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Understanding IPv6 EUI-64 Bit Address

The document discusses IPv6 EUI-64 bit addressing. It introduces that EUI-64 allows hosts to generate unique 64-bit IPv6 addresses from their 48-bit MAC addresses by inserting FFFE between the MAC address's two 24-bit halves and inverting the seventh bit. An example is provided of how a MAC address is converted to an EUI-64 address. Currently, the universal/local bit is not used but may be in the future as the technology evolves.

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22 views

Understanding IPv6 EUI-64 Bit Address

The document discusses IPv6 EUI-64 bit addressing. It introduces that EUI-64 allows hosts to generate unique 64-bit IPv6 addresses from their 48-bit MAC addresses by inserting FFFE between the MAC address's two 24-bit halves and inverting the seventh bit. An example is provided of how a MAC address is converted to an EUI-64 address. Currently, the universal/local bit is not used but may be in the future as the technology evolves.

Uploaded by

homan
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 3

Understanding IPv6 EUI-64 Bit Address

• Introduction on page 1
• Example on page 2
• References on page 3

Introduction
Extended Unique Identifier (EUI), as per RFC2373, allows a host to assign iteslf a unique
64-Bit IP Version 6 interface identifier (EUI-64). This feature is a key benefit over IPv4 as
it eliminates the need of manual configuration or DHCP as in the world of IPv4. The IPv6
EUI-64 format address is obtained through the 48-bit MAC address. The Mac address is
first separated into two 24-bits, with one being OUI (Organizationally Unique Identifier) and
the other being NIC specific. The 16-bit 0xFFFE is then inserted between these two 24-bits
to for the 64-bit EUI address. IEEE has chosen FFFE as a reserved value which can only
appear in EUI-64 generated from the an EUI-48 MAC address.

Here is an example showing how a the Mac Address is used to generate EUI.

Next, the seventh bit from the left, or the universal/local (U/L) bit, needs to be inverted. This
bit identifies whether this interface identifier is universally or locally administered. If 0, the
address is locally administered and if 1, the address is globally unique. It is worth noticing
that in the OUI portion, the globally unique addresses assigned by the IEEE has always
been set to 0 whereas the locally created addresses has 1 configured. Therefore, when the
bit is inverted, it maintains its original scope (global unique address is still global unique and
vice versa). The reason for inverting can be found in RFC4291 section 2.5.1.

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1
Understanding IPv6 EUI-64 Bit Address

Once the above is done, we have a fully functional EUI-64 format address.

Another doubt or frequently asked question is, are IPv6 devices (routers etc) today doing
anything to that universal/local bit? Currently, nothing is being done be the U/L bit 1 or 0.
However, per RFC4291 2.5.1 (The use of the universal/local bit in the Modified EUI-64
format identifier is to allow development of future technology that can take advantage of
interface identifiers with universal scope), this may change in the future as the technology
evolves.

Note: The command to assign an IPv6 EUI-64 format address is {ipv6 address ipv6-prefix/
prefix-length eui-64}

Example

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is not warrantied by Cisco.
2
Understanding IPv6 EUI-64 Bit Address

References
IPv6 Autoconfiguration

Cisco IOS IPv6 Command Reference

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is not warrantied by Cisco.
3

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