A network link-local address is an address that is valid only for use within the network segment or the broadcast domain that a host is connected to. Link local addresses can be layer 2 or layer 3. For example, a 48-bit Ethernet MAC address is one form of a layer 2 link-local address. Link-local addresses are generally not guaranteed to be unique beyond a network segment. Because of this, layer 3 switches (routers) do not forward packets with layer 3 link-local addresses. For Layer 3 IPv4 link-local (IPv4LL) addresses, RFC3927 specifies the address block 169.254.0.0/16.
Zero-configuration Networking (zeroconf) is a set of technologies that automatically creates a usable TCP/IP network when hosts or network peripherals are interconnected. It does not require system administrator intervention or configuration servers. It consists of three core technologies: assignment of numeric network addresses for networked devices, automatic distribution and resolution of computer hostnames, and automatic location of network services, such as printers. Without zeroconf, a system administrator must set up Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) and Domain Name System (DNS), or configure each host’s network settings manually. Microsoft uses the term APIPA (Automatic Private IP Addressing) instead of zeroconf in their operating systems. Zeroconf is sometimes called AutoIP.
Avahi is a zeroconf implementation for Linux and BSD. It implements IPv4LL, mDNS and DNS-SD. It is installed by default on Fedora and a number of other Linux distributions. Most development work was done in the period 2004 to 2011 and it is now regarded a mature technology. The pseudo-daemon avahi-autoipd implements the IP4LL functionality. It can be used as stand-alone address allocator or as plugin for a DHCP client such as dhclient where it would be used as the fallback IPv4 address alocator if no DHCP server is found.
Avahi has been installed by default on Fedora for a number of years. For example, on Fedora 17:
# ps -ef | grep avahi
avahi 267 1 0 Aug08 ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon: running [fedora.local]
avahi 307 267 0 Aug08 ? 00:00:00 avahi-daemon: chroot helper
# avahi-autoipd -h
avahi-autoipd [options] INTERFACE
-h --help Show this help
-D --daemonize Daemonize after startup
-s --syslog Write log messages to syslog(3) instead of STDERR
-k --kill Kill a running daemon
-r --refresh Request a running daemon refresh its IP address
-c --check Return 0 if a daemon is already running
-V --version Show version
-S --start=ADDRESS Start with this address from the IPv4LL range
169.254.0.0/16
-t --script=script Action script to run (defaults to
/etc/avahi/avahi-autoipd.action)
-w --wait Wait until an address has been acquired before
daemonizing
--force-bind Assign an IPv4LL address even if a routable address
is already assigned
--no-drop-root Don't drop privileges
--no-chroot Don't chroot()
--no-proc-title Don't modify process title
--debug Increase verbosity
# avahi-autoipd -V
avahi-autoipd 0.6.31
# cd /etc/avahi
# ls -l
total 20
-rwxr-xr-x. 1 root root 2509 Aug 9 2012 avahi-autoipd.action
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1749 Aug 9 2012 avahi-daemon.conf
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 9 2012 etc
-rw-r--r--. 1 root root 1121 Aug 9 2012 hosts
drwxr-xr-x. 2 root root 4096 Aug 19 2013 services
If you do not need IPv4LL functionality, consider disabling Avahi:
# systemctl disable avahi-daemon.service
