Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?

IPv6 header contains the following things:

1. Version - This field contains the version of the IP used in the packet. It is of 4-bit in IP version 6.

2. Traffic class - This is an 8-bits field determining the packet priority. Priority values subdivide into ranges: traffic where the source provides congestion control and non-congestion control traffic.

3. Flow label - This 20 bits specifies the QoS management. Originally created for giving real-time applications special service, but currently unused.

4. Payload length - This 16 bits determines the payload length in bytes. When cleared to zero, the option is a "Jumbo payload" (hop-by-hop).

5. Next header - This 8-bits field specifies the next encapsulated protocol. The values are compatible with those specified for the IPv4 protocol field.

6. Hop limit - This is an 8-bits field newly introduced in IPv6. It replaces the time to live field of IPv4.

7. Source Address - This 128 bits field determines the logical address of the host that is sending the packet.

8. Destination Address - This 128 bits field determines the logical address of the host that is receiving the packet

8. Differences between IPv4 and IPv6

IPv4

IPv6

Source and destination addresses are 32 bits in length

Source and destination addresses are 128 bits in length

IPsec support is optional

IPsec support is required

Header includes checksum

Header does not include checksum

Header includes options

All optional data are moved to IPv6 extension headers

Broadcast addresses are used to send traffic to all nodes on a subnet.

IPv6 uses a link-local scope all-nodes multicast address

Must be configured either manually or through DHCP

Does not require manual configuration or DHCP

IPv4 header does not identify packet flow for QoS handling by routers.

IPv6 header contains Flow Label field, which identifies packet flow for QoS handling by router.

Both routers and the sending host fragment packets.

Only the sending host fragments packets; routers do not.

Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?
Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?


This section describes how to configure and use user-defined loopback interfaces on the switch.

By default, each switch has eight internal IPv6 loopback interfaces (lo-0 as through lo-7) with IPv6 address ::1/128 configured by default on lo-0. This address (::1/128) is used only for internal traffic transmitted within the switch and is not used in packet headers in egress traffic sent to network devices.

Each loopback interface can have multiple IPv6 addresses, all of which must be unique. Routing protocols such as OSPFv3, advertise the configured loopback addresses throughout a network or autonomous system.

User-defined IPv6 loopback addresses provide these benefits when a routing protocol is enabled:

  • A loopback interface is a virtual interface that is always up and reachable as long as at least one of the IPv6 interfaces on the switch is operational. As a result, a loopback interface is useful for debugging tasks because its address can always be pinged if any other switch interface is up.

  • You can use a loopback interface to establish a Telnet session, ping the switch, and access the switch through SNMP and HTTP (Web agent).

Assigning an IPv6 address to a loopback interface

The following command enables nondefault IPv6 address configuration on loopback interfaces.

Syntax:

[no] interface loopback <0-7> ipv6 address

Configures an IPv6 address on a loopback interface identified by <0-7>.

Use the no form of the command to remove nondefault IPv6 addresses from the loopback interface.


Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?

NOTE: You cannot remove the (reserved) default loopback interface address ::1/128 from lo-0.


You can configure up to 32 IPv6 addresses (and up to 32 IPv4 addresses) on a loopback interface. To configure an IPv6 address for the loopback interface, enter the ipv6 address command at the loopback interface configuration level, as shown in the following example.

When you configure an IPv6 address for a loopback interface, you do not specify a prefix. The default prefix/128 applies automatically.

Configuring an IPv6 address on a loopback interface

HP Switch(config)# interface loopback 1 HP Switch(lo-1)# IPv6 address 2001:db8::1


Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?

NOTE:

  • You can configure a loopback interface only from the CLI; you cannot configure a loopback interface from the Web Agent or Menu interface.

  • IPv6 loopback interfaces share the same IPv6 address space with VLAN configurations. The maximum number of IPv6 addresses supported on a switch is 2048, which includes all IPv6 addresses configured for both VLANs and loopback interfaces (except for the default loopback IPv6 address, ::1 /128).

  • Each IPv6 address that you configure on a loopback interface must be unique in the autonomous system (AS). This means that the address cannot be used by a VLAN interface or another loopback interface.

  • You can configure up to 32 IPv6 and 32 IPv4 addresses on a loopback interface (lo0 to lo7).


Displaying loopback interface configurations

Use show ipv6 to display the list of loopback interfaces configured with nondefault IPv6 addresses. (Loopback interface 0, if configured only with the default ::1/128 IPv6 address, does not appear in this listing.)


Which IPv6 address is used as the loopback address?

NOTE: A loopback interface does not appear in the show ipv6 command output unless it is configured with a non-default IPv6 address.


What is an IPv6 loopback address?

The loopback address, also called localhost, is probably familiar to you. It is an internal address that routes back to the local system. The loopback address in IPv4 is 127.0. 01. In IPv6, the loopback address is 0:0:0:0:0:0:0:1 or ::1.

How many loopback addresses are there in IPv6?

By default, each switch has eight internal IPv6 loopback interfaces ( lo-0 as through lo-7 ) with IPv6 address ::1/128 configured by default on lo-0 . This address (::1/128) is used only for internal traffic transmitted within the switch and is not used in packet headers in egress traffic sent to network devices.

Why is 127 called loopback address?

No datagram “sent” to a network 127 address should ever appear on any network anywhere. 0 and 127 were the only reserved Class A networks by 1981. 0 was used for pointing to a specific host, so that left 127 for loopback.

What is IP address 127.0 0.1 typically used for?

0.1, the IP address of the local computer. This IP address allows the machine to connect to and communicate with itself. Therefore, localhost (127.0. 0.1) is used to establish an IP connection to the same device used by the end-user.