Some of us may have a few IPv6 references, however if they’ve been around for longer than say 2006, especially some books, then some of the specific ranges, and some ‘addressing layers’ have become obsolete, and you might not be aware. IPv6 is still in a state of flux with addresses formatting.
Specific IPv6 current address ranges of note that are still current:
Link Local Range
- ::/128 – An unspecified address for software use only.
- ::1/128 – localhost loopback address (IPv4 equivalent 127.0.0.1).
- fe80::/10 – link local addresses to be used between hosts on the same link, IPv6 services, and routing protocols will be making use of this, instead of 224.0.0.0/24 with a TTL of 1). Also will replace the IPv4 LinkLocal/ZeroConf range of 169.0.0.0
Site Local Range
- fc00::/7 – Unique Local addressing, not routable in the global address space. Used for private IPv6 and VPNs
Multicast Range
- ff00::/8 – Range for Multicast traffic.
IPv4 Usage/Tunneling Transport Range
- ::ffff:0:0/96 – used to map IPv4 addresses within the IPv6 routing table
- 2001:0000::/32 - used for Host to Host/Teredo Tunneling, encapsulating IPv6 packets within IPv4 UDP datagrams. Usefull for when traversing infrastructure where IPv6 support may not exist.
- 2002::/16 – Used for 6 to 4 tunneling methods, usually each IPv6 network will be attached with atleast one IPv4 network.
Documentation Range
- 2001:db8::/32 – This range is was reserved specifically for the use within documentation examples.
Deprecated/Abandoned Ranges
- ::/96 – zero prefix used for IPv4 compatibility
- fec0::/10 – Site local prefixed intended to replace private address ranges in IPv4, has been replaced with fc00::/7 Unique Local Address range
