DHCPv6-Relay

The routing switches covered by this guide include operation as DHCPv6 relay agents between DHCPv6 servers and clients.

The Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCPv6) is used for configuring clients with IPv6 address and other configuration parameters without user intervention on the client. Where a DHCPv6 server and a client exist on the same local network, the client’s requests for service are received directly by the DHCPv6 server, and a relay agent is not needed. However, if a client and the DHCPv6 server available to support it are in different networks, or subnets, a DHCPv6 relay agent is needed to forward client service requests to the server and to relay server responses back to the client. (The DHCPv6 relay agent is transparent to the client.)

Three main elements comprise DHCPv6-relay operation:

• DHCPv6 clients per-VLAN or subnet

• A routing switch configured with the following:

  • DHCPv6 relay agent enabled to forward DHCPv6 client/server traffic between a host or another relay agent and a remote DHCPv6 server

• One or more remote DHCPv6 servers reachable from the routing switch