IPv6 has been "the new thing" for so long that engineers sometimes forget it is now the default address family on cloud platforms, mobile networks, and most modern ISPs. This lab teaches the structure of an IPv6 address: link-local, global unicast, the EUI-64 trick that derives a host portion from the interface MAC, and how Cisco IOS shows it all. You will work on R1, R2, and R3 from the base topology - all three get IPv6 configured, two ways: manually on R1 and Loopbacks, EUI-64 on R2 and R3's Ethernet interfaces.
What you will learn
- The structure of a 128-bit IPv6 address and how prefix length works (no masks; just a /N)
- The two addresses every IPv6-enabled interface has: link-local (FE80::/10) and at least one global unicast
- The EUI-64 algorithm for auto-deriving the host portion from a MAC address - and why operators love it and hate it
- The difference between configuring an address manually and with the
eui-64keyword - The neighbor table (the IPv6 equivalent of ARP) and how it populates
What this lab does NOT cover
- SLAAC (Stateless Address Auto-Configuration) on hosts. Touched briefly; covered fully on the OSPF/IPv6 dual-stack work in the IPv6 pillar.
- DHCPv6. Out of scope for CCNA address fundamentals.
- IPv6 static routes. Next lab: nf-08.
