
Chapter 11 • IPv6 Anycast 203
11.6 Making Anycast Work
Anycast seems to be a fairly straightforward new service, until one
recalls that while a node can send a packet to an anycast address, no
packets whose source address is an anycast may be sent. Using anycast
addresses that cannot be distinguished from unicast further complicates
matters.
As with unicast and multicast, anycast addresses must be routed from
source to destination; anycast adds these further restrictions.
• Packets must be delivered to one, and only one, of the nodes
accepting packets at that anycast address.
• The node to which those packets are delivered must be the
“closest” one to