Contents

IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

This feature provides support for IPv6 automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels. Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses.

Finding Feature Information

Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and feature information, see Bug Search Tool and the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the feature information table at the end of this module.

Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/​go/​cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

Information About IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

Overlay Tunnels for IPv6

Overlay tunneling encapsulates IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets for delivery across an IPv4 infrastructure (a core network or the figure below). By using overlay tunnels, you can communicate with isolated IPv6 networks without upgrading the IPv4 infrastructure between them. Overlay tunnels can be configured between border devices or between a border device and a host; however, both tunnel endpoints must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. IPv6 supports the following types of overlay tunneling mechanisms:

  • Manual

  • Generic routing encapsulation (GRE)

  • IPv4-compatible

  • 6to4

  • Intrasite Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)

Figure 1. Overlay Tunnels


Note


Overlay tunnels reduce the maximum transmission unit (MTU) of an interface by 20 octets (assuming that the basic IPv4 packet header does not contain optional fields). A network that uses overlay tunnels is difficult to troubleshoot. Therefore, overlay tunnels that connect isolated IPv6 networks should not be considered a final IPv6 network architecture. The use of overlay tunnels should be considered as a transition technique toward a network that supports both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks or just the IPv6 protocol stack.


Use the table below to help you determine which type of tunnel that you want to configure to carry IPv6 packets over an IPv4 network.

Table 1 Suggested Usage of Tunnel Types to Carry IPv6 Packets over an IPv4 Network

Tunneling Type

Suggested Usage

Usage Notes

Manual

Simple point-to-point tunnels that can be used within a site or between sites.

Can carry IPv6 packets only.

GRE- and IPv4- compatible

Simple point-to-point tunnels that can be used within a site or between sites.

Can carry IPv6, Connectionless Network Service (CLNS), and many other types of packets.

IPv4- compatible

Point-to-multipoint tunnels.

Uses the ::/96 prefix. We do not recommend using this tunnel type.

6to4

Point-to-multipoint tunnels that can be used to connect isolated IPv6 sites.

Sites use addresses from the 2002::/16 prefix.

6RD

IPv6 service is provided to customers over an IPv4 network by using encapsulation of IPv6 in IPv4.

Prefixes can be from the SP’s own address block.

ISATAP

Point-to-multipoint tunnels that can be used to connect systems within a site.

Sites can use any IPv6 unicast addresses.

Individual tunnel types are discussed in detail in this document. We recommend that you review and understand the information about the specific tunnel type that you want to implement. When you are familiar with the type of tunnel you need, see the table below for a summary of the tunnel configuration parameters that you may find useful.

Table 2 Tunnel Configuration Parameters by Tunneling Type

Tunneling Type

Tunnel Configuration Parameter

Tunnel Mode

Tunnel Source

Tunnel Destination

Interface Prefix or Address

Manual

ipv6ip

An IPv4 address, or a reference to an interface on which IPv4 is configured.

An IPv4 address.

An IPv6 address.

GRE/IPv4

gre ip

An IPv4 address.

An IPv6 address.

IPv4- compatible

ipv6ip auto-tunnel

Not required. These are all point-to-multipoint tunneling types. The IPv4 destination address is calculated, on a per-packet basis, from the IPv6 destination.

Not required. The interface address is generated as ::tunnel-source/96.

6to4

ipv6ip 6to4

An IPv6 address. The prefix must embed the tunnel source IPv4 address.

6RD

ipv6ip 6rd

An IPv6 address.

ISATAP

ipv6ip isatap

An IPv6 prefix in modified eui-64 format. The IPv6 address is generated from the prefix and the tunnel source IPv4 address.

Automatic IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses are IPv6 unicast addresses that have zeros in the high-order 96 bits of the address, and an IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits. They can be written as 0:0:0:0:0:0:A.B.C.D or ::A.B.C.D, where "A.B.C.D" represents the embedded IPv4 address.

The tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. The host or router at each end of an IPv4-compatible tunnel must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. IPv4-compatible tunnels can be configured between border-routers or between a border-router and a host. Using IPv4-compatible tunnels is an easy method to create tunnels for IPv6 over IPv4, but the technique does not scale for large networks.

How to Configure IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

Configuring IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

Perform this task to configure IPv4-compatible IPv6 tunnels.

Before You Begin

With an IPv4-compatible tunnel, the tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. The host or router at each end of an IPv4-compatible tunnel must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks.

