What is IPv6?
IPv6 is short for “Internet Protocol Version 6”. IPv6 is the “next generation” protocol designed by the IETF to replace the current version of the Internet Protocol, IP Version 4 (IPv4). Most of today’s Internet connections use IPv4, the latter being more than twenty years old. IPv4 has been remarkably resilient in spite of its age. However, it is beginning to experience problems, the main problem being the growing shortage of IPv4 addresses. IPv4 addresses are constantly on demand by the new machines needing to connect to the Internet. IPv6 fixes a number of problems in IPv4, such as the limited number of available IPv4 addresses. It also adds many improvements to IPv4 in areas such as routing and network auto-configuration. IPv6 is expected to gradually replace IPv4, with the two coexisting for a number of years during a transition period.
“IPv6 is a new version of the data network protocol on which the Internet is based. Its basic specifications were developed by the IETF (Internet Engineering Task Force) during the 90s. The main motivation behind IPv6 development and deployment was to expand the address space available on the Internet in order to allow the connection of billions of new devices (PDAs, mobile phones, etc.), new users and “always on” technologies (xDSL, cable television, Ethernet to the home, fiber to the home, power line communications, etc.). The existing protocol, IPv4, only has 32 bits addresses, thus allowing in theory a space of 232 (approximately four billion)unique globally addressable network interfaces. By contrast, IPv6 uses 128-bit addresses and can therefore address 2128 network interfaces (340.282.366.920.938.463.463.374.607.431.768.211.456).
IPv6 is a new layer 3 protocol which will supersede IPv4 (also known as IP). IPv4 was designed long time ago (RFC 760 / Internet Protocol from January 1980) and since its inception, there have been many requests for more addresses and enhanced capabilities. Latest RFC is RFC 2460 / Internet Protocol Version 6 Specification. Major changes in IPv6 are the redesign of the header, including the increase of address size from 32 bits to 128 bits. Because layer 3 is responsible for end-to-end packet transport using packet routing based on addresses, it must include the new IPv6 addresses (source and destination), like IPv4. For more information about the IPv6 history take a look at older IPv6 related RFCs listed e.g. at SWITCH IPv6 Pilot / References.
Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) is a network layer protocol that enables data communications over a packet switched network. Packet switching involves the sending and receiving of data in packets between two nodes in a network. The working standard for the IPv6 protocol was published by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) in 1998. The IETF specification for IPv6 is RFC 2460. IPv6 was intended to replace the widely used Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) that is considered the backbone of the modern Internet. IPv6 is often referred to as the “next generation Internet” because of it’s expanded capabilities and it’s growth through recent large scale deployments. In 2004, Japan and Korea were acknowledged as having the first public deployments of IPv6. The explosive growth in mobile devices including mobile phones, notebook computers, and wireless handheld devices has created a need for additional blocks of IP addresses. IPv4 currently supports a maximum of approximately 4.3 bill
