A system receives packets from neighboring systems through its network interfaces. On the LAN, an interface is typically an Ethernet interface. In the vRouter , a data plane interface is an abstraction that represents the underlying physical or virtual Ethernet interface of the system.

Ethernet interfaces are viewed and configured in the interfaces ethernet node of the configuration tree. The system automatically discovers the physical interfaces on the system and creates entries for them in the configuration tree on startup. For example, on a system with two Ethernet interfaces, the router automatically creates configuration nodes for dp0p1p1 and dp0p1p2.

After the interface is enabled and provided with an address, you can configure it with various system features, such as firewall, routing protocols, quality of service, and so on.

The vRouter has extensive support for IPv6, including IPv6 interface addressing. The commands for configuring IPv6 on Ethernet interfaces are given in this chapter. Ciena Vyatta Network OS IPv6 Support Configuration Guide fully describes vRouter IPv6 support.