SUMMARY STEPS

    1.    enable

    2.    configure terminal

    3.    interface tunnel tunnel-number

    4.    tunnel source {ip-address| interface-t ype interface-number}

    5.    tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel


DETAILED STEPS
     Command or ActionPurpose
    Step 1 enable


    Example:
    Router> enable
     

    Enables privileged EXEC mode.

    • Enter your password if prompted.

     
    Step 2 configure terminal


    Example:
    Router# configure terminal
     

    Enters global configuration mode.

     
    Step 3 interface tunnel tunnel-number


    Example:
    Router(config)# interface tunnel 0
     

    Specifies a tunnel interface and number, and enters interface configuration mode.

     
    Step 4 tunnel source {ip-address| interface-t ype interface-number}


    Example:
    Router(config-if)# tunnel source ethernet 0
     

    Specifies the source interface type and number for the tunnel interface.

    Note   

    The interface type and number specified in the tunnel source command is configured with an IPv4 address only.

     
    Step 5 tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel


    Example:
    Router(config-if)# tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel
     

    Specifies an IPv4-compatible tunnel using an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address.

     

    Configuration Examples for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    Example: Configuring IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

    The following example configures an IPv4-compatible IPv6 tunnel that allows Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to run between a number of routers without having to configure a mesh of manual tunnels. Each router has a single IPv4-compatible tunnel, and multiple BGP sessions can run over each tunnel, one to each neighbor. Ethernet interface 0 is used as the tunnel source. The tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address. Specifically, the IPv6 prefix 0:0:0:0:0:0 is concatenated to an IPv4 address (in the format 0:0:0:0:0:0:A.B.C.D or ::A.B.C.D) to create the IPv4-compatible IPv6 address. Ethernet interface 0 is configured with a global IPv6 address and an IPv4 address (the interface supports both the IPv6 and IPv4 protocol stacks).

    Multiprotocol BGP is used in the example to exchange IPv6 reachability information with the peer 10.67.0.2. The IPv4 address of Ethernet interface 0 is used in the low-order 32 bits of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address and is also used as the next-hop attribute. Using an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address for the BGP neighbor allows the IPv6 BGP session to be automatically transported over an IPv4-compatible tunnel.

    interface tunnel 0
     tunnel source Ethernet 0
     tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel
    interface ethernet 0
     ip address 10.27.0.1 255.255.255.0
     ipv6 address 3000:2222::1/64
    router bgp 65000
     no synchronization
     no bgp default ipv4-unicast
    neighbor ::10.67.0.2 remote-as 65002
    address-family ipv6
     neighbor ::10.67.0.2 activate
     neighbor ::10.67.0.2 next-hop-self
     network 2001:2222:d00d:b10b::/64

    Additional References

    Related Documents

    Related Topic

    Document Title

    IPv6 addressing and connectivity

    IPv6 Configuration Guide

    Cisco IOS commands

    Cisco IOS Master Commands List, All Releases

    IPv6 commands

    Cisco IOS IPv6 Command Reference

    Cisco IOS IPv6 features

    Cisco IOS IPv6 Feature Mapping

    Standards and RFCs

    Standard/RFC

    Title

    RFCs for IPv6

    IPv6 RFCs

    MIBs

    MIB

    MIBs Link

    To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

    http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​mibs

    Technical Assistance

    Description

    Link

    The Cisco Support and Documentation website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Documentation website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

    http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​cisco/​web/​support/​index.html

    Feature Information for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.

    Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to . An account on Cisco.com is not required.
    Table 3 Feature Information for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    Feature Name

    Releases

    Feature Information

    IPv6 Tunneling: Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    12.0(22)S

    12.2(14)S

    12.2(28)SB

    12.2(33)SRA

    12.2(18)SXE

    12.2(2)T

    15.0(1)S

    Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses.

    The following commands were introduced or modified: tunnel destination, tunnel mode ipv6ip, tunnel source.


    IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    This feature provides support for IPv6 automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels. Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses.

    Finding Feature Information

    Your software release may not support all the features documented in this module. For the latest caveats and feature information, see Bug Search Tool and the release notes for your platform and software release. To find information about the features documented in this module, and to see a list of the releases in which each feature is supported, see the feature information table at the end of this module.

    Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to www.cisco.com/​go/​cfn. An account on Cisco.com is not required.

