.
   Consequently, it need not be sent.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 60
   While waiting for address resolution to complete, the sender MUST,
   for each neighbor, retain a small queue of packets waiting for
   address resolution to complete.  The queue MUST hold at least one
   packet, and MAY contain more.  However, the number of queued packets
   per neighbor SHOULD be limited to some small value.  When a queue
   overflows, the new arrival SHOULD replace the oldest entry.  Once
   address resolution completes, the node transmits any queued packets.

   While awaiting a response, the sender SHOULD retransmit Neighbor
   Solicitation messages approximately every RetransTimer milliseconds,
   even in the absence of additional traffic to the neighbor.
   Retransmissions MUST be rate-limited to at most one solicitation per
   neighbor every RetransTimer milliseconds.

   If no Neighbor Advertisement is received after MAX_MULTICAST_SOLICIT
   solicitations, address resolution has failed.  The sender MUST return
   ICMP destination unreachable indications with code 3 (Address
   Unreachable) for each packet queued awaiting address resolution.

7.2.3.  Receipt of Neighbor Solicitations

   A valid Neighbor Solicitation that does not meet any the following
   requirements MUST be silently discarded:

    - The Target Address is a "valid" unicast or anycast address
      assigned to the receiving interface [ADDRCONF],

    - The Target Address is a unicast address for which the node is
      offering proxy service, or

    - The Target Address is a "tentative" address on which Duplicate
      Address Detection is being performed [ADDRCONF].

   If the Target Address is tentative, the Neighbor Solicitation should
   be processed as described in [ADDRCONF].  Otherwise, the following
   description applies.  If the Source Address is not the unspecified
   address and, on link layers that have addresses, the solicitation
   includes a Source Link-Layer Address option, then the recipient
   SHOULD create or update the Neighbor Cache entry for the IP Source
   Address of the solicitation.  If an entry does not already exist, the
   node SHOULD create a new one and set its reachability state to STALE
   as specified in Section 7.3.3.  If an entry already exists, and the
   cached link-layer address differs from the one in the received Source
   Link-Layer option, the cached address should be replaced by the
   received address and the entry's reachability state MUST be set to
   STALE.
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 61
   If a Neighbor Cache entry is created the IsRouter flag SHOULD be set
   to FALSE.  This will be the case even if the Neighbor Solicitation is
   sent by a router since the Neighbor Solicitation messages do not
   contain an indication of whether or not the sender is a router.  In
   the event that the sender is a router, subsequent Neighbor
   Advertisement or Router Advertisement messages will set the correct
   IsRouter value.  If a Neighbor Cache entry already exists its
   IsRouter flag MUST NOT be modified.

   If the Source Address is the unspecified address the node MUST NOT
   create or update the Neighbor Cache entry.

   After any updates to the Neighbor Cache, the node sends a Neighbor
   Advertisement response as described in the next section.

7.2.4.  Sending Solicited Neighbor Advertisements

   A node sends a Neighbor Advertisement in response to a valid Neighbor
   Solicitation targeting one of the node's assigned addresses.  The
   Target Address of the advertisement is copied from the Target Address
   of the solicitation.  If the solicitation's IP Destination Address is
   not a multicast address, the Target Link-Layer Address option MAY be
   omitted; the neighboring node's cached value must already be current
   in order for the solicitation to have been received.  If the
   solicitation's IP Destination Address is a multicast address, the
   Target Link-Layer option MUST be included in the advertisement.
   Furthermore, if the node is a router, it MUST set the Router flag to
   one; otherwise it MUST set the flag to zero.

   If the Target Address is either an anycast address or a unicast
   address for which the node is providing proxy service, or the Target
   Link-Layer Address option is not included, the Override flag SHOULD
   be set to zero.  Otherwise, the Override flag SHOULD be set to one.
   Proper setting of the Override flag ensures that nodes give
   preference to non-proxy advertisements, even when received after
   proxy advertisements, and also ensures that the first advertisement
   for an anycast address "wins".

