Deploying IPv6 in Broadband Access Networks

Chapter 7. Configuring and Troubleshooting IPv6 on Provisioning Servers

For service providers (SPs) to deploy IPv6 successfully on a large scale, it is critical for them to upgrade their back-end servers to support IPv6. Being able to provision and manage a large number of devices with IPv6 is a key factor in IPv6 adoption in SP environments, along with IPv6-based applications and value-added services for end users. In this chapter we discuss how to configure and troubleshoot various back-end servers and such applications as DHCP, DNS, and TFTP for IPv6 operation. Since it is difficult to cover several different implementations of each of these applications, we have chosen a product by a well-known vendor for illustration purposes: the Cisco network registrar (CNR).

IPv6 SUPPORT ON DHCP SERVERS

Due to the huge IPv6 address space and enormous number of IPv6 addresses available, it is critical for an SP to be able to assign and manage IPv6 addresses dynamically for a large number of devices in the network. In IPv4, DHCPv4 is commonly used for dynamic address assignment of end devices. Similarly, in IPv6, DHCPv6 can be used to assign and manage IPv6 addresses dynamically for end devices. As described in Chapter 2, DHCPv6 is similar to DHCPv4 in many ways and uses a similar four-way handshake between the client and the server. One of the key differences is that DHCPv4 relies on broadcast for sending certain messages between the client and server, whereas IPv6 relies on multicast to provide ...