    Information About IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    Overlay Tunnels for IPv6

    Overlay tunneling encapsulates IPv6 packets in IPv4 packets for delivery across an IPv4 infrastructure (a core network or the figure below). By using overlay tunnels, you can communicate with isolated IPv6 networks without upgrading the IPv4 infrastructure between them. Overlay tunnels can be configured between border devices or between a border device and a host; however, both tunnel endpoints must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. IPv6 supports the following types of overlay tunneling mechanisms:

    • Manual

    • Generic routing encapsulation (GRE)

    • IPv4-compatible

    • 6to4

    • Intrasite Automatic Tunnel Addressing Protocol (ISATAP)

    Figure 1. Overlay Tunnels


    Note


    Overlay tunnels reduce the maximum transmission unit (MTU) of an interface by 20 octets (assuming that the basic IPv4 packet header does not contain optional fields). A network that uses overlay tunnels is difficult to troubleshoot. Therefore, overlay tunnels that connect isolated IPv6 networks should not be considered a final IPv6 network architecture. The use of overlay tunnels should be considered as a transition technique toward a network that supports both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks or just the IPv6 protocol stack.


    Use the table below to help you determine which type of tunnel that you want to configure to carry IPv6 packets over an IPv4 network.

    Table 1 Suggested Usage of Tunnel Types to Carry IPv6 Packets over an IPv4 Network

    Tunneling Type

    Suggested Usage

    Usage Notes

    Manual

    Simple point-to-point tunnels that can be used within a site or between sites.

    Can carry IPv6 packets only.

    GRE- and IPv4- compatible

    Simple point-to-point tunnels that can be used within a site or between sites.

    Can carry IPv6, Connectionless Network Service (CLNS), and many other types of packets.

    IPv4- compatible

    Point-to-multipoint tunnels.

    Uses the ::/96 prefix. We do not recommend using this tunnel type.

    6to4

    Point-to-multipoint tunnels that can be used to connect isolated IPv6 sites.

    Sites use addresses from the 2002::/16 prefix.

    6RD

    IPv6 service is provided to customers over an IPv4 network by using encapsulation of IPv6 in IPv4.

    Prefixes can be from the SP’s own address block.

    ISATAP

    Point-to-multipoint tunnels that can be used to connect systems within a site.

    Sites can use any IPv6 unicast addresses.

    Individual tunnel types are discussed in detail in this document. We recommend that you review and understand the information about the specific tunnel type that you want to implement. When you are familiar with the type of tunnel you need, see the table below for a summary of the tunnel configuration parameters that you may find useful.

    Table 2 Tunnel Configuration Parameters by Tunneling Type

    Tunneling Type

    Tunnel Configuration Parameter

    Tunnel Mode

    Tunnel Source

    Tunnel Destination

    Interface Prefix or Address

    Manual

    ipv6ip

    An IPv4 address, or a reference to an interface on which IPv4 is configured.

    An IPv4 address.

    An IPv6 address.

    GRE/IPv4

    gre ip

    An IPv4 address.

    An IPv6 address.

    IPv4- compatible

    ipv6ip auto-tunnel

    Not required. These are all point-to-multipoint tunneling types. The IPv4 destination address is calculated, on a per-packet basis, from the IPv6 destination.

    Not required. The interface address is generated as ::tunnel-source/96.

    6to4

    ipv6ip 6to4

    An IPv6 address. The prefix must embed the tunnel source IPv4 address.

    6RD

    ipv6ip 6rd

    An IPv6 address.

    ISATAP

    ipv6ip isatap

    An IPv6 prefix in modified eui-64 format. The IPv6 address is generated from the prefix and the tunnel source IPv4 address.

    Automatic IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

    Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses are IPv6 unicast addresses that have zeros in the high-order 96 bits of the address, and an IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits. They can be written as 0:0:0:0:0:0:A.B.C.D or ::A.B.C.D, where "A.B.C.D" represents the embedded IPv4 address.

    The tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. The host or router at each end of an IPv4-compatible tunnel must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. IPv4-compatible tunnels can be configured between border-routers or between a border-router and a host. Using IPv4-compatible tunnels is an easy method to create tunnels for IPv6 over IPv4, but the technique does not scale for large networks.

    How to Configure IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

    Configuring IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

    Perform this task to configure IPv4-compatible IPv6 tunnels.

    Before You Begin

    With an IPv4-compatible tunnel, the tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses. The host or router at each end of an IPv4-compatible tunnel must support both the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks.

    SUMMARY STEPS

      1.    enable

      2.    configure terminal

      3.    interface tunnel tunnel-number

      4.    tunnel source {ip-address| interface-t ype interface-number}

      5.    tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel


    DETAILED STEPS
       Command or ActionPurpose
      Step 1 enable


      Example:
      Router> enable
       

      Enables privileged EXEC mode.

      • Enter your password if prompted.

