Closing the IPv6 First-Packet Gap with GRAND
Summary
The article explains GRAND, a mechanism to fix the IPv6 first-packet delay by having hosts proactively advertise their IPv6 addresses and link-layer mappings. It covers how unsolicited Neighbour Advertisements interact with RFC 4861 rules and RFC 9131, the implementation in FreeBSD, and the trade-offs between proactive discovery and multicast traffic. It also situates GRAND within the broader context of design goals for fast, scalable IPv6 deployments and design of network stacks.