Basic IPv6 Messages: Wireshark Capture

When explaining IPv6 I am always showing a few Wireshark screenshots to give a feeling on how IPv6 looks like. Basically, the stateless autoconfiguration feature (SLAAC), DHCPv6, Neighbor Discovery, and a simple ping should be seen/understood by any network administrator before using the new protocol.

Therefore I captured the basic IPv6 autoconfiguration with a Knoppix Linux behind a Telekom Speedport router (German ISP, dual-stack) and publish this capture file here. I am using this capture to explain the basic IPv6 features.

Note that this post is one of many related to IPv6. Click here for a structured list.

I activated the wlan0 card on a laptop and captured the whole process of the autoconfiguration. These are the things to discover in this capture:

  • DHCPv4 for IPv4 address
  • Ping via IPv4 (name resolution via DNS)
  • ARP
  • Multicast Listener messages for IPv6
  • Duplicate Address Detection (DAD) for IPv6
  • Router Advertisement for IPv6 address
  • Stateless DHCPv6 for the DNS server address
  • Ping via IPv6 (but name resolution via IPv4 DNS)
  • Neighbor Solicitation/Advertisement

Following is the complete capture file for detailed analysis:

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And a few screenshots to give basic hints on what to explore (notice the display filters within Wireshark):

Featured image “Mr. professor” by Jonas Carlsson is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.

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