Stateless Address Autoconfiguration (SLAAC)

Stateless Address Autoconfiguration, or SLAAC, is a mechanism for automatically configuring IPv6 addresses on network devices. It enables an endpoint to generate its own IPv6 address without requiring a DHCPv6 server to assign the address centrally. The process relies on Router Advertisement messages provided through the Neighbor Discovery Protocol, which include information such as available network prefixes. The endpoint combines this information with a locally generated interface identifier to form its IPv6 address. It also uses Duplicate Address Detection to verify that the address is not already in use on the local network. SLAAC simplifies the automatic integration of endpoints into IPv6 networks and can be combined with DHCPv6, depending on the network configuration, to provide additional configuration information.