neilphan98/hearth-matter-router repository overview

⁠HEARTH Matter IPv6 Router

IPv6/mDNS router that provisions a Matter-over-Ethernet fabric (RA + .local discovery).

Real-device analogue: A home/building border router or Wi-Fi/Thread border router providing IPv6 + mDNS for Matter.

Protocol / ports: IPv6 Router Advertisements (ICMPv6 ND); multicast DNS / DNS-SD (UDP 5353).

⁠What it does / how it works

Hands every zone a routable IPv6 prefix via Router Advertisements and reflects mDNS across legs so Matter nodes get a global IPv6 in ~30s and can be discovered/commissioned. Matter here runs over Ethernet/IPv6 (not Thread/802.15.4), so a plain IPv6 router is all the fabric needs.

⁠Functions

• Per-leg IPv6 prefix advertisement (RA_PREFIX_ethN)
• Optional IPv4 gateway legs (RA_V4_ethN)
• mDNS/DNS-SD reflection so _matter._tcp / _matterc._udp resolve across zones

⁠How to use

Drop ONE on the switch your Matter devices share; they self-address in ~30s. RA_NICS lists the interfaces to serve; RA_PREFIX_ethN sets each prefix.

⁠Use in GNS3

• Import the matching .gns3a (File > Import appliance), or docker pull neilphan98/hearth-matter-router:latest.
• Drag onto your topology, wire to a switch/hub, start. Console: telnet.
• Adapters: 8. Category: router.

⁠Default environment (per node)

RA_NICS=eth0 eth1 eth2 eth3 eth4 eth5
RA_PREFIX_eth0=fd11:1111:1111:1
RA_PREFIX_eth1=fd11:1111:1111:2
RA_PREFIX_eth2=fd11:1111:1111:3
RA_PREFIX_eth3=fd11:1111:1111:4
RA_PREFIX_eth4=fd11:1111:1111:5
RA_PREFIX_eth5=fd11:1111:1111:6
RA_V4_eth4=192.168.5.1/24
RA_V4_eth5=192.168.6.1/24

Current release: latest (docker pull neilphan98/hearth-matter-router:latest)

Part of the HEARTH Tower commercial-building IoT/OT security testbed. Image tags are immutable per release (1.0, 1.1, ...), so updating the device list never changes nodes you already placed. See the HEARTH bundle for all devices + guides.