   If the source of the solicitation is the unspecified address, the
   node MUST set the Solicited flag to zero and multicast the
   advertisement to the all-nodes address.  Otherwise, the node MUST set
   the Solicited flag to one and unicast the advertisement to the Source
   Address of the solicitation.

   If the Target Address is an anycast address the sender SHOULD delay
   sending a response for a random time between 0 and
   MAX_ANYCAST_DELAY_TIME seconds.
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   Because unicast Neighbor Solicitations are not required to include a
   Source Link-Layer Address, it is possible that a node sending a
   solicited Neighbor Advertisement does not have a corresponding link-
   layer address for its neighbor in its Neighbor Cache.  In such
   situations, a node will first have to use Neighbor Discovery to
   determine the link-layer address of its neighbor (i.e, send out a
   multicast Neighbor Solicitation).

7.2.5.  Receipt of Neighbor Advertisements

   When a valid Neighbor Advertisement is received (either solicited or
   unsolicited), the Neighbor Cache is searched for the target's entry.
   If no entry exists, the advertisement SHOULD be silently discarded.
   There is no need to create an entry if none exists, since the
   recipient has apparently not initiated any communication with the
   target.

   Once the appropriate Neighbor Cache entry has been located, the
   specific actions taken depend on the state of the Neighbor Cache
   entry, the flags in the advertisement and the actual link-layer
   address supplied.

   If the target's Neighbor Cache entry is in the INCOMPLETE state when
   the advertisement is received, one of two things happens.  If the
   link layer has addresses and no Target Link-Layer address option is
   included, the receiving node SHOULD silently discard the received
   advertisement.  Otherwise, the receiving node performs the following
   steps:

    - It records the link-layer address in the Neighbor Cache entry.

    - If the advertisement's Solicited flag is set, the state of the
      entry is set to REACHABLE, otherwise it is set to STALE.

    - It sets the IsRouter flag in the cache entry based on the Router
      flag in the received advertisement.

    - It sends any packets queued for the neighbor awaiting address
      resolution.

   Note that the Override flag is ignored if the entry is in the
   INCOMPLETE state.

   If the target's Neighbor Cache entry is in any state other than
   INCOMPLETE when the advertisement is received, processing becomes
   quite a bit more complex.  If the Override flag is clear and the
   supplied link-layer address differs from that in the cache, then one
   of two actions takes place: if the state of the entry is REACHABLE,
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 63
   set it to STALE, but do not update the entry in any other way;
   otherwise, the received advertisement should be ignored and MUST NOT
   update the cache.  If the Override flag is set, both the Override
   flag is clear and the supplied link-layer address is the same as that
   in the cache, or no Target Link-layer address option was supplied,
   the received advertisement MUST update the Neighbor Cache entry as
   follows:

    - The link-layer address in the Target Link-Layer Address option
      MUST be inserted in the cache (if one is supplied and is different
      than the already recorded address).

    - If the Solicited flag is set, the state of the entry MUST be set
      to REACHABLE.  If the Solicited flag is zero and the link-layer
      address was updated with a different address the state MUST be set
      to STALE.  Otherwise, the entry's state remains unchanged.

      An advertisement's Solicited flag should only be set if the
      advertisement is a response to a Neighbor Solicitation.  Because
      Neighbor Unreachability Detection Solicitations are sent to the
      cached link-layer address, receipt of a solicited advertisement
      indicates that the forward path is working.  Receipt of an
      unsolicited advertisement, however, suggests that a neighbor has
      urgent information to announce (e.g., a changed link-layer
      address).  If the urgent information indicates a change from what
      a node is currently using, the node should verify the reachability
      of the (new) path when it sends the next packet.  There is no need
      to update the state for unsolicited advertisements that do not
      change the contents of the cache.

