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DES-7200 Configuration Guide Chapter 3 IPv6 Tunnel Configuration
3-1
3 IPv6 Tunnel
Configuration
3.1 Overview
The IPv6 is designed to inherit and replace the IPv4. However, the evolution from the
IPv4 to the IPv6 is a gradual process. Therefore, it is inevitable that these two
protocols coexist for a period before the IPv6 completely replaces the IPv4. At the
beginning of this transition stage, IPv4 networks are still main networks. IPv6 networks
are similar to isolated islands in IPv4 networks. The problems about transition can be
divided into the following two types:
1. Communications among isolated IPv6 networks via IPv4 networks
2. Communications between IPv6 networks and IPv4 networks
This article discusses the tunnel technology that is used to solve problem 1. The
solution to problem2 is NAT-PT (Network Address Translation-Protocol Translation),
which is not covered in this article.
The IPv6 tunnel technology encapsulates IPv6 messages in IPv4 messages. In this
way, IPv6 protocol packets can communicate with each other via IPv4 networks.
Therefore, with the IPv6 tunnel technology, isolated IPv6 networks can communicate
one another via existing IPv4 networks, avoiding any modification and upgrade to
existing IPv4 networks. An IPv6 tunnel can be configured between Area Border
Routers or between an Area Border Router and the host. However, all the nodes at the
two ends of the tunnel must support the IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. At present, our
company supports the following tunnel technologies:
Tunnel Type Reference
Manually Config Tunnel RFC2893
Intra-Site Automatic Tunnel Addressing
Protocol(ISATAP)
draft-ietf-ngtrans-isatap-22