Depending on the characteristics of a specific link or node, there
are a number of approaches for creating Modified EUI-64 format
interface identifiers. This appendix describes some of these
approaches.
Links or Nodes with IEEE EUI-64 Identifiers
The only change needed to transform an IEEE EUI-64 identifier to an
interface identifier is to invert the "u" (universal/local) bit. An
example is a globally unique IEEE EUI-64 identifier of the form:
|0 1|1 3|3 4|4 6|
|0 5|6 1|2 7|8 3|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|cccccc0gcccccccc|ccccccccmmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
where "c" is the bits of the assigned company_id, "0" is the value of
the universal/local bit to indicate universal scope, "g" is
individual/group bit, and "m" is the bits of the manufacturer-
selected extension identifier. The IPv6 interface identifier would
be of the form:
|0 1|1 3|3 4|4 6|
|0 5|6 1|2 7|8 3|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|cccccc1gcccccccc|ccccccccmmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
The only change is inverting the value of the universal/local bit.
Links or Nodes with IEEE 802 48-bit MACs
[EUI64] defines a method to create an IEEE EUI-64 identifier from an
IEEE 48-bit MAC identifier. This is to insert two octets, with
hexadecimal values of 0xFF and 0xFE (see the Note at the end of
appendix), in the middle of the 48-bit MAC (between the company_id
and vendor-supplied id). An example is the 48-bit IEEE MAC with
Global scope:
|0 1|1 3|3 4|
|0 5|6 1|2 7|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|cccccc0gcccccccc|ccccccccmmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+
where "c" is the bits of the assigned company_id, "0" is the value of
the universal/local bit to indicate Global scope, "g" is
individual/group bit, and "m" is the bits of the manufacturer-
selected extension identifier. The interface identifier would be of
the form:
|0 1|1 3|3 4|4 6|
|0 5|6 1|2 7|8 3|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|cccccc1gcccccccc|cccccccc11111111|11111110mmmmmmmm|mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
When IEEE 802 48-bit MAC addresses are available (on an interface or
a node), an implementation may use them to create interface
identifiers due to their availability and uniqueness properties.
Links with Other Kinds of Identifiers
There are a number of types of links that have link-layer interface
identifiers other than IEEE EUI-64 or IEEE 802 48-bit MACs. Examples
include LocalTalk and Arcnet. The method to create a Modified EUI-64
format identifier is to take the link identifier (e.g., the LocalTalk
8-bit node identifier) and zero fill it to the left. For example, a
LocalTalk 8-bit node identifier of hexadecimal value 0x4F results in
the following interface identifier:
|0 1|1 3|3 4|4 6|
|0 5|6 1|2 7|8 3|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
|0000000000000000|0000000000000000|0000000000000000|0000000001001111|
+----------------+----------------+----------------+----------------+
Note that this results in the universal/local bit set to "0" to
indicate local scope.
Links without Identifiers
There are a number of links that do not have any type of built-in
identifier. The most common of these are serial links and configured
tunnels. Interface identifiers that are unique within a subnet
prefix must be chosen.
When no built-in identifier is available on a link, the preferred
approach is to use a universal interface identifier from another
interface or one that is assigned to the node itself. When using
this approach, no other interface connecting the same node to the
same subnet prefix may use the same identifier.
If there is no universal interface identifier available for use on
the link, the implementation needs to create a local-scope interface
identifier. The only requirement is that it be unique within a
subnet prefix. There are many possible approaches to select a
subnet-prefix-unique interface identifier. These include the
following:
Manual Configuration
Node Serial Number
Other Node-Specific Token
The subnet-prefix-unique interface identifier should be generated in
a manner such that it does not change after a reboot of a node or if
interfaces are added or deleted from the node.
The selection of the appropriate algorithm is link and implementation
dependent. The details on forming interface identifiers are defined
in the appropriate "IPv6 over <link>" specification. It is strongly
recommended that a collision detection algorithm be implemented as
part of any automatic algorithm.
Note: [EUI-64] actually defines 0xFF and 0xFF as the bits to be
inserted to create an IEEE EUI-64 identifier from an IEEE MAC-
48 identifier. The 0xFF and 0xFE values are used when starting
with an IEEE EUI-48 identifier. The incorrect value was used
in earlier versions of the specification due to a
misunderstanding about the differences between IEEE MAC-48 and
EUI-48 identifiers.
This document purposely continues the use of 0xFF and 0xFE
because it meets the requirements for IPv6 interface
identifiers (i.e., that they must be unique on the link), IEEE
EUI-48 and MAC-48 identifiers are syntactically equivalent, and
that it doesn't cause any problems in practice.
