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6RD

6to4

  • The base standard
  • Requires a specific prefix

6RD

  • The current standard
  • Allows any global prefix

RG — Router Gateway

  • The CPE the ISP provides to connect to their network

BNG — Broadband Network Gateway

  • This is the Customer aggregation node
  • Aggregate thousands of connections

NMS — Network Management System

  • Provides a place to see and configure the network

AAA — Authentication, Authorization, Accounting

  • This is how the ISP controls who can access the network
  • Controls QoS Deployments

BR

  • Terminates the 6RD tunnels
  • AKA, Border Relay

What does 6RD Solve?

“We can’t deploy v6, because our BNG does (put-feature-here) and we need that!

This way, the customer gets dual stack without the ISP needing to upgrade a legacy deployment.

CustomerEquipmentISPRGCustomerEquipmentLegacyISPLegacyISPSwitchesBNGv4NMSv4AAAv4DHCPCustomer'sHomev4v66RDBRCoreInternetAccessNetworkv4only6RDTunnelLegacy

The Four Things Required To Setup

  • IPv4 Common Prefix: - The high order bits every CE has in common for their v4 deployments.

If every customer was given an IP on the 10.0.0.0/24 network, the bits they would have in common is /24.

  • 6RD Prefix: The v6 bits for the 6rd domain.
  • 6RD PrefixLen: The length of the prefix for the 6rd domain.
  • 6RD BR v4 Address: The Access Network v4 address for the BR.

(there is a neat way to derive the 6rd prefix, refer to Cisco’s IOS-XE manual, that’s closest to how it’s done.)

Sample Config (from Cisco’s PDF)

!
! This BR is reachable via the loopback.
!
interface Loopback0
ip address 10.1.1.1 255.255.255.0
!
interface Tunnel0
 tunnel source Loopback0
 tunnel mode ipv6ip 6rd
 tunnel 6rd ipv4 prefix-len 8
 tunnel 6rd prefix 2011:1001:100:/40
 ipv6 address 2011:1001:101:101::/128 anycast
!
ipv6 route 2011:1001:100::/40 Tunnel0
ipv6 route 2011:1001:101:101::/64 Null0
!
! Simple and Easy to setup!
!
#show tunnel 6rd
Interface Tunnel0:
 Tunnel Source: 10.1.1.1
 6RD: Operational, V6 Prefix: 2011:1001:100:/40
 V4 Prefix, Length: 8, Value: 10.0.0.0
 V4 Suffix, Length: 0, Value: 0.0.0.0
 General Prefix: 2011:1001:1

References

RFC 3056: Connection of IPv6 Domains via IPv4 Clouds | RFC Editor

RFC 5969: IPv6 Rapid Deployment on IPv4 Infrastructures (6rd) – Protocol Specification | RFC Editor

APNIC Conference | 6RD Enabling IPv6 Customers on an IPv4-only Network

Interface and Hardware Component Configuration Guide, Cisco IOS XE Fuji 16.9.x - IPv6 Rapid Deployment Cisco ASR 1000 Series Aggregation Services Routers - Cisco

Last Modified • Friday, June 12, 2026. 3:54 am UTC+00:00 • Commit: 5f6d3fd