Since IPv6 has been developed to completely replace IPv4 for every host on the planet, is follows that there be a method for hosts to obtain IPv6 addresses automatically. At this point, IPv4 addresses can be autoconfigured using DHCP, which is a stateful method and uses the client/server model. However, IPv6 addresses can be autoconfigured using both stateless and stateful (DHCPv6) systems, often simultaneously.
While stateless IPv6 autoconfiguration has been quite popular on dual-stacked hosts, it is rather limited, and was arguably a ``temporary'' solution while DHCPv6 was being developed. Since stateless autoconfiguration is prevalent in IPv6 LANs today, DHCPv6 is capable of providing extended parameters and values for hosts that have already received a IPv6 address through other means. The next two sections will detail the two protocols available for assigning IPv6 addresses.