Re: radvd or dhcp

[Juliusz Chroboczek <Juliusz.Chroboczek@pps.jussieu.fr>]

> RA is a stateless protocol; as a result, it does not require as much
> CPU power as is the case for DHCP, and also unlike DHCP doesn't need
> to keep a database of leases which it's sent out.

This latter point bears repeating.

A DHCP server must keep track of the addresses that it has given out
to clients.  Hence, it must save to persistent storage every single
lease it gives out, which makes it difficult to implement DHCP on
diskless routers.

With RA, the router simply multicasts prefix information, and nodes
choose an IP address for themselves.  There is no state in the router,
so when the router crashes, there is no state to recover.

Note that in IPv6 you can combine RA with DHCPv6: use RA for address
configuration, and DHCPv6 for configuring other data (such as DNS
servers).


                                        Juliusz