    - The IsRouter flag in the cache entry MUST be set based on the
      Router flag in the received advertisement.  In those cases where
      the IsRouter flag changes from TRUE to FALSE as a result of this
      update, the node MUST remove that router from the Default Router
      List and update the Destination Cache entries for all destinations
      using that neighbor as a router as specified in Section 7.3.3.
      This is needed to detect when a node that is used as a router
      stops forwarding packets due to being configured as a host.

   The above rules ensure that the cache is updated either when the
   Neighbor Advertisement takes precedence (i.e., the Override flag is
   set) or when the Neighbor Advertisement refers to the same link-layer
   address that is currently recorded in the cache.  If none of the
   above apply, the advertisement prompts future Neighbor Unreachability
   Detection (if it is not already in progress) by changing the state in
   the cache entry.
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7.2.6.  Sending Unsolicited Neighbor Advertisements

   In some cases a node may be able to determine that its link-layer
   address has changed (e.g., hot-swap of an interface card) and may
   wish to inform its neighbors of the new link-layer address quickly.
   In such cases a node MAY send up to MAX_NEIGHBOR_ADVERTISEMENT
   unsolicited Neighbor Advertisement messages to the all-nodes
   multicast address.  These advertisements MUST be separated by at
   least RetransTimer seconds.

   The Target Address field in the unsolicited advertisement is set to
   an IP address of the interface, and the Target Link-Layer Address
   option is filled with the new link-layer address.  The Solicited flag
   MUST be set to zero, in order to avoid confusing the Neighbor
   Unreachability Detection algorithm.  If the node is a router, it MUST
   set the Router flag to one; otherwise it MUST set it to zero.  The
   Override flag MAY be set to either zero or one.  In either case,
   neighboring nodes will immediately change the state of their Neighbor
   Cache entries for the Target Address to STALE, prompting them to
   verify the path for reachability.  If the Override flag is set to
   one, neighboring nodes will install the new link-layer address in
   their caches.  Otherwise, they will ignore the new link-layer
   address, choosing instead to probe the cached address.

   A node that has multiple IP addresses assigned to an interface MAY
   multicast a separate Neighbor Advertisement for each address.  In
   such a case the node SHOULD introduce a small delay between the
   sending of each advertisement to reduce the probability of the
   advertisements being lost due to congestion.

   A proxy MAY multicast Neighbor Advertisements when its link-layer
   address changes or when it is configured (by system management or
   other mechanisms) to proxy for an address.  If there are multiple
   nodes that are providing proxy services for the same set of addresses
   the proxies SHOULD provide a mechanism that prevents multiple proxies
   from multicasting advertisements for any one address, in order to
   reduce the risk of excessive multicast traffic.

   Also, a node belonging to an anycast address MAY multicast
   unsolicited Neighbor Advertisements for the anycast address when the
   node's link-layer address changes.

   Note that because unsolicited Neighbor Advertisements do not reliably
   update caches in all nodes (the advertisements might not be received
   by all nodes), they should only be viewed as a performance
   optimization to quickly update the caches in most neighbors.  The
   Neighbor Unreachability Detection algorithm ensures that all nodes
   obtain a reachable link-layer address, though the delay may be
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 65
   slightly longer.

7.2.7.  Anycast Neighbor Advertisements

   From the perspective of Neighbor Discovery, anycast addresses are
   treated just like unicast addresses in most cases.  Because an
   anycast address is syntactically the same as a unicast address, nodes
   performing address resolution or Neighbor Unreachability Detection on
   an anycast address treat it as if it were a unicast address.  No
   special processing takes place.

   Nodes that have an anycast address assigned to an interface treat
   them exactly the same as if they were unicast addresses with two
   exceptions.  First, Neighbor Advertisements sent in response to a
   Neighbor Solicitation SHOULD be delayed by a random time between 0
   and MAX_ANYCAST_DELAY_TIME to reduce the probability of network
   congestion.  Second, the Override flag in Neighbor Advertisements
   SHOULD be set to 0, so that when multiple advertisements are
   received, the first received advertisement is used rather than the
   most recently received advertisement.

