1-6 
Introduction to IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Protocol 
The IPv6 Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) uses five types of ICMPv6 messages to implement the 
following functions: 
z  Address resolution 
z  Neighbor unreachability detection 
z  Duplicate address detection 
z  Router/prefix discovery 
z  Address autoconfiguration 
z  Redirection 
Table 1-3 lists the types and functions of ICMPv6 messages used by the NDP. 
Table 1-3 Types and functions of ICMPv6 messages 
ICMPv6 message  Function 
Used to acquire the link-layer address of a 
neighbor
 
Used to verify whether the neighbor is reachable
Neighbor solicitation (NS) message
 
Used to perform a duplicate address detection
 
Used to respond to a neighbor solicitation 
message
 
Neighbor advertisement (NA) message
 
When the link layer address changes, the local 
node initiates a neighbor advertisement 
message to notify neighbor nodes of the change.
Router solicitation (RS) message
 
After started, a host sends a router solicitation 
message to request the router for an address 
prefix and other configuration information for the 
purpose of autoconfiguration.
 
Used to respond to a router solicitation message
Router advertisement (RA) message
 
With the RA message suppression disabled, the 
router regularly sends a router advertisement 
message containing information such as 
address prefix and flag bits.
 
Redirect message
 
When a certain condition is satisfied, the default 
gateway sends a redirect message to the source 
host so that the host can reselect a correct next 
hop router to forward packets.
 
 
 
z  3com Switch 4200G does not support the RS, RA, or Redirect message. 
z  Of the above mentioned IPv6 NDP functions, 3com Switch 4200G supports the following three 
functions: address resolution, neighbor unreachability detection, and duplicate address detection. 
The subsequent sections present a detailed description of these three functions and relevant 
configuration.  
 
The NDP mainly provides the following functions: