Configuring IPv6 address autoconfiguration

You can take advantage of the IPv6 stateless and DHCPv6 address autoconfiguration function to configure IPv6 automatically.

The IPv6 address autoconfiguration automatically creates new IPv6 interfaces for a given line description, and assigns IPv6 addresses for the interfaces. You can configure a line description to perform IPv6 address autoconfiguration using either a wizard in IBM® Navigator for i, or the character-based interface.

Configuring IPv6 address autoconfiguration using IBM Navigator for i

To configure IPv6 address autoconfiguration using IBM Navigator for i, follow these steps:

  1. In IBM Navigator for i, expand IBM i Management > Network > TCP/IP Configuration and click Lines.
  2. Click the context menu for one of the lines in the right pane, and select IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration > Configure.
  3. Follow the steps in the New IPv6 Interface wizard to complete the autoconfiguration.
  4. To start the IPv6 interface created by the autoconfiguration, right-click the line you just configured and select IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration > Start.
    Note: To ensure that the IPv6 is started automatically when you start TCP/IP, select Start when TCP/IP is started in the Configure Line for IPv6 display.

If the status changes to Active, you have configured and started the IPv6 address autoconfiguration successfully.

Configuring IPv6 address autoconfiguration using the character-based interface

To configure IPv6 address autoconfiguration using the character-based interface, follow these steps:

Note: To run the ADDTCPIFC command, you must have *IOSYSCFG special authority.
  1. On the command line, type ADDTCPIFC (Add TCP/IP Interface command) and press F4 (Prompt) to access the Add TCP/IP Interface menu.
  2. At the Internet address prompt, type *IP6SAC.
  3. At the Line description prompt, specify a line name (use any name), and press Enter to see a list of optional parameters.
  4. Specify any of the optional parameters, and then press Enter.

To start the IPv6 stateless address autoconfiguration, follow these steps:

  1. On the command line, type STRTCPIFC (Start TCP/IP Interface command) and press F4 (Prompt) to access the Start TCP/IP Interface menu.
  2. At the Internet address prompt, type *IP6SAC, and press Enter.
  3. At the Line description prompt, specify the line name that you defined in the preceding configuration steps, and then press Enter.

You have successfully configured and started the IPv6 address autoconfiguration.

Note: DHCPv6 is used to assign IPv6 addresses automatically after configuring and starting IPv6 Stateless Address Autoconfiguration when the IPv6 router on the network advertises the availability of DHCPv6 for address configuration.