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Address Resolution

For IPv6, ICMPv6 neighbor discovery replaces ARP for resolving network addresses to link-level addresses. Neighbor discovery also handles changes in link-layer addresses, inbound load balancing, anycast addresses, and proxy advertisements.

Nodes requesting the link-layer address of a target node multicast a neighbor solicitation message with the target address. The target sends back a neighbor advertisement message containing its link-layer address.

Neighbor solicitation and advertisement messages are used for detecting duplicate unicast addresses on the same link. Autoconfiguration of an IP address depends on whether there is a duplicate address on that link. Duplicate address detection is a requirement for autoconfiguration.

Neighbor solicitation and advertisement messages are also used for neighbor unreachability detection. Neighbor unreachability detection involves detecting the presence of a target node on a given link.

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