Loopback 0 on R1 has the IP 2001:A::1/64 and Loopback 0 on R2 has the IP 2001:B::1/64.  We want to make R1 aware of the 2001:B::0/64 network and R2 aware of the 2001:A::0/64 network. RIPng would be the the easiest way of doing that.

First we need to enable IPv6 unicast routing, and then start the RIP process on the interfaces.

R1(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
R1(config)#ipv6 router rip SIMPLE_RIP
R1(config)#interface lo0
R1(config-if)#ipv6 address 2001:A::1/64
R1(config-if)#ipv6 rip SIMPLE_RIP enable

R2(config)#ipv6 unicast-routing
R2(config)#ipv6 router rip SIMPLE_RIP
R2(config)#interface lo0
R2(config-if)#ipv6 address 2001:B::1/64
R2(config-if)#ipv6 rip SIMPLE_RIP enable

We also need to activate the RIP process on the transit link and make the interface IPv6 enabled.

R1(config)#interface s0/1/1

R1(config-if)#ipv6 rip SIMPLE_RIP enable

R1(config-if)#ipv6 enable

R2(config)#interface s0/1/1

R2(config-if)#ipv6 enable

R2(config-if)#ipv6 rip SIMPLE_RIP enable

As it can be noticed, we haven’t configured a global IPv6 address on the interface, yet, RIP will do it’s job.

R2#sh ipv6 route
IPv6 Routing Table – 5 entries
Codes: C – Connected, L – Local, S – Static, R – RIP, B – BGP
U – Per-user Static route
I1 – ISIS L1, I2 – ISIS L2, IA – ISIS interarea, IS – ISIS summary
O – OSPF intra, OI – OSPF inter, OE1 – OSPF ext 1, OE2 – OSPF ext 2
ON1 – OSPF NSSA ext 1, ON2 – OSPF NSSA ext 2
D – EIGRP, EX – EIGRP external
R   2001:A::/64 [120/2]
via FE80::219:E8FF:FEF2:8F3A, Serial0/1/1
C   2001:B::/64 [0/0]
via ::, Loopback0
L   2001:B::1/128 [0/0]
via ::, Loopback0
L   FE80::/10 [0/0]
via ::, Null0
L   FF00::/8 [0/0]
via ::, Null0

The reason why it works, it’s a link local address, which is automatically configured once you turn on IPv6 on the interface. If the command “(config-if)#ipv6 enable” would have been missing, there would have been no exchange of routes.

Let us now analyze a possible misconfiguration. Let’s configure a global address on the link. What first comes to mind is IPv4 rule that stated that the serial interface of each router has to be configured in the same broadcast domain.  We will configure the serial interface on R1 with 2001:C::1/64 and serial interface on R2 with 2001:D::1/64 (clearly in different subnets).

R1#show ipv6 interface serial 0/1/1
Serial0/1/1 is up, line protocol is up
IPv6 is enabled, link-local address is FE80::219:E8FF:FEF2:8F3A
No Virtual link-local address(es):
Global unicast address(es):
2001:C::1, subnet is 2001:C::/64

R2#show ipv6 interface serial 0/1/1
Serial0/1/1 is up, line protocol is up
IPv6 is enabled, link-local address is FE80::21A:2FFF:FE2A:2118
No Virtual link-local address(es):
Global unicast address(es):
2001:D::1, subnet is 2001:D::/64

Even if we don’t have the two routers in the same subnet from the global address perspective, they are in the same broadcast domain from the link local address point of view. The traffic will still be routed via the link local address, because it’s actually “closer”.

R   2001:A::/64 [120/2]
via FE80::219:E8FF:FEF2:8F3A, Serial0/1/1

So, if your routes are flowing when you are thinking that they shouldn’t, you might want to remember the link local address.

Thanks go out to BogdanD for help with case study.