IPv6 Routing Table Structure

IPv6 routing tables can contain four different types of routing table entries (that is, routes):

Directly attached network routes These typically have 64-bit prefixes and identify adjacent links (network segments connected to the local segment via one router).
Remote network routes These have varying prefixes and identify remote links (network segments connected to the local segment via several routers).
Host routes These have 128-bit prefixes and identify a specific IPv6 node.
Default route This uses the network prefix ::/0 and is used to forward packets when a network or host route cannot be determined.

On a computer running Windows 7, Windows Vista, or Windows Server 2008, you can use the netsh interface ipv6 show route command to display the IPv6 routing table entries. The following is a sample routing table from a domain-joined computer running Windows 7 that has a single LAN network adapter, no IPv6 routers on the attached subnet, and no other configured network connections.

Publish	Type	Met	Prefix	Idx	Gateway/Interface Name
No	Manual	256	::1/128	1	Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
No	Manual	256	fe80::/64	15	Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
No	Manual	256	fe80::/64	12	Local Area Connection
No	Manual	256	fe80::100:7f:fffe/128	15	Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
No	Manual	256	fe80::5efe:172.16.11.131/128	14	isatap.{9D607D7D-0703-4E67-82ED-9A8206377C5C}
No	Manual	256	fe80::5da9:fa1d:2575:c766/128	12	Local Area Connection
No	Manual	256	ff00::/8	1	Loopback Pseudo-Interface 1
No	Manual	256	ff00::/8	15	Teredo Tunneling Pseudo- Interface
No	Manual	256	ff00::/8	12	Local Area Connection

Each route in this table is specified using the following fields:

Publish If set to Yes, the route is advertised in a routing Advertisement message; otherwise No.
Type If set to Autoconf, the route was configured automatically using the IPv6 routing protocol; if Manual, the route has been configured by the operating system or an application.
Met Indicates the metric for the route. For multiple routes having the same prefix, the lower the metric, the better the match.
Prefix Specifies the address prefix for the route.
Idx Specifies the index of the network interface over which packets matching the route's address prefix are reachable. To display a list of interfaces and their indices, use the netsh interface ipv6 show interface command.
Gateway/Interface Name For directly attached network routes, specifies the name of the interface; for remote network routes, specifies the next-hop address of the route.

Note For more information about IPv6 routing and routing tables, see The Cable Guy article titled "Understanding the IPv6 Routing Table" at http://technet.microsoft.com/en-ca/library/bb878115.aspx.

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IPv6 Routing Table Structure

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