Information About IPv6 Anycast Address
IPv6 Address Type: Anycast
An anycast address is an address that is assigned to a set of interfaces that typically belong to different nodes. A packet sent to an anycast address is delivered to the closest interface (as defined by the routing protocols in use) identified by the anycast address. Anycast addresses are syntactically indistinguishable from unicast addresses, because anycast addresses are allocated from the unicast address space. Assigning a unicast address to more than one interface makes a unicast address an anycast address. Nodes to which the anycast address is assigned must be explicitly configured to recognize that the address is an anycast address.
Note |
Anycast addresses can be used only by a , not a host, and anycast addresses must not be used as the source address of an IPv6 packet. |
The figure below shows the format of the subnet anycast address; the address has a prefix concatenated by a series of zeros (the interface ID). The subnet anycast address can be used to reach a device on the link that is identified by the prefix in the subnet anycast address.