   As with unicast addresses, Neighbor Unreachability Detection ensures
   that a node quickly detects when the current binding for an anycast
   address becomes invalid.

7.2.8.  Proxy Neighbor Advertisements

   Under limited circumstances, a router MAY proxy for one or more other
   nodes, that is, through Neighbor Advertisements indicate that it is
   willing to accept packets not explicitly addressed to itself.  For
   example, a router might accept packets on behalf of a mobile node
   that has moved off-link.  The mechanisms used by proxy are identical
   to the mechanisms used with anycast addresses.

   A proxy MUST join the solicited-node multicast address(es) that
   correspond to the IP address(es) assigned to the node for which it is
   proxying.

   All solicited proxy Neighbor Advertisement messages MUST have the
   Override flag set to zero.  This ensures that if the node itself is
   present on the link its Neighbor Advertisement (with the Override
   flag set to one) will take precedence of any advertisement received
   from a proxy.  A proxy MAY send unsolicited advertisements with the
   Override flag set to one as specified in Section 7.2.6, but doing so
   may cause the proxy advertisement to override a valid entry created
   by the node itself.
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   Finally, when sending a proxy advertisement in response to a Neighbor
   Solicitation, the sender should delay its response by a random time
   between 0 and MAX_ANYCAST_DELAY_TIME seconds.

7.3.  Neighbor Unreachability Detection

   Communication to or through a neighbor may fail for numerous reasons
   at any time, including hardware failure, hot-swap of an interface
   card, etc.  If the destination has failed, no recovery is possible
   and communication fails.  On the other hand, if it is the path that
   has failed, recovery may be possible.  Thus, a node actively tracks
   the reachability "state" for the neighbors to which it is sending
   packets.

   Neighbor Unreachability Detection is used for all paths between hosts
   and neighboring nodes, including host-to-host, host-to-router, and
   router-to-host communication.  Neighbor Unreachability Detection may
   also be used between routers, but is not required if an equivalent
   mechanism is available, for example, as part of the routing
   protocols.

   When a path to a neighbor appears to be failing, the specific
   recovery procedure depends on how the neighbor is being used.  If the
   neighbor is the ultimate destination, for example, address resolution
   should be performed again.  If the neighbor is a router, however,
   attempting to switch to another router would be appropriate.  The
   specific recovery that takes place is covered under next-hop
   determination; Neighbor Unreachability Detection signals the need for
   next-hop determination by deleting a Neighbor Cache entry.

   Neighbor Unreachability Detection is performed only for neighbors to
   which unicast packets are sent; it is not used when sending to
   multicast addresses.

7.3.1.  Reachability Confirmation

   A neighbor is considered reachable if the node has recently received
   a confirmation that packets sent recently to the neighbor were
   received by its IP layer.  Positive confirmation can be gathered in
   two ways: hints from upper layer protocols that indicate a connection
   is making "forward progress", or receipt of a Neighbor Advertisement
   message that is a response to a Neighbor Solicitation message.

   A connection makes "forward progress" if the packets received from a
   remote peer can only be arriving if recent packets sent to that peer
   are actually reaching it.  In TCP, for example, receipt of a (new)
   acknowledgement indicates that previously sent data reached the peer.
   Likewise, the arrival of new (non-duplicate) data indicates that
ToP   noToC   RFC2461 - Page 67
   earlier acknowledgements are being delivered to the remote peer.  If
   packets are reaching the peer, they must also be reaching the
   sender's next-hop neighbor; thus "forward progress" is a confirmation
   that the next-hop neighbor is reachable.  For off-link destinations,
   forward progress implies that the first-hop router is reachable.
   When available, this upper-layer information SHOULD be used.

