within any 16-bit chunk of the address

      12AB::CD30/60     address to left of "/" expands to
                        12AB:0000:0000:0000:0000:000:0000:CD30

      12AB::CD3/60      address to left of "/" expands to
                        12AB:0000:0000:0000:0000:000:0000:0CD3

   When writing both a node address and a prefix of that node address
   (e.g., the node's subnet prefix), the two can combined as follows:

      the node address      12AB:0:0:CD30:123:4567:89AB:CDEF
      and its subnet number 12AB:0:0:CD30::/60

      can be abbreviated as 12AB:0:0:CD30:123:4567:89AB:CDEF/60

2.4 Address Type Identification

   The type of an IPv6 address is identified by the high-order bits of
   the address, as follows:

   Address type         Binary prefix        IPv6 notation   Section
   ------------         -------------        -------------   -------
   Unspecified          00...0  (128 bits)   ::/128          2.5.2
   Loopback             00...1  (128 bits)   ::1/128         2.5.3
   Multicast            11111111             FF00::/8        2.7
   Link-local unicast   1111111010           FE80::/10       2.5.6
   Site-local unicast   1111111011           FEC0::/10       2.5.6
   Global unicast       (everything else)

   Anycast addresses are taken from the unicast address spaces (of any
   scope) and are not syntactically distinguishable from unicast
   addresses.





 
RFC 3513              IPv6 Addressing Architecture            April 2003


   The general format of global unicast addresses is described in
   section 2.5.4.  Some special-purpose subtypes of global unicast
   addresses which contain embedded IPv4 addresses (for the purposes of
   IPv4-IPv6 interoperation) are described in section 2.5.5.

   Future specifications may redefine one or more sub-ranges of the
   global unicast space for other purposes, but unless and until that
   happens, implementations must treat all addresses that do not start
   with any of the above-listed prefixes as global unicast addresses.

2.5 Unicast Addresses

   IPv6 unicast addresses are aggregable with prefixes of arbitrary
   bit-length similar to IPv4 addresses under Classless Interdomain
   Routing.

   There are several types of unicast addresses in IPv6, in particular
   global unicast, site-local unicast, and link-local unicast.  There
   are also some special-purpose subtypes of global unicast, such as
   IPv6 addresses with embedded IPv4 addresses or encoded NSAP
   addresses.  Additional address types or subtypes can be defined in
   the future.

   IPv6 nodes may have considerable or little knowledge of the internal
   structure of the IPv6 address, depending on the role the node plays
   (for instance, host versus router).  At a minimum, a node may
   consider that unicast addresses (including its own) have no internal
   structure:

   |                           128 bits                              |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------+
   |                          node address                           |
   +-----------------------------------------------------------------+

   A slightly sophisticated host (but still rather simple) may
   additionally be aware of subnet prefix(es) for the link(s) it is
   attached to, where different addresses may have different values for
   n:

   |                         n bits                 |   128-n bits   |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+
   |                   subnet prefix                | interface ID   |
   +------------------------------------------------+----------------+

   Though a very simple router may have no knowledge of the internal
   structure of IPv6 unicast addresses, routers will more generally have
   knowledge of one or more of the hierarchical boundaries for the
   operation of routing protocols.  The known boundaries will differ




 
RFC 3513              IPv6 Addressing Architecture            April 2003


   from router to router, depending on what positions the router holds
   in the routing hierarchy.