That was the idea, but it didn't really turn out that way. Stateless auto configuration leaks your MAC address, which is a privacy issue. Most servers use static IPs and most desktops use random IPs, with checks for collisions.
IMHO, the 128 space was a big mistake. It's twice as hard to communicate between humans, most languages and databases don't support the data type natively and it complicates high-speed routing.
An average of 48 bits for a network and 15 for the host would have been better. For other reasons you almost never want more than a few hundred hosts on one layer-2 network anyway.
IMHO, the 128 space was a big mistake. It's twice as hard to communicate between humans, most languages and databases don't support the data type natively and it complicates high-speed routing.
An average of 48 bits for a network and 15 for the host would have been better. For other reasons you almost never want more than a few hundred hosts on one layer-2 network anyway.