   In some cases (e.g., UDP-based protocols and routers forwarding
   packets to hosts) such reachability information may not be readily
   available from upper-layer protocols.  When no hints are available
   and a node is sending packets to a neighbor, the node actively probes
   the neighbor using unicast Neighbor Solicitation messages to verify
   that the forward path is still working.

   The receipt of a solicited Neighbor Advertisement serves as
   reachability confirmation, since advertisements with the Solicited
   flag set to one are sent only in response to a Neighbor Solicitation.
   Receipt of other Neighbor Discovery messages such as Router
   Advertisements and Neighbor Advertisement with the Solicited flag set
   to zero MUST NOT be treated as a reachability confirmation.  Receipt
   of unsolicited messages only confirm the one-way path from the sender
   to the recipient node.  In contrast, Neighbor Unreachability
   Detection requires that a node keep track of the reachability of the
   forward path to a neighbor from the its perspective, not the
   neighbor's perspective.  Note that receipt of a solicited
   advertisement indicates that a path is working in both directions.
   The solicitation must have reached the neighbor, prompting it to
   generate an advertisement.  Likewise, receipt of an advertisement
   indicates that the path from the sender to the recipient is working.
   However, the latter fact is known only to the recipient; the
   advertisement's sender has no direct way of knowing that the
   advertisement it sent actually reached a neighbor.  From the
   perspective of Neighbor Unreachability Detection, only the
   reachability of the forward path is of interest.

7.3.2.  Neighbor Cache Entry States

   A Neighbor Cache entry can be in one of five states:

      INCOMPLETE  Address resolution is being performed on the entry.
                  Specifically, a Neighbor Solicitation has been sent to
                  the solicited-node multicast address of the target,
                  but the corresponding Neighbor Advertisement has not
                  yet been received.

      REACHABLE   Positive confirmation was received within the last
                  ReachableTime milliseconds that the forward path to
                  the neighbor was functioning properly.  While
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                  REACHABLE, no special action takes place as packets
                  are sent.

      STALE       More than ReachableTime milliseconds have elapsed
                  since the last positive confirmation was received that
                  the forward path was functioning properly.  While
                  stale, no action takes place until a packet is sent.

                  The STALE state is entered upon receiving an
                  unsolicited Neighbor Discovery message that updates
                  the cached link-layer address.  Receipt of such a
                  message does not confirm reachability, and entering
                  the STALE state insures reachability is verified
                  quickly if the entry is actually being used.  However,
                  reachability is not actually verified until the entry
                  is actually used.

      DELAY       More than ReachableTime milliseconds have elapsed
                  since the last positive confirmation was received that
                  the forward path was functioning properly, and a
                  packet was sent within the last DELAY_FIRST_PROBE_TIME
                  seconds.  If no reachability confirmation is received
                  within DELAY_FIRST_PROBE_TIME seconds of entering the
                  DELAY state, send a Neighbor Solicitation and change
                  the state to PROBE.

                  The DELAY state is an optimization that gives upper-
                  layer protocols additional time to provide
                  reachability confirmation in those cases where
                  ReachableTime milliseconds have passed since the last
                  confirmation due to lack of recent traffic.  Without
                  this optimization the opening of a TCP connection
                  after a traffic lull would initiate probes even though
                  the subsequent three-way handshake would provide a
                  reachability confirmation almost immediately.

      PROBE       A reachability confirmation is actively sought by
                  retransmitting Neighbor Solicitations every
                  RetransTimer milliseconds until a reachability
                  confirmation is received.

7.3.3.  Node Behavior

   Neighbor Unreachability Detection operates in parallel with the
   sending of packets to a neighbor.  While reasserting a neighbor's
   reachability, a node continues sending packets to that neighbor using
   the cached link-layer address.  If no traffic is sent to a neighbor,
   no probes are sent.
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   When a node needs to perform address resolution on a neighboring
   address, it creates an entry in the INCOMPLETE state and initiates
   address resolution as specified in Section 7.2.  If address
   resolution fails, the entry SHOULD be deleted, so that subsequent
   traffic to that neighbor invokes the next-hop determination procedure
   again.  Invoking next-hop determination at this point insures that
   alternate default routers are tried.

