>>>>> "der" == der Mouse <mouse@Rodents.Montreal.QC.CA> writes:
    der> This is not the case in general.  Cable-modems, for example, are
    der> generally pretty much like an Ethernet: everyone on your piece of
    der> cable is your direct neighbor.  You just have a DHCP-assigned
    der> address rather than a fixed address.  (Some cable-modem connectivity
    der> providers do assign addresses statically, but some don't.)

  BTW: All of the Canadian providers actually provision addresses statically,
but it is a lot easier to tell Windoz users' to turn on DHCP then to tell
them how to configure their settings. I actually predate DHCP (i.e. the move
from "Rogers Wave" to "Roger Wave@Home"), so actually got the settings
written into the back of my "manual"

    der> You say that "autoconfiguration" is prohibited for routers; what
    der> does this term include?  If it includes things like how DHCP is
    der> currently used, I expect this to be a crippling problem for IPv6
    der> adoption, because of exactly this scenario.
  
  But, one always "autoconfigures" the link-local address, which *is* enough
to do an IGP over, and once you advertise your chunk of addresses, then you
can use the "internal" address for any services on the router itself.

]      Out and about in Ottawa.    hmmm... beer.                |  firewalls  [
]   Michael Richardson, Sandelman Software Works, Ottawa, ON    |net architect[
] mcr@sandelman.ottawa.on.ca http://www.sandelman.ottawa.on.ca/ |device driver[
] panic("Just another NetBSD/notebook using, kernel hacking, security guy");  [