Back to the CCNA: IPv6

Way back a few weeks ago, when I had wrapped up the CCNP lab series, I asked via survey what CCNA topics you'd most want me to talk about in the blog. The top vote getter was IPv6. I had planned on getting back to basics a bit, picking a topic, offering some sample questions, and doing some CCNA exam prep topics here in the blog.

At the same time, there were more than a few requests for me to write more about labs and gear, and particularly about the whole "now that I bought the gear, what do I do with it" thing. So, I'm going to try and weave the two together, and we'll see how things go.

(However, be warned, the blog posts probably aren't it's probably not going to be sequential. I'll be at Networkers in Orlando the week of June 23^rd, and if I post blog entries that week, I'll probably be rambling about what's going on at the show.)

So, here's the plan. I'll start with an open-ended question on IPv6. It's not just like the CCNA exam, but it gives us enough context to starting a discussion about both the technology as well as how to prepare for the CCNA exam. Then, I'll post a sample lab exercise that helps you learn about IPv6 addressing. Then we'll talk about some answers to the questions, how the lab may or may not have helped you get ready for IPv6 on the CCNA exam, and go from there.

FYI - I will probably stick in a post or two about lab study resources, with some surveys, and some stuff on goings on at Networkers, so bear with me!

Get on with it, Wendell! So, consider the following beginnings of a CCNA exam question:

In the figure, R1's Fa0/0 interface has been configured with the ipv6 address 2345::/64 eui-64 command, and R1's S0/0/0 interface has been configured with the ipv6 address 2323::/64 eui-64 command. R1's current Fa0/0 MAC address is 0400.1234.5678, but the interface has a burned-in MAC address of 0013.3333.3333. Both Fa0/0 and S0/0/0 are in an up/up state.

So far, there's no question. But from this stub of a question, the person writing the question could create several multichoice questions, asking about the Global Unicast addresses assigned to each interface, the Link Local IP addresses, making sure you know all the intricacies of the EUI-64 format and how IPv6 addresses are formed, asking about how to configure RIP for IPv6, and so on. The question could be easily made into a simlet, even taking out some of the info in the question so far, and requiring you to find information with show commands.

For the purpose of this exercise in this blog, instead of a multichoice question listed here, I'd prefer to pose a few open-ended questions:

1) What IPv6 addresses will be listed on R1's interfaces after doing the actions described in the problem state?

2) What routes will be listed in the output of the show ipv6 address command as a result?

So consider the questions. I'll look at the answers and how to find the answers next post, as well as start talking about what labs might be useful for learning these intricacies.