   When a reachability confirmation is received (either through upper-
   layer advice or a solicited Neighbor Advertisement) an entry's state
   changes to REACHABLE.  The one exception is that upper-layer advice
   has no effect on entries in the INCOMPLETE state (e.g., for which no
   link-layer address is cached).

   When ReachableTime milliseconds have passed since receipt of the last
   reachability confirmation for a neighbor, the Neighbor Cache entry's
   state changes from REACHABLE to STALE.

      Note: An implementation may actually defer changing the state from
      REACHABLE to STALE until a packet is sent to the neighbor, i.e.,
      there need not be an explicit timeout event associated with the
      expiration of ReachableTime.

   The first time a node sends a packet to a neighbor whose entry is
   STALE, the sender changes the state to DELAY and a sets a timer to
   expire in DELAY_FIRST_PROBE_TIME seconds.  If the entry is still in
   the DELAY state when the timer expires, the entry's state changes to
   PROBE.  If reachability confirmation is received, the entry's state
   changes to REACHABLE.

   Upon entering the PROBE state, a node sends a unicast Neighbor
   Solicitation message to the neighbor using the cached link-layer
   address.  While in the PROBE state, a node retransmits Neighbor
   Solicitation messages every RetransTimer milliseconds until
   reachability confirmation is obtained.  Probes are retransmitted even
   if no additional packets are sent to the neighbor.  If no response is
   received after waiting RetransTimer milliseconds after sending the
   MAX_UNICAST_SOLICIT solicitations, retransmissions cease and the
   entry SHOULD be deleted.  Subsequent traffic to that neighbor will
   recreate the entry and performs address resolution again.

   Note that all Neighbor Solicitations are rate-limited on a per-
   neighbor basis.  A node MUST NOT send Neighbor Solicitations to the
   same neighbor more frequently than once every RetransTimer
   milliseconds.
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   A Neighbor Cache entry enters the STALE state when created as a
   result of receiving packets other than solicited Neighbor
   Advertisements (i.e., Router Solicitations, Router Advertisements,
   Redirects, and Neighbor Solicitations).  These packets contain the
   link-layer address of either the sender or, in the case of Redirect,
   the redirection target.  However, receipt of these link-layer
   addresses does not confirm reachability of the forward-direction path
   to that node.  Placing a newly created Neighbor Cache entry for which
   the link-layer address is known in the STALE state provides assurance
   that path failures are detected quickly.  In addition, should a
   cached link-layer address be modified due to receiving one of the
   above messages the state SHOULD also be set to STALE to provide
   prompt verification that the path to the new link-layer address is
   working.

   To properly detect the case where a router switches from being a
   router to being a host (e.g., if its IP forwarding capability is
   turned off by system management), a node MUST compare the Router flag
   field in all received Neighbor Advertisement messages with the
   IsRouter flag recorded in the Neighbor Cache entry.  When a node
   detects that a neighbor has changed from being a router to being a
   host, the node MUST remove that router from the Default Router List
   and update the Destination Cache as described in Section 6.3.5.  Note
   that a router may not be listed in the Default Router List, even
   though a Destination Cache entry is using it (e.g., a host was
   redirected to it).  In such cases, all Destination Cache entries that
   reference the (former) router must perform next-hop determination
   again before using the entry.

   In some cases, link-specific information may indicate that a path to
   a neighbor has failed (e.g., the resetting of a virtual circuit).  In
   such cases, link-specific information may be used to purge Neighbor
   Cache entries before the Neighbor Unreachability Detection would do
   so.  However, link-specific information MUST NOT be used to confirm
   the reachability of a neighbor; such information does not provide
   end-to-end confirmation between neighboring IP layers.



(page 70 continued on part 4)

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