       
      Step 2 configure terminal


      Example:
      Router# configure terminal
       

      Enters global configuration mode.

       
      Step 3 interface tunnel tunnel-number


      Example:
      Router(config)# interface tunnel 0
       

      Specifies a tunnel interface and number, and enters interface configuration mode.

       
      Step 4 tunnel source {ip-address| interface-t ype interface-number}


      Example:
      Router(config-if)# tunnel source ethernet 0
       

      Specifies the source interface type and number for the tunnel interface.

      Note   

      The interface type and number specified in the tunnel source command is configured with an IPv4 address only.

       
      Step 5 tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel


      Example:
      Router(config-if)# tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel
       

      Specifies an IPv4-compatible tunnel using an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address.

       

      Configuration Examples for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

      Example: Configuring IPv4-Compatible IPv6 Tunnels

      The following example configures an IPv4-compatible IPv6 tunnel that allows Border Gateway Protocol (BGP) to run between a number of routers without having to configure a mesh of manual tunnels. Each router has a single IPv4-compatible tunnel, and multiple BGP sessions can run over each tunnel, one to each neighbor. Ethernet interface 0 is used as the tunnel source. The tunnel destination is automatically determined by the IPv4 address in the low-order 32 bits of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address. Specifically, the IPv6 prefix 0:0:0:0:0:0 is concatenated to an IPv4 address (in the format 0:0:0:0:0:0:A.B.C.D or ::A.B.C.D) to create the IPv4-compatible IPv6 address. Ethernet interface 0 is configured with a global IPv6 address and an IPv4 address (the interface supports both the IPv6 and IPv4 protocol stacks).

      Multiprotocol BGP is used in the example to exchange IPv6 reachability information with the peer 10.67.0.2. The IPv4 address of Ethernet interface 0 is used in the low-order 32 bits of an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address and is also used as the next-hop attribute. Using an IPv4-compatible IPv6 address for the BGP neighbor allows the IPv6 BGP session to be automatically transported over an IPv4-compatible tunnel.

      interface tunnel 0
       tunnel source Ethernet 0
       tunnel mode ipv6ip auto-tunnel
      interface ethernet 0
       ip address 10.27.0.1 255.255.255.0
       ipv6 address 3000:2222::1/64
      router bgp 65000
       no synchronization
       no bgp default ipv4-unicast
      neighbor ::10.67.0.2 remote-as 65002
      address-family ipv6
       neighbor ::10.67.0.2 activate
       neighbor ::10.67.0.2 next-hop-self
       network 2001:2222:d00d:b10b::/64

      Additional References

      Related Documents

      Related Topic

      Document Title

      IPv6 addressing and connectivity

      IPv6 Configuration Guide

      Cisco IOS commands

      Cisco IOS Master Commands List, All Releases

      IPv6 commands

      Cisco IOS IPv6 Command Reference

      Cisco IOS IPv6 features

      Cisco IOS IPv6 Feature Mapping

      Standards and RFCs

      Standard/RFC

      Title

      RFCs for IPv6

      IPv6 RFCs

      MIBs

      MIB

      MIBs Link

      To locate and download MIBs for selected platforms, Cisco IOS releases, and feature sets, use Cisco MIB Locator found at the following URL:

      http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​go/​mibs

      Technical Assistance

      Description

      Link

      The Cisco Support and Documentation website provides online resources to download documentation, software, and tools. Use these resources to install and configure the software and to troubleshoot and resolve technical issues with Cisco products and technologies. Access to most tools on the Cisco Support and Documentation website requires a Cisco.com user ID and password.

      http:/​/​www.cisco.com/​cisco/​web/​support/​index.html

      Feature Information for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

      The following table provides release information about the feature or features described in this module. This table lists only the software release that introduced support for a given feature in a given software release train. Unless noted otherwise, subsequent releases of that software release train also support that feature.

      Use Cisco Feature Navigator to find information about platform support and Cisco software image support. To access Cisco Feature Navigator, go to . An account on Cisco.com is not required.
      Table 3 Feature Information for IPv6 Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

      Feature Name

      Releases

      Feature Information

      IPv6 Tunneling: Automatic IPv4-Compatible Tunnels

      12.0(22)S

      12.2(14)S

      12.2(28)SB

      12.2(33)SRA

      12.2(18)SXE

      12.2(2)T

      15.0(1)S

      Automatic IPv4-compatible tunnels use IPv4-compatible IPv6 addresses.

      The following commands were introduced or modified: tunnel destination, tunnel mode ipv6ip, tunnel source.