IPv6 Over IPv4 Tunnels

To enable communication between isolated IPv6 domains using the IPv4 infrastructure, you can manually configure IPv6 over IPv4 tunnels that provide static point-point connectivity.

As shown in the following illustration, these tunnels encapsulate an IPv6 packet within an IPv4 packet.

IPv6 Over an IPv4 Tunnel

A manually configured tunnel establishes a permanent link between switches in IPv6 domains. A manually configured tunnel has explicitly configured IPv4 addresses for the tunnel source and destination.

This tunneling mechanism requires that the Layer 3 switch at each end of the tunnel run both IPv4 and IPv6 protocol stacks. The Layer 3 switches running both protocol stacks, or dual-stack routers, can interoperate directly with both IPv4 and IPv6 end systems and routers.

In this section:

  1. IPv6 over IPv4 Tunnel Configuration Notes
  2. Configuring a Manual IPv6 Over IPv4 Tunnel
    You can use a manually configured tunnel to connect two isolated IPv6 domains. You must deploy this point-to-point tunneling mechanism if you need a permanent and stable connection across an IPv4 network.
  3. Clearing IPv6 Tunnel Statistics
  4. Displaying IPv6 Tunnel Information
Parent topic: IPv6 Addressing