What happens if an IPv6 device receives a Neighbor Solicitation for an address it does not have?

When an IPv6 device receives a Neighbor Solicitation (NS) for an address it does not have, it responds with a Neighbor Advertisement (NA). This process is part of the Neighbor Discovery Protocol (NDP), which is integral to IPv6 networking.

The purpose of a Neighbor Solicitation message is to determine the link-layer address of a neighbor or to verify the reachability of a neighbor on a local link. When a device receives this solicitation for an address it does not own, it indicates that the address is not associated with it, and, consequently, there is no binding for that particular address. In response, the device will send a Neighbor Advertisement to inform the sender that the queried address is unassigned.

This allows the sender to understand the status of the address it queried and to adjust its routing or communication attempts accordingly. The Neighbor Advertisement contains information about the solicited address and other relevant flags, thus facilitating efficient communication and management of the network.

In this context, the other options involve actions that an IPv6 device would not take in response to a Neighbor Solicitation for an unassigned address, such as sending Router Advertisements or forwarding Router Solicitations, which do not pertain to the specific scenario described. Ignoring