IPv6 EUI-64 explained | NetworkLessons.com

EUI-64 (Extended Unique Identifier) is a method we can use to automatically configure IPv6 host addresses. An IPv6 device will use the MAC address of its interface to generate a unique 64-bit interface ID. However, a MAC address is 48 bit and the interface ID is 64 bit. What are we going to do with the missing bits?

Here’s what we will do to fill the missing bits:

We take the MAC address and split it into two pieces.
We insert “FFFE” in between the two pieces so that we have a 64 bit value.
We invert the 7^th bit of the interface ID.

So if my MAC address would be 1234.5678.ABCD then this is what the interface ID will become:

Above you see how we split the MAC address and put FFFE in the middle. It doesn’t include the final step which is “inverting the 7^th” bit. To do this you have to convert the first two hexadecimal characters of the first byte to binary, lookup the 7^th bit and invert it. This means that if it’s a 0 you need to make it a 1, and if it’s a 1 it has to become a 0.

The 7^th bit represents the universal unique bit. A “built in” MAC address will always have this bit set to 0. When you change the MAC address this bit has to be set to 1. Normally people don’t change the MAC addresses of their interfaces which means that EUI-64 will change the 7^th bit from 0 to 1 most of the time. Here’s what it looks like:

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Hi Jose,

Let’s look at an example:

R1#show interfaces GigabitEthernet 1 | include bia
  Hardware is CSR vNIC, address is fa16.3e60.0217 (bia fa16.3e60.0217)

The 7th bit is in the first two hexadecimal characters:

fa = 1111 1010

As you can see, the 7th bit is set to 1 here. Now let’s check the IPv6 address:

R1#show ipv6 interface GigabitEthernet 1 | include link-local
  IPv6 is enabled, link-local address is FE80::F816:3EFF:FE60:217

Let’s write down the complete uncompressed address:

FE80:0000:0000:0000:F816:3EFF:FE60:0217

Let’s look only at the EUI-64 part:

F

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Rene, I see you keep referring to FA as FFFF 1000. Is that correct or a typo? This was referenced twice that way. This is example on IPv6 EUI-64 explained.

Example from Notes:

Let’s look only at the EUI-64 part:

F816:3EFF:FE60:0217

We only care about the first two hexadecimal characters:

F8 = FFFF 1000

As you can see, the 7th bit has been inverted from 1 to 0.

2nd Example:

Here’s the EUI-64 part:

FA16:3EFF:FE60:0217

First two hexadecimal characters:

FA = FFFF 1000

As you can see, it got inverted. No matter if the 7th bit of the MAC address is a 0 or 1, it always gets inverted.

Hi Joel,

First of all, I wouldn’t worry too much about this too much. The bit flipping is just one minor sub-topic of all IPv6 related stuff you can expect in the exam. It’s possible that you don’t get any questions about it so don’t stress about it too much. You can expect a lot of regular subnetting questions so that’s why I highly recommend a “cheat sheet” for that.

It seems this list would work. It might be a quick method if you’d get 10 bit flipping questions but if you only would get 1 question, it might be just as fast to quickly calculate it?

hex > bina

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Hello Nadav

This is an excellent question. According to RFC 5375 in section B.2.4 EUI-64 ‘u’ and ‘g’ Bits, it states the following:

When using subnet prefix lengths other than /64, the interface
identifier cannot be in Modified EUI-64 format as required by
[RFC4291]. However, nodes not aware that a prefix length other than
/64 is used might still think it’s an EUI-64; therefore, it’s prudent
to take into account the following points when setting the bits.

The document continues to state several considerations that should be checked carefully. In general, d

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Ok, thanks, now it comes in a new light. Or rather just ‘in light’ . We simply have to flip the bit because IPV6 ‘thinks’ the 1 better than 0 identifies the address as unique. Thank you.

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