IPv6 (Windows XP/Vista zone ID)

IPv6 (Windows XP/Vista zone ID)

 Unlike IPv4, IPv6 virtually creates multiple network interfaces for a single host. Each of them is automatically assigned a link-local unicast address.

 Therefore, an additional identifier called a "zone ID" is used to identify a link-local unicast address to indicate which link it is on.

The syntax for identifying zones is:

Address %zone_ID

Address: Local use address
zone_ID: Integer value representing the zone

Verify connectivity between link-local hosts with the network configuration below.

Introduction of IPv6 to Windows XP is explained in " IPv6 (Introduction of IPv6 to Windows XP) ".

Run the "ipconfig" command on PC_A.

C:\>ipconfig

PC_A's link-local unicast address is shown as "fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235%4".

"%4" is the zone ID.

Run the "netsh interface ipv6 show interface" command on PC_A.

C:\>netsh interface ipv6 show interface

The index of "Local Area Connection" is "4".

Run the "ipconfig" command on PC_B.

C:\>ipconfig

PC_B's link-local unicast address is shown as "fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1%7".

"%7" is the zone ID.

Run the "netsh interface ipv6 show interface" command on PC_B.

C:\>netsh interface ipv6 show interface

The index of "Local Area Connection" is "7".

We will verify the connection between the link-local hosts with the network configuration shown in the figure below.

I was able to confirm the following with " IPv6 (WindowsXP/Vista zone ID 1) ".

●PC_A

Link-local unicast address: "fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235"
Zone ID: "%4"

●PC_B

Link-local unicast address: "fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1"
Zone ID: "%7"

Verification of communication between hosts

●From PC_A

Run the "ping fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1" command on PC_A.

C:\>fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1

Ping does not reach PC_B.

 When specifying a link-local unicast address as the destination address, it is necessary to specify an appropriate "zone ID".

The "Zone ID" of PC_A is "%4".

Now run the "ping fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1%4" command.

C:\>fe80::6c53:689f:8921:7fd1%4

Ping reaches PC_B.

●From PC_B

Run the "ping fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235%7" command on PC_B.

C:\>fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235%7

Ping reaches PC_A.

By the way, in this configuration, Ping can be received on Windows Vista without specifying "Zone ID".

Run the "ping fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235" command on PC_B.

C:\>fe80::21e:8cff:fec8:235