ndp(8) [opendarwin man page]
NDP(8) BSD System Manager's Manual NDP(8) NAME
ndp -- control/diagnose IPv6 neighbor discovery protocol SYNOPSIS
ndp -a [-nt] ndp -A wait [-nt] ndp -c [-nt] ndp -d [-nt] hostname ndp -f [-nt] filename ndp -H ndp -I [delete | interface] ndp -i interface [flags...] ndp -p ndp -P ndp -r ndp -R ndp -s [-nt] nodename ether_addr [temp] [proxy] DESCRIPTION
The ndp command manipulates the address mapping table used by Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP). -a Dump the currently existing NDP entries. -A wait Repeat -a (dump NDP entries) every wait seconds. -c Erase all the NDP entries. -d Delete specified NDP entry. -f Parse the file specified by filename. -H Harmonize consistency between the routing table and the default router list; install the top entry of the list into the kernel rout- ing table. -I [delete | interface] Shows or specifies the default interface used as the default route when there is no default router. If no argument is given to the option, the current default interface will be shown. If an interface is specified, the interface will be used as the default. If a special keyword delete is specified, the current default interface will be deleted from the kernel. -i interface [flags...] View ND information for the specified interface. If additional arguments flags are given, ndp sets or clears the specified flags for the interface. Possible flags are as follows. All of the flags can begin with the special character '-', which means the flag should be cleared. nud turn on or off NUD (Neighbor Unreachability Detection) on the interface. NUD is usually turned on by default. -n Do not try to resolve numeric address to hostname. -p Show prefix list. -P Flush all the entries in the prefix list. -r Show default router list. -R Flush all the entries in the default router list. -s Register an NDP entry for a node. The entry will be permanent unless the word temp is given in the command. If the word proxy is given, this system will act as an proxy NDP server, responding to requests for hostname even though the host address is not its own. -t Print timestamp on each entries, to make it possible to merge output with tcpdump(1). Most useful when used with -A. RETURN VALUES
The ndp command will exit with 0 on success, and non-zero on errors. SEE ALSO
arp(8) HISTORY
The ndp command first appeared in WIDE Hydrangea IPv6 protocol stack kit. BSD
May 17, 1998 BSD
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ndp(7P) ndp(7P) NAME
ndp - Neighbor Discovery Protocol, NDP DESCRIPTION
Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP) is a protocol used by hosts and routers to: 1. Find the link-layer address of the neighbors known to be attached to the same link. 2. Find the neighboring routers that are willing to forward packets on their behalf. 3. Actively keep track of which neighbors are reachable and which are not. 4. Search for alternate routers when the path to a router fails. To accomplish the above mentioned tasks, NDP defines the following processes: 1. Router and Prefix Discovery Router discovery is a process through which hosts locate the neighboring routers and learn prefix plus other parameters necessary for address autoconfiguration. Prefix discovery is used by the hosts to learn the range of IPv6 addresses that reside on-link and can be reached without going through a router. Routers send Router Advertisements which will make the hosts treat them as the default routers. The Router Advertisements will also contain prefix information options that will identify the range of IPv6 addresses that are on-link (Subnet prefix). 2. Router and Host Requirements Router requirements in NDP specify a set of rules for host to act as a router. These rules include: o Router configuration variables. These configuration variables include intervals between successive unsolicited router advertisements, etc. o How to make an interface an advertising interface. When an interface is made an advertising interface, it means that the node is going to send periodic router advertisements and is willing to forward packets on behalf of hosts on that link. o Message content for router advertisements. A router will send periodic as well as solicited Router Advertisements on an advertising interface. NDP specifies the format of these messages. o Sending unsolicited router advertisements. Apart from sending solicited router advertisements in response to router solicitations, routers can send unsolicited router advertisements. For example, unsolicited router advertisements can be sent to expire a prefix or to advertise a new prefix, etc. o Stopping router advertisements on an interface. A router can stop advertising prefixes on an interface. This can happen due to system management decisions when a router may be stopped from being one. NDP specifies what the router should be doing under these circumstances. o Processing router solicitation messages. Hosts as part of the stateless autoconfiguration process will send Router Solicitations. Routers should respond to such solici- tations with a router advertisement. o Steps to be taken when the link-local address for the router changes. Normally the link-local address of a Router should not change. However, NDP still defines the steps should be taken by the router when its link-local address changes for any of its interfaces. Host requirements are a set of rules that apply for a IPv6 host. They are: o IPv6 variables that have to be maintained. These variables include the time between retransmissions of neighbor solicitations, link MTU for each interface, etc. o Processing router advertisements. This rule discusses what actions should be taken on receipt of router advertisements. o Timing out prefixes and default routers. Whenever routers send router advertisements, they include the lifetime of the router as well as the prefixes that they advertise. NDP specifies what actions the host should take when these lifetimes expire. o Selecting a default router. When there is more than one router in the link, the default router selection algorithm comes into effect. This algorithm helps select the default router based on factors like reachability, etc. o Sending a router solicitation. When an interface is enabled, a host need not wait for the unsolicited router advertisement. Instead, it can send a router solicitation and get a router advertisement as a response. This will help in receiving the default router and prefix information as soon as the interface is enabled. 