SLAAC
Definition
Stateless Address Autoconfiguration. IPv6 host generates its own address from the router-advertised /64 prefix plus a 64-bit interface identifier (EUI-64 or RFC 7217 stable random).
- Full name
- Stateless Address Autoconfiguration
- Prefix source
- Router-advertised /64 network prefix
- Interface ID methods
- EUI-64 or RFC 7217 stable random
- Protocol family
- IPv6
Common questions
Why does SLAAC always use a /64 prefix?+
IPv6 addressing reserves the lower 64 bits of an address for the interface identifier, so the network prefix a router advertises for autoconfiguration must be exactly /64 to leave that space.
How does SLAAC differ from DHCPv6?+
SLAAC is stateless, the host builds its own address from the advertised prefix, while DHCPv6 is stateful, with a server issuing and tracking which addresses have been assigned to which hosts.
Related terms
- CIDR (Classless Inter-Domain Routing)
- A compact notation for IP address ranges that appends a prefix length to the address, such as 192.168.1.0/24. The prefix length states...
- MAC Address (OUI)
- 48-bit hardware address. First 24 bits are the Organisationally Unique Identifier assigned by IEEE to a vendor; the lower 24 are the...
- OSI Reference Model
- Seven-layer ISO/IEC 7498-1 model describing how network functions are partitioned: Physical, Data Link, Network, Transport, Session, Presentation, Application. A teaching model, not...
- RFC 1918 Private Space
- Three IPv4 ranges reserved for private use: 10.0.0.0/8, 172.16.0.0/12, 192.168.0.0/16. Not routable on the public internet; require NAT at the edge.
- TCP/IP Stack
- Four-layer model that actually runs the internet: Link, Internet, Transport, Application. Defined by the IETF and mapped onto the OSI layers for...