3. Algorithm for Sending a Packet Any IPv6 host is required to maintain some data structures that will be used by the algorithm for sending a packet. These data structures are: Neighbor Cache A set of entries that will maintain IPv6 Address to link-layer address mappings for neighbors to which a packet has been sent recently. In addition to that it maintains information needed for neighbor unreachability detection like the reachability state, etc. Destination Cache A set of entries for hosts to whom packets have been sent recently. This includes hosts which are both on-link and off-link. It contains a level of indirection to the neighbor cache. Prefix List This is a list of prefixes which define the set of IPv6 address that are on-link. This information is maintained on a per interface basis. Typically this list is built from Router Advertisements received from the router. Default Router List A list of routers which will forward packets on behalf of this host. This list will again have a pointer to a neighbor cache entry for the respective router. A host will use the above data structures while sending a packet to a host. Following is the conceptual algorithm for sending a packet to a unicast destination. a. Before a packet is sent out, the next hop should be determined. Normally, next hop determination is not done on all packets. The results of a next hop determination are stored in the destination cache. The host should first check the destination cache for any entry that matches with the current destination address. If it finds a match, then it proceeds to step c, below. b. If there is no entry for the destination in the destination cache, a longest prefix match is made with all prefixes in the prefix list. If there is a match, the destination is determined to be on-link and the destination address will be considered as the next hop. Otherwise, the next hop is determined from the routing table. c. Once the next hop is determined, the address resolution process and neighbor unreachability detection are done for the next hop. This process is explained in the next section. d. Once the neighbor is known to be reachable, the packet is sent to that destination. 4. Address Resolution and Neighbor Unreachability Detection Address resolution is a process used to determine the link-layer address of a neighbor. The IPv6 Address to link-layer address map- ping found through this process is cached in the Neighbor Cache. Following are the steps involved in Address Resolution. a. First, the neighbor cache is checked for an entry which matches the current destination address. If the entry is not present, the host sends a Neighbor Solicitation Message to the solicited-node multicast group. This multicast address is derived based on the destination IPv6 address and all nodes with the particular IPv6 address are required to join that group. b. If a host with the specified IPv6 address is present in the network, it will reply this solicitation with a Neighbor Adver- tisement Message. c. On receiving the Neighbor Advertisement, the node will search for an entry in the neighbor cache for the sender's IPv6 address. A new entry is created in the neighbor cache and the reachability flag is set to REACHABLE. Once the Address resolution is completed, neighbor unreachability detection will be performed. This process depends on the reacha- bility field of the neighbor cache. An entry in the neighbor cache can have any of the following states: INCOMPLETE The address resolution is in progress and the link-layer address of the destination is yet to be determined. REACHABLE The destination is reachable until recently. STALE The destination is no longer known to be reachable, but reachability detection need not be made until a packet has to be sent to that destination. DELAY This state is an optimization that gives additional time for the upper layer protocols to provide the reachability confirmation. PROBE A reachability confirmation is actively requested by repeatedly sending Neighbor Solicitations. During neighbor unreachability detection, the node checks for the state in the neighbor cache. If the state for the destination is REACHABLE, the packet is sent. Otherwise, the following steps are taken: a. When an address resolution is made on a destination, an entry is created in the neighbor cache for that destination and the reachability state will be set to INCOMPLETE. If the address resolution fails, the entry is deleted. b. When the address resolution passes, the entry will be filled with the destination's link-layer address and the state will be set to REACHABLE. c. There is a timer maintained called the Reachability timer which will expire the state of an entry in the neighbor cache. Once this timer expires, the reachability state changes from REACHABLE to STALE. d. When a packet is being sent to a destination whose state is STALE in the neighbor cache, the node sets the state to DELAY and starts a timer associated with that state. By the time the timer expires if the node received reachability confirmation, the state is set to REACHABLE. Otherwise, it is set to PROBE. e. Once the entry's state is in PROBE, the node sends unicast neighbor solicitations to the link-layer address specified in the entry. If it receives a neighbor advertisement in response the state is set to REACHABLE. This solicitation will be sent repeatedly; the maximum number of times is configurable. If the reachability confirmation is not received after maximum solicitations, the entry is deleted from the neighbor cache and the address resolution is done again. Note: Entries in the neighbor cache can also be created as a result of node receiving unsolicited Neighbor Advertisements, Router Advertisements and Router Solicitations, etc. However, for the entry created under these circumstances the reachability state will always be set to STALE. 5. Redirect Function A router will send a host a redirect message when it finds that there is a better next-hop router on the same link. This is a requirement for a router. On receiving a router redirect message, a host should update its destination cache with the new next hop address. AUTHOR
NDP was developed by the IPng Working Group of the Internet Engineering Task Force. SEE ALSO
ifconfig(1M), ndp(1M), ip6(7P), lan(7). Neighbor Discovery for IPv6, RFC2461, T. Narten et al. NDP Neighbor Discovery Protocol ndp(7P)